2 things Raptors fans will miss about Nick Nurse, 1 thing they won’t
By Mike Luciano
Won’t Miss: The Half-Court offense
The main on-court reason Nurse is no longer the coach in Toronto is the stagnation that happened on the offensive side of the ball. Nurse’s system can be very freeing for stars like Embiid and Pascal Siakam, but it often leads to slowed-down paces, lots of missed 3-pointers from poor shooters, and general ugliness.
Nurse may claim he was handicapped by a lack of personnel, thus leaving him unable to executive his vision. That may have some truth to it, but that doesn’t explain Fred VanVleet’s efficiency going into the toilet or the wonderful Scottie Barnes struggling in his second season.
Nick Nurse’s offense for the Toronto Raptors was hit-and-miss.
Rajakovic made his name as a top offensive assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies, and he is expected to install those same principles in the Raptors. While the results have been largely unimpressive, it is still quite early, and the increased ball movement is looking much more effective.
Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry are future Hall of Fame members, and both of them covered up a ton during Nurse’s tenure with the Raptors. Once Leonard left, and Lowry saw his effectiveness start to drop with age, all of the problems with Nurse’s offense popped up.