Dwane Casey’s got to have a couple conversations stat. Like, sign into his hotmail account (salmons4ever@hotmail.com) and send some meeting invites.
First, he’s got to bring James Johnson into the fold. This relationship is teetering right now and the only reason it hasn’t blown up is because James Johnson happened to have found Jesus a few years back and has learned to keep it cool. They have to clear the air man-to-man, not just have a contrived version of the father-son talk, but talk. Starting off, Casey’s needs to straight-up tell James Johnson that he screwed up. Acknowledge the mistakes of last year, whether it be refusing to matchup in key moments, or just benching the swingman altogether. Just come out and say that things weren’t executed properly and not handled right, and that Casey just spoke too openly about James Johnson’s perceived flaws.
At this point, James Johnson will rub his cross, stand up, and give Casey a hug. A single tear will run down Casey’s left cheek and a new relationship will form. All is forgiven, let’s move forward.
Up next, hit up Kyle Lowry on Twitter and see if he responds. If he does, ask for a follow so you can DM him and set up a brohim-to-brohim meeting at a public place like the Harbourfront (you never risk these things getting out of hand, and there’s safety in numbers). With Lowry, you can’t just lead directly into the main topic, you have to beat around the bush and then hit him hard. Start with some small talk about how over-priced that CN Tower Walk is, how some streets really shouldn’t be one way, and lament about the Toronto housing market, and then bring up the main point of discussion. Kind of like:
Casey: “Isn’t it crazy that that 18ftx60ft house costs $1.2M and it doesn’t even have a room?”
Lowry: “True, coach,, I don’t even know how people afford houses anymore”
Casey: “You need to stop gambling on defense.”
Ice. Broken. Now’s the time to sit on that park bench, hold his hand, and tell him that you need him to pay attention on defense, and that he doesn’t have cart blanche to play free safety, because that hurts the team. Explain to him that he’s one of guys that needs to stay home because the team already has two sub-par defenders in the starting lineup, and that if he goes rogue, all hell breaks loose.
Lowry: “But, but coach…the housing market..”
Casey: “Hell with the housing market. We’re talking defense”.
Explain to him that he’s the leader of this team no matter what, and that he’s got to lead by example by 1) staying disciplined and not complaining to the refs constantly, 2) sticking to the plan on defense, and 3) picking your spots to dominate and preserving energy.
In every relationship, openness is key. And this is where Casey will open up about how he didn’t take care of Lowry’s minutes last season, and didn’t manage the injury well, and that it’ll never happen again. Simple heartfelt apology while maintaining eye contact and holding hands. Lowry will do the same. That’s all. Air cleared.
After having dealt with one star player, Casey will surprise DeMar DeRozan at the Drew League. “DeMar, can we grab a some Baskin Robbins after the game?” “Sure thing, coach, cotton candy flavour for me all the way”.
As you’re driving to Baskin Robbins, take a sharp turn and hit the highway, drive for 80 miles in absolute silence without responding to DeRozan’s pleas for mercy. Pull into a deep wooded area, open up the trunk and get out the laptop with video fo DeRozan being shut down by a half-decent wing. DeRozan won’t watch at first, but after a while he’ll realize that there’s nothing else to do in this swampland than watch the video.
As they watch in silence, Casey’s hand once again reaches for DeRozan, and softly utters, “See what I mean?” DeRozan won’t respond, but will nod. More video is watched and finally DeRozan speaks and says, “But coach, you designed these plays where I took a 22 footer with a guy draped all over me, am I really to blame?”
Moment of truth.
Casey proceed to admit that the plays weren’t great, but that DeRozan didn’t help matters by doing what the defense wanted them to do. They talk openly, blame stuff on Lou Williams and agree that next year it’s going to be different: DeRozan will give a shit on defense, and will improve enough to shed defenders instead of taking bad shots. Casey will agree to design more motion heavy plays that have DeRozan catch the ball in positions of advantage instead of having it all to do. As they’re heading back to the car, Casey pauses, takes out a blue cooler from the trunk, opens it and gives a cotton candy ice cream to DeRozan. This is how friendships are formed.
Finally, it’s onto Terrence Ross and a simple text will do here: “Your ass better be in shape and ready to go come training camp or you’ll be playing 40 minutes for Raptors905 next season”.
