The Toronto Raptors were the last team to open up a coaching vacancy and, on Tuesday, became the last team to fill that vacancy.
After firing Dwane Casey, now the head coach in Detroit, after a 59-win regular season that saw the Raptors once again bow out of the playoffs early, Toronto wanted to make a change, but clearly didn’t want to lose everything about the staff that got them there. So, their final two candidates were current assistant coach Nick Nurse and Spurs assistant Ettore Messina.
On Tuesday, the Raptors finally decided to move forward with Nurse, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, in an effort to get a new lead voice in the locker room but not go through a total staff change given their success developing players and in the regular season.
The Toronto Raptors are hiring assistant Nick Nurse as the franchise's new head coach, league sources tell ESPN. Sides are working through details of contract now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 12, 2018
Nurse has quite the resume, being on the sidelines in college, Europe, the G-League, and the NBA since 1989. He’s been with the Raptors since 2013 and was the assistant credited with opening up Toronto’s offense this past season, bringing it more into the modern NBA world. It isn’t the splashiest hire, but given most of the top candidates were off the board by the time the Raptors got into the market and their reported top target signed on in Milwaukee, there wasn’t a “name” to go get.
While a bit rare, it makes sense that they would hire from within given their track record in player development. What the Raptors hope is that Nurse can continue to push them into today’s NBA and also give them a fresh voice that will lead them further into the postseason.
