Dwane Casey Introduced As Raptors’ New Head Coach

Afterwards, Casey sat down with Raptors.com writer Mike Ulmer, where he was asked a series of amusing questions that had little to nothing to do with his basketball coaching philosophies or his plans for the Toronto Raptors. Instead, we got an awesome story about coaching legend Eddie Sutton.

I have absolutely no idea how hard it is to kill a turkey.

The delayed course of the Raptors’ opening may have helped Casey; assistants on championship and Finals teams typically have trouble fitting in interviews during a playoff run.

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Initial reports raised concerns about possible damage to the wrist joint itself, which in a worst-case scenario could have required surgery, a prolonged rehabilitation process, and the possibility that the Pujols would never again be able to generate the same type of historic power numbers he has amassed during his 11-year MLB career. During the typical baseball swing -- and especially in one as dynamic and forceful as Pujols’ -- the wrists undergo a significant amount of stress and torque as the arms and upper body powers through the strike zone. For this reason, an injury isolated to a single forearm bone is far better prognostically than one to the joint itself.

Because it is comprised of a multitude of bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and nerves, the wrist is arguably the most anatomically complicated of all the joints. It joins the forearm bones (the radius and ulna) with the bones of the hand. Fractures such as Pujols’, which involve the distal (end portion) of the radius, are the most commonly occurring type in adults.

Dwane Casey is expected to be hired as the new head coach of the Toronto Raptors, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. Casey had been the favorite for the job, according to recent reports; Sefko cites a source that said Casey could be announced as soon as Monday.

Casey has most recently served as the top assistant coach under Rick Carlisle for the 2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. Casey was the head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves over 1-1/2 seasons in which the team went 53-69. The team was 20-20 in the 2006-07 when Casey was fired by the Wolves as then-GM Kevin McHale said he believed the team was a playoff contender. Randy Wittman took over, and the team finished 12-30 in the remaining 42 games.

The report comes from ESPN’s Marc Stein on Twitter.

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Casey’s candidacy is complicated by the Mavericks’ NBA Finals run. Smith reports that the Raptors would like to have a coach in place before the June 23 NBA Draft, where Toronto has the No. 5 pick and a very interesting choice to make. But the team also seems committed to giving Casey a full airing as a finalist, which is good, because Casey is among the best candidates for any job.

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Carlesimo has a reputation as a defensive-minded coach, which is presumably the reason the Raptors hired him as an assistant. Toronto has had the NBA’s worst defense in each of the past two seasons.

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Triano, the league’s first Canadian-born head coach, took over for Sam Mitchell during the 2008-09 season, and failed to take the Raptors to the NBA Playoffs over his tenure. Triano leaves the bench with a 87-142 career record; he’s been with the Raptors franchise for a decade as an assistant and head coach. He preceded Leo Rautins as the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team, and now serves as an assistant for the U.S. team.

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