3 things Nick Nurse must do to win Coach of the Year in 2022-23
By Mike Luciano
2. Coach at least two All-Stars
No Coach of the Year is complete without a collection of proven talent that helps him implement his vision on the floor. While Fred VanVleet made it to Cleveland for last year’s festivities, getting back this year could be more difficult given all the talent in the East.
Pascal Siakam was only excluded from the All-Star festivities because he missed time early in the season. With a full year ahead of him, he should be the focal point of what Nurse wants to do. VanVleet could be an All-Star again if he stays as effective from deep as he was during that dynamic December/January run.
The Toronto Raptors need All-Star representation.
Getting Scottie Barnes to the next level from an offensive creation point of view is going to have such a positive impact on this Raptors team that the media would be hard-pressed to give an All-Star not. Since 2015, Tom Thibodeau is the only coach to win COTY without multiple All-Stars on his team.
Part of what makes Nurse such a unique talent across the NBA is his ability to marry the two warring families of player development and competitive fire at once. Those two pursuits will once again intermingle, and the end result could be Nurse with another piece of silverware after his players make it to Salt Lake City.