About 12 months ago, the Toronto Raptors were swept by the Washington Wizards. Then-Wizards head coach Randy Wittman put Paul Pierce at the four and the veteran killed Toronto. Fans were clamouring for James Johnson to see some more playing time but it never happened.
Licking our wounds, the Raptors faithful were calling for Casey’s head. It was the second first-round exit in a row and adjustments were not made despite the series deficit. Instead of firing Casey, Raptors General Manager kept the head coach and made changes to the assistant coaches. Bill Bayno and fan favourite Tom Sterner were let go, Andy Greer, Rex Kalamian and Jerry Stackhouse were brought in.
Now, the Raptors own franchise best 56-26 record, finished second in the Eastern Conference for first time in the 21-year history. They have the 5th offence and 11th defence per 100 possessions. They finished 5th in margin of victory. Yet throughout the season, the #FireCasey contingent continued railing against the coach. It is time to come around and recognize what the winningest coach in Raptors history has accomplished, for this season and the future.
The growth of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan
Lowry and DeMar became All-Stars under Casey. Some will chalk this up to happenstance but this is naive. We talk about coaches “unlocking” players all the time. Alvin Gentry was supposed to unlock Anthony Davis, Steve Kerr created a system for Steph Curry to become the league’s best player. Casey helped turn these two into the best backcourt in the Eastern Conference.
Lowry was underutilized before coming to Toronto and once he was handed the keys to an offence, he took off. After Jose Calderon was traded, then-GM Bryan Colangelo asked Lowry about his thoughts on Casey. The answer: “I’ll play my ass off for him.” And that came true, both literally and figuratively. This season, Kyle Lowry finished 8th in Win Shares and should be the first Toronto All-NBA player since Chris Bosh in 2006-07.
DeRozan continued to improve. Generally, a player’s performance should dip past a certain usage point. DeRozan’s usage increased this year, and he put up a career year: 23.5 points per game, 9.9 win shares, and a 46.3 eFG%.
And the pair seems to love him. In the SLAM Magazine feature, Lowry and DeRozan go to bat for Casey. “It’s just great to have a coach like that, knowing that he’s gonna give you the freedom to be yourself, as long as you just go out there and play hard,” says the USC product.
Lowry goes a step further.
“He’s our guy. Everybody tried to make a big deal out of me and him—we didn’t see eye to eye my first couple years [in Toronto]. But honestly, that man’s done a lot for my career.”
Under Casey, Toronto has got the most out of its two stars and created a relentless driving offence that finished top-five in the NBA. Sure, DeRozan and Lowry put in a ton of independent work to make that happen, but would they have done it without Casey?
A positive team culture
Culture is the new buzzword for pro sports. Everyone talks about team culture; how to build it, who sets it, who maintains culture. As fans, we see a sliver of it but it is clear that the Raptors have a strong locker room.
Look at how hard the team plays. Their effort is consistent, the team generally takes every game as serious as the next. There are slip-ups – the early January game in Philadelphia comes to mind – but the second half of the season was all business.
When teams don’t play hard, their lack of effort is often ascribed to the coaching staff. (This year’s Houston team comes to mind.) But Casey has these guys working every single night, even down the stretch when games were meaningless. Look at the last Indiana game of the regular season: DeRozan, Lowry and Scola did not play. Jonas Valanciunas played 20 minutes. And the squad won 111-98.
Line-up management
Casey’s detractors will die on the starting line-up hill. I do not love the Scola minutes, but you argue the head coach has done well with the hand he’s been dealt.
Lowry-DeRozan-Johnson-Scola-JV was awful. Since February 1, that line-up had a net rating of -12.3. With Powell in for Johnson, it’s -10.8 per 100 possessions. It is bad.
In the same time period, Luis Scola is featured in five of the 9 negative line-ups. The starting groups listed above are the best two of Scola’s five, suggesting that Scola is significantly worse with the bench than the starters.
Casey has to play someone in power forward spot. Without the Carroll injury, the four-man plans went awry. The combo of Scola, Patrick Patterson and Jason Thompson has to play 48 minutes, and you sacrifice something with each guy. Patterson is a great defensive communicator for the bench unit and moves the ball well on offence. Scola’s unprecedented three-point shooting opens up more driving lanes for DeRozan and Lowry. Thompson is OK defensively, but his lack of offensive game and reliable outside shooting cramps the offence. The sample size is not huge, but the early returns on a Lowry-DeRozan-Powell-Thompson-JV line-up are positive.
And Casey’s bench management has been solid too. Cory Joseph and Bismack Biyombo have been revelations with the Raptors. Even in a down-year, Patterson features in a handful of the Raptors best line-ups. Ross played well from December onwards too.
It would be remiss to ignore the development of Norm Powell. The rookie has blossomed into a legit scoring threat and capable defender, partially because Casey has given the second-round pick a long leash. Some coaches would have stuck with a six-year veteran like James Johnson, but this risk has paid off.
—
All of this could be for nothing. If Toronto flames out in the first round, you have to figure the Raptors will move on from Casey. Even if Masai Ujiri says that “Coach Casey deserves to be the coach, that’s 100 percent and I stand by that,” it is hard to believe that. Three playoff exits in a row is not just a trend, it is a problem.
Here’s the catch: what Casey has done with this team is not for nothing. These past three years have been, finally, fun. The team is legitimately good. Yeah, I know it is all about winning playoff games and contending for a championship. But we watch this team for 82 nights a year and spend the days off reading about them. Actually competing with the league’s best is way more fun than rooting for losses or watching Andrea Bargnani. Casey deserves recognition for helping turn this thing around. The franchise is in a better position now than it was before Casey came in, and it will be better going forward.
