The Toronto Raptors have decided to fire head coach Dwane Casey after getting swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs.
Toronto has fired coach Dwane Casey, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 11, 2018
Casey led the Raptors to the top seed in the Eastern Conference this season with a 59-23 regular season record. Toronto took down the Washington Wizards in six games before getting embarrassed by LeBron James and the Cavs in the next.
This was the third season in a row that the Cavs eliminated the Raptors from the playoffs, leading the organization to make this drastic change despite relative success aside from losing to LeBron.
This is a tough decision but it's clear that the Raptors felt some change was necessary if Toronto was going to ever take that next step and get over the LeBron hurdle. It may seem unfair for Casey who helped the franchise reach heights it had never seen before. But at the end of the day, it's all about the playoffs and winning championships and Toronto never got there and ultimately disappointed.
Casey was Toronto's head coach since the 2011-12 season. He led the team to a 320-238 regular season record over that time, a winning percentage of 57.3. But in the playoffs was just 21-30.
Here is a statement from GM Masai Ujiri on the firing:
Statement from Raptors president Masai Ujiri on Coach Dwane Casey’s firing: pic.twitter.com/FT4m0tSfEr
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) May 11, 2018
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