Nick Nurse Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Raptors Notes: Nurse, Casey, Messina, Valanciunas

June 13th, 2018 at 7:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

Assembling a staff will be the first priority for Nick Nurse, who was officially hired as the Raptors’ new head coach earlier today, writes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. With many of Dwane Casey’s assistants possibly following him to Detroit, Nurse, an assistant in Toronto for the past five years, may have to build his staff from scratch.

One possibility, according to Wolstat, is Nate Bjorkgren, a longtime friend who worked on Nurse’s staff at Iowa in the G League. Bjorkgren landed a job as an advance scout with the Raptors last fall after being let go when Earl Watson was fired in Phoenix. Wolstat also cites a report out of Italy that Spanish National team head coach Sergio Scariolo and former German National Team head coach Andrea Trinchieri are being considered. Nurse was a successful coach in Europe for 12 years before coming to the United States.

Current Raptors assistant Rex Kalamian isn’t expected to remain on staff, according to Wolstat, and may take a job with the Clippers if he doesn’t go to the Pistons.

There’s more tonight out of Toronto:

The relationship between Nurse and Casey became severely strained after the Raptors were bounced from the playoffs, according to Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star, with a source telling Feschuk there’s “no love lost between ’em.” Casey gave Nurse his first NBA opportunity, hiring him out of the G League in 2013. Feschuk also questions whether it was the right choice to promote one of Casey’s assistants when fellow finalist Ettore Messina could have provided a new direction for the organization.
The Raptors’ front office was divided between Nurse and Messina over the weekend, tweets Josh Lewenburg of TSN Sports. Messina, an assistant with the Spurs, reportedly performed well in both interviews.
The decision to hire Nurse means center Jonas Valanciunas is unlikely to be traded, relays Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Valanciunas worked frequently with Nurse during the season to try to develop a perimeter game, and that effort figures to expand now that Nurse is in charge.
The decision to replace Casey indicates that team president Masai Ujiri is feeling pressure to make changes, Deveney adds in the same piece. Ujiri’s job remains safe, but his preference to avoid major moves in the past hasn’t resulted in playoff success.

Raptors Hire Nick Nurse As Head Coach

June 13th, 2018 at 1:18pm CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 13: Nurse and the Raptors have agreed to a three-year, $10MM contract, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter). That’s a much more team-friendly deal than the one Casey reportedly signed with the Pistons (five years, $35MM+), which makes sense, given Nurse’s lack of NBA head coaching experience.

The Raptors have issued a press release indicating they’ll introduce Nurse as their new head coach in a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

JUNE 12: The Raptors are hiring assistant Nick Nurse as their new head coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who adds that the two sides are finalizing the details of a contract. The report comes on the heels of Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) writing of a “growing expectation in NBA coaching circles” that Nurse would be Toronto’s pick.

A report earlier this week indicated that Toronto’s decision would likely come down to Nurse and Spurs assistant Ettore Messina, who was meeting with the team for a second time about its head coaching vacancy. Nurse, a top assistant under former head coach Dwane Casey, had been considered a frontrunner throughout the process.

A longtime coach in various leagues, including the British Basketball League, Nurse was a two-time champion in the BBL and won two more titles in the G League in 2011 and 2013. Following that second G League championship, he joined Casey’s staff in Toronto, where he has spent the last five seasons. Nurse – who was voted a top up-and-coming coaching candidate by NBA executives earlier this year – received much of the credit for revamping the Raptors’ offensive system to great effect in 2017/18.

Despite the improvements to their offense and a franchise record for regular season wins, the Raptors were once again bounced unceremoniously from the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cavaliers this spring, which led to Casey’s firing. Considering the Raptors have won between 48 and 59 games in each of the last five seasons, the bar will be set high for Nurse. Along with president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, Nurse will have to find a way to keep up the club’s regular season success while turning the squad into a more formidable postseason opponent.

In addition to Nurse and Messina, the Raptors interviewed Rex Kalamian, Ime Udoka, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Mike Budenholzer, and Jerry Stackhouse during their head coaching search. Budenholzer – who was considered an early favorite to replace Casey – and Stackhouse took other jobs, while the other candidates weren’t considered finalists.

It will be interesting to see if Kalamian and other Toronto assistants remains on the Raptors’ staff with Nurse, or if they make the move to Detroit to join Casey. As we noted earlier today, Casey will have the freedom to pick his own staff with the Pistons.

The Raptors were the last NBA team without a head coach in place, so once they make things official with Nurse, all 30 jobs around the league will be filled.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Raptors Down To Two Coaching Finalists?

June 10th, 2018 at 10:34am CST by Arthur Hill

Spurs assistant Ettore Messina had a second interview this week for the Raptors‘ head coaching vacancy and is believed to be a finalist for the job along with Toronto assistant Nick Nurse, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.

Messina was a highly regarded coach in Europe before joining Gregg Popovich’s staff in 2014. He won four EuroLeague championships, along with multiple titles in Italy and Russia. He took over the Spur’s head coaching duties when Popovich’s wife died during the playoffs.

