Toronto Raptors fire head coach Dwane Casey after 59-win season

Jay Asser 20:53 11/05/2018
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  • Dwane Casey was fired by the Toronto Raptors after seven seasons.

    Days after the Toronto Raptors were swept out of the second round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year, the team fired head coach Dwane Casey.

    The decision was announced on Friday, ending the run of the franchise’s most successful coach, who led the Raptors to the second-best record in the league and the top seed in the Eastern Conference this season.

    However, those accomplishments were apparently overshadowed by Toronto failing to take a single game off the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference semi-finals for the second straight year.

    “After careful consideration, I have decided this is a very difficult but necessary step the franchise must take,” said Raptors president Masai Ujiri in a statement.

    “As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level. We celebrate everything Dwane has done for the organisation, we thank him, and we wish him nothing but the best in the future.

    “He was instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team, and we are so proud of that.”

    After Casey took the job in 2011, Toronto improved their win total each of the next five years. His best work came this season when he oversaw stylistic changes that saw the team move away from an isolation-heavy, mid-range chucking offence to a more fluid, egalitarian and moderinsed attack.

    That resulted in a franchise-best 59 wins and earned him the respect of his fellow peers, with the league’s 30 head coaches voting him the Coach of the Year.

    As well as Casey did though, there was an overwhelming feeling that something had to change after the Raptors crashed out of the playoffs in disappointing fashion once again. And with the contracts Toronto’s top players are on, trades may be difficult to come by.

    Casey has shown more than enough for him to land another head coaching gig sooner than later, while the Raptors could reportedly pursue Mike Budenholzer.

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