9:09am: The National Basketball Coaches Association has made Casey’s win official, issuing a press release to confirm the news.
“The Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award for the top NBA Coach as voted by his peers is one of the most meaningful in all of pro sports,” Mavs coach and NBCA president Rick Carlisle said in a statement. “Dwane Casey once again maximized the Toronto roster to achieve the top record in the Eastern Conference. Congratulations to Dwane on this prestigious recognition.”
8:32am: While rumors swirl about his job security, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey will be recognized by his fellow NBA coaches, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times. According to Stein, Casey has been named the National Basketball Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year for 2017/18. He’ll be formally announced as the winner later today, Stein adds.
This award, introduced in 2017, isn’t the NBA’s official Coach of the Year award, which is voted on by media members and is represented by the Red Auerbach Trophy. That award will be presented at the league’s awards show in June. The Coaches Association’s version of Coach of the Year is voted on by the NBA’s 30 head coaches.
Casey did an excellent job with the Raptors during the regular season, leading the club to a franchise-record 59-wins despite some speculation that Toronto would take a step back this season. Casey revamped the Raps’ offense to rely more heavily on ball movement and three-point shooting, and put together arguably the league’s best five-man bench unit.
However, the Raptors’ head coach now finds himself on the hot seat due to the team’s performance in the postseason. For a third straight year, Toronto was eliminated in the playoffs by Cleveland, and there’s a sense that a new voice may be needed on the sidelines. The Raptors have now lost 10 consecutive playoff games to the Cavs, and struggled to make adjustments to slow down Cleveland’s offense during this year’s four-game sweep.
While winning this award doesn’t necessarily make Casey the frontrunner to be named the NBA’s Coach of the Year in June, he figures to be a strong candidate, whether or not he still has his job by the time that award is announced. A year ago, Mike D’Antoni and Erik Spoelstra were co-recipients of the NBCA’s first Coach of the Year award. D’Antoni later won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award, with Spoelstra among the three finalists.
According to Stein, D’Antoni was one of seven other coaches besides Casey to receive at least one vote for the NBCA’s award this season. The rest were Brett Brown, Nate McMillan, Gregg Popovich, Quin Snyder, Terry Stotts, and Doc Rivers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I like what another fellow said on another article post. If the Raptors the fire Casey he would become the hottest candidate around and whoever scoops him up will be extremely fortunate. In fact, if I was a team needing a coach I would wait until the Casey situation is resolved.
That’s true, he’d be a nice fit in Milwaukee
I agree Gary. All they had in Toronto was role players.
Got to be flipping kidding me, Stevens, hands down
Why Stevens hands down? Because you like the Celtics? Stevens is a heck of a coach, no question. But the Celtics are a deep team that was expected to be a top 2 team in the east. They lost Hayward, but still had Irving and picked up a top 3 pick in the draft to go with another top pick in brown. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brett Brown above Stevens in final standings.
And Irving is also injured, your forgetting they are winning in the playoffs with a bunch of bench players
Didn’t forget, pretty sure this voting is based on regular season. Hard to argue with a guy with a team that is perceived as worse yet earned the top seed. And I would say brown is more worthy with the way the sixers player this year
Gets fired 17 games into the season like Sam Mitchell.
Stevens was coach of the year.
Agreed. Stevens, along with Popovich, are the best in the business right now.
I get why brad Stevens might not have won but the fact that he didn’t even receive a vote is crazy
This was a vote amongst his fellow coaches. They realize his roster was stacked.
Casey wins, but loses in the end…he’s getting fired.
So when the Celtics get swept, dies that men Stevens also gets canned? Tyron Lue has mopped up the Celtics the last four years as well.
anyone think he might actually want out from the raptors ? I mean they are tied to some pretty lackluster stars in TOR
If Casey was coaching a team which lost its best two players, and where two of the best remaining players were 20 and 21 his team would not be on the verge of playing in the Conference Finals. His team would be where his Raptors team is…home watching after a miserable series against a one man team.
Celtics are the next team to be home watching. And let’s get real Tatum is the. Eat player on the Celtics and it’s Not even close.
•best player
It doesn’t look like he eats that much to me
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How on earth did Brad Stevens receive not a single vote for coach of the year