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When the analytics team is sharing their opinion and the coaching staff is saying the opposite in the following paragraph in Lowe’s piece, that’s a less-than-optimal situation for a franchise that is in the middle of a five-year playoff drought. Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo was quick to deny any rift between the two sides. “There is absolutely no rift between the front office and coaches concerning the use of analytics,” he answered via email. “If anything, it’s more about coaches and management (the basketball guys) challenging the analytics team (the numbers guys) on the premise that you disregard or abandon pure and simple basketball ideology. Healthy debate is surely part of the process, but we are all learning and evolving in this very interesting space.” SportsNet

Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey, Bryan Colangelo 

Colangelo wasn’t the only one deflecting attention from the differing opinions among coaching staff and the analytics team. “You have friction between yourself and players, yourself and your own coaching staff,” coach Dwane Casey told the media on Tuesday afternoon. “I think the challenge — I don’t say friction — I think the challenge is using it in the right way where it’s not the only piece, the only tool that you use. There are many tools you use to prepare your team to play. There’s not friction. There’s one piece. “Everybody wants to get their point across. Analytical people want to say, ‘This is the tool to use.’ Scouts want to say, ‘My tool is important.’ At the end of the day, the bottom line is, whether it’s (through) personnel or analytics, is winning.” SportsNet

Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey, Bryan Colangelo 

Dwane Casey, Toronto's head coach: "It's a good backup for what your eyes see." Casey added, "It may also shed light on something else," a sentiment both Nori and Sterner echoed at points. "But you can't make all your decisions based on it, and it can't measure heart, and chemistry, and personality." Sterner: "It helps reinforce your gut. Most of the time, your gut is pretty much right." Nori: "More than anything, it's a tool to help confirm what your eyes see." Grantland

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Statistics 

“Even though we want to find out what we have, guys are going to earn their minutes,” Casey said. “Guys are still going to come in and out of the game. But again, you’re not just going to stay out there and say, ‘OK, we’re going to play the rookies.’ No, it doesn’t work that way. We’re cheating the program if we coach those guys that way. That’s the way it’s going to be.” National Post

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey 

Bargnani returned from a 26-game absence caused by a torn ligament in his elbow against the Celtics. When he entered the game, there were audible boos to go along with cheers. Coach Dwane Casey expressed discontent with the jeers on Wednesday, and did so again on Thursday. “I was disappointed a little bit in the fans booing him,” Casey said. “This kid had a torn tendon. It’s not like he had a backache or a headache or a toothache. He had a torn tendon in his arm, a legit injury. I was concerned about that. He was fine. He bounced back. He used it as a chip on his shoulder, which I like. Fans can boo who they want to. This kid, he responded last night.” National Post

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Andrea Bargnani 

Lang Greene: According to Raptors head Dwane Casey, the goal for this season is making the playoffs. The Rudy Gay trade puts the team all in. Twitter @LangGreene

Toronto Raptors, Rudy Gay, Dwane Casey 

The NBA fined Raptors coach Dwane Casey fined $25,000 on Thursday after he unloaded on the referees and questioned the NBA’s officiating review system following a 93-92 loss to the Hawks on Wednesday night. SI.com

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey 

Not long before Colangelo spoke, Casey let loose, after the officials declined to call a foul at the end of Toronto’s one-point loss when DeMar DeRozan clearly was mauled. “I’m tired of losing games because of missed calls at the end of games. I know the league is going to come down on me, but I don’t care,” said a seething Casey, smoke practically billowing out of his ears. “These guys have fought their hearts out, played their hearts out and at the end of the game, we get cracked, (league sends out an) apology, go back to Canada. I’ve been in this league 18 years and I’ve never seen so many missed calls at the end of the game to cost us the game. We’ve got great officials in this league, and too good to miss calls and short-change young men like this. It’s not right. I watched the replay three or four times, hoping that they (somehow made the right call) but they didn’t,” he said. Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Referees 

Eric Smith: Casey says rumored players won't dress Twitter @Eric__Smith

Toronto Raptors, Trade, Ed Davis, Dwane Casey, Jose Manuel Calderon 

Head coach Dwane Casey was also disappointed in the officiating, particularly the non-call on Johnson. "I hope the league looks at that last play of the game when Amir Johnson gathers the shot going up," said Casey. "I don't know who he's passing to, but I just hope they watch it. I hope they watch it. "That's all I'm going to say about it, because it's a very questionable, marginal call at the end of the game." Casey then added: "We'll see what the ruling is." cbc.ca

