In a bit of a surprising move, the Toronto Raptors announced that they will be parting ways with Dwane Casey, who served as head coach of the team for seven years. Loads of people in the NBA community have since chimed in with responses to the news, including Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue.
As most fans of the team know, coach Casey led the Raptors to their best record in franchise history this season (59-23). However, Casey and the Raptors were swept by Lue and the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
“For what he’s done for the team… you get COTY (Coach of the Year) and then you get fired… it’s Crazy,” coach Lue said of Casey’s firing.
Coach Lue went on to say that coaching in the NBA can be hard at times.
“Very hard,” coach Lue said in response when asked how hard it is to be a coach in the NBA. “Players get paid more than coaches so it’s hard to tell players what to do when they’re getting paid more. I don’t know many jobs where the employees make more than the boss.”
Lue wasn’t the only coach taken aback by Casey’s firing. In fact, several play callers around the league have spoken out, including Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens.
“It’s disappointing from the standpoint of the coaching profession but as far as another coach looking at what he was able to accomplish, I think he’s a role model for a lot of coaches when you think about his great players got better, played great, coach Stevens told ESPN. His young players all got better, and really the second unit in Toronto was as good of a team and as fun of a team as there was in all of basketball this year. And on top of that, Dwane is as good of a person as they come. … I’m sure people will be lined up to try to get him to coach their team shortly.”
As Stevens noted, there is a good chance Casey will have several job offers in the near future, and they’ll certainly be deserved.
