Toronto Raptors: The Curious Case of Dwane Casey

This season has been an overwhelming success for the Toronto Raptors, but will that have any effect on the job status of head coach Dwane Casey?

With so many questions surrounding them heading into the season, there’s not many left for the Toronto Raptors to answer at this point.

Ranging from big questions like the impending free agency of all-star guard Demar DeRozan to more immediate ones like if the team could turn around their defensive struggles from the previous season, those queries almost feel like they’ve been answered due to the team’s staggering success this year.

Of course, nothing is certain and there’s certainly plenty of basketball to be played, but it’s a stark contrast to where the team was just six months ago.

One big question remains to be answered, and that is the long-term future of Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.

The topic of Casey’s future has loomed over the Raptors dating back to last season and given how the year ended for the team last year, some insiders around the league were genuinely surprised that Casey ended up being retained as it looked like the writing was on the wall for him.

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Now, that writing has been erased as this Raptors team is currently on pace to have the most successful season in franchise history.

The play of the team’s all-star backcourt Kyle Lowry and Derozan as well as the defensive upgrades (Bismack Biyombo, Cory Joseph) acquired over the Summer have been big reasons why the Raptors stand comfortably as the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

However, it would be unreasonable to overlook Casey’s part in the team’s success as he’s gotten the best out of a roster that has had to deal with their fair share of injuries, especially to big names like Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll.

That leads to the crux of the issue: will the team’s success during the season have an impact on Casey’s future with the team?

It’s no secret that Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri is trying to build the team into a perennial contender and he even addressed the issue in a recent profile of the team by Zach Lowe of ESPN.com:

"Yet there is a lingering sense that we’ve seen this movie twice before: the Raptors as a perfectly nice team not good enough to advance, and not sure how to close the gap. “How do you get from good in the NBA to great?” Ujiri asked. “That is really hard.”"