Dwane Casey returns. Time to finally question Masai Ujiri?

He’s back. Early Wednesday morning, Dwane Casey joined TSN morning show ‘Naylor and Landsberg’ and confirmed he would be returning as the Raptors head coach. Cue the collective groan from Raptors fans worldwide. Masai Ujiri is well-known as one of the best executives in the NBA. Should he be questioned?

Roughly a month ago, the Raptors were eliminated in an embarrassing sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers. For most Raptors fans, it was a gruesome, pull-your-teeth-out experience. The Cavs demolished the Raptors game after game, and genuinely toyed with them at times. This eventually lead to the widespread calls of Dwane Casey’s firing.

The month of May has come to a close with a decision finally made:

Dwane Casey is officially returning as the Raptors head coach for the 2017-2018 NBA season.

No press conference. No PR announcement. The word got out from Casey simply confessing to a morning news show that he would return as coach next season.

This is the video link (courtesy of TSN Sports) for those interested:

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/video/casey-reflects-on-raptors-season~1131175

From various Raptors’ writers, opinions varied on the coach’s controversial return:

From good:

Coaches evolve and can get better. Casey showed a new level of flexibility this year. He deserves the chance to make the changes Masai wants
— Sean Woodley (@woodleysean) May 25, 2017

To sarcastic:

Raptors culture reset: bring back all the same players and the same coach and expect different results
— John (@johngaudes) May 25, 2017

To the extreme:

My take on Casey’s return

Primarily, I’m surprised but I understand it. Ujiri has done so much good for this franchise that he deserves our trust making a move like this. Recency bias aside, Dwane Casey has undoubtedly been the best Raptors coach in franchise history.

Mar 23, 2017; Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

You could make all the excuses (“He coached great players! Masai did all the work! DeRozan and Lowry get credit!”) but Casey has coached this team incredibly throughout the years. Save for the 2016-2017 season, the Raptors saw team record improvements on a year-to-year basis.

Was this past year an embarrassment? Absolutely.

Has Casey made very questionable coaching decisions along the way? Absolutely.

Has the road been anything but perfect? Absolutely.

The Raptors ran into LeBron James, were badly humiliated and people wanted Casey gone. I get that.

Stepping into Ujiri’s mind

Overall, making a franchise-altering decision is something that takes time to decide on. Masai Ujiri gave Casey a lukewarm endorsement (at best) during the end-of-season press conference. That made most pundits and fans alike believe Dwane Casey was gone. Ujiri spoke about culture change and a system change. He specifically mentioned isolation basketball at one point and how the best teams in the league stray away from “me versus you and everyone else watches” basketball.

Getting rid of Casey would possibly start a chain reaction of events. Ujiri knew that his coaching decision would have an effect on free agency decisions (namely, Kyle Lowry), team morale etc. He definitely weighed all the pros and cons to bringing Dwane Casey back on board.

May 23, 2016; Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Above all, it takes a calculated mind to step back, look at the entire picture and generate judgement. And that’s exactly what Masai Ujiri did.

What if things go wrong next season?

Ujiri and the Raptors front office definitely took this into account before the Casey decision. Simply put, Jerry Stackhouse is the most sensible coaching transition midseason. I’ve shared this sentiment on my own Twitter account. If Casey cannot galvanize the troops and the Raptors hinder under his supervision, a coaching move should be swift.

Generally, many Raptors fans clamoured for Stackhouse to take control of this team before the decision was made. Ujiri knows what he has in the Raptors 905 head coach. Stackhouse sat beside Casey as an assistant coach during the entire 2015-2016 season. He was then promoted to coach the Raptors’ developmental team, the Raptors 905.

In his first season coaching, Stackhouse led Mississauga’s 905 to an NBA D-League championship.

Mission Accomplished! #RoadToTheSix pic.twitter.com/URu8XZbaYS
— Raptors 905 (@Raptors905) April 28, 2017

Some of you locals reading this know the general distance between Toronto’s Air Canada Centre and Mississauga’s Hershey Centre. It’s quite a way.

Nonetheless, Dwane Casey should feel Stackhouse’s shadow behind him all year long.

What do you think?

What are your thoughts on retaining Dwane Casey? Love it, hate it, don’t really care?

For reference, this poll was done on our Raptors Rapture twitter account:

Confirmed: Dwane Casey will remain the Toronto Raptors head coach heading into next season.

Thoughts on the announcement?#WeTheNorth
— Raptors Rapture (@raptorsrapture) May 25, 2017

Sound off in the comments below.