[PaulsJayhawksParticipant]

Im sorry but as a Raptor fan I am horrified on he is managing personel with this team. The Raps are not making the playoffs this year. Terrenace Ross gets zero minutes tonight? How is the guy supposed to get better with no game expereince.

Also Casey never plays Val down the stretch, he was playing Howard really tough to start the game. Now in OT Aaron Grey comes in when Amir fouls out wtf..is Aaron Grey a big piece to the Raps future??? Am I missing something? Don’t even care if the Raps win or not tonight but the expereince that Val could be getting is so valuable!

Please fire him this summer!

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

amir has been dominating lately too if you didnt notice..

[theprophetParticipant]

i don’t like casey either. he deserves to get fired. on the other hand maybe they should just ride it out with the guy. the raptors are obviously rebuilding anyways and casey’s contract ends at the end of next season. if they wait they can take their time and hire the right coach for this talented team without wasting money on another contract for a coach like the team they played tonight did with d’antoni and many other teams. you are right though, ross needs pt and val needs quality experience.

[halfdecayedParticipant]

Problem is, as much as I hate Andersen.. He’s playing good basketball, and he deserves his spot on the floor..

[T-Dot-BallerParticipant]

16 min–12 pts, 6 rebounds, 1 blk plus played solid d on dwight….but no min in 4rth and ot

[Toronto16Participant]

I agree. This summer the Raptors need to clean house. Don’t bring back Dwyane Casey, Bryan Colangelo, Rudy Gay and especially not Andrea Bargnani.

[torontoraptors10Participant]

Casey has to go
Bargnani has to go
Gay can stay
BC is meh, I’m indifferent

[drk3351Participant]

While I agree that Casey should have went with Val instead of Gray when Amir fouled out, a lot of Ross not playing is to blame the management. They sign Landry Fields for a big contract who got 24 minutes? They should not have signed him in the first place and Ross should get those minutes. Also I was impressed with Alan Anderson tonight 17 Points on 6-14 shooting even though he missed a big free throw. Plus he played good D on Kobe but Kobe made some impossible shots.

Also am I missing something? Bargnani started but only played 9 minutes while Gray played 15. Also their point guards Lucas, Lowry and Telfair played a total of 58 minutes and is that really necessary with the wings Toronto has?

[J_01Participant]

Bargnani left the game with an elbow injury

[Ghost01Participant]

I’m actually a huge Dwane Casey fan. Now some of the things you brought up, specifically Aaron Gray are bad decisions, but he does know how to coach defense and run complex zones that are hard for teams with a lot of talent like OKC or Miami to attack. You brought him in, and this team had nothing. They had a bunch of injuries this year, and now have a bunch of bad contracts to boot. Give him a chance to coach at least a third season, he deserves at least that. Alan Anderson has been playing good, Terrence Ross has not. That is why Ross doesn’t really play. I know they are finished but coaches like Casey are always reluctant to play rookies in anything more than an abbreviated role. And yes, they signed Landry Fields to a ridiculous contract, because they were hoping the Knicks would match it to take them out of the Steve Nash running. And as far as churchboy, and his “clean house” plan. Good luck getting rid of Gay and Bargnani, theres still like 70 million owed to those two guys over the next 3 years.

I think for next year, they need to really go hard in FA to bring in a few supporting players. Now their cap situation may be completely effed at this point but at least they got rid of Calderon’s contract. They need another shooter, and they need one more low post scorer. If they go with

Lowry
DeRozan
Shooter X
Gay
Valuncianus

With Anderson, Amir Johnson, Low post player X and Ross as your main guys off the bench, I think that would be pretty solid rotation. They should play Gay at the 4. He is a terrible, terrible shooter, he is better in the post, and in the east theres really no team that is gonna make you pay for doing that.

[dmo21Participant]

I’m also a Raptors fan and watch pretty much every one of their games. Casey is one of those coaches that works on respect. You have to earn your position on the floor. Ross has not been playing up to the level he should be in most games. He usually slacks on defense and takes some poor shots, but when he does play good and smart, Casey keeps him in. This is showing a young player that you earn your minutes by working hard and being smart. You’re not just gonna play because you’re young and drafted high. Casey is coaching this team like it should be a playoff team, which we should be, and why play young guys and lose more when we don’t even have our own first round pick (rather give up a #14 pick than a #5 pick). I hope this turns out like JVG and Redick between Casey and Ross, as in Redick has said he really respects JVG for not starting him and playing him much when he first came into the league and made him earn his minutes. Redick said he really respected JVG for that.

On the matter of Gray, I think it was the right option to put him in over big Val last night. I think he puts in Gray because he is a veteran and is smarter both offensively and defensively than Val, which you need playing a very good team like the Lakers at the end of a very tight game. You don’t want one of those rookie mistakes happening at the end of the game where it might make your team lose. And if you watched the game, Gray didn’t make any mistake once he came in.

