Toronto Raptors: Ranking all head coaches in franchise history

7. Darrell Walker

Darrell Walker doesn’t leave a very accomplished legacy with the Toronto Raptors

Walker followed Malone as the head coach of the Raptors, and he was also unable to make Toronto a factor in the East during the early stages of his career. Unlike Malone, however, Walker was allowed to coach more than one season, as the former Rockford Lightning coach managed to last until his second season before he vacated his post. Walker’s 31.3 winning percentage remains the worst mark in Raptors history, as he won just 41 of his 131 games despite having some talent available on his roster.

Walker was playing some futuristic basketball, as those Raptors played with the third-highest pace in the league. Unfortunately, the defense did him in, as the Raptors of 1997 gave up more points than any team in the league. Luckily for Walker, who briefly coached the NBA’s Washington Wizards and WNBA’s Washington Mystics, he found success as an assistant with the Hornets, Pistons, and Knicks. Currently, he is the head coach at Little Rock, where he led the Trojans to a 21-10 record and a Sun Belt regular-season title last year.

6. Jay Triano

Jay Triano’s run with the Raptors was poor after losing Chris Bosh

On paper, Triano should’ve been a home run. An Ontario native who attended Simon Fraser, Triano made his name as a coach for the Canadian national team before becoming an assistant in Toronto. While he wobbled to the finish in 2008-09 after being named the interim head coach, Triano’s Raptors showed some real improvement, as they won 40 games and narrowly missed out on a postseason spot next year. Things changed, however, when Chris Bosh departed for the Miami Heat.

With Bosh gone, Triano was unable to once again help the Raptors’ offense rank fifth in the league in points per game. Andrea Bargnani, Leandro Barbosa, and a very young DeMar DeRozan were unable to make the Raptors much of a threat, as they won just 22 games before Triano got the axe. After he was let go, Triano was reassigned within the Raptors organization before becoming an assistant in Portland, a head coach in Phoenix, albeit briefly, and an assistant in Charlotte, where he remains now. Triano would’ve been an amazing success story, but he is instead remembered as a very inconsistent coach.

5. Butch Carter

Butch Carter’s reign with the Raptors was productive, but controversial

Let’s get it out of the way right now. Carter’s reign as Raptors coach was DICEY. He alienated Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady by limiting their playing time. He sued Marcus Camby for $5 million before the playoffs. He invited Master P to try out for the Raptors in a publicity stunt to distract attention away from Carter. He claimed that the NBA was sabotaging the Raptors in order to get Vince to a bigger market, which ultimately laid the groundwork for his trade to the Nets. He alienated McGrady and helped get him traded to Orlando. He tried to stab his old friend in GM Glen Grunwald in the back to get control of the roster.

Now, let’s get to the good. Carter, older brother of NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter, took over a franchise that had been a doormat for years and won just 16 games in 1997-98, and he had them as a 45-37 playoff team in his second full season as a coach, making him the first Toronto coach to taste postseason success. While his tenure was brief and extremely controversial, he helped show that the Raptors can make it to the postseason, and Toronto fans shouldn’t make Carter into a complete pariah that gets proverbially burned in effigy.