ON THE MARK.

DECENT TEAM, TERRIBLE COACH.

Last year, during a shortened 66 game season, Toronto's Dwane Casey was the worst coach in the NBA.  By far.  Without the benefit of a training camp because of a labour dispute, Casey felt the need to win every night and ended up pushing players into injuries (see Bargnani, Andrea) and complaining to the referees too much. I suggested he be fired on many occasions.  But this year, I decided to give Casey a pass, figuring that he learned some lessons and now was ready to step up and prove that he could coach at this level.   It's painfully obvious that he can't, and despite signing him to a recent contract extension, the Raptors must let him go.  Maybe not right now, but soon.    If they have any hope of developing a decent team, they can't have Casey as their head coach.
     Last night, for the umpteenth time, the Raptors absolutely sucked in the fourth quarter and blew a big lead to Boston.   Just like the horse that sprints out to a big lead and looks like a champion, the Raptors look terrific in the first three quarters.  Then they can hardly wait for the finish line to arrive.  You can blame the coach for that.   They take poor shots, they can't inbound the ball at crucial times during the game, they turn the ball over.  It's clear that they don't know what they're doing, and that's where a good coach comes in.  A coach has to control his emotions, maintain some cool under pressure and at all times, respect the referees.   Casey doesn't.  He's not capable of it.  He got fined 25 grand for saying the Raptors were ripped off by the refs when Demar DeRozan DID NOT draw a whistle on what appeared to be an obvious foul.   Maybe the reason he didn't get the call was because his coach is always whining to the refs.   And Casey whines to the refs because he doesn't want to accept blame for his poor coaching decisions.   So he blames the refs.  And they treat the Raptors like shit because of it.
     And please don't tell me that because Calderon was traded away, the Raps are weak at the point and that makes Casey's job tougher.  Nonsense.  He's got plenty of firepower.  How else do the Raptors regularly open up double-digit leads?   He's whipping them down the backstretch instead of conserving them for the stretch run.  Rudy Gay should automatically make Casey a better coach.  Casey should've realized Gay didn't have the shooting touch in the fourth quarter, after going 7 for 15 in the first three quarters.  Instead, he let Gay shoot.  And shoot.  And shoot 9 times in the quarter, hitting just once. Any other coach tells Gay to use his passing skills, or drive to the bucket and kick it out.  Not Dwane Casey.  And that's why the Raptors will never win with him.  He doesn't know how to protect a lead and he doesn't respect the officials, so he won't get the call when the Raptors need it.   Maybe it's not all Bargnani's fault.   Maybe Bryan Colangelo should look to make a coaching move.  Phil Jackson is out there somewhere.  Canada is a lot like Montana.  Just sayin'