NBA.com: Casey, Raptors Want To Ride Continuity

[Scarface844]

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/07/1 ... ontinuity/

Back in December it hardly seemed possible that Dwane Casey would be standing here at Summer League with a smile on his face and his lightweight button-down shirt casually untucked, and most of all still as the coach of the Toronto Raptors.

This misbegotten big-market franchise with the redundant roster was floundering again, off to a 7-12 start, and the well-liked, but lame-duck Casey looked to be running out the clock on his three-year contract.

Then, on Dec. 8, new general manager Masai Ujiri, having built a reputation as a next-generation whiz, made the deal to send Rudy Gay and his massive contract to Sacramento for depth help in point guard Greivis Vasquez and forwards John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Around the same time, Knicks president James Dolan vetoed a trade that would have landed Raptors starting point guard Kyle Lowry in New York.

Suddenly, a feeling of stability overtook the team. They looked around, looked at themselves and liked what they saw. And everything changed.

“After the trade happened, I thought it brought our team together — camaraderie,” said Casey, who signed a three-year contract extension in May. “They made the decision that we were not going to be a lottery team — I think that’s what everybody expected — and we kept teaching them the principles of what we wanted to be doing and it just came together.

This wasn’t a referendum on Gay, who went to have a surprisingly efficient offensive season with the Kings. Gay and DeRozan are friends off the court, but ill-fitting parts on it, and as the parts fit better and the floor opened up, the Raptors’ offense, also buoyed by Lowry’s uprising, took off.

“It was a fit,” Casey said. “A lot of times you have talent and it doesn’t fit. DeMar and Rudy were similar and Terrence Ross is sitting there, he’s similar, so once you took all the pieces out it opened up things and we went from 29th, I think, in the league in assists to 16th or 17th. That really changed things for us. It helped us tremendously.”

On Dec. 8, the Raptors ranked 30th in assists and 28th in offensive efficiency (101.4 points per 100 possessions). From Dec. 9 to the end of the season, they ranked 13th in assists and ninth in offensive efficiency (107.2). They went 41-22 after the Gay trade and played a rousing seven-game series in front of madhouse crowds, plus gatherings of 10,000 fans in Maple Leaf Square. It was truly one of the great scenes of the postseason. And it was enough to convince Lowry to stay put, making him the rare Raptor to re-up when he had a chance to leave.

He signed a four-year deal worth $48 million. Free agents Patterson and Vasquez also re-signed. Amir Johnson, Landry Fields, Jonas Valanciunas, Ross, Hayes and Tyler Hansbrough are all back, giving the Raptors a real sense of continuity in roster and process.

Toronto also traded Salmons to Atlanta for guard Lou Williams and intriguing developmental center Lucas Nogueria, and signed long, athletic wing James Johnson, who is coming off something of a breakout season with Memphis. “I don’t know if [Lowry] is the first player to be a free agent to re-sign that had an opportunity to leave, so that says something about what we’re trying to do, where we are, trying to build,” Casey said. “For the first time in his career he was able to say, ‘this is a team that I’m one of the leaders of,’ and for him to come back, it does make a statement of where we are in our growth process and the kind of program we have, and kind of opened some eyes to what kind of city Toronto is.

“The continuity is huge,” Casey said. “You can just see it turning, guys are getting comfortable with the defensive system, the offensive system. We can be top 10 in both offense and defense. Now we just have to continue to do that.”

The Raptors could get some votes as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference when the preseason predictions start to hit the newsstands. LeBron James’ return to Cleveland has shaken up a conference that might boast a favorite in Chicago, but mostly has a handful of what should be entertaining squads, including Toronto, Cleveland, Washington, Indiana and perhaps Brooklyn and still Miami.

“There’s opportunity for somebody to step up, it’s so balanced right now from top to bottom,” Casey said of the conference. “It gives us an opportunity to move up and take another step.”
Back in December, that hardly seemed possible.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

I heard he's trying to get Tyrone Lue to join his staff. Play Centre.

[Tacoma]

So "continuity" is the new organic growth. BC must be smiling and shaking his head.

[Rhettmatic]

Snoozy stuff, to be honest.

