04/19/24
May 11, 2018
SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Toronto Raptors fire head coach Dwane Casey
posted by tommybiden at 02:31 PM on May 11, 2018
Wow. Voted as the league's top coach by his peers and fired by his GM. Casey milked that squad for everything it had and turned a 5th or 6th place team into a division winner. What a mess the Raptors are.
The reality is that in today's NBA teams like Toronto either need to score big in the draft or they don't have a chance as all of the big free agents typically only want to play in the 5 or 6 biggest markets.
posted by cixelsyd at 04:02 PM on May 11, 2018
If they hire Stackhouse to replace Casey, I can only hope that Stackhouse understands the game better as a coach than he showed he did as a player. The main thing I remember about his game is how much he overworked and forced shit on offense. He did not look coachable. It was not fun to watch.
posted by beaverboard at 04:57 PM on May 11, 2018
Stan van Gundy is now jobless. Serious question: would he be a good coach for Toronto?
posted by NoMich at 05:53 PM on May 11, 2018
What a mess the Raptors are
Toronto sports (MLSE really, but they're all of major Toronto sports except the Blue Jays) man, the Maple Leafs make an exceptionally bright move with Kyle Dubas, and the Raptors screw things up fiercely with the firing of the best coach the organization has ever possessed. One step forward, one step back...
posted by tommybiden at 06:47 PM on May 11, 2018
Casey being fired was a jaw drop for me. He managed a first place finish, even with some injuries to his stars. His bench was highly regarded during the regular season, but seemed to fall back some during the playoffs. It might just be time for Toronto to hook up the detenator and get ready to blow it all up. Boston, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia are the teams that will pretty much run the East in the next few years, unless someone pulls off a major deal. To use the cliche, Toronto's window was open, but it just slammed shut. DeRozan and Lowrie are valuable enough to bring a bundle of picks or some decent role players to go along with a high pick. Some quality youngsters, and in a few years a "just below max contract" free agent could put Toronto back in contention.
posted by Howard_T at 09:39 PM on May 11, 2018
Kyle Dubas named new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager