The Toronto Raptors have fired Nick Nurse after 5 seasons because the group’s head coach, the group introduced on Friday.
Nurse, who guided the Raptors to their one and solely NBA title in 2019 and was appointed NBA coach of the 12 months in 2020, spent 5 years as head coach after serving an additional 5 as an assistant.
The 55-year-old went 227-163 in his 5 seasons in control of his function, together with his .582 successful proportion rating as the very best of any coach in franchise historical past, though leaves after a 3rd successive disappointing marketing campaign.
The Raptors missed the playoffs in 2021 – once they have been compelled to play residence video games in Florida due to Covid-19 journey restrictions getting out and in Canada – and have been overwhelmed within the first spherical final 12 months, earlier than dropping an elimination recreation at residence to the Chicago Bulls within the play-in event this season.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri stated in a press release: “The choice to make a change like that is by no means arrived at simply or taken flippantly, particularly in relation to an individual who has been an integral a part of this franchise’s most historic accomplishments, and who has been a gentle chief by means of a few of our group’s most difficult instances.
Ujiri known as the transfer “a chance for us to reset, to refocus, to place into place the personnel and the gamers who will assist us attain our aim of successful our subsequent championship.”
What subsequent for Nurse?
Nurse, who has beforehand steered he would possibly take a while after the season to determine his personal future, stated in March: “It has been 10 years for me, which is a reasonably good run. Over these 10 years, we have to be up there in variety of wins with anyone within the league.”
Former Boston coach Ime Udoka is among the many coaches who Toronto are anticipated to think about for Nurse’s alternative, having led the Celtics to the NBA Finals final season. Udoka was suspended for the 2022-23 marketing campaign after an inappropriate relationship with a former Celtics worker.
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ESPN reported that Nurse is a prime candidate for the top teaching place with the Houston Rockets, who launched their head coach Stephen Silas earlier this month.
Nurse will retain his function as head coach of Canada’s nationwide males’s group, who’re getting ready for the World Cup and qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Watch the NBA Playoffs reside on Sky Sports activities. The subsequent match-up sees Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks take to the courtroom within the early hours of Saturday for the third recreation of their best-of-seven sequence.