The Toronto Raptors have surprised many this year as the team was predicted to be among the NBA’s tanking list, but have surged into the playoff picture. The biggest reason for the Raptors 37-29 record, good enough for third in the Eastern Conference, is the growth of DeMar DeRozan, who’s really come into his own. However, two guys that can’t be forgotten in this entire process are head coach Dwane Casey and all-star snub Kyle Lowry. DeRozan, the Raptors lone all-star this year is signed for long-term. Casey and Lowry, on the other hand, are both on the final year of their contracts. Even with strong seasons individually and as part of a successful team, the two are not locks to be returning next year.
The 2013-2014 Raptors began the season with a 6-12 record. This led led to the trade of Rudy Gay to Sacramento. Many believed that with Toronto native Andrew Wiggins dominating NBA draft hype, this was the beginning of team tank.O nce Gay was traded, Lowry’s name floated in the air as the next to go. Raptors General Manager, Masai Ujiri will be the first to admit that he indeed had a deal in place to ship Lowry out of town. Luckily for the Raptors, or however you really want to put it, New York Knicks (who reportedly would have acquired Lowry) owner James Dolan would not allow the trade to be finalized.
Meanwhile, the team started winning and with that the drama with the Lowry trade rumours subsided. Since December 6th the Raptors have a record of 31-17. The team that was supposed to tank quickly became one of the NBA’s biggest surprises. However they still could find themselves an underdog in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Raptors could face either the Brooklyn Nets or Chicago Bulls in the first round, and most analysts don’t see the Raptors getting past either team. It should be noted though that the Raptors have indentical 2-1 records versus both teams after the Gay trade.
Whatever does happen with the Raptors in this years playoffs won’t affect the team for the long-term. To be honest even a first round victory would likely be the height of the Raptors exploits this season. One of Miami or Indiana would be waiting in the second round, and upsetting one of those teams is still highly impropable. Despite the fact that they will not win the NBA Championship, or even the conference, its still fair to say that the Raptors season has been a success. The team has surpassed all reasonable pre-season expectations.
That said, the future of this team will be largely impacted by what happens this coming summer in the NBA off-season. Masai Ujiri has promised to use a patient approach to build the Raptors into a perennial contender. The next big decisions that have to be made for the Raptors general manager concer the contract statuses of both Dwayne Casey and Kyle Lowry.
Sometimes a player tends to play harder during his contract year and that could be the reason for Lowry’s success this season. Lowry is having a career year as he is averaging career highs in points (17.2), assists (7.9), rebounds (4.7), three point percentage (38.3%), and minutes per game (37).
However, Lowry hasn’t even come close to showing that this season is all about money and his next contract. In the past he was known for having an attitude and issues with coaches, but all Casey has done all year is praise Lowry for his grit and leadership. Lowry, who has a wife and two-year old son, has become a big family man. This may be the reason for his newfound maturity and his off-court situation may be making for a better on-court game. In just one example, Lowry took a knee to the head this past Sunday in a game against the Phoenix Suns. Although he passed the concussion test, Lowry didn’t look himself, yet still finished the game. A player having a great season, and playing for a contract might just sit out the rest of that game and a few more to be sure he is 100% healthy. Rather, Lowry played through the pain in an attempt to help the team win.
So the question Ujiri must answer is if the Raptors bring back Kyle Lowry? Even with what Lowry has done, there does not seem to be a clear answer. The biggest question surrounding Lowry is; Does he fit with this team’s long-term plans? There’s no doubt Lowry is a perfect fit to his years Raptors team, but Ujiri has yet to indicate what the future plans are when it comes to building the Raptors into a Championship contender. The Raptors will need to bring in more skill and most likely another all-star player to really put themselves up there with other Eastern Conference contenders such as Miami and Indiana. One major trade or signing could change the atmosphere of this Raptors team and Lowry could find himself on the outside looking in. It is no secret that Lowry’s game really didn’t mesh with Rudy Gay, and so the identity of the next Raptors superstar might affect whether or not Lowry is the point guard who will get that man the ball.
That being said, Lowry has said himself that DeRozan is the star of this team and he’s just here to do his job and help win games. So with even more talent added to this roster Lowry could end up going from a second option on the court to as far as a fourth option. Would he be willing to do so in order to help the team win?
I believe the Raptors should bring Lowry back. He’ll always have a role on this team and his grinding, gritty style of play is not something that is easy to find in today’s NBA. If he ever does fall out of the teams plans his value is high enough to find a trade partner. However, Ujiri has to avoid overpaying to re-sign Lowry.
Casey’s situation is a little different. Many think Casey will get a new contract even if Ujiri wants to hire his own guy. I myself have a biased opinion towards the Casey situation. Do I believe Casey is a great coach? Yes, he’s a wonderful assistant coach. A wonderful defensive coach. He gets along with all his players, or at least it seems that way. However, Casey is not a championship level head coach in my book.
People look at the 37-29 record and say that Casey has done the job and that he deserves an extension, but this can’t be based simply on records. Some will even say that Casey handles young players like Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross really well. They say that he has helped them grow into solid starters in this league, and that there sitll is plenty of room for growth left. But, how many times have we seen both those two players benched for long periods at a time. I understand needing to show young players that nothing comes easy in this league, but they have to learn to play through the tough times as well.
It’s tough watching Valanciunas start the first quarter with 12 points, and then spend the majority of the second quarter on the bench and even when he plays in the second half he doesn’t touch the ball at all.
The Raptors have been in many close games this year in which they have got the last possession to try and win the game. I’m all for giving your all-star players the ball for the last play. Let them create something, but when it hasn’t worked all season it might be time to find another way to handle the last play. A young Raptors team like this might be better off seeing a play drawn up rather than an isolation for DeRozan. Tuesday’s game versus Atlanta had a perfect example when Lowry scored the lay-up to send the game to overtime.
On Monday I was having a conversation with a man I work with who went to the Raptors game this past weekend versus the Suns. All he could do was complain about how badly Suns coach Jeff Hornacek out coached Casey. My colleague noticed that during every timeout Hornacek was in the huddle with his team drawing something up or talking. No one else got to say a word. On the Raptors side, Casey spent most of every timeout at half-court discussing with his assistant coaches and some timeouts he would not even get to say one word to his team as he spent too much time with his assistants.
I’m not taking this season away from Casey. He could still grow as a coach. You have to do more right than wrong to have the record the Raptors have, but for the future the Raptors are in need of a championship-level head coach. I believe Ujiri has his guy in mind, but not bringing Casey back after a season like this will raise a lot of questions of why Ujiri would let Casey spend a whole season with this team.
That being said, there’s a reason why we sit at home and weigh the pros and cons pretending to be general manger, but Ujiri is the one that has to make the tough decisions. This summer he has two big ones that will impact the future of the Raptors.
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