Global Courant 2023-04-21 18:57:59
The Toronto Raptors fired head coach Nick Nurse on Friday.
The 55-year-old Nurse led the Raptors to their first-ever NBA championship in 2019.
He spent the past decade with the franchise, including five years as assistant coach and five years as head coach.
Raptors president and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri said the decision to fire Nurse offers an opportunity to “reset” and “refocus”.
“The decision to make such a change has never been taken lightly or lightly, especially when it comes to an individual who has been an integral part of this franchise’s most historic accomplishments, and who is a steady leader been during some of our teams most challenging times,” said Ujiri.
You can watch Ujiri speak about the decision at 11 a.m. ET via the video link above.
Nurse was named the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year.
He has also been the head coach of the Canada men’s national basketball team since 2019, and he signed a contract extension to continue his role through the 2024 Paris Olympics in August 2021.
Nurse led the Raptors to a 48–34 record in the 2021–22 season before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers.
However, the Raptors failed to return to the playoffs this season after finishing ninth in the East with a 41–41 record and losing to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA play-in tournament.
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Toronto’s season is over with a 109-105 loss to Chicago in their single elimination play-in game. Zach LaVine scored 30 of his 39 points in the second half, while former Raptor DeMar DeRozan added 23. Pascal Siakam had a chance to tie the game with 12 seconds left, but missed two of his three free throws.
Nurse leaves with the best winning percentage in franchise history at .582, with 227 wins to 163 losses.
A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Nurse came to the NBA after several successful years in the NBA G League. He led Rio Grande Valley to a championship in 2013, two years after leading Iowa to a title.
Nurse was 23 when he became the head coach of Grand View College, making him the youngest college basketball coach in the U.S.
He spent 11 seasons as head coach in the British Basketball League with the Birmingham Bullets (1995-96), Manchester Giants (1998-2000), London Towers (2000-01) and Brighton Bears (2000-06). Nurse won national titles with Birmingham in 1996 and in 2000 with the Giants.
Nurse succeeded Dwane Casey to become the ninth Raptors head coach in franchise history. Casey was fired after the Raptors were swept by Cleveland in the second round of the playoffs.
