-June 2/95: The Raptors hire Brendan Malone as their first coach. Malone coached Power Memorial to two New York City titles and then moved on become an assistant at Fordham (76-77), freshman coach at Yale (1977-78); assistant coach at Syracuse (1978-84); and head coach at Rhode Island (1985-86); before being hired as an assistant with the New York Knicks. He moved to Detroit in 1988 to become an assistant under Chuck Daly, Ron Rothstein and Don Chaney. Malone inks a three-year deal worth US$275,000 in each of the first two years and $325,000 in the third year.
Malone hires as his assistants John Shumate, Darrell Walker, Bob Zuffelato and John Lally.
-April 22/96: Raptors fire coach Brendan Malone. In his tenure at the helm, he is 21-61. Assistant Darrell Walker is promoted to the top position a day later. Malone is turfed after a series of highly-publicized tiffs with vice-president Isiah Thomas. The discord began as early as the Raptors first training camp, when Thomas cut Chris Whitney over Malone’s objections. Thomas believed Malone overworked certain players and didn’t apparently develop the bench and younger players like Jimmy King, Carlos Rogers, Vincenzo Esposito, Martin Lewis and Dwayne Whitfield. Thomas also thought Malone jeopardized rookie Damon Stoudamire’s career by playing him too much. Late in the season, Stoudamire’s left knee flared up with aggravated tendinitis, an overuse injury. “A coach coaches to win,” Malone said at farewell press conference. Stoudamire said Malone “didn’t respect us.” Months later, NBA veteran Carlos Rogers says he’d asked several times to be traded because “I didn’t want to have anything to do with an organization that had a fool for a coach.” Walker is signed to one-year contract with two option years, worth $2-million. “I wouldn’t say I’m a puppet (of Thomas). I’m going to be running the basketball team. And no matter what you say, it’s kind of hard for Isiah to coach a team from … up at the office or when we’re on the road and he’s at home in Birmingham, Michigan.” Walker played university ball at Arkansas and toiled 10 years in the NBA with six teams. He was a teammate of Thomas’ with Detroit in 1991-92 before winning an NBA title with Chicago Bulls in 1992-93 and retiring. Raptors scout Jim Thomas is elevated to assistant coach. Walker’s assistants also include 70-year-old defensive guru Bob Kloppenburg.
-July 28/97: Raptors sign Darrel Walker to a three-year contract extension, believed to be worth $2-million (U.S.)
-February 13/98: One day after the Raptors are sold and on the same day Damon Stoudamire is traded, coach Darrell Walker announces his resignation. In his tenure at the helm, he is 41-90. “If felt it was time to make a change. The organization was going in a different direction that I didn’t want to go in. I’m a young coach. I don’t mind coaching an expansion team. But I have to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t think I did.” Assistant coach Butch Carter is elevated to the head coach’s job for the remainder of the season. Carter, who played at Indiana with general manager Glen Grunwald, played six years in the NBA before retiring in 1986. Stints in high school and college were followed by five years as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks. “It’s an opportunity guys,” said Carter. “In professional sports, there’s constant change and you have to make the most of whenever an opportunity presents itself.”
-November 3/98: Assistant coach John Shumate announces he’s leaving because he wants to live closer to his family in Phoenix. The Raptors remaining assistants are Jim Thomas, Brian James and Joe Harrington.
-June 13/00: The Raptors fire Butch Carter. In his tenure at the helm, he is 73-92. “The off-court distractions was disconcerting to fans, the organization and there was no alternative,” said general manager Glen Grunwald. Carter had three years left on his six year contract. Days before the Raptors first playoff game, Carter filed a $5-million lawsuit against player Marcus Camby for calling him a liar in a newspaper article. He withdrew the suit after the league questioned the propriety. Camby’s new team, the Knicks, promptly swept the Raptors in three straight during the playoffs. Shortly before the playoffs began, Carter also publishes a book entitled ‘Born to Believe’ containing a chapter alleging that legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight was a racist. He was also involved in a feud with former wife Jill, who found out Carter was leaving personal email messages on ‘LoveAOL’, which links the forlorn. During the season, Carter alleged that the NBA was orchestrating a plan to spirit Vince Carter out of Toronto so he could play in big city market and lift the league’s sagging television ratings. After the playoffs, he suggested to management that he should be made general manager because he could deliver free agent Tracy McGrady.
-June 21/00: Lenny Wilkens is hired as coach. One of two men elected to the Hall of Fame as both a player and a player, Wilkens is the NBA coaching leader with 1,179 wins against 981 defeats. He guided Seattle to the NBA title in 1978-79. Almost a decade earlier, in 1969-70, he’d been asked to become playing coach, which he did for three years, before retiring as a player. He coached the Portland Trailblazers for 2 years and then returned to the Supersonics as director of player personnel in 1977-79. When Bob Hopkins team opened the season 5-17, he was fired and Wilkens was named the replacement. The Sonics made the NBA finals and then a year later, won it. Wilkens subsequently coached with Seattle, Cleveland and Atlanta. He’d been at the Hawks helm for the previous seven years, including 1994 when his squad won 57 games and he was named coach of the year. He’d resigned after the 1999-2000 campaign after missing the playoffs with a 28-54 record. A two-time first team all-American at Providence, Wilkens was drafted in the first round in 1960 by the St. Louis Hawks. He signs a four year deal with the Raptors worth US$20-million.
