Sad ending for Raptors
TORONTO — Kyle Lowry called it a wasted season. DeMar DeRozan said it was the low point of his NBA career.
The Toronto Raptors headed into an off-season of uncertainty Tuesday after suffering another embarrassing playoff sweep at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But this elimination felt far worse than the previous years. And it may have cost coach Dwane Casey his job.
“It’s just a terrible feeling of when reality hits you that tomorrow you won’t be preparing for work,” DeRozan said.
“My nine years being in the league, this is probably the toughest, most frustrating, difficult, lowest feeling I’ve had.”
Hopes had been sky-high after the Raptors roared to a franchise-best 59 wins to clinch the No. 1 Eastern Conference seed.
Casey’s ability to revamp the team’s offensive style and develop his bench made the 61-year-old a frontrunner for the NBA coach of the year.
James and the Cavs slashed through all of Toronto’s regular-season work in seven quick days, leaving the Raptors still shell-shocked the morning after their humiliating 128-93 blowout in Game 4 of their second-round series.
“It does feel a lot different because we feel we could possibly make the NBA Finals, that was our goal,” Lowry said. “For me, it was championship or bust, that’s what I feel, that’s what I always feel, so a wasted year for me.”
Neither Casey nor team president Masai Ujiri spoke to the media on Tuesday. The team said they would be available at a later date.
Casey is the most successful coach in franchise history, and the Raptors’ record has improved in all but one of his seven seasons at the helm. But there’s been a palpable feeling that change is afoot since the Raptors fell to 0-2 in the series.
When asked for his thoughts on Casey, DeRozan said he’s made a habit of staying out of personnel moves.
“My job is to always come back better next year. I just do my job, and that’s to come back better. . . and I never question anything else. I let upper management handle that, honestly,” DeRozan said.
“No matter what, I’m always going to have the utmost respect when it comes to coach Casey.”