I guess this is where an Eddy Curry joke should go but the guy is looking pretty cut these days, must be a contract year. Dwane Casey has put a huge boulder in the locker room to represent his team mantra, "pound the rock", "to serve as a constant reminder that success won't come easily or without hard work." “It’s about a stonecutter,” Casey said Sunday, explaining the mantra that’s omnipresent in the team’s inner sanctum, emblazoned on the inside of the locker-room door and the wall of the team’s Air Canada Centre practice facility. “You may hit that stone 100 times but it may take the 101st time to crack that stone." So yeah, this isn't gimmicky in the slightest...
athletes are of below average intelligence. we might see this as corny but athletes eat this stuff up
over. i like casey but not the roster. however, i think that is the wrong question to ask because casey has a free pass in my opinion. conversely, this season is referendum on colangelo' prospects- bayless, james johnson, ed davis and demar derozan. if these guys take the next step, colangelo will be lauded but if they regress, colangelo will be eviscerated in the court of public opinion
I say under. Casey walked into a similar situtation in his first head coaching job and lasted a season and a half. Triano lasted a little over two and a half seasons. So, I expect Casey to last somewhere between two and two and a half seasons. BNM
Maybe so. However I think we have such low expectations that the 50% that are still with him are just happy to have a team to cheer for and are Chad Ford Jr.'s constantly hyped-up about the next crop of draft picks. The performance he's had as a GM/President wouldn't fly with any franchise that's had a winning tradition.
Colangelo's first season in Toronto was his best, and it's been downhill from there. He actually built a decent team back in 2006-07, but then he mucked it up by overdoing the whole Euroball thing. Guys like Hedo and Belinelli were totally redundant with Bargs and Jose on offense (how many one-dimensional perimeters players do you need?) and made the team much worse on defense (one of the worst in league history). I actually think Casey's fate may be tied to Colangelo. Unless you're Phil Jackson, Greg Popovivch, Jerry Sloan or some other proven coach, it's hard to survive a GM change. If Colangelo gets fired, look for the new guy to look to bring in "his guy" to coach the team in the style the new GM wants to build. BNM
this euro ball experiment was colangelo pathetic attempt to reinvent the wheel. the way u win in the nba is with defence not perimeter shooting. although, in colangelo's defence, he believed american stars would flee canada if given the opportunity in free agency so he settled on the less flight prone europeans. he gets an A for effort and F for execution.
There's only four or five teams in the league that guys really want to play for. Everyone else is a paycheque destination. This isn't 1997--I don't think think many players discern much between cities like Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Toronto--save for the guys who have friends with criminal records who can't cross the border into Ontario.
I just like how serious Casey is. Seems like a real hard ass. That should put that big mago in his place.
Casey's a smart basketball guy and a well respected assistant coach. His biggest problem is going to be getting the respect of the players. Because he never played in the NBA, and isn't a proven head coach, he comes in lacking clout and credibility with the players. He needs to win them over right away. Otherwise, it's going to be an uphill battle he probably won't win. I wish him luck. He knows his shit. I just hope the young Raptors are willing to listen and learn from him. This could be a chance for both the coach and his players to grow together. After last year's 60-loss record, this team has nowhere to go but up. Is Casey the right guy for the job? Hard to say, but I hope the players give him an chance. BNM
i really believe in this guy, i hope this isnt misplace optimism on my part but i think he has the tools to be successful. he has the experience and no one on this roster has cachet to challenge this guy