-December 23/01: Assistant Coach Stan Albeck suffered a stroke in the locker room before the game versus Miami. Albeck missed the remainder of the regular season before returning to the Raptors bench for the regular season finale April 17 vs. Cleveland
-March 5/02: Re-assign scout Walker D. Russell to the coaching staff.
-September 23/02: Wilkens hires Dick Helm and Jay Triano as assistants
-April 17/03: Lenny Wilkens is turfed after three years. In his tenure at the helm, he is 113-133.
-June 18/2003: Kevin O’Neil is named Raptors head coach. A native of Chateauguay, New York, O’Neill attended McGill, where he earned the nickname ‘Mad Dog’ as a backup point guard. Shot .186 from the floor as a freshman. He graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in education. Head coach at Northwestern, Tennessee and Marquette with a career record of 190-197. He was an assistant with the Detroit Pistons for two years and then with the New York Knicks for one year before joining the Raptors. He signs a three-year deal with US$1.8 million/year.
-June 23/03: Raptors turf assistant Jay Triano, the national team head coach, saying there is no room in the new regime of Kevin O’Neill. Also jettisoned are Craig Neal, Walker D. Russell and Dick Helm.
-August 26/2003: O’Neill names Canadian Senior Men’s National Team Head Coach Jay Triano as one of his four assistant coaches. Triano, 45, returns for his second season as a Raptors Assistant Coach. Triano became the first Canadian born and Canadian trained coach in the NBA when he joined the Raptors last season. Triano began his coaching career in 1985 as an assistant at his alma mater Simon Fraser University. He took over the school’s head coaching duties in 1988 and served in that capacity until 1995. In 1992-93, he also worked as an Assistant Coach on the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team and in 1993-94 he was the Head Coach of the Canadian Junior Men’s National Team. During his collegiate playing career at Simon Fraser, Triano led the Clansmen in scoring all four seasons and set 11 school records, including the career scoring mark of 2,616 points. In 1981, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the eighth round of the NBA Draft and by the Calgary Stampeders in the sixth round in the CFL Draft. Following graduation, Triano played for the Canadian national team for 11 years (1978-88) and was team captain from 1981-88. He represented Canada as a player on three Olympic teams (1980, 1984 and 1988), serving as captain for the last two. Triano also wore his country’s colours internationally in the World University Games in 1979, 1981 and 1983 where he led the tournament in scoring and Canada to the gold medal, and in 1985 in Kobe, Japan where he carried the Canadian flag at the opening ceremonies. O’Neill also names Bob Beyer, Shaun Brown, Tony Brown, Ron Oliver and Jim Sann as assistants.
-April 16/04: The Raptors fire Kevin O’Neill as head coach, one day after he’d questioned the team’s commitment to winning. They’d finished 33-49 on the season and two weeks earlier had fired general manager Glen Grunwald after a public dispute between the pair. Interim general manager Jack McCloskey said when he informed O’Neill of the decision, the latter said “You know, Jack, I screwed up yesterday. You told me to play things cool. I made a mistake … He said to me a lot of times, ‘This does not seem to be going right. Maybe I shouldn’t be here.” O’Neill had told reporters that the Raptors were content to be part of the NBA rather than winners. “I can just tell you right now, the focus is not on winning here all the way through the organization all the time. There needs to be drastic measures taken.” The Raptors also fired assistants Tony Brown, Bob Buyer, Jim Sann, and Ron Oliver. The players had been regularly complaining to the press about O’Neill’s abrasive style. Also dismiss assistants Bob Beyer, Tony Brown, Ron Oliver and Jim Sann.
-June 29/04: Name Sam Mitchell as the Raptors sixth head coach.
-July 2/04: Mitchell names Alex English, Jay Triano and Jim Todd as assistants.
-December 9/2005: Hire Gene Keady as an assistant coach.
-May 21/07: Sam Mitchell is rewarded with new contract after being named NBA coach of the year.
-June 14/07: Name Mike Evans an assistant coach.
