look, I like Casey. There's no denying that with the duo of power that was between him and Masai, that they took the team to heights far greater then even the Vince Carter era could take them, and with how good the Raps have been, have changed Canadian basketball, both on an NBA level, and at a national level, for the better.
But these past few seasons have been embarrassing. I've seen Raps fans bitch and moan about how they aren't taken seriously by national (read: American) media. This exit is why. This team isn't good enough to beat Lebron. Few teams are, but we wouldn't be having this level of soul searching if the Raps did the same thing they did in 2016 where they took at minimum, two games off the Cavs. The team on paper, and in execution in this series, looked better then the Cavs. Yet they still got torched. For ****'s sake, Indiana held the Cavs to the brink in a seven game series, and the Raps couldn't even take *ONE* game. Sure, they absolutely should have won Game 1. But the minute they choked away the game, the series was done, and the Raps' goose was cooked.
Frankly, Masai should be looking at every single option present. Because this is pretty much the event horizon moment for the franchise. This sets your tone for the next five years minimum. You will be judged on how you fare against Lebron. With how Indiana managed to isolate Lebron, where he was carrying 99% of the load and everyone else was doing squat, it makes the Raps failure to win even more embarrassing.
Really, as a sense of schadenfreude, I hope that this season especially manages to make Raps fans shut up about 'being respected' by American media, how they feel they are slighted. There's a reason why, and it's for **** like this. Why should I put you in the same level in the pantheon of Boston, Philly, Cleveland, and all the monsters out west, when you can't even make a dent in the Cavs?