[UnRealGM]

TL;DR = Raptors hope this season is successful like last year.

[deeps6x]

Excluding the loss after the trade, and before we had the new players on the roster, they played at a 54 win pace - while getting to know each other and figuring out how to play with each other.

They know how to play with each other now. They are all coming back as better players (except for Chunk Hayes). No more Salmons. Better bench. BeBe and Bruno as the new towel wavers!

Barring injuries, I expect a 54 win season. Cavs, Charlotte and Chicago should be better. Every other team in the East worse.

[BC_IS_A_PLAYA]

Pound the rock

[Rejected]

Can we just start the season already

[Young_Buc]

This is probably the first time we've been called a big market team by an american publication.

[wtcantfw]

Excluding the loss after the trade, and before we had the new players on the roster, they played at a 54 win pace - while getting to know each other and figuring out how to play with each other.

They know how to play with each other now. They are all coming back as better players (except for Chunk Hayes). No more Salmons. Better bench. BeBe and Bruno as the new towel wavers!

Barring injuries, I expect a 54 win season. Cavs, Charlotte and Chicago should be better. Every other team in the East worse.

Charlotte? I don't think so.

[Psubs]

Excluding the loss after the trade, and before we had the new players on the roster, they played at a 54 win pace - while getting to know each other and figuring out how to play with each other.

They know how to play with each other now. They are all coming back as better players (except for Chunk Hayes). No more Salmons. Better bench. BeBe and Bruno as the new towel wavers!

Barring injuries, I expect a 54 win season. Cavs, Charlotte and Chicago should be better. Every other team in the East worse.

Charlotte? I don't think so.

Adding Lance Stephenson paired with Kemba Walker would be very complementary.

[raptorfever]

Excluding the loss after the trade, and before we had the new players on the roster, they played at a 54 win pace - while getting to know each other and figuring out how to play with each other.

They know how to play with each other now. They are all coming back as better players (except for Chunk Hayes). No more Salmons. Better bench. BeBe and Bruno as the new towel wavers!

Barring injuries, I expect a 54 win season. Cavs, Charlotte and Chicago should be better. Every other team in the East worse.

Charlotte? I don't think so.

Adding Lance Stephenson paired with Kemba Walker would be very complementary.

Too selfish of a backcourt...not winning.

[Left Side Drive]

[dagger]

Snoozy stuff, to be honest.

This is the issue I have with fans. Everyone wants signings and trades and other "news". But as the Spurs can testify, continuity, organic growth, good fit, are all important. They just don't make interesting reading until it becomes everyone's template for success.

[Spacing]

This is probably the first time we've been called a big market team by an american publication.

must be a mistake or NBA.com/canada

[Courtside]

Snoozy stuff, to be honest.

We need to get used to positive pub from south of the border. We'd previously get it in spurts, but if we're going to be successful in changing the perception of the franchise and the market, then even subtle things like being called a big market franchise are actually a pretty big deal. Repeat these little things enough and they become true (that tidbit has always been true, just unknown).

Part of the reason the local sports and broadcasting establishment doesn't take the Raptors as seriously as it should is because they aren't taken seriously by the big brother media in the US. The more legitimacy we have States-side, the more of it we'll get here. It's like when our actors or comedians have to get big in the US before they get the cred they deserve here.

If we get to the point as a franchise where this sort of thing really is snoozy, bring it on.

[tsherkin]

Fluff piece, but nice to see.

Much better than "looking ahead to the lottery" or anything at all about Bargs. I'll take it.

[Rhettmatic]

Snoozy stuff, to be honest.

This is the issue I have with fans. Everyone wants signings and trades and other "news". But as the Spurs can testify, continuity, organic growth, good fit, are all important. They just don't make interesting reading until it becomes everyone's template for success.

Shmuh? I'm all for toasting the U.S. media toasting the Raptors. But it's a longish article with no new information or insightful analysis, is all. I'm not objecting to its existence, I just didn't draw any nutrients from reading it.

[Detective]

Masai

Pls

Give us something new to talk about... I'm dying here man.

[Left Side Drive]

WHERES BLATCHE?!?