-July 12/08: Hire Gord Herbert as assistant. Herbert began his professional coaching career in 1994 and led three of his teams to a spot in Euroleague play. He coached 2007 in Greece, guiding Aris to a third-place finish in league play and a berth in the Top 16 in Euroleague competition. Prior to working for Aris, he coached three seasons in France, with well-known French teams Paris Basket Racing (2004-06) and Pau Orthez (2006-07). He guided Pau Orthez to the French Cup championship and a Top 16 finish in Euroleague action. Hebert’s first head coaching experience came in Finland. He coached U.U. Korihait from 1994-96 and Honka from 1996-99. Herbert coached in Austria in 1999-2000 and then moved to Germany for five seasons. He led Wurzburg for one campaign (2000-01) before coaching the Opel Skyliners from 2001-04. He captured the German Cup Vice Championship in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons. Herbert also coached the Finnish Junior National Team from 1995-97, the Georgian National Team from 2005-07 and was an assistant to Jay Triano with the Canadian National Team at the 2002 World Championships. Herbert was a player on the Canadian Junior Team in 1979-80 and for the country’s National Team from 1982-87. He teamed with Triano to win gold at the 1983 World Student Games. A first-team Big Sky Conference selection at the University of Idaho in 1982, Herbert played professionally in Finland and Belgium from 1982-84.
-December 3/08: Sam Mitchell is dismissed as head coach. In his tenure at the helm, he is 156-189. Jay Triano is named interim head coach. Triano served as an assistant to three Raptors coach prior to being named to the position. Triano became the first Canadian born and Canadian trained coach in the NBA when he joined Lenny Wilkens’s staff for the 2002-03 season. Triano is also a former coach and player for Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team. Mitchell says: “Being the head coach of the Toronto Raptors has been a true pleasure and an honour for me. I owe a debt of gratitude to many for the opportunity – the MLSE Board of Directors, particularly Larry Tanenbaum and Richard Peddie, as well as Bryan Colangelo and Rob Babcock. MLSE is a first-class organization, and I hope I have positioned the franchise to move in the right direction. I will miss Toronto. I have grown to love the city and believe Raptors fans are among the best in all of professional sports. Together we brought to the organization its first divisional championship and I will always cherish that. I feel that I have grown as a coach and a person over the course of my time with the Raptors. I value the relationships that I have developed with the coaching staff, players, support staff and media. I assure you that Jay Triano and the coaching staff will continue to do all they can for the franchise to reach its potential and goals. I wish the organization all the best the remainder of this season and in the future.”
-May
11/09: Jay Triano inks a three-year contract as head coach. “Despite some
difficult circumstances this past season, Jay Triano never stopped coaching,
teaching and leading this team which resulted in a very strong finish,”
said Colangelo. “After undertaking a thorough evaluation process, it is
clear that Jay is the right coach to guide this team in the future.”
Triano is the seventh head coach in franchise history. He guided the club to a
9-4 mark in its final 13 outings this past season, including wins over Eastern
Conference playoff participants Chicago, Orlando and Philadelphia, and a 12-15
record after the all-star break. He finished 25-40 overall. Triano served seven
seasons (2002-2008) as an assistant on the Raptors’ coaching staff. He became
the first Canadian born and Canadian trained coach in the NBA when he was hired
in 2002 as an assistant coach to Lenny Wilkens. A native of Niagara Falls,
Triano was the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team from 1998-2004
posting a 52-42 (.553) record. During his stint at the helm of Canada
Basketball Triano had the opportunity to coach ‘Captain Canada’ Steve Nash, who
was voted the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player in 2005
and 2006. Triano led Canada to a semifinal berth in the 2003 FIBA Americas
Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico and to a 5-2 record, second best
to the United States, in the 2000 Olympics. Triano has also served as an
assistant coach of the USAB Select Team (2007 and 2008), the head coach of the
NIKE Skills Academy in Vancouver (2006) and Toronto (2007), and for the past
six years as a coach at the prestigious EURO CAMP in Treviso, Italy.
-July 1/09: Named Eric Hughes and Alvin Williams as assistant coach/player
development. Named Francesco Cuzzolin as assistant coach/strength and
conditioning.
