weird week
Toronto Raptors fire their head coach 2 days after he's named coach of the year by his peers
Dwane Casey is having a week. Just two days after being named the coach of the year by his peers, Casey has been relieved of his duties as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports. He was the Raptors' coach for seven seasons.
Casey was named coach of the year by the National Basketball Coaches Association, comprised of the league's head coaches, on Wednesday. Seven other head coaches received votes. The award is separate from the NBA Coach of the Year, which is voted on by the media and will be announced next month.
But his Raptors, after securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference this year, flamed out of the playoffs Monday after being swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers. This year's Toronto team was widely thought to be a dark horse Finals candidate, featuring a deep bench and strong coaching by Casey, but instead LeBron James and the Cavaliers exposed the Raptors' characteristic playoff weaknesses once again and sent them off to an early summer vacation.
Raptors team president Masai Ujiri had hinted at parting ways with Casey at his exit interview with the media, and CBC blared in a headline Thursday that "for the Raptors to move forward, they need to fire the best coach they've ever had." Read their argument here.