Former Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who was fired on May 11,2018, won Coach of the Year on Monday night at the NBA Awards.…
Former Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who was fired on May 11,2018, won Coach of the Year on Monday night at the NBA Awards.
Casey, who led the Toronto Raptors to a 59–23 record, had the Raptors at the no. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Those 59 wins were a franchise record.
The Raptors had an early exit in the playoffs after losing to Cleveland in the second round of the playoffs. LeBron James and the Cavaliers have eliminated them in the playoffs for the past three years. Casey will be coaching the Detroit Pistons next year.
It is assumed that Casey was fired because he lost to the Cavaliers for the past three years in the playoffs. The Raptors were probably the best team to be a playoff joke since it was always assumed that they would choke in the playoffs.
They had a good roster of players, but it appeared that LeBron James just had their number. The Raptors just could not get passed James’ Cavaliers.
The other nominations for the award were Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics, who made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and lost to the same Cavaliers team, and Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz. Stevens is known for his masterful strategic play when it comes to calling plays during the game, while Snyder is mostly responsible for the turnaround in Utah.
Personally, I would have given the award to Brad Stevens. He made it farther, got to the Eastern Conference Finals with less and at least had his team better suited to play the Cavaliers than Casey did. Casey’s team always seemed outmatched when they played the Cavaliers, so I would not blame the Raptors management for firing him.
Casey got his team to the playoffs every year, and everyone thought that this would be the Raptors’ year. But, per usual, they could not pull through.
This has to be such an infamous award for Casey. He handled it with class on the podium when he was called up, but I would feel so embarrassed if I was up there. It was undoubtedly worse for the Raptors organization. They’re already considered a joke in the NBA, but their rep just got worse because the coach they fired a month ago just won Coach of the Year.
Raptors fans must feel so embarrassed. The Raptors just hired Nick Nurse to be their new head coach, another no name. If the Nurse experiment does not work out, then it will be apparent that the Raptors made the wrong choice in firing Casey. With the LeBron free agency rumors swirling, maybe this is the year for the Raptors to finally make a run.
