Toronto Raptors' Dwane Casey Shows His True Colors With Jonas Valanciunas Quote

Jonas Valanciunas
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

With Dwane Casey at the helm, the Toronto Raptors have won two straight Atlantic Division titles, and reached a franchise-record for regular season wins. Yet, I’ve maintained that it’s best for the team to let him go. And in a recent interview with John Schuhmann, Casey demonstrated a basic misunderstanding of how to win in the NBA. Here he is talking about whether Jonas Valanciunas – the franchise’s best asset – will have more of a role going forward:

The league is going to their more skilled guys toward the end of games. Trends come and go, but right now, we have to participate in that trend.

First of all, it’s borderline disrespectful to refer to players who aren’t Valanciunas as “more skilled”. I’m sure he didn’t intend it to be an insult, but he had plenty of more neutral words at his disposal to make the point. “Quicker”, “more versatile” or even “smaller” would have sufficed. Instead, Valanciunas – a genuinely skilled player – is portrayed as some sort of hack. Brooklyn Nets coach Lionel Hollins made a similar show of disrespect to Brook Lopez in the playoffs, and I think they would have beaten the Atlanta Hawks had Lopez been given his due.

Second, it’s just asinine to claim that “we have to participate in that trend”. He doesn’t have to participate in that trend. It’s not high school, Dwane; you don’t have to wear what the cool kids are wearing. The Raptors are a part of the league, not an outsider looking to fit in. Play to your own strengths and make others adjust; zig when everyone zags.

Casey has woven this logic into his postgame repertoire over the years, so this interview is more a stamp on the envelope than a revelation. He’ll say things to the tune of “they went small in the fourth, so we had to take out Jonas,” instead of sticking with Jonas and making the opponent take out whatever “more skilled” guy they had on.

Finally, the way Casey has dealt with Valanciunas has been toxic to his development, and quotes like these reinforce that notion. Things may need to change in a big way for the Raptors to reach the next level; Valanciunas could improve his defense drastically, he could be traded or Casey could be fired.

At worst, Casey is mismanaging his team and its potential franchise player. At best, he’s managing his team correctly,  but tanking the trade value of its potential franchise player in the process. Is that really a best-case scenario Raptors fans can be comfortable with?

Casey Sherman is the Toronto Raptors Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @shermham

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