Coach Casey among the contenders for COTY

[godkingleonidas]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sportsnet/status/443537339059810304[/tweet]

Worthy? Unworthy? What do you think?

[Lockdown]

Obviously worthy. He took a team that had every reason to quit and who nobody thought was any good, and turned them into a top 10 offensive team in efficiency, the best 4th quarter team in the league, got DeRozan into a position where he was an all star (and we should have had two with Lowry), put Ross in a position to break out, and they're likely to win 3rd in the East.

I don't know if he wins it, but worthy? Of course he is, anyone who says otherwise is being absurd.

[Hero]

Reporter : "Dwayne what was the most important part of the team's sucess this year? You've surpassed all expectations."

Casey : "Well, to be honest, it was simple. The team bought into the philosophy of pounding the rock and everything else took care of itself."

[AMG]

The raptors as a whole and as individuals have basically all met or greatly exceeded expectations. Say what you like about the East this year, the impact of coaching, especially outside the Xs and Os knowledge and application, but he's not only a legit contender but could take the award easily if we finish strong. Division champs, most franchise victories?, 50 wins? (i know, i know )......these could all be serious factors

[Clutch Carter]

No he isn't.

[TheDoctor]

Here's how he could win it:

Phoenix missed the playoffs (currently down to 9th because of hot Memphis), Portland finishes 6-8th, and we finish 3rd. Thibs can absolutely get consideration too, and would be a deserving candidate.

[Scarface844]

Casey has a strong chance to get it. Portland is struggling and the Suns most likely won't make the playoffs. Raptors are third in the east, division leaders, top 10 in offense and defense along with a 1 all star, 1 potential all star and MVP candidate, young players developing and playing a big role in Val and Ross.

Interestingly it doesn't sound like Casey and Masai have had any talks at all about an extension. It seems like if Masai was even a little bit interested in keeping Casey he'd have had some discussions. Masai always brings up we'll talk in the off season and Casey always brings up the fact that he'll always have a job somewhere no matter what. It certainly sounds like Casey not returning is a strong possibility.

[Lockdown]

Even if the Suns don't make the playoffs, they're still likely to end up with a better record than ours in a tougher conference. It would be a shame to count that against them.

[C_Money]

He has some moments where you wonder WTF he is thinking sometimes but overall this team plays harder than anybody in the league except for maybe Chicago. He's gotta be in the COTY discussion at least.

[Scarface844]

Even if the Suns don't make the playoffs, they're still likely to end up with a better record than ours in a tougher conference. It would be a shame to count that against them.

Suns are actually projected to finish 46-36 as of right now. That would put them 2 wins below us and 2 more loses then us. Also 3rd in the east, Atlantic division title, top 10 in offense and defense along with 1 all star and 1 potential all star/MVP would be superior to 9th in the West, inferior record to the Raptors, no all stars etc.

[Anatomize]

[Mister Ze]

I'll give it to Thibs for losing Rose and then later Deng yet still getting home-court advantage in the playoffs.

With Casey he didn't have a good start to the season and only after trading Gay did he start accumulating wins.

[supra2k8]

Reporter : "Dwayne what was the most important part of the team's sucess this year? You've surpassed all expectations."

Casey : "Well, to be honest, it was simple. The team bought into the philosophy of pounding the rock and everything else took care of itself."

[Bustnani2012]

I think he should get it if he get us division title, and highest single season wins in team history.

[CB4Champ]

Respect.

Hope he wins it.

Really the turnaround this team had is unprecedented, I mean we looked like a tanking team, lose our top scorer, and now we are top 3 in the conference??????? Really?

People open your eyes, Team loves him, Follows his lead, and he makes it Fun.

Just imagine the Raps when Casey gets better on offense, I mean we top 10 now and that's his weakness.

He will be re-signed regardless of how we do in the playoffs...all you fans dreaming up scenarios about him not getting an extension is deluding themselves

[MA29]

[Lockdown]

I'll give it to Thibs for losing Rose and then later Deng yet still getting home-court advantage in the playoffs.

With Casey he didn't have a good start to the season and only after trading Gay did he start accumulating wins.

Why would the Gay trade matter here? Chicago was in the cellar and everyone assumed they were tanking. They only turned it around and started getting wins after we did.

[ballislife]

TBH I hated him coming into this season… but he's done an excellent job overall. He still has his moments where substitution rotations are a problem, but he has these guys playing well. I've been very impressed with Casey getting the most out of this team. He deserves the accolades. He's been a great coach for us. This team is MUCH better than anyone expected, and that's because the guys have bought into his system.

I definitely think he's learned from past mistakes, and that's all you can ask for. He's been growing as a coach, the same way the youngin's are learning from experience. I hated him a year ago, but I think he's a coach that can lead us to the franchises' best times. He's a good coach. Love what he's done… and I think it'll only get better. We need to re-sign him going forward. Defense wins championships… and he's proven to lead a Dallas team on the D end to a championship over the Heat. Guy's are buying in, and that's all you can ask for… Casey is a very good coach in this league.

[Anatomize]

Motivational coaches can only get you so far, X & Os are the name of the game in the playoffs, matchup/momentum based substitutions. He's been much better this year, but there are still glaring weaknesses in substitution patterns, out of timeout plays, in-game adjustments, and end game plays (most not his fault since execution was poor on the part of the players - DeRozan/Ross/Lowry at times). Being able to get the most out of your players effort wise and maximizing players' talents are two different things, and I don't think he has a firm grasp on the latter nor do I think he's creative enough offensively to ever be that.

Watching our lack of adjustments versus Brooklyn has me concerned, we tried the same hand off high post play with Amir/DeRozan at the left elbow over and over again despite the fact they were denying DeRozan the ball by fronting him on the cut and getting aggressive on Amir's hand off-forcing him to pass it back out. We made no effort to post up the much skinnier Livingston, instead, we opted to let DeRozan try and attack the lengthier Livingston off the dribble. We were consistently forced to pass it out to the top of the key to Lowry and reset the play, Lowry/Hansbrough are the main reason we stayed in that game, it would've been a blow out. Patterson is obviously a huge x-factor here due to his ability to bring out the other team's forward using his stretch shooting, but in a small ball matchup (Pierce at PF), I'm no longer sure how much of an advantage that is if he has to cover an SF-playing-PF defensively - Pierce would absolutely molest Patterson/Amir in a 7 game series and that's not a knock on Patterson/Amir, and on offense Pat would have to post up much more frequently to take advantage of the matchup.

I look forward to seeing us in a playoff matchup nonetheless, but Casey could be completely exposed. It's a little bit scary if he wins coach of the year before the playoffs and we absolutely fail in the first round, and we're in a re-sign or let-go situation because it could be a repeat of the Sam Mitchell debacle (though I doubt Masai follows BC's footsteps). I'm cautiously treading here.. we'll see what happens come playoff time, and I would love to find out how much influence Nick Nurse has had this year.

For some of the previous posts, I do think it's cliche to say "defense wins championships", because it completely undermines how important offensive execution is - realistically you need both, and being one dimensional at either end will get you knocked out. Those teams with top defenses also had excellent offensive execution, be it the Spurs, Pistons (Rip Hamilton / Chauncey / Rasheed), Miami - New/Shaq+Wade, Dallas, Lakers, etc.

[alevirfe]

^^ Great post. Like what Casey's done this season from a motivation/team buy-in aspect but need to see more improvement in crunch time execution, plays out of time outs, etc. The playoffs will be a huge test for Casey

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