Thank you, Dwane Casey

Dwane Casey is a good coach. For almost a decade, the Raptors were a joke, and it took Dwane Casey's hiring seven years ago to bring the team, and the organization to where they are now. Five playoff stints in seven years are no joke. However, even Casey as a coach has plateaued. While Casey improved his coaching for the past three years, he was not able to elevate the team in the playoffs for three consecutive years.

If you don't follow the Raptors, it's easy to judge the Raptors for letting go someone who might win the Coach of the Year. Dwane Casey's done a great job this season. This regular season. However, like last year, Casey is being judged not by what he did in the regular season, but his performance in the playoffs.

Blaming Lowry and/or DeRozan is easy. Even Ibaka. However, they were not responsible for the offensive and defensive schemes. Nor the ATO or SLOB/BLOB plays. Sure, the stars are often involved in most of those plays, but the coaches are responsible for putting the players where they can perform the best. Lowry/DeRozan/Ibaka have two more years to go at it, and removing Casey from the equation should give us a better picture where this organization is heading in the next five years.

Just look at Al Horford. Al Horford was the best player in Milwaukee Bucks vs Boston Celtics. They have Giannis and  Khris Middleton, who are better than Horford. Al Horford, once again, was the best player in the Philadelphia 76ers vs Boston Celtics. The 76ers have Embiid and Ben Simmons. The best player in the east playoffs outside of LeBron? Al Freakin Horford.

The Boston Celtics are winning despite missing their top two players. They are winning despite having to play a bunch of young guys. They are winning because of elite coaching.

I've said this before and will say it again. In the playoffs, you need to have either an elite coach or elite player(s) on your team. Some teams have both. In the playoffs, what a team did in the regular season have been thoroughly investigated by the opposing team's coaching staff by the time game 1 would have started. Dwane Casey and his coaching staff failed to counterpunch in the playoffs - for three years.

Dwane Casey is a good man. He's a good coach. Rebuilding teams should go get him. It's just that in Toronto, it's time for him to go. I just wish they never went through that stupid press conference two days ago. It doesn't look good, and Casey does not deserve that kind of treatment.

I'm sad to see him go, but it's not like Masai is firing a guy who's not at fault here. It's also not fair that Casey had to pay for some of Masai's blunders.

I just keep going back to game 82, and I wonder if I'm penning this piece on Casey if Fred VanVleet did not dislocate his shoulder.

Still, Thank you, Dwane Casey. It was frustrating at times, but it was fun seeing this team grow under your tutelage.