Nurse says there will be an "evaluation" of his job as Raptors coach

Apr 13 2023, 6:37 pm

The Toronto Raptors are still figuring out what to do with head coach Nick Nurse.

Amid rumours that Nurse could be looking for a new job this coming offseason, Nurse admitted that he isn’t quite sure himself where he ends up next year after the team’s play-in loss to the Chicago Bulls.

“My stance on the relationship with the front office is what I said earlier,” Nurse told reporters at today’s end-of-season press conference. “[Raptors president] Masai [Ujiri] really wants to win, I really want to win. We’re driving to try to figure out how to get back to a championship level. Again, our communication is open.”

Nurse has been linked to a head coach opening in Houston, as the team parted ways with Stephen Silas earlier this month, should the Raptors let him go. Nurse currently has one year left on his contract with the Raptors, reportedly worth $8 million per season.

“I think that 10 years is a good time to sit back and reflect a little bit. I think we’re going to do that all when the season ends,” Nurse told reporters in Philadelphia on March 31. “Even personally I’m gonna take a few weeks to see where I’m at, where my head’s at, to see how the relationship with the organization is and everything. It’s been 10 years for me now. Which is a pretty good run.”

Nurse joined the Raptors organization back in 2013 as an assistant coach, taking over the head coaching role from Dwane Casey back in 2018.

“From my standpoint the speculation of whether I will be back or not, I have no idea where that comes from or what I was supposed to do about that. What I thought was, I needed to try to get the team or any of the players focused back on the job at hand, and try to not have to answer that question every game,” Nurse added today. “It started coming one after another after another. I was trying to put it to bed, so we can focus on the season. ”

Nurse also said that he expects the front office and himself to take a look at his employment this coming summer, though he says they’ve always been on the same page.

“That is certainly part of the evaluation of everything. My job is to make the best decisions for this organization, I’ve always believed that from day one,” Nurse added about his future with the team today. “I still believe that 10 years later. When you sit back and look at it all the decisions you make have to be for what’s best for the organization, right? And I think that we got front office and a president in [Masai Ujiri] who passionately wants to win. And we got a head coach [in myself] who passionately wants to win.”

Before joining the Raptors, Nurse worked in 12 different organizations across the US and the UK as either a head or an assistant coach.

“I took an unconventional route to get here… I was always just trying to improve my craft and do better at my job. And that led me to a lot of short stints in a lot of places where I thought that would help me do that, Right?” Nurse said in response to a question from Daily Hive about his aspirations as an NBA head coach. “What we want to do is we want to build a culture. We want to go out there and play really hard. We want our players to get better. We want our players to have success. We want our organization to have success. That’s what we strive for.”

The Raptors now are on the sidelines for the NBA playoffs, as they look ahead to the draft and free agency to improve their team.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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