Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri remained non-committal on the future of coach Dwane Casey in his season exit interview on Tuesday.
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The Raptors saw their season end in disappointment this week as after securing the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, they were defeated 4-0 in a series sweep by the Washington Wizards in the first round.
It is the second consecutive year that they have suffered an opening round loss in the playoffs, and naturally that has brought Casey’s future at the franchise into question.
Although Ujiri didn’t suggest that a change would necessarily be made, he avoided committing to saying that Casey’s job was entirely safe and so it remains to be seen over the coming weeks whether or not the franchise decide to appoint a new coach.
“I think everything is a process. I should be doing this press conference normally in a week or couple of weeks,” Ujiri told the assembled media.
The Raptors GM revealed that he met with Casey on Monday and the pair discussed the positives and negatives of the season, with Toronto unfortunate with injuries after the All-Star break which caused a dip in form at a critical time of the season.
Ujiri added that if a decision to sack Casey had already been made then he would have revealed it at his press conference, but clearly that decision has not yet been made.
It is widely acknowledged that given the organisation is committed to investing in a new practice facility as well as their own D-League franchise, their resources are somewhat limited moving forward.
As a result, paying the remaining money on his contract in the event of sacking him would not appeal unless absolutely necessary, and at this point it looks likely that Casey will be back to start the new season next year.
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