Fansided

Dwane Casey has been voted Coach of the Year by his peers

By Brad Berreman

CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 05: Head coach Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors reacts while playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena on May 5, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 05: Head coach Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors reacts while playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena on May 5, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Perhaps on his way out with the Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey has reportedly been voted by his peers as Coach of the Year.

The Toronto Raptors had another very successful regular season this year, with a franchise-record 59 wins on their way to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. But the third straight early playoff exit at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers has brought reports a change is looming, with Dwane Casey of course on his way out as Raptors’ coach.

But that does not mean Casey will avoid a great accomplishment or two for the 2017-18 season. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, per a source familiar with the voting, Casey has been selected as the National Basketball Coaches’ Association Coach of the Year for this year. A formal announcement was slated for later on Wednesday.

Casey has a strong case for the traditional, and separate, NBA Coach of the Year award too. That award is voted on by the media, at the end of the regular season just like other league-wide awards like MVP, Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year. The formal announcement of who won the Red Auerbach Trophy for Coach of the Year, along with the announcement of league MVP and the like, will be made as part of the NBA Awards Show in Los Angeles on June 25.

UPDATE: The formal announcement of Casey as 2018 NBCA Coach of the Year has been made.

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If he is fired and wins the league-wide media version of Coach of the Year, Casey would be a rare coach to pull off that starkly opposite feat in their sport. George Karl, who was fired by the Denver Nuggets in 2013 after winning Coach of the Year for the 2012-13 campaign, is the most notable recent NBA example. There’s even a tie to the Raptors, as Masai Ujiri left the Nuggets that same year to become Toronto’s GM prior to Karl’s firing.

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