[BigChamp12Participant]

SVG Stan Van Gundy

[torontoraptors10Participant]

I don’t get Dwayne Casey.

Why would he have Gray near the 3 pt line and Kobe blows by him and dunks it. The Raptors played REALLY well, but the ending the game should have been handled better. Yes Alan Anderson, some big shots, but I don’t think he should have taken the ball towards Dwight. It should have been DD or Gay.

@dmo21 – I think Valanciunas would have been better than Gray because he is faster, more mobile and better defensively. I love Gray, but he’s just there for size. Val could have altered the shot or something. (And I think you mean SVG not JVG lol)

Overall, Raptors played really well. I’m still hoping they make the playoffs. Raptors have a bright future, and as pessimistic as it sounds, I really hope we tank next season and we draft Andrew Wiggins.

[Ghost01Participant]

Anderson went at Dwight, and got the foul. Yes he missed one of the FTs, but you can’t say that play didn’t work, he blew by Artest.

Gay, conversely, shot a terrible 7-26, and missed a bunch of mid range shots down the stretch, including on the last play. He refused to take it to the rim, and kept settling for his bad jump shot.

[PaulsJayhawksParticipant]

All I see from raptors fans is how Val is the only untouchable guy and how he is the future of the team. Wile I don’t agree he is untouchable I do agree he is a huge part of their future. I would much rather him gaining experience in crucial minutes down the stretch this year even if it means making mistakes cause that’s how you learn and get better. That’s on Casey period.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Ive been looking at the Raps overall lineup and Ive realized this is as good as this group is going to get. I would suggest the Raptors pickup a 4 or 5 in free agency like Josh Smith, Paul Millsap, JJ Hickson, Al Jefferson, or Samuel Dalembert but they are locked in for 72 million on the cap next year and even if they amnesty Bargnani they are still at 62-mil on a 60-mil cap.

They will definitely want to profit from the Gay trade and sneak into a 7th or 8th playoff spot next year but they only wise thing for them to do would be to clean house and acquire prospects and draft picks then utilize the 2014 draft to their advantage. In my eyes everybody but Derozan, Ross, Valanciunas and Johnson should be in all trade talks possible. Although the most profitable thing for them to do would be to play out the exciting lineup and hope for a .500 % season.

What a shame.

[OhCanada-Participant]

And BC has got to go, horrible quick fiix prey to the sky signings like Linas Klieza, and Landry Fields has the Raptors in this position when they should have just played it safe and expected their coaching staff to be able to build from within with good acquisitions. Amir Johnson, Alan Anderson, Aaron Grey, and Sebastian Telfair were some good small moves BC made in the past which make the Klieza, Fields signings a waste of about 30 million dollars over a 6 year or so stretch. Not to say Fields is a bad player, but why draft Ross if you pickup Fields and why pickup fields if you knew you would draft a wing for insurance in case Derozan thinks he is not going to be a Raptor, why wouldnt management know whether or not Derozan would be staying, why not trade Bargnani while he had value. Its all just bullshit.

[NorthBoundBallParticipant]

I made a post the same time Rudy Gay got trade to the Raptors and had to clear my lack of knowing what was going in that moment, got my share of thumbs down, I don’t really care because i don’t get pay monthly for being an expert, but what makes me please is the cry for what most of my statement stated is being brought up in this post, I disagree with anything said about Coach Casey nd I understand I got some thumbs down for the trade idea. The state of the Raptors. First of, the Rudy Gay trade to me made no sense, many fans in the city was excited not me, people were trying to tell me Rudy Gay is an All-Star player, last time I checked you have to be an All-Star (Play in a actual All-Star Game) to be one, he clearly have the talent/skills to be one but he’s not one. Rudy Gay to me just added to the mess BC is creating in Toronto, but lucky the Raptors have a strong fan base so you won’t see the financial problems on the team. Rudy Gay leaving Memphis was strictly money issues there. Secondly, Coach Casey to me is an excellent coach, last night game against the Lakers was more of “I’m rolling with experience tonight” no offense to Terrence Ross (no minutes) and Jonas Valanciunas (not playing in the 4th and OT) but they are Rookies. Valanciunas was getting outplayed by Dwight that’s why Casey didn’t play Jonas. Thirdly, Management is the reason why this team sucks, bone head moves and freedom to do whatever. The Raptors need a new management team and GM. Raptor fans have to understand the Draft is the only way to improve this team and that’s the message needed to transfer to ownership. Ownership need to start over simply as that no need to try to make the playoffs when there is no actual result of it. Start Over! Finally, This Team is not a playoff team because they were like 4 games behind Milwaukee at one point after the All-Star break, if they were a playoff team they would be in the hunt for the 8 spot. This is why I don’t think they will be one next year as well, this team should be setting the identity they will be next year and the Identity they are setting is a Lottery team next season as well.

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