-June 5/09: Hire Marc Iavaroni and Alex English as assistant coaches. Iavaroni brings 11 seasons of NBA coaching knowledge to Toronto. He served the past two seasons as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies and prior to that was an assistant in Phoenix, Miami and Cleveland. He spent five seasons (2002-07) with the Suns, during which time they made four trips to the NBA Playoffs, including two appearances in the Western Conference Finals. In Miami (1999-2002), Iavaroni worked under Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley. He was also the director of player development for the Heat. With the Cavaliers, he served under longtime NBA coach Mike Fratello. Iavaroni played seven seasons in the NBA with Philadelphia, San Antonio and Utah. He was a starter as a rookie on the 76ers’ 1983 World Championship team, voted one of the 10 best teams of all-time by the media as part of the league’s 50th anniversary celebration in 1996. Iavaroni’s teams qualified for the playoffs every season of his playing career. English returns for his sixth campaign with the Raptors and his eighth on an NBA coaching staff. He joined the Raptors after spending the 2003-04 season as an assistant coach with Philadelphia. He served as director of player personnel and assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks during the 2002-03 campaign. English began his post-playing coaching career in 2001-02 as the head coach of the National Basketball Development League’s North Charleston (S.C.) Lowgaters. In his lone season at the helm, he guided his team to a 36-20 record and a berth in the finals of the first NBDL Championship. English was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 and finished his 16-year playing career with 25,613 points, which ranks 12th all-time in league history. He was an eight-time NBA All-Star and was selected to the all-league second team three times (1982, 1983 and 1986). A second-round selection by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1976 (23rd overall), English played two seasons in Milwaukee, two with the Indiana Pacers, and 11 with the Denver Nuggets before finishing his career in 1990-91 with the Dallas Mavericks
-July 1/09: Re-sign Eric Hughes and add Alvin Williams and Francesco Cuzzolin to their basketball staff. Hughes returns for his third season with the club, and his first as assistant coach/basketball development. He spent the past two seasons as a basketball development consultant. Hughes was the director of summer player development for Goodwin Sports Management in Seattle from 2002-06, creating workout programs and training NBA players Jamal Crawford, Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Dwight Howard, Gary Payton, Nate Robinson and Rodney Stuckey. He was also the head coach at Spokane Community College in Spokane, Washington during that time. He compiled an 88-61 (.590) mark in his five seasons, leading the Bigfoot’s to the Eastern Region championship in 2005 and 2006. He was named Eastern Region Coach of the Year for those two seasons. From 1993-2002, Hughes was an assistant at the University of Washington. His teams qualified for postseason play four consecutive seasons, going to the NIT in 1996 and 1997 and the NCAA Tournament in 1998 and 1999. Hughes will serve his second consecutive term as Toronto’s head coach in the Las Vegas Summer League. Williams makes his first foray into coaching since he ended his NBA playing career in 2007. He will serve as assistant coach/basketball development. Williams spent nine seasons with the Raptors, averaging 9.9 points and 4.3 assists in 417 regular season games and 12.5 points and 4.3 assists in 78 playoff appearances. Cuzzolin will serve as the Raptors’ assistant coach/strength and conditioning. He brings to the team more than 20 years of professional experience of coaching, teaching and product development in the field of physical fitness and rehabilitation. Cuzzolin spent 12 of the past 13 seasons with Benetton Treviso in the Italian Series A League where his teams won the Italian League, Italian Supercup or European Sparta Cup on 10 occasions. He also captured the Euroleague championship with Virtus Bologna in 2001. For the past three summers Cuzzolin has been the strength and conditioning coach for the Russian National Team, including its European Championship squad in 2007 and its 2008 appearance at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Cuzzolin has previous experience working in an NBA environment serving on staff with the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers during their summer training camps, as well as at the annual Rbk European Big Man Camp. Cuzzolin is the president of the European Physical Conditioning Association and a professor at the University of Padua.
-June 1/10: Name P.J. Carlesimo as an assistant coach.
-August 15/10: Name Scott Roth as an assistant coach.
-June 1/11: Opt not to renew the $2 million/year contract of
coach Jay Triano. In 2.5 years, Triano compiled an 87-142 record, since taking
over from Sam Mitchell and finished last in the NBA in defensive efficiency
over the prior two years. General manager Bryan Colangelo said “he fared well
in a lot of areas but at the end of the day in terms of a gut feel for where
this needs to go and how we need to get there and how quickly we want to get
there in terms of accelerating the process, Jay and I had a chance to sit down
in earnest once my contract situation was resolved. We decided it was time to change
the voice, to change the leader at the helm. … “I have great respect for Jay Triano both as a person and as a
basketball mind. Jay deserves tremendous credit for developing our young
players this past season and our most recent win-loss record does not
appropriately reflect his many positive contributions to this organization. “This
was a difficult decision to make, but after almost three full seasons of
observation and evaluation I believe that bringing in a new voice as head coach
will accelerate the progress we are looking to make in the coming years. I am
very pleased that Jay has agreed to stay on and help see through the plan that
we have designed and initiated together.” The Raptors were 22-60 in
2011. Triano was retained as a consultant to the team as a special assistant to the president and
general manager. “I am grateful to the organization for the opportunity to be a
head coach in the NBA,” said Triano. “I am proud of the work that I and the
coaching staff have done with our young players and feel confident we have laid
the foundation for a team that will continue to improve. I look forward in
assisting Bryan to deliver a championship team to Toronto.”
-June 21/11: The Raptors unveil Dwayne Casey, an assistant at Dallas, as
their new head coach. Inked to a three year deal, Casey has been a head coach,
associate head coach and assistant coach in the NBA for 16 of the previous 17
years. He was the helm of the Minnesota Timberwolves for 1.5 years before being
fired 40 games into the 2006-07 season. Casey said that “one thing that I plan
to do here in this upcoming season is help this team develop an NBA defensive
intensity. I think that’s the No. 1 goal, the No. 1 thought process with me
going in. Defensively, I’m going to be a hands-on control freak, so to speak.
