TORONTO — Dwane Casey has become a Seattle Seahawks fan. Casey’s permanent residence is in Seattle, and he has developed a relationship with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll over the last few years, even spending some time at training camp.
Naturally, watching Sunday’s Super Bowl was an unpleasant experience, as his team lost and his acquaintance earned some criticism for a late-game choice. Plenty of analysts, and even some of his players, thought Carroll should have insisted quarterback Russell Wilson hand the ball off to Marshawn Lynch on the one-yard line instead of pass, a play that ultimately doomed the team.
“I know how ridiculous I feel when people ask me dumb questions in those situations,” Casey said with good humour. “ ‘Why did you do this?’ Well, there’s thought that goes behind it. I just didn’t say, ‘OK, we’re not going to go to this guy right now.’ There’s a reason. I’ll wait to hear coach’s reason. We may not agree with it.”
As always in Raptors circles, this comes back to Casey and 22-year-old centre Jonas Valanciunas. Casey pulled Valanciunas, who had recorded a points-rebounds double-double in the first half, with five minutes to go in the third quarter of the Raptors’ loss to Milwaukee on Monday. He did not come back into the game after that. The reason was the same as always: Casey wanted more mobility from his big men than Valanciunas provided.
However, the game against the Bucks brought another issue to the forefront: As the Raptors struggled horribly from the perimeter on Monday, Valanciunas was the only player scoring with efficiency. The problems, for once, were not about the team’s defence.
“(Monday) night was one time I did question whether he should be in there instead of Tyler (Hansbrough),” Casey said on Tuesday. “I would also argue, too, that Tyler was a big reason our pick-and-roll defence was so good and our scramble defence was so good. That was a hard decision last night. Usually in that situation, we are small, we are trapping in a situation where we do need stops. That was one night, where we needed offence, when we got (the score) to 75-75, do we put JV back in there? Again, it’s easy to stand here right now and question. It’s easy after the game to question. But in the heat of battle, I’m looking at Tyler, he’s busting his behind rebounding and doing what he’s supposed to do. We weren’t getting that from the first unit.”
Casey has a point, and it has some merit, even if you disagree. The Raptors’ defence is a bigger issue than their offence this season, and Valanciunas’s presence hurts the team defensively. That is undeniable. You can argue whether or not Casey should alter his schemes to better leverage Valanciunas’s skills, but there is no questioning he hinders the defence in the current system.
However, to blame Valanciunas for the club’s defensive failings is silly, too. From Kyle Lowry to DeMar DeRozan to Terrence Ross, the team has not defended on the perimeter close to well enough, and that is why Casey prefers quicker big men to help correct the initial mistakes. Valanciunas knows that to constantly get the nod in fourth quarters from Casey, he must improve his quickness.
“I think, oh definitely, he can be in the game (in fourth quarters),” Casey said. “Somebody asked if it’s something he can develop — he’s getting there. He’s better this year than he was before in his first couple years in the league, of guarding perimeter guys, staying in front, staying down in the stance. He’s getting better. Is he there yet? No. But also there are other areas that other players are not as good at. He’s going to get there.”
Still, it is incumbent on Casey to nudge him along with a bit more force. It is tough to weigh the Raptors’ need to keep win now with their developmental concerns, but Casey has continually favoured the former. It is understandable that Valanciunas’s errors, ones of slow-footedness and a lack of anticipation, stick in Casey’s memory. The coach craves defensive execution above all else.
Valanciunas’s improvement, though, is not just a question that will be relevant three or four years down the road. It is going to matter in this year’s post-season, when the Raptors will need not only Valanciunas’s seven-foot frame on defence, but also his post-up scoring when the team’s guards are misfiring. Every incremental gain Valanciunas makes now will matter in April and, with some luck, into May. In order for Valanciunas to get comfortable, Casey might have to make himself uncomfortable.
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