Dwane Casey Signs $18M Extension With Raptors Through 2019

[RealGM Wiretap]

Dwane Casey and the Toronto Raptors have agreed upon a three-year, $18 million extension.

The Raptors essentially tore up their option for the 16-17 season with Casey and replaced it with a three-year deal.

Toronto lost 4-2 in the best-of-seven series against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Raptors have been working to hold together his coaching staff too, including assistant coaches Andy Greer (Minnesota and New York) and Rex Kalamian (Washington) who are the objects of interest elsewhere, league sources said.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/The Vertical

[orlandojnf]

So three more years of mediocrity and overachieving or paying someone not part of the organization anymore (gets fired early).

[deeps6x]

#FireCasey

[Calinks]

Good he deserves it. Tired of Casey getting **** on even we he does well. If Casey got fired last year and some other coach got the Raps this far everyone would be talking about how great of a coach they are and how much better they are than Casey. If this was Luke Walton, people would be ready to anoint him to the hall of fame. It's like once you get a reputation for being great or poor it takes a herculean effort to shake it. Casey isn't perfect but he's far from a terrible coach that needs to be fired. Congrats.

[mulamutti]

What you guys don't understand is the Dwane Casey has bought into creating a "PROGRAM". that is,
1. accountability from players/coaches.
2. positive work culture, as a repeatable sustainable process.
3. working with players long term, and fostering great relationships with the players.
4. making sure the right pieces are brought in, that work well with each other.
etc. etc.

He's brought in to buy into a system larger than himself, or any one player. Raptors know they can't necessarily attract a Lebron, so they have to go Spurs style, and have sound scouting, coaching, discipline, etc. to establish a HIGH FLOOR. that is, no matter how lucky you get in terms of draft, or players at any given time, an established spurs-like program will always be good enough to get you in the playoffs.

Raptors are happy right now with establishing a HIGH FLOOR. In terms of going from a just a playoff team to a championship one, that may come in time, but they don't want to chase that at the cost of having a good sustainable program that is stronger than one star player or one coach. They want to never repeat the ol' raptor days which was dependent on vince carter type star to save everyone absent an actual program.

With all that in mind, it makes complete sense to get back Casey. He's a good coach, with plenty of things to work on. But he can work on that as they improve their "program". Unless you get a top tier "program" coach to replace him, no point replacing him for some potential short term gains at the cost of the program.

[jlokine]

i'll just say this.. i know there are a lot of casey haters out there.. but 1 thing i do notice is the decrease in blow out losses compared to triano days and smitch days... i hate his out of time out play calls, and end of quarters iso plays just as much as the next guy.. but the spurs isnt the spurs because they have a revolving door of coaches... and maybe i m not in the market, but does rick carlile get as much flak from the dallas fans? i dont hear it. dallas fans, please correct me. if the raptors are to build anything long term, gotta keep front office and upper management together... cant overhaul and make changes every 3-4 years...

that being said.. $6M per year for casey is steep.. i m glad it's not my money and it doesnt go against the cap..

[mawbsta]

i'll just say this.. i know there are a lot of casey haters out there.. but 1 thing i do notice is the decrease in blow out losses compared to triano days and smitch days... i hate his out of time out play calls, and end of quarters iso plays just as much as the next guy.. but the spurs isnt the spurs because they have a revolving door of coaches... and maybe i m not in the market, but does rick carlile get as much flak from the dallas fans? i dont hear it. dallas fans, please correct me. if the raptors are to build anything long term, gotta keep front office and upper management together... cant overhaul and make changes every 3-4 years...

that being said.. $6M per year for casey is steep.. i m glad it's not my money and it doesnt go against the cap..

How exactly is 6mil steep for a 3-peat division champion who has improved the team result 5 straight seasons since his arrival?
Casey is one of the most successful coaches over the last 3 seasons averaging 51 wins and a .621 winning percentage.

The only marker that really matters is market value - like players, the other coaches have already set the market for Casey.
Fred Hoiberg, Jason Kidd, Stan Van Gundy, Luke Walton, Jeff Hornacek and Frank Vogel all earn 5+mil, and with the exception of Steve Kerr who seems a bargain at 5mil, Casey has "out-coached" all of them. You could even argue he's been more successful than Stan Van Gundy, Scott Brooks and Rick Carlisle who all earn 7mil per season.

Pop earns 11mil, Doc 10 and Tom Thibodeau just signed for 10mil per.