The players will know how important defence is.”
-2012-13 assistants: Johnny Davis, Scott Roth, Tom Sterner, Eric Hughes, Micah Nori
-2013-14 assistants: Assistants Bill Bayno, Jesse Mermuys, Jama Mahlalela, Nick Nurse and Tom Sterner.
-May 6/14: The Raptors ink a three-year contract with coach Dwane Casey. “From day one last summer Dwane has done an excellent job both on-and-off the court,” said general manager Masai Ujiri. “There’s been growth from each player on the roster and the team’s identity of toughness and a desire to always compete has clearly been established. We’re very excited to continue to grow and develop this team with Dwane as our head coach.” Casey was named head coach of the Raptors on June 21, 2011, nine days after helping lead (as an assistant) the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 NBA Championship. He earned his 100th career victory as head coach of the Raptors on April 2 with a 107-103 win versus Houston.
-July 29/2015: Raptors name Rex Kalaiman, Andy Greer and Jerry Stackhouse as assistant coaches. Kalamian spent the past six seasons as an assistant with Oklahoma City. He previous assistant coaching stints with Sacramento (2007-09), Minnesota (2005-07, where he was on Casey’s staff), Denver (2004-05) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1995-2003). He was a West Coast scout for Philadelphia during the 2003-04 season and was in the scouting department for the Clippers from 1992-95 before being elevated to assistant coach. Prior to the NBA, Kalamian worked for two seasons as an assistant at his former school, East Los Angeles College. As a player, Kalamian was named team captain at East Los Angeles where he led the South Coast Conference in three-point shooting percentage during the 1988-89 season. A graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, Kalamian earned a bachelor’s degree in business management. Greer had spent the past five seasons as an assistant with the Chicago Bulls. Greer’s NBA coaching resume also includes assistant positions with the Memphis Grizzlies (2007-09), Houston Rockets (2003-07) and New York Knicks (2001-03). Prior to that, he spent four years at Northern Illinois University, where he logged 3.5 seasons as an assistant coach and 0.5 season as the team’s interim head coach, and four years as the head coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Greer also coached collegiately at Mansfield University, Brandeis University, Boston University and the University of Southern California. He received his first coaching job as an assistant coach at Genesee Community College in 1983. Greer holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education from SUNY Brockport and a master’s degree in education from Mansfield University. Stackhouse played 18 seasons in the NBA. During the 2008-09 season, Stackhouse played under Casey while the latter was an assistant on Rick Carlisle’s staff. The North Carolina product was selected third overall by Philadelphia in the 1995 NBA Draft and was a first-team All-Rookie selection with the 76ers. During his playing career Stackhouse saw action with Philadelphia (1995-97), Detroit (1997-2002), Washington (2002-04), Dallas (2004-09), Milwaukee (2009-10), Miami (2010-11), Atlanta (2011-12) and Brooklyn (2012-13). He earned his bachelor’s in African American Studies from North Carolina in 1999. The assistant coaching staff heading into the 2015-16 campaign consists of Andy Greer, Rex Kalamian, Jamaal Magliore, Jama Mahlalela, Nick Nurse and Jerry Stackhouse. The trainers are Scott McCullough and Alex McKechnie.
-June 7/16: The Raptors announced that they have reached a three-year contract extension with Dwane Casey through the 2018-19 campaign. “Dwane has done an excellent job leading our teams to success on the court and with helping us to develop a winning culture throughout our organization,” said general manager Masai Ujiri. “Continuity is a part of establishing that culture. We are confident that with Dwane’s leadership we will continue to grow our franchise.”
In his five campaigns at the helm of the Raptors, Casey has posted a 210-184 record (.533), including a .622 mark (153-93) over the past three seasons. The 153 victories from 2013-16 is tops in the Eastern Conference. Casey said “my family and I are very appreciative to ownership and Masai for the opportunity to continue to lead the growth of our program. We are energized with the idea of the potential we have with our core players and the development of our young players. Our goal has been and will be to build a program that is competing for a championship year in and year out.”
