Raptors officially name Nurse head coach

[June 15, 2018]  The Toronto Raptors announced the promotion of Nick Nurse to head coach on Thursday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though ESPN reported Wednesday that Nurse agreed to a three-year contract worth nearly $10 million. The 50-year-old had been an assistant for the Raptors since 2013.

The Raptors introduced Nurse as their head coach at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"It was 27 years in coaching and the last month was a long one for me as well," Nurse told reporters. "It never bothered me that month of waiting."

Nurse and San Antonio Spurs assistant Ettore Messina were the finalists to replace Dwane Casey, who was named NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Raptors to a franchise-best 59 wins and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs last season. But the team was again bounced from the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Casey was let go shortly after.

Casey was named head coach of the Detroit Pistons, replacing Stan Van Gundy, on Monday.

"We shared a lot of winning together. He's a competitive guy, a great professional. I've learned so much from him," Nurse said of Casey. "You can't take away the last five years."

Nurse was a two-time coach of the year in the British Basketball League. He also coached in the D-League, winning championships in 2011 with the Iowa Energy and in 2013 with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

Nurse preached innovation as the key to the Raptors' getting over the hump.

"The game in general is changing so fast before our very eyes, it's changed so much in the last five years, three years," Nurse said. "We've got to be innovative, we've got to think about what's coming next before it happens."

Team president Masai Ujiri used the word "innovative" to describe Nurse in a statement released before the news conference, praising his "tremendous basketball IQ."

"We've valued his creativity and dedication as he focused on making our offense one of the best in the NBA, and we believe that he will bring those qualities to his new role as head coach," Ujiri said. "This is an exciting and important season for the Raptors, and I believe Nick's strong leadership and focus on winning are qualities which will help lead us to our ultimate goal, which is a championship."

--Field Level Media

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