Former Toronto Raptors bench boss Dwane Casey has agreed to become the Detroit Pistons‘ next head coach.
“Dwane is one of the most successful and highly respected coaches in our league,” Pistons owner Tom Gores said in a release. “He’s a great communicator and a leader who will connect with our players and accelerate their growth. Having spent many hours with Dwane over the last few weeks, I’m confident he is the right person to get us to the next level.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported that Casey was Detroit-bound, and that he had agreed to a five-year deal.
Casey spent the last seven seasons at the helm of the Raptors, amassing a franchise-best 320 wins with a .573 win percentage. This past season, the 61-year-old led Toronto to a club-record 59 wins and a No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Despite this, Casey was relieved of his duties on May 11 after a second consecutive second-round sweep at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He now joins a Pistons club that has missed the post-season in each of the last two seasons and finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 39-43 record, ninth place in the East and four games back of a playoff spot despite an encouraging 14-6 start to their season and a big trade-deadline acquisition of five-time all-star Blake Griffin.
“I’m confident that this team has the pieces in place to compete at a very high level,” Casey said of his new gig. “There is a lot of talent, a solid core and some exciting young players eager to get better. We’re getting to work right away on the things that will make us all successful.”
Casey replaces Stan Van Gundy, who was relieved from his duties as head coach and president of basketball operations on May 7.
The Raptors are now the lone NBA team still without a head coach.
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