Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Canadian National Men’s Basketball Team, was named the 2020 National Basketball Association Head Coach of the Year on Saturday, according to nba.com. Nurse, of Carroll, Iowa, becomes the third Raptors head coach to be named coach of the year. He follows Sam Mitchell of Columbus, Georgia (2006-07) and Dwane Casey of Indianapolis, Indiana (2017-18).
Ironically, Casey was fired by Raptors general manager Masai Ujuri after winning the NBA Head Coach of the Year Award. The Raptors had a record of 51 wins and 31 losses two seasons ago, but Toronto lost the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a four game sweep.
What Nurse was able to accomplish in 2019-20 was impressive. Without Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors were expected to take a few steps backward this season. Instead, they had a record of 53 wins, and 19 losses, and had a winning percentage of .736. That was 29 percentage points higher than their .707 winning percentage of 2018-19, when the Raptors were the talk of the basketball world, and won the NBA Finals.
The Raptors also had their fair share of injuries this past season. Only Terence Davis of Southaven, Mississippi played in all 72 games, as regulars Pascal Siakam missed 12 games, Fred VanVleet missed 18 games, Kyle Lowry missed 14 games, Serge Ibaka missed 17 games, Marc Gasol missed 28 games, and Norman Powell missed 20 games. Luckily as the playoffs are in full swing, the Raptors are now healthy and leading the Brooklyn Nets three games to none.
