As expected, it looks like Dwane Casey will be named Raptors head coach in the near future.
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News had it first on Monday morning, though he was incorrect in stating the announcement could come Monday afternoon.
He also first reported that Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle told him last week he expected to lose CAsey to the Raptors.
A last-minute disaster could still screw the deal up, but that is extremely unlikely, since Michael Jordan isn’t involved.
ESPN’s Marc Stein reported Monday night that Casey was with Bryan Colangelo at the team’s New York City workout of big man Bismack Biyombo.
A media conference could happen as soon as Tuesday.
Detroit wanted to get Casey in for an interview this week, but as I speculated recently, with three other candidates (Kelvin Sampson, Mike Woodson, Lawrence Frank) still in the running there, Casey didn’t even bother.
Given his busy schedule leading the Mavericks deep into June, it is unclear how familiar Casey will be with potential draft picks.
Logically, Casey, with strong ties to his former school, Kentucky (despite an ugly departure years ago), has a pretty good book on Brandon Knight or could be filled in pretty quickly by somebody there.
The Raptors definitely need to improve their dismal defence and players like Kawhi Leonard and Byombo are the top defensive options available at No. 5, though they might provide very little at the offensive end.
In time Jonas Valanciunas could become a solid defender, but he isn’t there yet and might not even be around if Cleveland takes him at No. 4. That could make Enes Kanter available. Kanter will rebound the way Casey likes his players to and plays with an edge and throws his weight around, but it is unclear if he will be quick enough to rotate effectively in the NBA. With Casey, rotating well in the zone is a key and Casey is going to have a difficult time getting Andrea Bargnani to figure out how to do it.
Kanter + Bargnani might be a disaster in waiting as the bottom part of a zone defence. Don’t see enough lateral quicks with either of them though Kanter at least has the basketball IQ that Bargnani lacks on defence.
Knight has always been decent defensively. I have concerns with Kemba Walker as a defender at the next level though.
Here‘s a good look at the two point guards.
It’s still early, but at this point, I’d be surprised if one of Walker, Leonard or Biyombo is not the pick on Thursday. Obviously that changes if Knight and Kanter are still on the board, but that looks less likely with every passing minute.