"10 amazing years": Nick Nurse reflects on Raptors tenure
If he hadn’t already, Nick Nurse seems to have officially closed the book on his time with the Toronto Raptors.
After 10 seasons with the franchise — including five as the head coach and a historic NBA title win in 2019 — Nurse wasn’t exactly in the mood for pleasantries on Sunday afternoon.
Visiting Scotiabank Arena for the second time this season with the Philadelphia 76ers squad he was hired to coach last spring following his departure from Toronto, Nurse didn’t have much to say about the roster turnover the Raptors have undergone this season.
“We’ve had enough to worry about with our own team, putting our roster together, to make trades, to get our guys healthy, that kind of stuff,” Nurse said pregame. “My full focus is on Philadelphia right now.”
Though Toronto has lost a few key players this year that were staples of Nurse’s teams — Fred VanVleet in free agency, and both Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby via trade — it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing this year in Philadelphia, either.
Not only has the NBA’s reigning MVP Joel Embiid been out since January 30 with a meniscus injury, but Nurse’s tenure in Philadelphia started with a very public standoff between star point guard James Harden and team president Daryl Morey that ultimately ended in a blockbuster trade with the LA Clippers.
But following the win 135-120 win over the Raptors, Nurse opened up a little bit about his time in the city, as well as the loud ovation offered to him and Raptors legend Kyle Lowry, who joined the 76ers earlier this season following a buyout from the Charlotte Hornets.
“Listen, I keep saying this. It was 10 amazing years here, right? Really, really amazing. And, a lot of wins. Right? This is where I started in the NBA. I [didn’t] know anything different other than Toronto. And now I have for a year in Philly. It’s nice to get a really good cheer for Kyle. I like to see that. I was here for 10 [years]… nine years with him. He’s certainly, if not the best, one of the best to ever play here.”
Nurse was hired as an assistant coach for the organization back in 2013 following Lowry’s first year with the team, coaching him right through his final season with the franchise in 2020-21. After 13 coaching jobs across the UK, NBA D League, Belgium, and the American college ranks, Nurse’s job with Toronto was his first gig in the NBA.
As for Lowry, Nurse is finding ways to use the now 38-year-old, who has averaged 8.7 points, 4.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 18 games with Philadelphia while playing 29.1 minutes per game.
“He’s doing a lot of stuff that he’s always done,” Nurse said pregame of Lowry. “He’s a good organizer. I think that he’s really helped our defence get better and better just by knowing and certainly understanding a lot of things that we want to do as a coaching staff, and kind of making sure it gets done out there on the floor.”
To no one’s surprise, Lowry also picked up his fair share of praise from the other side of the floor.
“[He is a] championship-calibre player. He knows what winning is about,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said pregame of the former Raptor. “Definitely, he’s a player that can help the locker room, he can help coaches, he can help everybody in the organization do what it takes to win at the highest level.”
Lowry himself seems to be enjoying the latter stages of his career.
“Whatever they need me to do, like I have always done in my career,” Lowry said of his role with Philadelphia. “I’m not the go-to guy here on this team, I’m the guy that’s going to help the go-to guys get better, get open looks.”
And while they’ve relied on a score-by-committee approach with Embiid out, the 76ers got some good news on Monday morning, with the possibility he could return to game action as soon as Tuesday, as per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Toronto returns to play Tuesday night when they host LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers at Scotiabank Arena. Tipoff for that one is set for 7 pm ET.
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