Former Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey claimed NBA Coach of the Year honors on Monday night, just weeks after the Raptors replaced him with assistant Nick Nurse. He has since accepted a position with the Detroit Pistons, and when he took the stage to accept his award in front of an applauding group of players, league officials and media members, Casey thanked the Raptors before noting his excitement at the opportunity to “play for an owner that trusts you.”
"All the players in Toronto in the past four or five years... I'm so proud of them." - Dwane Casey on being named the 2017-2018 Coach of the Year #NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/fdNS1VNR7E — NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 26, 2018
“When you get fired, which I did recently, I don’t know if you knew that or not, after winning Coach of the Year, you always doubt yourself a little bit,” he said. “You think, ‘OK. Can I do this? Do I want to do this again?’ And then I interviewed with Tom Gores, the owner of the Detroit Pistons. He and I connected, and he’s giving me the opportunity that I’m very appreciative of, for someone to believe in you. And that’s all you want as a player, and also as a coach, an owner who believes in you and trusts you with his franchise, and I appreciate that.”
Casey’s new team is pretty happy about it
The Raptors? Maybe not so much.
Casey edged out Celtics head coach Brad Stevens and Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, and even though Toronto opted to move in a different direction, his accomplishment with the Raptors is undeniable. Casey coached the Raptors to a franchise-best 59-win season, changing their offensive game plan from iso-heavy to a pace-and-space system that took the league by storm.
His accomplishments were blasted out the window — and out of Canada — after LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Raptors in the second round of the playoffs. That was a damning moment for Casey, especially after the Cavs needed seven games to get by both the Pacers and the Celtics before they were swept out of the NBA Finals by the Warriors.
But Casey is the NBA’s Coach of the Year, the first to claim the award after being fired since his mentor, George Karl. He has a chance at redemption now in Detroit. And with an owner who believes in him, he has to turn the Pistons right around.
SANTA MONIC, Calif. — Dwane Casey won the NBA Coach of the Year award on Monday night despite getting fired by the Toronto Raptors earlier in the off-season.
Casey beat out Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens for the honour.
The 61-year-old Casey was the most successful coach in Raptors history, but was fired on May 11, five days after being nominated for the NBA’s Coach of the Year award. He signed a five-year deal with the Detroit Pistons on June 11 to become their new bench boss.
Casey had a lengthy list of people he thanked on stage at the NBA Awards, including his wife Brenda and their children Zachary and Justine, as well as the Raptors players.
"All the players in Toronto in the past four or five years," said Casey, who led the Raptors to a franchise-best 59 wins this season to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time ever. "DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas, all the core guys that built the program to where it is today.
"Finishing with the 59 wins this year, franchise record, those guys are four-time all-stars, Olympians, I’m so proud of them."
Casey was fired after the Cleveland Cavaliers swept Toronto out of the Eastern Conference semifinal for the second straight year.
He’s also the 2018 recipient of the Michael H. Goldberg Coach of the Year Award, which is handed out by the NBA Coaches Association. That honour is separate from the league’s coach of the year award.
On Monday, Casey acknowledged the irony of being fired a day after being recognized by his peers for his accomplishments.
"When you get fired, which I did recently, I don’t know if you knew that or not, after winning coach of the year," said Casey to laughs from the crowd. "You always doubt yourself a little bit. You think ‘OK, can I do this? Do I want to do this again?’
"But then I interviewed with Tom Gores, the owner of the Detroit Pistons. He and I connected and he’s given me an opportunity that I’m very appreciative of. For someone to believe in you, that’s all you want as a player and as a coach."
Raptors guard Fred VanVleet was also nominated for an award, but missed out on being named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, losing to former Toronto player Lou Williams.
The Los Angeles Clippers guard became the first player to average at least 20 points for the first time in his 13th season or later. He led the league in fourth-quarter points and scoring average.
Nick Wass/Associated Press
The Toronto Raptors fired Dwane Casey after they were swept in the second round of the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he can take solace in one thing—he is the NBA's Coach of the Year.
Casey beat out finalists Brad Stevens and Quin Snyder for the 2017-18 award on Monday night.
That drew congratulatory tweets from two teams...both former and current, respectively:
When accepting the award, the now-Detroit coach reflected on his wild last two months:
Despite the playoff failure, the Coach of the Year is a regular-season award, and no team in the Eastern Conference was better than Casey's Raptors. Toronto finished with the No. 1 seed and a 59-23 record, the best mark since he took over as head coach prior to the 2011-12 season.
Part of the reason for the success was an offensive overhaul that led to a third-place finish in offensive rating during the regular season, per NBA.com.
Pairing the production with the league's fifth-best defense was a formula for wins, and Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer noted "Casey successfully overhauled Toronto's system to improve ball movement and shot selection. DeMar DeRozan started shooting more threes and playmaking, and as a result, had a career-best season."
