Since becoming a professional team in 1995, the Toronto Raptors have made the playoffs 12 times and won one NBA championship. That came last season when Kawhi Leonard led the Raptors to the title over the Golden State Warriors in six games. Leonard won his second Finals MVP Award and became a Toronto legend in just one season.
The Raptors have a regular-season record of 948-1,036. The franchise hasn't experienced too much success since 1995 but they have had some elite coaches stroll the sidelines.
For this piece, we ranked the top-four coaches in Raptors franchise history, starting off with the guy who is currently at the helm.
4. Nick Nurse
Nurse took over for Dwane Casey before the 2018-19 season and the results paid off for Toronto. Sure, Nurse got lucky that he had Leonard on the roster but it was still his offensive sets and overall coaching which led the Raptors to the 2019 title over the Warriors.
Nurse already has 104 wins as head coach. That's good for fourth in franchise history. He's also got 16 postseason wins. That's second in Toronto history to only Casey.
Before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19, Nurse and the Raptors had a record of 46-18. They were in second place in the Eastern Conference standings.
3. Lenny Wilkens
Wilkens coached the Raptors for three seasons. Toronto made the postseason twice during that span and went 8-9. Wilkens' eight playoff wins as head coach puts him in third place in Raptors franchise history for postseason wins.
The Raptors went 113-133 during the regular season under Wilkens. Lenny has the third-most victories in franchise history.
Wilkens was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1998. As a coach, he racked up 1,332 career wins. That's good for second in NBA history to only Don Nelson.
2. Sam Mitchell
Mitchell coached the Raptors for five seasons and won a total of 156 games, giving him the second-most as head coach in franchise history.
Toronto, though, was only able to make the playoffs twice under Mitchell's guidance. The Raptors went 3-8 in the postseason with Mitchell leading the charge.
Mitchell did win the 2006-07 Coach of the Year Award after the Raptors won 47 games.
1. Dwane Casey
For seven seasons, Casey was the voice and face of the Raptors. He won 320 games in the regular season and 21 in the playoffs. He's tops in both categories in Toronto franchise history.
If it wasn't for LeBron James, Casey and the Raptors may have won a few Eastern Conference championships. No matter how good Toronto was in the regular season, Casey and the Raptors were never able to get past James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Raptors fired Casey after the 2017-18 season. The 2018 NBA Awards were a little awkward since Casey won the 2017-18 Coach of the Year Award. He had to accept the award at the awards show despite already being fired from Toronto.
Nurse has a chance to break pretty much all of Casey's records with the Raptors. However, Toronto fans will never forget everything that Casey did for the organization. Whenever Casey and the Detroit Pistons come to Canada, the Raptors fans always give their former coach a standing ovation.
After all, odds are Casey would have had a good shot of winning a title with Leonard by his side. It's too bad Masai Ujiri made the bold move to trade DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi after firing Casey.
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