01 April 2023 , 21:47
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Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will ‘take a few weeks’ before committing to another season after a decade working at the Canadian NBA franchise.
Nurse was an assistant under Dwane Casey between 2013 and 2018, before he became head coach ahead of the 2018/19 season. As a rookie head coach, Nurse ultimately led the Raptors to the franchise’s first NBA championship when they defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games.
Since he took charge, Nurse has gone 224-160 as head coach of the Raptors, which is good enough for seventh in the NBA in wins over that span - and second behind the Warriors since the 2013/14 season. The team has made the playoffs in three out of his four seasons at the helm.
On Friday, Nurse confirmed he will take some time before deciding on his future. However, he insisted he is not considering anything beyond his time with Toronto once the current season finishes.
“I'm concentrated on this job, for sure, and this game, essentially,” Nurse said before the Raptors fell 117-110 to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center. “But I think 10 years is a good time to sit back and reflect a little bit.
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“So I think we're going to do that all when the season ends.”
Nurse clearly needs some time to consider the next step of his head coaching career. The 55-year-old - who played for the Derby Rams in the British Basketball League during his playing career and cut his coaching teeth in the BBL - admitted the 2022/23 campaign has been a ‘difficult season’.
“Early on, had some pretty serious injuries with some key guys,” Nurse continued. “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 rumours - 999 of them were about us - it seemed like, so that was probably as interesting as it gets.”
Nick Nurse and Fred VanVleet won the 2019 NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors (AP)When asked where his head is at, Nurse declared he is primarily focused on two things. He added: “First of all, I think when this season gets done, we'll evaluate everything, and even personally, I'm going to take a few weeks to see where I'm at, you know?
“Like you said, where my head's at. And just see how the relationship with the organisation is and everything. It's been 10 years for me now, which is a pretty good run. I don't know, over those 10 years we got to be up there in number of wins with anybody in the league. I don't even know where that is, but we've had a lot of big seasons.
“And then, right now, my head is to make this as long of a season as possible. This team needs playoff experience. So that is where I'm at right now … finish out these six, see where we land, see if we can't creep up a spot or two in the standings, and then give them hell in the playoffs, see if we can get in a real series and take it from there.”
Nurse’s Raptors possess a 38-39 record to sit ninth in the Eastern Conference as the race for the post season enters the final week of the regular campaign. Toronto take on the 26-52 Charlotte Hornets in their next contest on Sunday.