The Toronto Raptors have reached a crossroads in their timeline. A season that began with so much promise and optimism took a swift downward turn with the first four-game playoff sweep in franchise history and while General Manager Masai Ujiri will likely have at least a couple of personnel moves in mind, it appears as though there is a good chance he could be looking for a new head coach. Dwane Casey is still under contract but after a disappointing finish, it makes sense that Ujiri would at least look elsewhere. What’s going against Casey is the fact that he’s not getting the most out of his players, which was evident down the stretch of the season and the playoffs. With that in mind, fantasy owners would love to see a change, so that players like Jonas Valanciunas, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan can take the next step. With that in mind, here are three potential coaching candidates that could improve the fantasy value of the players on the Raptors roster.
Alvin Gentry
The former Phoenix Suns head coach is currently an assistant on Steve Kerr’s staff with the Golden State Warriors and given their success, he’s likely is going to be a hot commodity this offseason for teams looking for a new leader. He’s an offensive-minded coach and would probably be an ideal fit for helping the fantasy value of the Raptors players if he ends up in Toronto. Gentry runs a pace-and-space offense that operates at a high tempo and capitalizes on the available space on the floor in order to maximize the team’s offensive potential and put opposing defenses on their heels. The strong side defense he plays worked out almost as well as the offense during his time in Phoenix and there is no doubt he has had a major impact on this Warriors team. If he’s hired, look for all of the shooters on the team to improve and maybe that means that Terrence Ross goes from being a bust to an interesting fantasy sleeper. The arrival of an offensive-minded coach to replace a defensive-minded coach in Casey would be a major benefit for the fantasy value of players on this Raptors team.
Mike D’Antoni
The strength of this Toronto team is with guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry but far too often the Raptors offense was limited to isolation looks and those two players trying to do it all themselves. DeRozan, Lowry and the rest of the team would dramatically benefit from a more structured offense and D’Antoni has the knowledge, system and experience to bring out the best in them. D’Antoni may have been trying to fit as a square peg in a round hole during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, but he showed earlier in his coaching career with the Phoenix Suns what he could do with a talented group of guards in an up-tempo offense. If he’s hired (or even Gentry), that probably means bad news for the fantasy value of Valanciunas but for everyone else, he would be a perfect fit in terms of improving the overall fantasy value on the Raptors roster in terms of athletic players and wings that can run.
Mike Malone
Malone was replaced by a future Hall of Fame head coach in Sacramento but just because the Kings preferred to bring in George Karl doesn’t mean that he is a bad head coach. Malone kind of got a raw deal this season as many people forget this team started 9-5 before a DeMarcus Cousins illness derailed the season. Malone was fired after the team started to decline without Cousins in the lineup. However, he did a lot of good things with Sacramento – including keeping Cousins happy – and it would be interesting to see what he could do with a young big man like Jonas Valanciunas. Don’t forget that Malone also was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors from 2011-13 as they developed the roster that is currently succeeding and he also was an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-10 as they made runs at championships.
With Casey preaching defense and in some ways seeming to exhaust his players by consistently pushing them at that end of the floor, change would be welcome for fantasy GM’s that own Toronto players in keeper leagues. Malone would be a good fit and a welcome change in perspective.