-September 23/2017: Hire Patrick Mutombo and Jim Sann as assistants, while announcing that Rex Kalamian and Nick Nurse will return as assistants and that Jama Mahlalela “has bee promoted and will move to the front of the bench.” Mutombo joins the Raptors after one season as an assistant coach with the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League. Prior to joining the Spurs, Mutombo spent four seasons with the Denver Nuggets (2011-15), including the last three as an assistant coach. A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mutombo played professionally in Europe for six seasons (2003-09), before signing with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League. He appeared in 29 games for the Jam, averaging 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 22.0 minutes. Mutombo played collegiately at Metropolitan State University (1999-2003), helping the Roadrunners win the NCAA Division II championship in 2000 and 2002. Sann rejoins the Raptors where he served as an assistant coach on Kevin O’Neill’s staff during the 2003-04 season. He spent the last three seasons as assistant coach/advance scout with the Brooklyn Nets. Sann was also with the Nets organization for five seasons (2005-10) as an assistant coach/coaching associate. From 2010-12, Sann was a member of the Chicago Bulls staff, serving as an assistant coach/video coordinator. He was also an assistant coach/advance scout for the Houston Rockets during the 2004-05 season. Sann began his professional basketball career with the New York Knicks, holding various positions over 11 seasons, eventually rising to director of basketball administration. Mahlalela enters his fourth season as an assistant coach. He moved to the bench following two seasons working in the Raptors’ front office as director of player development. Mahlalela started with the Raptors in 2006 as a member of the community development staff, leading the Raptors Basketball Academy and various clinics throughout Canada. He was named director of basketball operations for NBA Asia in 2009 and oversaw the League’s clinics, youth programs and elite-level development from his base in Hong Kong. Mahlalela played collegiately at the University of British Columbia and served as assistant coach at the University of Toronto for four seasons.
-May 11/2018: Raptors fire Casey, despite having been selected the league’s coach of the year. After dismal, often effortless performances by DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry in the playoffs semis, in which the Raptors were swept by Cleveland, President Masai Ujiri tags Casey as the culprit for the sub-par performances by the squad’s franchise players. Ujiri said in a statement that “after careful consideration, I have decided this is a very difficult but necessary step the franchise must take. As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level. … Sometimes these things come to an end. Relationships come to an end. We’ll figure out a way to move on, a new voice, just new everything in terms of that position.” The incomprehensible, ludicrous decision follows a year in which the Raptors set a franchise record with 59 regular victories and earned the East’s No. 1 seed before taking against Cleveland. Casey had a year left on his $6.5 million contract. Casey was 320-238 in his 7 years at the Raptor helm, included 21-30 overall in the playoffs and 4-5 in series.
One day after being fired, Casey penned a letter to the Toronto Star, in which he wrote: “Dear Toronto, Thank you. Thank you to basketball fans across this city and the country of Canada who supported the Raptors and welcomed my family with open arms during our seven years here. Thank you to all the fans who cheered us on at the Air Canada Centre while we built this program into a playoff contender, packed Jurassic Park even in the cold and rain, watched the games from home and offered their undying support as we traveled this road to relevancy together. Thank you for teaching our all-American family the Canadian way. That being polite and considerate to one another is always the best way. That diversity is something to be embraced and celebrated. That taking the time to learn about each other’s cultures is the surest way to find common ground and understanding. Thank you for making our children feel safe, valued, and comfortable in their own skin. We cannot express how important it has been to build the foundations of who our children are as human beings in a country that shows through its words, actions and laws that all people deserve basic human rights, and a chance to reach their goals through education and hard work.”
-June 14/18: Name Nick Nurse as the 9th coach in franchise history after spending five years as an assistant. “Nick is an innovative coach who has a tremendous basketball IQ, and a unique approach to the xʼs and oʼs. Weʼve valued his creativity and dedication as he focused on making our offense one of the best in the NBA, and we believe that he will bring those qualities to his new role as head coach,” team president Masai Ujiri said. “This is an exciting and important season for the Raptors, and I believe Nickʼs strong leadership and focus on winning are qualities which will help lead us to our ultimate goal, which is a championship.” The 50-year-old Nurse, who joined the Raptors in 2013 said “Iʼm proud to take on the role of head coach of the Toronto Raptors, and to continue to work with the exceptional players we have here. Iʼm grateful to Masai, Bobby, Larry Tanenbaum and the MLSE ownership for this opportunity. Toronto and the Raptors organization has been my home for the past five years, and Iʼve watched this group grow and succeed together. Iʼm looking forward to more of that this season, and to working towards our shared goal, which is to earn the right to call ourselves NBA Champions.” Prior to joining the Raptors, Nurse spent six seasons in the NBA G League as head coach for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2011-13) and the Iowa Energy (2007-11). He compiled a regular-season record of 183-117 (.610). Nurse is the only coach to lead two different teams to an NBA G League Championship. He led the Vipers to a 35-15 record and the 2012-13 NBA G League title. Before joining the Vipers, Nurse led Iowa to the 2010-11 G League Championship and was the recipient of the Dennis Johnson Coach of the Year award. The native of Carroll, Iowa, played collegiately at Northern Iowa and stayed on as an assistant coach during the 1989-90 season. He travelled overseas to become player-coach of the Derby Storm in the British Basketball League (BLL) for one season before being named head coach at Grand View College in Iowa. Following two seasons as an assistant coach at South Dakota, Nurse returned to Great Britain where he coached the Birmingham Bullets (1995-96), Manchester Giants (1998-2000), London Towers (2000-01) and Brighton Bears (2000-06). He won two BLL championships in 1996 and 2000, and was named Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2003. Nurse also earned six all-star head coach selections. Nurse also gained coaching experience in Italy, Belgium, the USBL and served as an assistant coach for the British National Team during the 2012 Olympics in London.
