National Post (National Edition)
Casey goes from Hogtown to Motown
PISTONS MAKE FIVE-YEAR COMMITMENT TO FORMER RAPTORS’ COACH
Dwane Casey will be singing his pound the rock tune in Motown. The best coach in Toronto Raptors history — fired last month despite being the favourite to win coach of the year honours after a 59-win season — will now coach the Detroit Pistons. Casey and the Pistons agreed to a fiveyear deal on Monday, sources confirmed to Postmedia. ESPN first reported the agreement.
Casey had been making the rounds on NBA broadcasts recently and hinted at a looming deal.
The 61-year-old had a year remaining at more than $6 million on his deal with Toronto and could have waited for a more appealing opportunity. But there was no guarantee one would have opened and he is not the type to jump into a gig without a full training camp and time to plan and implement his systems, which could have meant a full season off for the workaholic basketball lifer.
Instead, he will succeed Stan Van Gundy and tasked with turning around a onceproud franchise that has missed the playoffs in eight of the past nine seasons with a winning record only once during that span.
Toronto was in even more of a dismal situation when Casey was hired in the summer of 2011 and it was under him the team enjoyed its best run of success.
Casey went 320-238 (.573) in his seven seasons with the Raptors and 21-30 in the post-season (19-18 against teams other than the Cleveland Cavaliers), including the first conference final appearance and seven-game series wins in franchise history.
After his firing coming on the heels of Toronto’s 4-0 sweep at the hands of Cleveland in this year’s playoffs, Casey leaning toward taking his time finding a new job, sources told Postmedia. But Detroit pursued him aggressively and offered exceptional terms on a new deal. The Detroit Free Press reported Monday Casey will earn “just above $7 million on average.” He plans to begin meeting with players immediately.
Toronto has not yet hired his replacement but has pared down its initial list substantially. Former Casey assistant and NBA G League Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse took a job as an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies over the weekend. It’s unclear if Casey plans to take any of his Toronto assistants with him to Detroit. Rex Kalamian, who was in charge of the defence last season but has held offensive roles during his long career, would be the most likely to join Casey’s staff. The player development staff, which has been extremely successful and valuable in recent years, falls under a different structural umbrella and likely stays put.
Money doesn’t figure to be an issue with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment when it comes to a new Raptors’ bench boss. But Casey’s hiring figures to save the company a bunch, since they would have been on the hook if Casey hadn’t found another job, or had decided to wait.
The Pistons made a bold trade for Blake Griffin prior to the trade deadline and will build around him and centre Andre Drummond in the hopes of filling its new, downtown arena. The club ranked only 19th in home attendance in 2017-18 and that in part led to Van Gundy’s dismissal from his management roles. Ed Stefanski, who helped bring Casey to Toronto under Bryan Colangelo, was hired to help the Pistons find their man.
In Casey, they they’ve done that. believe
Casey’s move to Detroit keeps a tradition alive. Since the dawn of the Raptors, there have been notable ties between the two franchises. The Raptors picked Pistons legend Isiah Thomas to be their first president and general manager. Thomas hired former Chuck Daly assistant Brendan Malone to be the team’s inaugural head coach and ex-teammate Darrell Walker also helped coach the club. Late ex-pistons GM Jack Mccloskey was a longtime consultant and one-time interim GM in Toronto while former Thomas teammate John Salley came to Toronto via the expansion draft and ex-piston Oliver Miller was a notable early Raptor.