Raptors: 5 best moves Bobby Webster has made as GM in Toronto

Toronto Raptors GM Bobby Webster move No. 2: Hiring Nick Nurse

If we’re being honest here, the 2018 coaching change that saw Dwane Casey kicked out in favor of Nurse was far from popular. After all, while the team’s playoff struggles were a real concern, Casey had just presided over a franchise-record 59-win regular season and would earn NBA Coach of the Year honors six weeks later.

If early playoff exits and a stagnant, uninspiring offensive attack was the problem, then what was an assistant on Casey’s staff going to do about it? Luckily, Webster and Ujiri knew what the rest of us didn’t; that Nurse had a wide array of creative, unconventional ideas that simply weren’t going to mesh with a Casey-led squad.

We’ll never know if Casey would also have won a title coaching Kawhi Leonard, but career seasons from the likes of VanVleet and Ibaka, plus the fact that Toronto remained potent even on “load management” days, highlighted Nurse’s impact.

Of course, Leonard wasn’t there to carry the team to their 2019-20 season. If the championship run was Nurse’s star turn, his follow-up season only confirmed his status as one of the league’s best coaching minds. Though the title defense ended in disappointing fashion with Toronto’s loss in the Eastern semis, it has become clear that Raptors brass had nailed the coaching change.