In his first two years, Nick Nurse won his first coach of the year award and led the Toronto Raptors to a championship. Now who else has done that?
On Tuesday, news broke of the Toronto Raptors re-signing Nick Nurse to a new multi-year contract. The contract was universally praised after a strong 2019-20 season that saw Nurse and the Toronto Raptors earn a 53-19 regular-season record (a franchise-record .736 winning percentage) that ended with a Game 7 loss in the Eastern Conference Semis to the Boston Celtics.
This strong performance came as a surprise to most as the reigning NBA champions weren’t expected to be this strong after losing Kawhi Leonard to free agency last offseason.
This season, in just his second year as an NBA head coach, Nurse won the 2019-20 NBA Coach Of The Year Award. It was a decisive win with Nurse earning 90 first-place votes out of a possible 100. In his first season without Kawhi, Nurse had garnered recognition league-wide as one of the best in-game tacticians and most creative decision-makers in basketball.
Despite not having a single-player voted to an All-Defense team the Toronto Raptors had the best defensive efficiency in the NBA despite Kyle Lowry, Fred Vanvleet, Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell, Serge Ibaka, and Marc Gasol all missing significant time due to injury. A lot of the success on that end of the floor can be attributed to the defensive schemes, systems, and rotations that Nurse had deployed all season.
Right now Nick Nurse’s stock is at an all-time high. He is the ninth head coach in NBA history to win a title in his rookie season and as of right now he has the highest winning percentage of all-time with .721.
He has already cemented himself as an all-time Raptor great as the third Toronto coach to ever win NBA coach of the year (Sam Mitchell in 2007 and Dwane Casey in 2018) and delivering the only championship in franchise history. But after just two seasons, he has a long way to go before he’s considered one of the all-time great coaches in basketball history.
In this post, I plan to take a look at Nurse’s first two seasons with the Toronto Raptors and compare them to some of the legends of the game when they were at the same point in their career.
Nick Nurse’s resume: 111-43 regular-season record (.721), 23-12 playoff record (.657), 2019 NBA Champion, 2020 Coach of the Year, 2020 All-Star Game head coach
Five Hall of Famers
Don Nelson: 1335-1063 (.557) regular-season record (most wins all-time), 75-91 (.452) playoff record, 3x NBA Coach of the Year (1983 & 1985 with Milwaukee, 1992 with Golden State), 2x All-Star Game head coach (1992, 2002)
First Two Seasons (1976-1978): 71-75 (.486) regular season record, 5-4 (.556) playoff record
Nelson took over for Larry Costello 19 games into a trying 1976-77 season for the Milwaukee Bucks. In his first full season in 1977-78, Milwaukee’s record improved by 14 wins under Nelson’s watch and the Bucks grabbed the second seed in the Midwest Division.
Across 31 seasons as a head coach with Milwaukee, Golden State, New York, and Dallas, Nelson would go on to claim the NBA’s all-time regular-season win title and win three Coach of the Year awards.
Jerry Sloan: 1221-803 (.603) regular season record (fourth-most wins all-time), 98-104 (.485) playoff record, Lost in 1997 & 1998 NBA Finals
First Two NBA Seasons (1979-1981): 75-89 (.457) regular-season record, 2-4 (.333) playoff record
Before he was in Utah and running Stockton and Malone pick and rolls, Sloan had a very forgettable three-year stint with the pre-Jordan Bulls from 1979-82.
Lenny Wilkens: 1332-1155 (.536) regular-season record (second most wins all-time), 80-98 (.449) playoff record,1979 NBA Champion (Seattle), 1994 Coach of the Year (Atlanta), 4x AllStar Game head coach (1979, 1980, 1989, 1994)
First Two Seasons (1969-1971): 74-90 regular-season record (.451), did not make playoffs
In his first three-year stint in Seattle, Wilkens and the Supersonics failed to make the playoffs. After two years in Portland, Wilkens returned to Seattle in 1977 and won the 1979 championship with a core of Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson, and Gus Williams.
Pat Riley: 1210-694 (.636) regular-season record (fourth-most wins all-time), 171-111 (.606) all-time playoff record, 5x NBA Champion (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988 with Lakers & 2006 with Miami), 3x NBA Coach of the Year (1990 with the Lakers, 1993 with New York, 1997 with Miami), 9× NBA All-Star Game head coach (1982, 1983, 1985–1990, 1993)
First Two Seasons (1981-1983): 108-45 regular-season record (.706), 20-9 (.690) playoff record, 1982 NBA Champion, Lost in 1983 NBA Finals, 2x All-Star Game head coach
The fifth rookie coach to ever win an NBA title, Pat Riley walked into a pretty favorable position with four Hall of Famers playing on that 1982 Lakers title team.
Winning has since followed Riley everywhere, just count the rings for proof. Four championship rings as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, one 2006 ring as the president and head coach of the Shaq and Wade Miami Heat, and two more rings as the president of the Lebron-era “Heatles”.
