Former Raptors coach Dwane Casey tells story about how Lowry won starting job
No coach in history has spent more time running the Toronto Raptors than Dwane Casey.
In his 538 regular-season games in charge of the organization, Casey saw the team transform from an Eastern Conference afterthought to a perennial playoff presence over his eight seasons with the team.
Casey coached the Raptors from 2011 until 2018, when he was fired following a 2017-18 season where he was named the NBA Coach of the Year.
After leaving Toronto, Casey then became the head coach of the Detroit Pistons for five seasons, stepping down at the end of last season to take a role in the team’s front office.
But while he’s a bit removed from the public eye these days, Casey had plenty to say about his time in Toronto in a radio interview with Sportsnet’s The Raptors Show.
One of the topics Casey discussed with co-hosts William Lou and JD Bunkis was how exactly Kyle Lowry built up his reputation as arguably the greatest player in franchise history.
For Casey, it started in the 2012-13 season, Lowry’s first in Toronto, where the then 26-year-old point guard spent most of the first half of the season fighting for playing time with Jose Calderon for the team’s starting job.
Through 44 games that season, Lowry played in 31 games, starting just 16. But by mid-January, Lowry eventually snatched the starting role full-time, and he wouldn’t come off the bench again until the 2022-23 season while with the Miami Heat.
“Jose is one of the most beautiful human beings you ever want to be around… and I felt sorry for Jose,” Casey said. “Kyle would come in on a mission every day in practice and kick Jose’s butt… Kyle was on a mission to prove that ‘hey, I’m better than Jose Calderon,’ which it turned out he was, and the rest is history.”
From 2014-15 through 2019-20, Lowry made the All-Star Game each season with Toronto, and he remains the only player in franchise history to have six All-Star Game selections while with the team.
But while it took a little while for Lowry to earn the trust of his first Raptors coach, it seems like the two are on great terms now.
“I love Kyle. We text all the time now, and I love him to death,” Casey added.
The full episode is available below, with Casey’s comments starting around the 50-minute mark.
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