Messina also interviewed for head coaching positions this spring with the Hornets and Bucks.

Nurse, an assistant with the Raptors since 2013, also has extensive overseas experience. He spent 12 years there, mostly in Great Britain, and was twice named British Basketball League Coach of the Year. He is credited with helping the Raptors overhaul their offensive approach before the start of this season.

The Raptors have been searching for a head coach since deciding to fire Dwane Casey on May 11.

Latest On Raptors’ Coaching Search

June 5th, 2018 at 5:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors plan to trim their group of coaching candidates down to three finalists in the next seven to 10 days, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.

Spurs assistant Ettore Messina is expected to be on the list, along with longtime Raptors assistant Nick Nurse, according to Grange. He expects the other finalist to be Sarunas Jasikevicius, who briefly played in the NBA and has become one of Europe’s top coaching propects.

Jasikevicius, who serves as head coach of EuroLeague team Zalgiris Kaunas in Lithuania, interviewed with Raptors president Masai Ujiri over the weekend at the NBA Global Camp in Italy.

Spurs assistant Ime Udoka, who is among the finalists for the Pistons’ head coaching vacancy, may also get consideration from the Raptors, Grange adds.

Toronto hopes to hire a new coach by the end of the month, and Nurse should be considered the front-runner, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports, who adds that several outside candidates are still being considered. Nurse is viewed highly by the front office after revamping the Raptors’ offense heading into this season.

The organization may talk to some more candidates before a final decision is made, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Pistons Notes: Coaching Search, Free Agency, Beilein

June 4th, 2018 at 1:36pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA draft is two and a half weeks away, and the free agent period will follow shortly thereafter. However, Detroit doesn’t have a first-round pick in the draft or cap room for free agents, so special advisor Ed Stefanski isn’t rushing to get a new head of basketball operations in place. In fact, as Keith Langlois of Pistons.com details, it sounds as if Stefanski is prioritizing the head coaching search.

“The priority right now is going for a head coach,” Stefanski said. “You would almost say simultaneously trying to find the front office, but a head coach is important so we can get that person to put arms around our players and make sure they’re doing their offseason program and developing. The summer is when these players really develop and that’s huge for the franchise.”

Here’s more on the Pistons, including a few notes on that search for a new head coach:

Here’s Stefanski on free agency, via Langlois: “We do not have a ton of money, so we’re not a player early on in free agency. But in any free agency period, you’ll be surprised after the A-guys go off the board and money gets tight, I believe some good players are out there and hopefully we can get them with the amount of money we have left.”
Perhaps the most interesting name to surface in the Pistons’ head coaching search has been that of Michigan coach John Beilein. Shawn Windsor of The Detroit Free Press makes the case that a deal between Beilein and the Pistons could be a fit for both sides, while Rod Beard of The Detroit News and Andrew Kahn of MLive.com also examine the possibility of a union.
Beard notes (via Twitter) that he doesn’t get the sense that Beilein is interviewing with the Pistons to create leverage for a larger contract from the Wolverines, adding that “this interest might be real.”
Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link) recently indicated that Raptors assistant Nick Nurse is among the candidates meeting with the Pistons about their head coaching job.

Raptors Interview Jerry Stackhouse For Coaching Job

May 21st, 2018 at 12:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors interviewed their G League head coach, Jerry Stackhouse, for their head coaching job last week in Chicago, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.

Familiarity could work in Stackhouse’s favor. He moved into a coaching two years after he retired in 2013, serving as an assistant to former coach Dwane Casey. He took over the head coaching job with Raptors 905 prior to the 2016-17 season and guided them to a championship. They lost in the finals to Austin this past season.

The Raptors were reportedly interested in hiring ex-Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer before he selected the Bucks. Stackhouse is just one of three in-house candidates being considered as Casey’s replacement. Nick Nurse and Rex Kalamian also fall into that category.

Stackhouse is also considered a candidate for the Pistons’ head coaching position. Detroit was one of the teams Stackhouse played for during his long NBA career. He was one of many candidates interviewed by the Knicks before they chose former Grizzlies head man David Fizdale.

Budenholzer Was First Choice In Toronto?

May 16th, 2018 at 8:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mike Budenholzer, who agreed tonight to be the Bucks’ next head coach, was also the Raptors’ top choice, tweets Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet. Budenholzer met with Toronto’s front office on Monday, but no job offer was extended, relays ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Assistant coach Nick Nurse appears to be the current front-runner for the Raptors’ job, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter link). Nurse has spent the past five seasons as part of former coach Dwane Casey’s staff.

Lewenberg describes him as a “forward, innovative thinker,” which is an important quality to the Toronto front office (Twitter link). He adds that there’s a good chance someone else will hire Nurse if the Raptors don’t make him their head coach.

