Rewarding Casey would be wise move
Raptors very likely to extend coach’s contract in off-season
Dwane Casey lives his basketball life in the moment, concerned about this possession, this quarter, this half, this game.
It allows him to have a laser-like focus on the task at hand, not worried about the future because it is counter-productive — he takes things as they come.
It should be no surprise, then, that the Toronto Raptors head coach cares not a whit about his contractual status today because it will all be taken care of in due course.
The Raptors have a team option on the final year of Casey’s contract next season and it is inconceivable they would let the winningest coach in franchise history go after the best season the team has ever had.
What’s more likely to happen is the Raptors tear up that option year — worth about $3.75 million (U.S.) — and find some way to repay Casey for four years of consistent growth.
According to league sources, there were discussions in the middle of the season about an extension but they never came to fruition, which could be financially lucrative to the 59year-old Casey, who just wrapped up his fifth year in Toronto.
Scott Brooks got about $7 million in Washington on a five-year deal, Frank Vogel was fired in Indiana and got a reported $22 million deal over four years in Orlando, Terry Stotts signed a new deal in Portland that will pay him $5 million a year for three years and Dave Joeger left Memphis for $4 million a year in Sacramento.
So Casey is a relative bargain after the Raptors to a 56-win regular season and a berth in the conference final.
“I’ll let my agent handle all that,” Casey said.
“That’s the last thing on my mind as far as wanting to sit down and talk about that. That won’t be the first subject I hit on . . . that’ll be how to make our team better.”
Casey has been in a situation some might see more dire than this one and blocked out any possible distraction about a “lame duck” status. He worked the 2013-14 season without a deal of any kind for the following season and did well enough that then-new general manager Masai Ujiri rewarded him with a deal.
Ujiri said before the playoffs Casey deserved to be the Raptors coach in the future, so there’s no reason to see a snag in the process, especially since there have already been cursory talks.
The players know how important coaching continuity can be.
“He’s been amazing and I feel like he’s still trying to get better as a coach,” Kyle Lowry said Saturday of Casey.
“Every year we’ve gotten better. He’s just been a good guy and a good coach and just been able to — it’s hard to put into words — (be) a guy we can lean on and to put an emphasis on what he wants us to do and put the pressure on us to do it. We need that and we appreciate that.”