Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will take time over the offseason to reflect on what he sees in his future, both professionally and personally, after 10 years coaching in the organization and a season that has seen the team falter.
“It’s been a difficult season from a number of standpoints,” Nurse said Friday.
“Early on, had some pretty serious injuries with some key guys. I thought we kind of weathered that for a while … and then yeah, I think the trade deadline stuff, I don’t know if there was a thousand rumors, 999 of them were about us, it seemed like. So that was probably as interesting as it gets.”
The Raptors (38-39) are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference after a 117-110 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night. They have five games remaining, with four on the road, and are almost assured of a spot in the play-in round.
Given the lack of consistent success this season, Nurse reportedly has been linked to other coaching jobs, though he did not directly address the possibility of leaving Toronto.
“I think I’m concentrated on this job, for sure, and this game,” Nurse said. “But I think that 10 years is a good time to sit back and reflect a little bit, right? I think we’re going to do that all when the season ends.”
Nurse, 55, was an assistant coach under Dwane Casey from 2013 until he took over as head coach at the start of the 2018-19 season. The Raptors are 224-161 since and won the 2019 NBA championship.
The team made the playoffs in three out of his first four seasons.
–Field Level Media