Toronto Raptors: All-Time Head Coach Rankings

New Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey has very little time to implement his coaching system with the players as the team will open the season in less than two weeks, with only two preseason contests against the Boston Celtics as tune-ups.

“We want to build a foundation,” said Casey. “If you screw up on the foundation when you're building a house, any storm or any little trouble and the house is going to fall down when you first walk in. So we want to make sure that even though things may be rocky offensively early, we've got our foundation set, which is going to be our defence.”

We’ll find out soon how successful Casey will be with that. The position that he is entering has historically been a bit of a revolving door, as he is the eighth head coach in 17 seasons for the Raptors.

However, the key to longevity is success, which is not something that the Raptors have had much of over the years. Still, there have been coaches who were able to bring out the best in their players for this team.

As a primer of sorts for Casey, let’s take a look at the all-time head coach rankings for the Toronto Raptors.

7. Darrell Walker

Raptors coaching stats: 131 games coached, 41 wins, 90 losses, .313 winning percentage.

Darrell Walker was promoted to the head coach position at the end of the inaugural season in 1995-1996 after serving as an assistant coach for Brendan Malone.

Although Darrell Walker had rookies like Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady at his disposal, Walker was unable to bring the Raptors out of the basement of the Central Division.

As a friend of Isiah Thomas, Walker left the team after Thomas lost his ownership bid and joined ESPN as an analyst.

After the Raptors, Walker only coached one team, the Washington Wizards, and even then only for one season. His lack of success while having players like Damon Stoudamire, Walt Williams, Camby and McGrady on the squad gives him the last place nod.

6. Kevin O'Neill

Raptors coaching stats: 82 games coached, 33 wins, 49 losses, .402 winning percentage.

The last coach to be brought in with fanfare over his ability to implement a superior defensive system was Kevin O’Neill, who only lasted for one season.

O’Neill’s efforts to improve team defence worked as the team had the seventh-best defensive rating in the NBA in the 2003-2004 season (up from 26^th the year before). However, their offence absolutely flopped, scoring a league worst 88.5 points per game.

O’Neill was initially signed to a two year deal and might have been able to stay for another season to have another chance at improvement, except that he completely imploded at the end of the season and criticized the team for not focusing enough on winning.

That, in addition to arguing with then-GM Glen Grunwald led to his dismissal at the end of the season.

5. Brendan Malone

Raptors coaching stats: 82 games coached, 21 wins, 61 losses, .256 winning percentage.

As the first coach of an expansion franchise, Brendan Malone gets a bit of a break here.

While he had a couple of diamonds in the rough to work with in Doug Christie and Damon Stoudamire, his starting lineup included players like Zan Tabak and Oliver Miller. That’s simply not good enough to compete in the NBA.

Malone did well with a first-year team of mostly younger players. And really, there were no expectations at the time. He had free reign to treat games like extra practice for his team but still managed to coax a strong effort from his players.

It’s a shame that he wasn’t given the opportunity to continue.

4. Jay Triano

Raptors coaching stats: 229 games coached, 87 wins, 142 losses, .380 winning percentage.

Another coach who was asked to help developed a bunch of younger players was Jay Triano, the first Canadian head coach in the NBA.

Although he was more successful as an assistant coach for both Team USA and the Raptors, Triano had some ups and downs during his time as head coach in Toronto. Well, mostly downs.

Some might be wondering why Triano gets a higher ranking than Kevin O’Neill, who had a slightly higher winning percentage with the team.

It’s quite simple—Triano knew that being a good head coach is more than simply statistics. He knew more about how to manage both his players and himself both on the court and off it, and managed to last longer with the franchise because of it. That alone is worth the .022 difference in win percentage.

3. Butch Carter

Raptors coaching stats: 165 games coached, 73 wins, 92 losses, .442 winning percentage, 3 playoff games coached, 0 playoff wins, 3 playoff losses, .000 playoff winning percentage.

Butch Carter was the first Raptors coach to get the team into the playoffs, which unfortunately for this franchise is an accomplishment in itself.

After taking over from Darrell Walker, Carter finished out the 1997-1998 season with a 5-28 record and followed it up with a 23-27 record in the lockout-shortened 1998-1999 season.

The next year, Carter (both Butch and Vince) led the Raptors to their first winning season and playoff berth. They were swept by the Knicks in three games, but gained valuable playoff experience.

A number of issues with the organization (including comments made in a book he co-authored with his brother, former NFL wide receiver Cris Carter) led to his dismissal in the offseason.

Since leaving the Raptors, Carter has been unable to find another coaching gig. However, the always-quotable Charles Oakley thinks that Carter could have led the Heat to the title last year. Perhaps we’ll see him back in the NBA one day.

2. Sam Mitchell

Raptors coaching stats: 345 games coached, 156 wins, 189 losses, .451 winning percentage, 11 playoff games coached, 3 wins, 8 losses, .273 playoff winning percentage. 

Winning the Atlantic Division and receiving the NBA Coach of the Year award in the 2006-2007 season was Sam Mitchell’s defining moment as Raptors head coach.

He was a fiery coach that had no trouble with speaking his mind both to his players and to the media and remained very much the same person that he was during his playing days.

Watching Sam’s reactions to anything that happened on the court was always a good time. Unlike most NBA coaches who remain pretty stiff, Sam wore his heart on his sleeve.

He was great for the franchise and quite frankly should have been allowed to stay with the team for longer than he did.

1. Lenny Wilkens

Raptors coaching stats: 246 games coached, 113 wins, 133 losses, .459 winning percentage, 17 playoff games coached, 8 wins, 9 losses, .471 playoff winning percentage.

This might be a controversial selection to some, but there is no question that Lenny Wilkens is the best coach that the Raptors have ever had.

Granted, he took over a team of veterans that had started to win under Butch Carter.

But Lenny’s calm demeanour and poise fit in well with the team, so much so that the Raptors won their first and only playoff series in 2001 against the Knicks and almost made the Eastern Conference finals (no video clips here, it’s much too painful still).

Wilkins’s level of success with the Raptors has not been matched yet—will Casey’s “pound the rock” style eventually take the Raptors back into the playoffs and beyond?