Of all the many weird quirks that this most recent Toronto Raptors season threw at fans, the brief 3-game stretch in which head coach Nick Nurse and almost every player with a pulse were ruled inactive due to the league’s health and safety protocols has to rank up there. Assistant coach Sergio Scariolo had to step in and save the day.
Scariolo went 1-2 while leading a Raptors team that was severely lacking depth, and this stretch crystallized the notion that he was a very important asset to have around on the bench. The Raptors tried to reward Scariolo with a multi-year extension, per Eurohoops.
Considering all of the turnover and unlucky bad breaks this team has had to take on the chin in recent months, Scariolo coming back looked like an ideal situation for a team that needs stability. Unfortunately, Scariolo was lured away from North America by an offer to coach in Europe that was too good to turn down.
After parting ways with coach Sasha Djordjevic despite winning the LBA title with a 29-9 regular season, Virtus Bologna was able to woo Scariolo away from the Raptors, getting him to sign a multi-year deal as their new head coach.
Sergio Scariolo is leaving the Toronto Raptors to become the new head coach of Virtus Bologna where he will sign a multi-year deal. https://t.co/86MGv2GEr6
— Emiliano Carchia (@Carchia) June 15, 2021
The Toronto Raptors must replace Sergio Scariolo.
Scariolo is the third Raptors assistant to leave for a head coaching gig in the last eight months, as Nate Bjorkgren embarked on his ill-fated Pacers stint before Chris Finch left in the middle of the season to coach the Timberwolves.
The Italian kick-started his coaching career in his homeland by winning the 1990 Italian league title with Vuelle Pesaro at age 29. Since then, he has bounced around to some of Europe’s most successful clubs, winning titles in Russia and Spain. Scariolo also currently heads the Spanish national team.
The 60-year-old made the trip to America in 2018. Coincidently, right after he arrived, the Raptors won their first championship in franchise history. Even if he wasn’t the main man, his presence as both a designer of plays and player development expert was an invaluable tool.
At the very least, he will have a soft landing in Italy. Bologna not only won the title last year, but they are supplemented by a veteran backcourt of two former NBA studs in journeyman shooter Marco Belinelli and former Clippers point guard Milos Teodosic.
Scariolo might not have been given a very long leash or a full deck at his disposal when it came to proving his worth as a head coach at the NBA level, but his performance internationally confirms that he is one of the smartest basketball minds in the world, and he should put that to good use in Italy.