Toronto Raptors: Exceptional coaching exodus presents a problem for Nick Nurse

It has been a tough season for Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors in 2021, just two seasons removed from winning an NBA title. It’s been more than seven years since losing was the normal practice surrounding this franchise.

The organization has been a model for success in the NBA. Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster have been good, if not excellent, managers. The team has had just two head coaches since 2013, and the core of player talent has been together for several years.

The Raptors organization has done an exceptional job at developing talent, both in terms of players and coaches. Dwane Casey spent seven years 2011-2018 as the Raptors head coach. During that time, he led the team to the NBA Playoffs from 2014-2018 for five straight seasons.

While he couldn’t get the team past the Cleveland Cavaliers between 2016-2018, he spread a consistent message by demanding his players play strong defense. He was also named the Coach of the Year in 2018.

A top assistant in Nurse (2013-2018) succeeded him in 2018 and has a different style offensively while also pushing that defensive intensity message. Nurse also is a Coach of the Year award winner in 2020.

Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse has helped other assistants develop

Jerry Stackhouse was an assistant coach with Toronto during the 2015-16 NBA season, and was trusted to head coach the Raptors 905 during its first two years of existence in 2016-2018. He took the Raptors G-League developmental team to two consecutive G-League finals, winning the title in 2017.

Stackhouse became an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2018 before accepting a six-year contract to be the head coach for Vanderbilt in 2019.

Nate Bjorkgren, who helped create a lot of Toronto’s offensive packages, was signed this off-season by the Indiana Pacers as their head coach. Indiana currently has a record of 21-23 and is half a game out of the final playoff spot. Nurse is chasing his old assistant to secure a playoff position.

His replacement, Chris Finch was pried away by the Minnesota Timberwolves in late February to become their head coach. Not only are Toronto players coveted by other organizations in the NBA, but their coaches are also.

Until recently, players in the Raptors system have received a consistent message on what is expected of them game in and out. A lot has been made recently of a spat between Nick Nurse and Pascal Siakam in which Siakam is said to have gotten personal with his coach. The atmosphere in Toronto is frayed, and recent coaching changes could be a factor.

Why the assistant coach carousel matters

The NBA is no different from other sports leagues. When a playing style or system works for one team, several others will copy it. The same process applies to coaching. The Raptors have been successful for seven years, winning 50 or more games in each of their last five seasons, and now at least two former assistant coaches are head coaches elsewhere.

Basically, the word is out on what the Raptors do well and, therefore, the antidote to stopping it. Since getting fired by Toronto, Casey is 5-3 vs. the Raptors over the last three seasons, including the March 17 victory. Toronto is 9-4 since the 2017/18 season vs. the Indiana Pacers, but 1-1 this season since Bjorkgren became the Pacers head coach.

This may be a small sample size, but the effect does show up in wins and losses, especially when the other team knows your style intimately.

Chris Finch’s departure has hurt the Raptors

The evidence is even more pronounced when examing the effect of Finch replacing Bjorkgren as the Raptors offensive coordinator this year and then leaving for Minnesota’s head coaching post.

For former players like Terence Davis and Matt Thomas, who struggled to make an impact this season, they have taken direction from three different people since September of last year – that’s six months. Raptors’ players have gone from Nate Bjorkgren to Chris Finch to Jama Mahlalela devising offensive schemes.

Then, while Toronto started the year 1-6 and then 2-8, they had started to play better before the All-Star break. In a period stretching between January 14 and February 21, the day before Finch was announced as the Timberwolves head coach), the Raptors were 14-7.

During that period, the Raptors were averaging 114 points per game when their season average is only 112.5.  Since then, the Raptors are 2-11 and averaging 111 points per game. It appears that messaging/coaching is the issue. In this example, it’s literally a possession per game as the difference in scoring, but that one possession changes whether a team wins or loses contests.

There have been too many voices this season that the players have needed to focus on. The Raptors have become a victim of their own success in that their coaching talent is admired and in demand throughout the league. The Raptors’ secrets are not so anymore as the list of former Raptors employed in the NBA at the coaching level rises.