Dwane Casey was fired by the Toronto Raptors shortly after their unceremonious sweep at the hand of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. A constant roadblock for Casey’s Raptors proved to be one that would cost Casey his job despite leading the team to heights never achieved before. While the Raptors still have not hired a coach, many knew the man they ousted would not be out of a job for long.
It now appears that Casey, a finalist for the 2017-18 NBA Coach of the Year, has reached an agreement to join the Detroit Pistons as their new head coach after being their main target for the job.
Following comes from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Dwane Casey has agreed to a five-year deal to become the next coach of the Detroit Pistons, league sources told ESPN.
The Pistons stayed aggressive in pursuit of Casey, and closed on a deal Monday morning to land the franchise’s primary coaching target. Owner Tom Gores and senior advisor Ed Stefanski sold Casey with an aggressive contractual commitment and a case that together, they could make the Pistons a perennial playoff team in the Eastern Conference.
Casey joins the Pistons shortly after being voted coach of the year by his contemporaries. He led the Toronto Raptors to a franchise-record 59-win season, their third consecutive 50-plus win season, the No. 1 seed in the East and a berth in the conference semifinals. But they were swept by the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the second year in a row and the team determined a change had to be made.
The Pistons hire Casey following their decision to almost completely restructure their front office leadership. They fired Stan Van Gundy as team president and head coach after the Pistons failed to reach the playoffs for the third time in four years under Van Gundy.
