Let this thread be the home for free agent talk and other off-season activities (excluding the draft, which will have a thread of its own).
We will get the action started with this...
The Raptors just fired Dwayne Casey...
He won NBA Coach of the Year 2 days ago.
Last edited by JasonEvans; 05-11-2018 at 11:38 AM.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
They might promote from within. It was really assistant coach Nick Nurse that re-designed the Raptors offense (Zach Lowe article), following GM Ujiri's directive to change the culture. The re-design led to the Raptors winning 59 games and actually doing a good job scoring on Cleveland in the playoffs, as they put up offensive ratings of 114, 121, 114, and 100 in the sweep. [The 100 in game 4 is arguably the result of demoralized surrender, after losing Game 3 at the buzzer].
It was really Toronto's complete inability to guard Cleveland that resulted in the sweep, and since defense is Casey's calling card, I can see why this move was made. I'm still surprised it happened, but I see the logic in it, and Ujiri is well-regarded as an excellent GM who deserves the benefit of the doubt. There will be tons of articles blasting Toronto for firing the COY, but ultimately Casey was receiving too much credit for a culture change whose impetus was provided by the GM and whose implementation was done by an assistant coach.
I think a lot of times teams fire their coaches just because they need to change SOMETHING, even if the coach isn’t the problem. Which is dumb, but it happens all the time. The Raptors have been committed to their Lowry/Derozan core for years and this was their best shot at making a run. They had a fantastic regular season but then crashed and burned again versus the Cavs. So they can’t just do the exact same thing all over again next year, because the fans won’t have that kind of patience. And they don’t want to get rid of Lowry or Derozan. The only thing left to do is fire their coach.
You must mean Paul Maurice.
More seriously, the Bucks' list of candidates supposedly includes Steve Clifford, Mike Budenholzer, Monty Williams, David Fizdale, David Blatt, and of course, Becky Hammon. Ettore Messina and Nick Nurse have also been mentioned. Some of these names could be in play for the Raptors as well.
"It's easier to fire the coach, then fire the players."
The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Stackhouse was an assistant for the Raptors and has coached their G League team the last two years to get head coaching experience, winning coach of the year his first year (see how far winning coach of the year gets you). So he is somewhat legit.
I think the Knicks are now feeling some remorse for hurrying out to hire Fizdale when Casey might have been a better fit.
It's not like this is the first time the COY has been fired. Forum favorite George Karl also has this dubious honor.
They made Casey the scapegoat as it's definitely easier to fire the coach than retool a team, which has a number of questionable contracts.
The Raptors are capped out until at least 2020.
They have 2 more years of Lowry at $64 mil total, 3 more years of DeRozan at $27.7 mil a season, they've got Ibaka for $44 mil over the next 2 years, and they owe $33 mil to Valanciunas for the next 2 seasons. But, perhaps most incredibly, Norman Powell will be getting $10 mil a year for the next 3 seasons. Feel free to use your google to look up Norman Powell... I know I did.
-Jason "meanwhile, VanVleet is hitting RFA at a time when his stock is at its peak, so they are either going to have to match or let him go when someone offers him $6-$10 mil a season" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I am very curious to see whether Becky Hammon gets serious consideration for a head coaching job. Five years ago, I would have said this was impossible and ill advised.Now, I'm saying that she should be judged on the merits and that she could well be the right choice for an NBA team.
Contrary to a post made elsewhere on this forum, she apparently can coach NBA basketball.
So I guess the other coaches gave him coy because they realized this was in the works and either wanted to make it harder to fire him or send a message that they thought he got a raw deal. Stevens doesn't need any help