Kyle Lowry sat through it wearing street clothes in all black, as if attending a funeral. Another Raptors season gone, a second straight burial at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers. So cue the sad violins and write a dispiriting obituary for Toronto’s NBA team, right?

No, no. Let’s get realistic for a moment. Nobody is beating the Cavaliers in a best-of-seven series between now and the awarding of Cleveland’s second straight championship next month — not if LeBron James continues to be as masterful as he was in his four-game dismantling of the Raptors. When a loss seems so inevitable, when an opponent seems so invincible, forget critiquing what’s wrong with Toronto’s NBA team for a moment. Sometimes you can only bow in appreciation of the man basketball calls its King.

Consider the viewpoint of Wayne Embry, Toronto’s hall-of-fame senior advisor. For years the 80-year-old Embry wouldn’t hear a word against his well-reasoned argument that his old teammate Oscar Robertson is history’s greatest player. Even the coming and going of Michael Jordan’s six-ringed career didn’t move Embry. But on Sunday Embry said he believes LeBron belongs “in the same sentence” as his beloved Oscar. That’s not Embry saying LeBron is better. But it’s Embry saying a lot.

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In the meantime, considering LeBron at age 32 looks as ageless as ever, what are the Raptors to do about their own squad? What’s the correct course for a good team that’s twice been eliminated by a great one?

There’ll be debates about free agents to sign or not sign — Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker, to name three. And there’ll be calls to fire the coach, as there always are, never mind the two guaranteed years remaining on a contract that pays him $6 million (U.S.) a season.

Dwane Casey has been here since 2011, which makes him the longest-tenured head coach in the NBA who hasn’t won a championship in his current post. In an instant-gratification universe, that also makes him overdue for the ejector seat. And with the Raptors clearly realizing that they need to rethink the way they play the game, maybe a change would make sense. Casey is, after all, a defence-first coach in a league where the best teams are winning with offence.

So, hey, fire a warning shot over the bow. Insert Jerry Stackhouse, he of the D-League championship 905ers, as a prominent assistant on Casey’s staff to keep Casey sharp (and to announce to the rest of the league that there isn’t exactly a better free-agent coaching option available to assume the helm).

All that said, if you’re of the belief that coaching is among the top handful of shortcomings here — well, you’re probably forgetting that Casey is the man who took a roster destined for destruction only a few years ago and had a major hand in turning it into the second-best team in the East. The Raptors have been in the playoffs four straight years now, a franchise-record streak. Over that span no Eastern Conference team has won more regular-season games, not even the Cavs. In the not-so-illustrious history of Toronto’s franchise there’ve been precisely two 50-plus win seasons — that’d be the most recent two.

It’s important to keep that stuff in perspective when you point out Casey’s flaws. “Cannot beat LeBron” doesn’t equal “cannot coach.”

And, hey, I’ve been among Casey’s harshest critics when he’s struggled to make in-game adjustments in crucial moments. Still, Casey managed to figure out a way to win 15 of the 22 regular-season games in which Lowry was out of the lineup with a wrist injury. In the playoffs he figured out the Milwaukee Bucks after a couple of early hiccups in what turned out to be a six-game opening-round win. And for a lot of the series against the Cavaliers the Raptors moved the ball beautifully, only to see their designated shooters fire bricks.

For all the talk about how Toronto’s offence basically amounts to Lowry and DeMar DeRozan taking turns going one on one — heading into Sunday’s game Cleveland had used an isolation play in 15% of its playoff possessions, tops in the NBA. The Raptors’ isolation frequency, just 8%, was near the bottom of the post-season chart.

Casey’s not perfect. No coach can be. But if you’re looking for warts in high-influence positions, you can make the case that Lowry is the limiting factor here. DeRozan has flaws, sure, but at least DeRozan has a documented history of adjusting and improving. Lowry has hit roadblocks and too often curled up in the fetal position when they seemed impassable. He abandoned ship against the Wizards a couple of years ago, when he knew he was no match for the quickness of John Wall.

And there are those around the Air Canada Centre who cast a sceptical eye at his decision to forgo Games 3 and 4 on account of a sprained ankle. One insider wondered: Why did Lowry, who often takes his warmup shots in the Air Canada Centre’s practice court, make a show of shooting on the main court before Games 3 and 4? Nobody’s saying he wasn’t truly injured. Some were suggesting it was telling that he needed to publicly demonstrate the extent of the hurt.

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“It’s all a show,” said one NBA source.

Speaking of Lowry’s over-arching history as a less-than-reliable post-season performer, another source said: “The bright lights get to him.”

In any event, neither Lowry’s inconsistency nor his unavailability is on the coach, folks. How limited are a coach’s options when your best guard, DeRozan, can’t make a three-pointer to save his life in a league where the three-pointer rules? How does a coach overcome the sudden irrelevance of DeMarre Carroll, the team’s starting small forward for the bulk of the past two seasons, who at age 30 has watched the game pass him by? How does a coach overcome the perennial invisibility of Patrick Patterson, a key cog off the bench whose aversion to the slightest bit of pressure borders on the clinical?

In other words, Patterson, an impending free agent, isn’t likely to be back. Casey has done nothing to suggest he shouldn’t be. Overpaying for Lowry would be a mistake — and Bryan Colangelo and Lowry’s hometown 76ers are sure to ratchet up the bidding. Overlooking the fact that Ibaka, allegedly 27, has gotten old fast would be erroneous, too. But going forward with the coach that’s done nothing but prove he’s engaged and adaptable — it’s a no-risk move in an off-season that poses plenty of potential pitfalls.

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