-July 25/2018: Hire Adrian Griffin, Sergio Scariolo, Nate Bjorkgren and Phil Handy as assistant coaches, joining Patrick Mutumbo, Jim Sann and Eric Khoury as assistants for the 2018-19 season. “Adrian, Sergio, Nate and Phil each bring something different to our staff and our team. They have a blend of experiences that will give our team a unique perspective,” said head coach Nick Nurse. …………………………………………………… Griffin joins the Raptors following two seasons as an assistant coach with Oklahoma City (2016-18). He had previous assistant coaching stints with Orlando (2015-16), Chicago (2010-15) and Milwaukee (2008-10). He began his coaching career as assistant coach/player development with the Bucks. During the summer of 2014, Griffin also worked with the USA Basketball Menʼs National Team that captured the gold medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. The Wichita, Kansas native played nine NBA seasons with Boston, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Seattle. He averaged 4.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 16.8 minutes in 477 regular-season appearances. Griffin also played in 48 playoff games and was part of the 2006 Dallas team that reached the NBA Finals. Prior to the NBA, Griffin played for the Atlantic City Seagulls (USBL), Connecticut Pride (CBA), Roseto (Italy) and Long Island Surf (USBL). In 1998-99, he was named CBA Most Valuable Player and Finals MVP while leading Connecticut to the championship. Griffin played collegiately for four seasons at Seton Hall (1992-94). …………………………………………………… Scariolo coached in Europe for more than 20 years. Since 2009, he has led the Spanish National Team as head coach and guided the program to a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janerio. Spain has also won the FIBA Eurobasket tournament three times (2009, 2011 and 2015) under his watch. The Brescia, Italy native got his first head coaching job in 1989 with Vuelle Pesaro and led the club to the 1990 Italian League championship. He was also named Italian League Coach of the Year in 1994 with Fortitudo Bologna. In 1997, Scariolo moved to Spain and led Tau Ceramica to the 1999 Spanish Cup before joining Real Madrid later that year. He went on to claim the Spanish Cup and the Spanish League title during his first season at Real Madrid and was named Spanish League AEEB Coach of the Year in 2000. In 2003, Scariolo joined Unicaja and led the club to the 2005 Spanish Cup, 2006 Spanish League title and an appearance in the 2007 EuroLeague Final Four. Scariolo has also coached Khimki Moscow (2008-10), Olimpia Milano (2011-13) and Saski Baskonia (2013-14). …………………………………………………… Bjorkgren joined the Raptors as an advance scout in 17-18 following two seasons as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns (2015-17). He was a head coach in the NBA G League, amassing a 126-74 (.630) record in four seasons with the Bakersfield Jam (2014-15), Iowa Energy (2013-14), Santa Cruz Warriors (2012-13) and Dakota Wizards (2011-12). Bjorkgren was as an assistant coach on Nurseʼs staff in Iowa from 2007-11, helping the Energy win the 2010-11 NBA G League Championship. The Storm Lake, Iowa native played collegiately at Buena Vista University and the University of South Dakota. …………………………………………………… Handy spent five seasons (2013-18) with the Cleveland Cavaliers as director, player development/assistant coach, and two seasons (2011-13) as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers.
September 9/2019: Hire Jon Goodwillie and Brittni Donaldson as assistants. The Raptors also promoted John Corbacio to head video coordinator/assistant coach, Tyler Marsh to assistant video coordinator/player development coach and added Fabulous Flournoy and Mark Tyndale as assistant video coordinators/player development coaches. …………………………………………………… Goodwillie is in his 15th season with the Raptors, joining the team as a video and administrative intern in 2005. He was hired as an assistant video coordinator for the 2006-07 campaign and elevated to head video coordinator in 2011. He was also an assistant coach on Nurse’s staff with the Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, as well was the head coach for the Raptors’ entry at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, guiding the team to a 2-3 record, after serving as an assistant the previous five years. The Etobicoke-native graduated from Brock University in 2003 with a degree in Sport Management. …………………………………………………… Donaldson served two season as data analyst, basketball operations, for the Raptors. Prior to joining the club, Donaldson was with STATS LLC for two years as a data analyst, where she was responsible for their SportVU player tracking product and creating customized reports for NBA front offices, coaching staffs, and media outlets. She was a member of the Raptors’ coaching staff at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and served as an instructor at the Giants of Africa basketball camps in Tanzania and South Sudan. The Sioux City, Iowa, native played four seasons at the University of Northern Iowa (2011-15). She graduated with a degree in Statistics and Actuarial Science. …………………………………………………… Corbacio is a native of Stoney Creek, Ontario, and played college basketball at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (2008-12). He was an assistant coach for Raptors 905 during the team’s inaugural season, and joined the Raptors staff full time in 2017-18. In the summer of 2016, Corbacio coached the Mono Vampires to the Thailand Basketball League championship. …………………………………………………… Marsh joined the Raptors staff for the 2018-19 season from the NBA G League, where he worked for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Iowa Energy, Bakersfield Jam and Fort Wayne Mad Ants. A native of Miami, Marsh played two seasons for the Birmingham Southern Panthers (2008-10) after transferring from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (2006-08). …………………………………………………… Flournoy joins the Raptors from the British Basketball League (BBL), where he spent 23 years. The last 18 seasons were with the Newcastle Eagles, where he was head coach and a player. Flournoy is the all-time leader in the BBL for games played (650), steals (808), assists (2,300) and blocks (905). He is a native of New York and played collegiately at Panola Junior College (1991-93) and McNeese State (1993-95). …………………………………………………… Tyndale played for Temple University (2004-08) before travelling overseas to play internationally in Australia, Germany, Ukraine, Israel and Sweden. A native of Philadelphia, he played for several NBA G League teams, including the Iowa Energy (2008-10) where he was coached by Nurse and Bjorkren.
