LAS VEGAS — Even off days are basketball days in Las Vegas.
After playing games Saturday and Sunday, the Raptors were scheduled to have an off day Monday. Instead, Toronto’s Summer League team took to the court to have a scrimmage against the Washington Wizards.
After the scrimmage (closed to media except for the final few minutes), Dwane Casey caught up with reporters to talk about a variety of subjects, including his thoughts on the pace his team will need to play with this season if they are going to be successful.
It’s been clear since the hiring of Masai Ujiri that Casey would have free rein to return to his defensive-minded coaching philosophies. On Monday afternoon he called his growing relationship with Ujiri “excellent,” saying the two communicate daily. He also stressed that being a playoff team and defence-first team go hand in hand.
Despite his commitment to defence, he wanted people to know he doesn’t intend to slow the game down entirely.
“We’ve got to find a pace that is good to us. I’m never going to be a guy that wants to walk it up every possession and grind it out that way but if we do have to get into a half court set we have to be physical and have the ability to do that. Run on misses, get it out of the net, play fast, get quick shots.”
In addition to the weight Jonas Valanciunas has added to his frame since the season ended, Casey wanted to praise two of his vets for their hard work.
“Rudy (Gay) is another guy that’s really done a good job,” Casey said. “We’re looking at probably playing Rudy at the four, the three-four, the power-three so-to-speak. It’ll help him in that aspect. He looks good…Kyle (Lowry) is slim. He’s on the slim man’s diet. He’s done a good job with his body conditioning. That’s going to help Kyle’s conditioning, going longer, being able to play more efficient for longer periods of time with his conditioning. That’s the No. 1 thing I told him, he has to come back in the best shape of his life.”
For fans who grew tired of watching Lowry return to the lineup only to get reinjured and wind up back on the sideline, this is positive news. Both that Lowry has been working hard and that Casey levelled with him at the end of the season.
Casey talked contracts with the media on Monday afternoon. He wasn’t the one to bring it up, but he was good enough to answer a question about the challenge of coaching for a new general manager and front office staff in the final year of his contract. As politely as possible The Raptors coach made it clear that he doesn’t have any interest in discussing what comes next for him professionally. He also wanted everyone to be certain that his contract status will not cause him to deviate from his coaching plans for his team this season.
“I couldn’t care less about three years on the contract, four years on the contract, I’m going to be the same coach,” Casey said. “I’m going to coach the way I want to coach, coach the way that puts us in the best position to win and don’t even think about contracts. I’ve never coached with a contract in mind or trying to get another contract, another coaching job another assistant coaching job. Coaching to me is day-to-day, that’s basically what we’re all doing. I’m going to coach the way that fits our team and that’s defence first.”