Phil Jackson: 1155-485 (.704) regular-season record (seventh-most all-time), 229-104 (.688) playoff record, 11× NBA champion (1991–1993, 1996–1998 with Chicago and 2000–2002, 2009–2010 with the Lakers), 1996 NBA Coach of the Year, 4× NBA All-Star Game head coach (1992, 1996, 2000, 2009)
First Two Seasons (1989-1991): 116-48 (.707) regular-season record, 25-8 (.758) playoff record, 1991 NBA Champion
After the 1988-89 season, Michael Jordan and the Bulls failed to get past the Detroit Pistons for a second straight year under coach Doug Collins’ watch. Collins was fired and his assistant Phil Jackson was promoted to the head coaching position and the rest is history. “The Zen Master” has since won eleven championships as a head coach which is the NBA record.
Five Current Greats
Doc Rivers, LA Clippers: 943-681 (.581) regular-season record (11th most wins all-time), 91-89 (.506) playoff record, 2008 NBA Champion (Boston), 2000 NBA Coach of the Year (Orlando), 2× NBA All-Star Game head coach (2008, 2011)
First Two Seasons (1999-2001): 84-80 (.512) regular-season record, 1-3 (.250) playoff record, 2000 NBA Coach of the Year
Rivers won the Coach of the Year in his rookie 1999-00 season after guiding a bad Orlando Magic team to a surprising 41-41 record. He would go on to win the title with a 2008 Boston Celtics team featuring Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. Doc is currently second in regular-season wins among active coaches.
Rick Carlisle, Dallas Mavericks: 794-659 (.546) regular-season record (16th all-time wins), 60-66 (.476) playoff record, 2011 NBA Champion (Dallas), 2002 NBA Coach of the Year (Detroit), 2004 NBA All-Star Game head coach
First Two Seasons (2001-2003): 100-64 (.610) regular-season record, 12-15 (.444) playoff record, 2002 Coach of the Year
Carlisle coached the Pistons to two 50 win seasons to open up his coaching career. The New Jersey Nets swept the Pistons out of the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals which resulted in the surprise firing of the 2002 Coach of the Year.
The Pistons went on to win the NBA Championship just a year later under the guidance of Carlisle’s replacement, Larry Brown. Carlisle continued to rack up wins with a notable four-year stint in Indiana and would eventually get his championship ring in Dallas after Dirk Nowitzki’s historic 2011 playoff run.
Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat: 567-392 (.591) regular-season record (27th all-time wins), 80-48 (.625) playoff record, 2× NBA champion (2012 & 2013 with Miami), 2013 NBA All-Star Game head coach
First Two Seasons (2008-2010): 90-74 (.549) regular season record, 4-8 (0.333) playoff record
The man that Pat Riley handpicked to replace him as head coach of the Miami Heat. Spoelstra didn’t get enough credit for Miami’s two championships with Lebron, Wade, and Bosh.
But he has since proven himself as one of the game’s elite and routinely gets the most out of whatever roster he is given. This year’s Miami team has been one of the surprises of the 2020 playoff bubble and is just a few wins away from potentially making the NBA Finals.
Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors: 337-138 (.709) regular-season record (55th most wins all-time), 77-28 (.733) playoff record, 3× NBA champion (2015, 2017, 2018 with Golden State), 2016 NBA Coach of the Year (Golden State), 2× NBA All-Star Game head coach (2015, 2017)
First Two Seasons (2014-2016): 140-24 (.854) regular-season record, 31-14 (.689) playoff record, 2015 NBA Champion, Lost in 2016 NBA Finals, 2016 NBA Coach of the Year, 2015 NBA All-Star Game head coach
After winning the championship as a rookie head coach in 2015 and breaking the NBA’s regular-season win record with 73 wins in 2016, nobody has had a more impressive start to their head coaching career than Steve Kerr.
Greg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs: 1277-614 (.675) regular-season record (third-most wins all-time), 170-114 (.599) playoff record, 5× NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014 with San Antonio), 3× NBA Coach of the Year (2003, 2012, 2014 with San Antonio), 4× NBA All-Star Game head coach (2005, 2011, 2013, 2016)
First Two Seasons (1996-98): 73-73 (.500) regular-season record, 4-5 playoff record (.444)
The 1996-97 San Antonio season saw injured Hall of Fame center David Robinson limited to just 6 games resulting in a listless 20-62 record. That season would profoundly change the Spurs franchise for the better.
Midway through the season, General Manager Gregg Popovich fired coach Bob Hill and stepped into the vacant position himself. At season’s end, the team would use the first overall pick of the 1997 NBA draft on Tim Duncan, cementing one of the most dynamic player-coach duos in sports history.
Toronto Raptors: So How Does Nick Nurse Compare?
When compared to the legends of the game, the start to Nick Nurse’s basketball career should be considered one of the best of all-time. The early success in terms of the gaudy win-loss record, the awards and accolades and already winning a championship ring is matched only by Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, and Steve Kerr.
But you can make the argument that the NBA is the most star-driven league in sports. The championships usually follow the best players in the league. Pat Riley had Magic and Kareem, Popovich had Duncan, Kerr had Steph and KD and Phil Jackson had Jordan and Pippen and then had Shaq and Kobe.
In his rookie season, Nick Nurse had Kawhi Leonard but now has to work with a team without an obvious superstar. The best coaches know how to get the most out of a given roster and, most importantly, know how to get the most out of their stars.
Nurse has shown a knack for talent and personality management in his very short career with the Toronto Raptors. It’s incredibly early to label him an all-time great and only time will tell if he’s a pantheon-level coach or if he is a Ty Lue-level flash in the pan. Personally, I wouldn’t bet against him.