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Amir Johnson 

Dwane Casey knows how changes can be made abruptly in the NBA. So the Toronto Raptors coach was not too stunned to hear that Jim Boylan was replacing Scott Skiles as Bucks coach a few days ago. Boylan's Bucks meet the Raptors in a Sunday matinee, Canadian style. "Nothing surprises me in the NBA," Casey said in his remarks to reporters about an hour before tip-off. "I've been there before, seen it, done it, been in that situation. "That's our league. Not trying to be flippant about it. There's different situations, circumstances or whatever it is. I do know Scott has done a good job with that team. They've got his personality. They play hard; they scratch, they claw. So you're in for a 48-minute fight. "That's what we're going to face today." Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey, Scott Skiles, Jim Boylan 

It all stemmed from a play with 15.6 seconds left and the Raptors with the ball, up 16. It certainly would appear to be a time when Toronto would hold the ball and run out the clock. Instead, guard Jose Calderon threw an alley-oop pass to Landry Fields, who threw down a dunk. Sixers coach Doug Collins stared down at the Raptors' bench, where, when the game ended, coach Dwane Casey waved at Collins. The Sixers coach didn't respond and a couple of minutes later, as the Sixers approached their locker room, words were exchanged. In the Raptors' locker room, both Calderon and Casey said they wanted to apologize, saying they didn't know how much time was left. Perhaps the fire that Collins' players showed after the late-game incident will carry over to the next game, which is Saturday at home against Houston. Right now, they need to look anywhere and everywhere for some answers. Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Landry Fields, Doug Collins 

Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Friday he intended to speak to Bargnani about his remarks but said he would be "surprised" if the comments had not been "lost in translation." Sacramento Bee

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Andrea Bargnani 

Ryan Wolstat: Casey hasn't been told he's the problem so says he's still working hard. Has been under pressure in past nothing new Twitter @WolstatSun

Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey 

Yet two people with knowledge of the Raptors' thinking who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue told USA TODAY Sports that Casey is not in jeopardy at the moment, and the more relevant question is how long it will be until Colangelo makes a roster move that helps his own situation. USA Today

Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey 

Bruce Arthur: Colangelo also said that no coaching change has been contemplated, and Dwane Casey isn't in danger of losing his job. Twitter @bruce_arthur

Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey 

Toronto coach Dwane Casey, currently in his fourth season as a head coach, admitted Friday he almost joined a hospital company rather than joining the coaching ranks coming out of Kentucky in the late 1970s. Casey was a backup point guard on coach Joe B. Hall’s UK team that posted a 30-2 record on the way to winning the 1978 NCAA championship. The Morganfield, Ky., native spoke fondly of his days playing for the Wildcats, who beat Duke in the ’78 finals. But he also said he had no intention of becoming a coach. “I wasn’t going to be a coach,” he said. “My senior year I walked into coach Hall’s office and I was lost. There was a company called Humana and a guy named Wendell Cherry was the owner. He was a Kentucky grad and he wanted to hire me.” Standard-Examiner

Toronto Raptors, Coaching, Dwane Casey 

Dwane Casey is happy the NBA admitted its officials made a mistake at the end of Wednesday’s loss in Charlotte, but knows the admission won’t change the fortunes of his team. “We have some of the best officials in the world, bar none. But people make mistakes,” Casey told the Toronto Sun on Friday morning. “But our system, the NBA system, proved to work (with) the fact that, if the officials make a mistake, they have a system in place where we can send plays in and they can review plays (which Toronto has done several times over the course of the season). Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Referees 

“I respect the NBA for saying: ‘Hey, we made a mistake.’ We all make mistakes. It still doesn’t help us at the end of games (because the result won’t be overturned), but it shows a system is in place.” The NBA said the officials missed a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist foul on Andrea Bargnani in the dying seconds of Wednesday’s one-point loss. Bargnani should have been sent to the free throw line for two shots. Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Referees 

Prior to Wednesday’s game against Dallas, Toronto had jumped to 10th in the league in pace, thanks largely to Lowry. Bargnani, no longer the top option, has found it difficult to find his role in the offence and to locate quality shot attempts since the team’s point guards are no longer focusing on setting him up. Dwane Casey talked earlier in the week about the adjustment and about how he had given Lowry the freedom to make calls on offence on the break (pre-injury of course). “The offence we’re running is more of a random type offence where it’s in flow, the push is more random … (the) hardest thing to do in the NBA is to guard random play so that’s why we try to be unpredictable.” Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey, Kyle Lowry, Andrea Bargnani