Toronto Raptors Roundtable: Kawhi Leonard expectations, Nick Nurse impact, and more

The Toronto Raptors season is quickly approaching, so we asked our contributors important questions about Kawhi Leonard, Nick Nurse, and more.

Our second Toronto Raptors roundtable includes questions about Nick Nurse, Kawhi Leonard, and much more. You can check out part one of our roundtable right here.

The Biggest change you can expect this season due to Nick Nurse is:

Thomas Valentine:

I think there will be a litany of small-ball lineups that we rarely saw last season. Serge Ibaka will be playing more minutes at center and the depth at both forward positions leaves a lot of options as to who will start at 3 and 4.

The line-up which featured Ibaka at center and Siakam at the four absolutely killed teams last season and I think Nurse takes advantage of the potential mismatches. Stretch rotations that feature players like Delon Wright, OG, Kawhi, and Siakam really excite me too. I like to think Nurse will be creative with the rotations and experiment for the playoffs

Brian Boake:

New coach Nick Nurse is likely to stress offense over defense, to a degree which likely would shock his predecessor, Dwane Casey.

The days of starting both Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka may be over, as Nurse pivots to a faster, smaller lineup.  Assuming Danny Green is the starting shooting guard and Ibaka jumps center, everyone on the floor at the start of the game will be a three-point shooting threat.

The days of mid-range DeMar DeRozan are over.  We’ll see a lot more transition threes. When in the half-court set, the Raptors will feature more passing and less dribbling.

Go Paolo:

I’m hoping to see Nick Nurse cure the Raptors’ playoff woes, and thanks to LeBron taking his talents to Long Beach he’ll have an easier time doing that.

Casey was dismissed because he was a great set-up man: he reinvented the team and got virtually the same guys to play better. But when it came to making adjustments, especially in a seven-game series, he was lacking.

Nurse is more of an Xs and Os type of coach. My only concern is if he can motivate the locker room and keep everyone in check as Casey did.