Toronto seems very focused on internal candidates, Lewenberg notes, as fellow assistant Rex Kalamian is being considered for the opening, along with Jerry Stackhouse, head coach of Raptors 905 in the G League (Twitter link). Other than Budenholzer, no one from outside the organization has interviewed for the position.

Stay current with all the latest coaching news with our 2018 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker.

Magic Eyeing Kelvin Sampson For Head Coaching Job?

May 16th, 2018 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

There’s a “growing belief among league insiders” that Kelvin Sampson has emerged as the prime target in the Magic’s coaching search, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). It’s the second time we’ve heard Sampson linked to Orlando, as Mitch Lawrence recently tweeted that the University of Houston head coach was being regarded as a “top candidate” for the Orlando job.

Of the four NBA teams currently seeking a new head coach, the Magic are the only club whose search has been ongoing since the end of the regular season. The Bucks and Raptors began looking for head coaches after they were eliminated from the playoffs, while the Pistons didn’t make a decision on Stan Van Gundy until early May. However, Orlando’s search has now taken over a month, and the team has been cagey about which candidates it’s focusing on.

So far, the only confirmed interviewees for the Magic are Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool, Spurs assistant Ime Udoka, and David Fizdale, who has since been hired by the Knicks. Nick Nurse and Jerry Stackhouse of the Raptors were viewed as possible contenders, given their connection to Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, but Lawrence suggests those Toronto assistants aren’t in the mix. It’s not clear if Dwane Casey is on Orlando’s list of candidates.

While Sampson may seem like an out-of-left-field target for the Magic, he has a link to Weltman as well — Sampson was an assistant coach in Milwaukee several years ago when Weltman was serving as an assistant GM for the Bucks.

Sampson, who was also a Rockets assistant for a few years, returned to the college ranks in 2014 after his five-year show-cause penalty for NCAA violations with Indiana expired. He has been the head coach of the Cougars for the last four seasons, and was named the AAC Coach of the Year this spring.

Raptors To Interview Nurse, Kalamian For HC Job

May 14th, 2018 at 12:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the Raptors reportedly have serious interest in Mike Budenholzer as a potential head coach, the club is also doing its due diligence on possible candidates within the organization. According to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link), a pair of Raptors assistants will interview for the head coaching job on Tuesday, with Nick Nurse and Rex Kalamian getting meetings.

Nurse, who has been linked to the Magic, Hornets, and Suns already this offseason, received the most votes in a poll conducted earlier this spring by Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports on the NBA assistants who most deserve a head coaching opportunity. Viewed as an offensive specialist on Dwane Casey‘s staff in Toronto, Nurse received much of the credit for helping to implement the Raptors’ new-look offense during the 2017/18 season.

As for Kalamian, he’s a more defensive-minded assistant, so the Raptors’ regressions on that side of the ball in recent months may hurt his candidacy, as Eric Koreen of The Athletic observes (Twitter link). However, Koreen adds that Kalamian is a smart, capable coach who is respected around the league. Before arriving in Toronto, Kalamian served as an assistant for the Thunder, Kings, Timberwolves, Nuggets, and Clippers.

It’s not clear yet if the Raptors will also meet with Jerry Stackhouse about their coaching vacancy. Stackhouse has received some head coaching buzz after leading the Raptors 905 – Toronto’s G League affiliate – to a G League championship in 2017 and another NBAGL Finals appearance in 2018.

Raptors Leaning Toward Head Coaching Change

May 8th, 2018 at 1:12pm CST by Luke Adams

It has been less than 24 hours since the Raptors’ 2017/18 season came to an end, so the team is still evaluating its offseason options. However, sources tell Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca that the club is “strongly” leaning toward making a head coaching change and replacing Dwane Casey.

According to Lewenberg, if the Raptors do elect to part ways with Casey, it won’t be an indictment of his skills as a coach or what he has accomplished during his seven years with the franchise. After being eliminated from the postseason by the Cavaliers for a third straight year though, there’s a sense that it’s time for a “new direction and a different voice,” per Lewenberg.

Casey, who took over as the Raptors’ head coach in 2011, is the winningest coach in team history, leading the club to a 373-307 (.549) regular season record during his tenure. The Raps have enjoyed the best run in franchise history during the last five years, winning between 48 and 59 games each season and making five straight postseason appearances.

However, despite their regular season success, the Raptors have struggled to make deep playoff runs. After consecutive first-round exits in 2014 and 2015, Toronto has won at least one series in each year since then, but have been unable to mount a serious challenge against the Cavs, winning just two total postseason contests in three years against Cleveland.

If the Raptors make a coaching change, there are several internal candidates to take over, including Nick Nurse, Jerry Stackhouse, and Rex Kalamian, notes Lewenberg. Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun, who also hears that the team is leaning toward replacing Casey, tweets that Nurse may be the favorite. However, Toronto may also prefer someone with more head coaching experience, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca tweets.

Lewenberg expects the Raptors to make a decision soon, which would give Casey a chance to interview for other jobs if he moves on from Toronto.