December 4/2020: Add Chris Finch and Jama Mahlalela as assistant coaches. Name Patrick Mutumbo as coach of Raptors 905, with Brittni Donaldson and John Bennett serving as assistants. Finch spent the past three years in New Orleans (2017-20), including last season as Associate Head Coach. He also served as an assistant coach with Denver (2016-17) and Houston (2011-16). Prior to joining the Rockets, Finch had two successful seasons (2009-11) as head coach with Houston’s G League affiliate the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He guided the team to consecutive appearances in the G League Finals and amassed a record of 67-33 (.670). The Vipers captured the 2010 G League Championship and for his efforts Finch was awarded the Denis Johnson Coach of the Year Award. Raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Finch played professionally overseas with the Sheffield Sharks (1993-1997) in the British Basketball League (BBL) before beginning his coaching career with the same team. Under his leadership (1997-2003), the Sharks enjoyed the franchise’s most successful run in team history and Finch was named the BBL Coach of the Year in 1998-99. He coached for 12 seasons in Europe with additional stints in Germany (2003-04) and Belgium (2004-09). On the international stage, Finch took over a dormant Great Britain National Team in 2006 and captured FIBA’s 2007 Division B Promotional Competition. In 2009, his squad qualified for the European Championships for the first time since 1981 and qualified again in 2011. Finch also led the British National Team in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London where Nurse was one of his assistants. Finch graduated in 1992 as a two-time All-American from Franklin & Marshall College, and was inducted into the F&M Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. …………………………………………………… Mahlalela was an assistant coach with the Raptors for five seasons (2014-18) prior to becoming the head coach for Raptors 905 where he accumulated a record of 51-42 (.548) in two seasons. Mahlalela joined the Raptors front office as director of player development, where he served for two seasons before moving to the bench. A native of Mbabane, Swaziland, Mahlalela grew up in the Greater Toronto Area. He played collegiately at the University of British Columbia and was as assistant coach at the University of Toronto for four seasons. Mahlalela started with the Raptors organization on the community development staff in 2006, leading the Raptors Basketball Academy and various clinics throughout Canada. He was named director of basketball operations for NBA Asia in 2009 and oversaw the League’s clinics, youth programs and elite-level development from his base in Hong Kong.
04/21/2023: After five years at the helm, Nick Nurse is fired as the Raptors coach. He led the Raptors to an NBA title as a rookie coach in 2018-19. In his five years (2018-23) at the helm, Nurse had the best winning percentage in team history with a 227-163 (.582) record, made three playoff appearances, winning two Atlantic Division and one Eastern Conference title, and the 2019 NBA Championship. Raptors vice-chairman and president Masai Ujiri said in a statement that “the decision to make a change like this is never arrived at easily or taken lightly, especially when it comes to a person who has been an integral part of this franchise’s most historic accomplishments, and who has been a steady leader through some of our team’s most challenging times. As we reflect on Nick’s many successes, we thank him and his family, and wish them the best in future. … This is an opportunity for us to reset, to refocus, to put into place the personnel and the players who will help us reach our goal of winning our next championship.” Ujiri told reporters that “the feel, the spirit of who we really are, it’s been very disappointing for us. We want to gain momentum back as a team. Togetherness, culture, all the things we’ve stood for here, I think we lacked this year.” Nurse is replaced by Memphis assistant Darko Rajaković. A native of Serbia, Rajaković was head coach of the Tulsa Oilers in the NBA G League (amassing a career 51-49 record in the 2012-13 and 13-14 campaigns). Prior to that he had a three-year stint as coach of Espacio Torrelodones of the Spanish EBA League (4th-tier). In July 2014, he became an assistant with the Oklahoma City Thunder. In June, 2019 he was hired as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns, and in September 2020, as an assistant with e the Memphis Grizzlies. He served as interim head coach for five games, winning four. Rajaković also served as an assistant for the Serbian men’s national team that finished 5th at the 2019 World Cup.