Casey at 6mil is 8th highest paid coach in the NBA. Fair market value for what Casey has accomplished statistically and prefessionally, with the Toronto Raptors.

[Rated T By CBRA]

No coach is perfect, and I myself criticize Casey (like many other Raps fans) for moves he makes (or doesn't make). But at the end of the day - the Raptors as an organization have enjoyed probably the best 3 years in the history of the franchise. The team is fun to watch (most of the time), they finally had a deep playoff run after 1st round exits. Whether you want to admit it or not, Casey has implemented a better culture compared to before. There are higher expectations, there is accountability and there is defense.

We'll see how next season progresses - making it to ECF will surely put pressure on the organization to maintain a competitive playoff culture (assuming players are kept, or the ones dubbed to leave properly replaced).

[K6P]

As a fan of Casey and the Raptors ( as many posters are here), I would like to point out that the Raptors have been a tad bit lucky as the others teams in our division are, for the majority, hot garbage.

The 76ers, Nets and the Knicks (thanks for that 9th pick, eh!) are hot garbage and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Only the Celtics, who are doing better than many expected, thanks to Brad Stevens, are decent.

As a result, a percentage of our wins is skewed because they suck. With that being said, the Raptors are posting better wins against Western Conference teams too now.

Casey is a good coach and also a company man. There was a time, during the Colangelo years, when he told the media:
"Come hell or high water, Bargnani will be getting the last shot" (shivers shoot down my spine).

All in all, happy about the signing and look forward to this program increasing and hopefully getting to the Finals.

[tsherkin]

This is a "could be better, could be worse" sort of loyalty signing. He still has issues and he's clearly not an elite coach (which an exceedingly rare commodity, though). He doesn't really ever doing anything to reign in Demar (or Lowry, on nights when his shot selection is troublesome), and his approach to Jonas has been highly frustrating.

Everyone ever bitches about their coach's rotations, so I'll cut him some slack on that overall, and he was at least trying stuff in the playoffs, although he usually did it two games late and his follow-through was limp. But there are definitely many less valuable coaches out there and they didn't exactly hit him with a record-setting contract ITO duration or dollars, so it's neither unexpected nor totally out of sorts.

[KnightofHyrule]

I would like to point out that the Raptors have been a tad bit lucky as the others teams in our division are, for the majority, hot garbage.

The 76ers, Nets and the Knicks (thanks for that 9th pick, eh!) are hot garbage and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Only the Celtics, who are doing better than many expected, thanks to Brad Stevens, are decent.

As a result, a percentage of our wins is skewed because they suck.

Again, another person who overestimates division play.
Raptors play 4 games against each team in the Atlantic, 4 games against three teams in the Central and Southeast, and 3 games against the other two.

Now, If the Raptors played in the Southeast, they would still have the exact same schedule against the Central, play 1 less game against two teams in the Atlantic (e.g. Knicks and Nets), and 1 more game against two teams in the Southeast (e.g. Wizards and Magic).

That's the only difference. So, instead of beating the Knicks and the Nets in a 4th game, the Raptors would just beat the Wizards and the Magic in a 4th game. They'll still end up with the EXACT same record.

At WORSE, the Raptors would lose just two more games. 56 wins vs 54 wins had no bearing on the standings.

Stop giving Division Play weight.

[K6P]

I would like to point out that the Raptors have been a tad bit lucky as the others teams in our division are, for the majority, hot garbage.

The 76ers, Nets and the Knicks (thanks for that 9th pick, eh!) are hot garbage and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Only the Celtics, who are doing better than many expected, thanks to Brad Stevens, are decent.

As a result, a percentage of our wins is skewed because they suck.

Again, another person who overestimates division play.
Raptors play 4 games against each team in the Atlantic, 4 games against three teams in the Central and Southeast, and 3 games against the other two.

Now, If the Raptors played in the Southeast, they would still have the exact same schedule against the Central, play 1 less game against two teams in the Atlantic (e.g. Knicks and Nets), and 1 more game against two teams in the Southeast (e.g. Wizards and Magic).

That's the only difference. So, instead of beating the Knicks and the Nets in a 4th game, the Raptors would just beat the Wizards and the Magic in a 4th game. They'll still end up with the EXACT same record.

At WORSE, the Raptors would lose just two more games. 56 wins vs 54 wins had no bearing on the standings.

Stop giving Division Play weight.

I did say "a tad bit lucky" & ended with "With that being said, the Raptors are posting better wins against Western Conference teams too now" however I'll consider what you wrote...