The Toronto Raptors fired head coach Dwane Casey shortly after another playoff elimination at the hands of LeBron James. After the team conducted a few interviews in May, though, the search for his replacement hasn’t drawn much attention.
Mike Budenholzer emerged as a candidate to join Toronto, but he ultimately decided to lead the Milwaukee Bucks.
Meanwhile, the Raptors interviewed assistants Rex Kalamian and Nick Nurse, as well as current G League coach Jerry Stackhouse. Toronto met with Spurs assistants Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka, too.
But the franchise sure is taking its time making a decision.
Toronto has the only vacancy in the league other than the Detroit Pistons, who have interviewed a variety of candidates from Casey to TNT analyst Kenny Smith and Jason Kidd to John Beilein.
However, Detroit is revamping the whole front office. Team president Masai Ujiri and the Raptors are working from a place of executive stability yet have decided to take a methodical approach.
While the level of concern shouldn’t be particularly high unless the NBA draft approaches without a coach in Toronto, it’s certainly strange the job remains open. The time to build a plan for the offseason — one where no player on the roster is safe — is steadily thinning.