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Dwane Casey’s Coach of the Year Award doesn’t invalidate firing

By Mike Bossetti

CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 21: Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors reacts to a call during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on March 21, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Raptors 132-129. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 21: Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors reacts to a call during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on March 21, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Raptors 132-129. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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On Monday, former Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was rewarded the NBA Coach of the Year. While it is a great honor for Casey, it doesn’t invalidate Masai Ujiri’s decision to go in another direction.

After a disappointing playoffs, it’s sometimes easy to forget that this Toronto Raptors season was the most successful in franchise history. Coach Dwane Casey, along with his staff, improved a 51-win team, that’s roster remained largely the same, to a franchise record 59-wins and the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.

This Monday, Casey was awarded the NBA Coach of the Year for his accomplishments with the Toronto Raptors last season. Many considered it a piece of delicious irony, validation that Casey’s firing was in-fact unjust.

However, despite Casey’s well deserved hardware for his work last season, Team President Masai Ujiri’s decision to part ways with Casey should not be viewed any differently than it was a month-and-a-half ago. (As a side note: Can we please do away with the NBA Awards show? The experiment was worth a shot, but at this point is anyone other than die-hard’s and media actually watching?)

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As absurd as it might sound, Coach Casey deserving COY and deserving to be fired are not mutually exclusive outcomes. Coach of the Year is a regular season award, and what the Raptors accomplished this regular season was historic. However, NBA coaches are judged not only on their regular season accomplishments, but also their post-season success.

When the number-one overall seed is swept by a team that needed seven games to squeak by the Indiana Pacers and what was left of the Boston Celtics, its hard to argue the post-season was anything less than an unmitigated disaster.

Of course, some of the team’s postseason failures can be attributed to the Raptors’ key contributors. However, it wasn’t the players that allowed Kevin Love to post-up C.J. Miles four times four consecutive times without an ounce of help. DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka‘s poor play certainly influenced the outcome of the series, but Casey didn’t hold-up his end of the deal, being out-coached Tyronn Lue all series long.

Next: Chances of each Raptor returning next season

Casey accomplished a great deal during his time in Toronto. He lifted the franchise to relevancy for the first time since the Chris Bosh era. Yet the team clearly plateaued, and with only one year remaining the team was left with the option of extending Casey’s contract or parting ways.

Masai chose the latter, and while a COY makes it easy to second-guess the decision, it doesn’t invalidate it.

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