Formulas only go so far, though, when matched up against a generational player, and James knocked the Raptors out of the playoffs for the third straight season.
The playoff failure was ultimately impossible for the Raptors front office to ignore, especially in an Eastern Conference that was quite winnable for the top seed. The Cavaliers needed a full seven games just to escape the first round, the Boston Celtics were missing Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward because of injuries, and key pieces of the Philadelphia 76ers were young and playing in their first playoffs.
Playoff loss aside, Casey did an admirable job leading the Eastern Conference's best team in the regular season and was rewarded in kind Monday.
Dwane Casey shares his journey as he earns Coach of the Year after a franchise-record 59 wins for the Raptors last season. (2:24)
Dwane Casey was named the NBA's Coach of the Year on Monday night for a season in which he led the Toronto Raptors to their best regular season, only to be fired after they were ousted for a third straight playoffs by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Casey, who has since been hired as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, led Toronto to a team-record 59 wins this past season and the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but he lost his job after the Raptors were swept by the Cavs.
"Once you get fired, it's not a good feeling when someone, after you have a franchise record [in wins] and then you still get let go, that's the uneasy part," Casey said. "Say, OK, something must be wrong with me. But the opportunity in Detroit has given me more enthusiasm, and I'm excited to get going again. Again, a lot of it goes with Tom Gores, the owner; he's exciting and excited to get another chance in Detroit."
Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics and Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz also were up for the award.
The Raptors' record improved in six of seven seasons under Casey.
"A lot of the same core guys have been there and they grew," Casey said. "That's a regret you have that we made it to the Eastern Conference finals, but we couldn't get over the hump to get to the Finals to try to win a championship. So that's always a regret. But, again, I can still hold my head high from what we had and what we grew from, and nobody can ever take that away."
Last month, Casey also was named winner of the Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award, which is voted on annually by the league's 30 head coaches.
"I have no regrets," Casey said. "I'm excited about the new journey in Detroit with the group we have there. So can't look in the rearview mirror. Winston Churchill said success is measured by failure, failure, and then come back with enthusiasm, and that's what I've done."
Other awards handed out at the NBA Awards show in Santa Monica, California:
Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert of the Jazz
The center was the leading vote-getter for the league's All-Defensive first team. Gobert anchored a Jazz defense that ranked second in the NBA in defensive rating.
He beat out Anthony Davis of New Orleans and Joel Embiid of Philadelphia.
"Defense to me is something that, when you watch a game, you don't really pay attention to defense unless you're very -- unless you're a specialist," Gobert said. "People watch the points, they watch the highlights. But the defense I think helps the offense. I think when you're a very good defensive team -- it's very rare a team wins a championship when you're not a very good defensive team.
"I think when you're a very good defensive team you give yourself a chance every night, on the road, at home, it's a big factor and something to build on."
Sixth Man of the Year: Lou Williams of the LA Clippers
The guard became the first player to average at least 20 points for the first time in his 13th season or later.
He led the league in fourth-quarter points and scoring average.
He beat out Houston's Eric Gordon, last year's winner, and Fred VanVleet of Toronto. Williams kissed his two young daughters on his way to the stage after becoming the Clippers' third winner in the past five years.
"I go out on the floor. I play as hard as I can and I live with the results," Williams said. "It's extremely exciting to be recognized for it. To have an opportunity to win a Sixth Man, this being my second in my career, being one of the guys that go out there night in and night out, that's in that lane.
"You've got the Jamal Crawfords, Eric Gordons, VanVleet, we're like special teams, and we go out there and try to do the best we can for our respective games and turn the course of how games go. So to be recognized for that tonight is an amazing accomplishment."
Most Improved Player: Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers
The guard averaged 23.1 points in his first season with the Pacers.
He earned his first All-Star berth, too. Oladipo also led the league in steals for the first time. He beat out Clint Capela of Houston and Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets.
"I put in a lot of work, obviously it was a great season," Oladipo said. "I'm blessed and thankful. Sometimes you get to points in your life where you do surprise yourself. But at the end of the day I'm thankful. It's only the beginning for me and the Pacers organization, so I'm looking forward to the future."
Lifetime Achievement Award: Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson
Robertson received the award from presenters Charles Barkley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
After Barkley mentioned last year's recipient Bill Russell, Boston's Hall of Fame center flipped his middle finger in Barkley's direction.
Robertson is the career leader in triple-doubles and was the first player to average one for a season. His antitrust case against the NBA also ushered in free agency for players, which Robertson said was his most important assist.
Backstage, Robertson commended the activism of today's players, although he wondered why more white athletes aren't speaking out.
"The only thing that really bothers me is where are the white athletes when this is happening?'' he said. "This is not a black athlete problem. You see injustice in the world. It's all around.''
Robertson went on to say he hopes "the whites and the blacks get together, even with the football,'' a reference to NFL players who have taken a knee or sat in silence during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
Information from ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk and The Associated Press was used in this report.
