Opinion | How Nick Nurse’s ‘big picture’ coaching vision was 30 years in the making
- A coaching nomad, Nurse led the Toronto Raptors to the NBA title in his first season in charge and seeks similar success with the Canadian national team
It’s not that difficult to like Nick Nurse. All you have to do is meet him, and that’s before you even know his backstory. Nurse has been an NBA head coach for all of one year now and already has a championship to show for it.
Twelve months ago he was a largely unknown coaching nomad who took over the Toronto Raptors when Dwayne Casey was relieved of his duties two days after being named coach of the year. But as the team arrived in Tokyo last week to play two exhibition games against the Houston Rockets, the coach of the defending NBA champs was in as much demand as any of his players.
In what is likely to be a surreal moment for Nurse, the Raptors are set to tip off the NBA regular season on Tuesday in Toronto against the New Orleans Pelicans with the raising of the championship banner and a ring ceremony.
When asked about his odyssey over the past year, going from an unknown commodity to NBA champ, he pauses slightly to reflect. “Odyssey is a good word for it.”
Over the past 30 years, Nurse has coached 15 different teams in five different countries.
