The Toronto Raptors once again flamed out of the NBA playoffs at the hands of LeBron James. Many are calling for heads to roll and the name at the top of the chopping block is head coach Dwane Casey.
But the blame cannot and should not fall at one man’s feet.
Ty Lue called a potential Casey firing “absurd.” In a season with more elite candidates than there has been in recent memory, his peers named Casey the Coach of the Year.
Casey has been on the hot seat before but this year was seen as different. Casey may very well win the NBA’s Coach of the Year award when it’s announced in June.
If your name isn’t Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr winning the award has been a bit of a kiss of death with many men over the last decade out of their job shortly after winning — none faster than George Karl who lost his job later the same offseason.
Casey’s situation is similar to Karl’s who was also coming off a franchise best season in 2013. The Denver Nuggets decided that an early round playoff exit was grounds for dismissal if they were to get to the next level. The GM of that team at the time? Masai Ujiri. Ujiri left Denver for Toronto that same summer.
The Nuggets never got to the next level — in fact they’ve never been back to that level. After a franchise best season with Karl they’ve gone through three coaches since, none of which having a .500 record and most importantly they’ve never reached the playoffs.
The grass isn’t always greener.
The Raptors path to a championship is difficult. The biggest issues that stand in their way is lack of roster flexibility due to onerous contracts, an inability to build through the draft without a 2018 pick, and the fact that, 15 years into his career, LeBron James is not slowing down. None of those factors are Casey’s fault, nor will they change if he receives a pink slip.
What elevates great coaches is having a transformational player. The perception of Erik Spoelstra is different after he had LeBron James than it was beforehand.
Casey doesn’t have the once-in-a generation player. On the contrary, most of his rotation was drafted outside the lottery or wasn’t drafted at all. Frankly, it makes all that he has achieved all that more impressive.
In fact, Casey is now a victim of his own success.
The Raptors finished with the top record in the East, setting a franchise record for wins with 59. They had the third-ranked offense and fifth-ranked defense.
Nobody had the Raptors picked to finish first in preseason rankings. ESPN, for example, predicted them to finish 6th.
After losing valuable rotation players like P.J. Tucker and Patrick Patterson in the offseason, implementing a new playing style and choosing to develop an unproven bench, the expectation was the team would take a step back not surge forward.
But the opposite was true which quickly raised expectations from staying relevant to challenging for a championship for the first time since the inaugural season in 1995. But in truth this window was put in place for a three-year run matching the lengths of deals given to Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka. The second-youngest roster in the playoffs was the one Casey was tasked to groom.
Despite his previous success Casey has shown willingness to adapt and change. The playing style on both ends of the court has changed and versus the Cavaliers he tried three different starting lineups in four games. Just because the ship isn’t turned around in one season doesn’t mean he should be thrown overboard.
For all those who question his in-game defensive strategy against LeBron James, don’t forget that he designed the only defensive scheme to stymy James in a Finals when the Mavericks upset the Miami Heat. LeBron’s array of midrange shots that abused the Raptors were developed as an answer to Casey’s championship-winning defensive schemes. So much so that James went out of his way to credit the job Casey has done against him in the past.
So, what is more probable: Dwane Casey became a dumb coach overnight? Or, unlike the 2011 Dallas Mavericks roster he doesn’t have a quarterback like Jason Kidd on the floor and a rim protector like Tyson Chandler on this roster?
We can all armchair quarterback what Casey should or shouldn’t have done but nobody is more invested in the outcome than the coach and nobody is armed with more information on what the right choices are.
Such is fickle life in the knee-jerk landscape of the NBA. People were calling for Alvin Gentry and Nate McMillan to be fired at this time last year. Now they are being lauded.
The decision comes down to Masai Ujiri. Remember who his basketball mentor is: San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford. He’s endeavored to model his program after the San Antonio Spurs stability and accountability.
Ujiri himself is accountable and secure enough to know he has to own some of the blame just as he owns the credit.
Ujiri has already taking ownership of the future path, telling reporters at his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday that, “as a leader I have to look at the body of work that has be done over the last five years and think what the next five years is ahead. That’s what I have to do. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Ujiri and Casey are not the reason why their players missed multiple layups and wide open three pointers versus Cleveland, or why they couldn’t rally after Kevin Love’s elbow wasn’t reviewed as a flagrant foul in Game 1.
The shortcomings are collective, as are the successes. Just because the Raptors were ahead of schedule doesn’t mean they should lose their mind and divert away from what they’ve built.
Divorce is the easy decision. But easy doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s supposed to be brutally hard to win a championship. Let’s not forget the only person in the Raptors organization that’s knows that feeling is Casey himself.
To scapegoat him as the one who isn’t championship-level is short sighted. Or, as Ty Lue says, “absurd.”
