Nick Nurse could be the key to Raptors’ ‘culture reset’ | SI.com
When the Rockets—the parent club of Rio Grande Valley—elevated Finch to Houston’s staff the following season, he pleaded with management to hire Nurse as his replacement. His inventive mind was perfect for the Vipers’ experimental laboratory. “What I loved about him was he was coming to us with ideas and we were slowing him down,” says Morey, Houston’s GM. Nurse created a shooting device to help players improve their form and ditched the number system to briefly implement Chip Kelly-style play-calling posters. He took a razor to RGV’s shot selection, leaving only 5% of the Vipers’ attempts coming as a non-painted area two-pointer. For a stretch, he sent four players to the offensive glass on every possession, then experimented with having his entire lineup retreat the moment a jumper was hoisted. “I just don’t see the big deal of it not working. And what if it does work?” Nurse says. “You’re scratching these itches that you got, and what if it does work? I can tell you a million stories of things that really shouldn’t have.”
Nurse led the Vipers to the title in 2012–13, which led Raptors coach Dwane Casey to hire Nurse as a Toronto assistant. Nurse’s influence helped open up the offense, and his dry sense of humor eased tensions in huddles. “He finds moments of levity in the middle of a very tense part of the game,” says David Gale, a former Raptors video coordinator.
Toronto won 48 games in 2013–14, Nurse’s first with the team, initiating the greatest five-year stretch in franchise history. Of course, LeBron James made a habit of exterminating the Raptors each postseason. Ujiri relieved Casey of his head coaching duties following a 2018 sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers. Nurse’s opportunity finally arrived. “I’ve had a lot of really good preparation. I’ve coached a lot of games around the world,” Nurse pitched Ujiri and Toronto’s top executives. “I worked at chemistry and developing a style of play on both sides of the ball and studied success and winning.”
The first head coach Ujiri hired as an NBA executive schemed against him on a British court 20 year earlier. All those global games are behind them. Two red Raptors jerseys hang in Nurse’s office inside Toronto’s practice facility. His surname is stitched into each, curving above the numbers 13 and 18, signifying the years he joined the franchise and became its head coach. Now his journey takes him beyond that framed time span, to a future that Ujiri hopes includes years of sweaty June huddles, with Leonard in tow.
The Making of the GOAT Jersey: An Oral History of the Raptors Throwback – SLAM
Part 2
The ReactionThe team’s logo was officially unveiled in 1994. The official colors were red, purple, black and “Naismith silver,” in honor of James Naismith, the Canadian who invented basketball in 1891. Even if not everyone fell in love with the logo, they could all agree on one thing: it was different.
Joshua Roter (Co-owner, In Vintage We Trust): The Raptors took an amazing risk and giant leaps in terms of branding. It didn’t look like anything that existed in pro sports. It really personified that specific era.
O’Grady: The traditionalists hate it. It’s not classic, it’s not the Celtics or Lakers—well, no shit. The younger kids love it because it’s so different and so fresh and it’s so anti-traditional sports design.
Paul Lukas (Journalist, Uni Watch): In the earlier eras, cartoon animals in sports logos were Bugs Bunny characters. They were fun loving and a little mischievous. The Raptor looked ferocious and intimidating. Although it was also so over the top, there was a camp element to it.
Roter: Graphically, looking at the logo, it’s really well done. The teeth, the shoes with the toes coming out are fire. There’s a lot to love about it.
J.E. Skeets (TV Personality, NBA TV’s The Starters): The logo is gigantic—that’s another hilarious part, not only is it a Raptor dribbling, which is hilarious, it’s just gigantic. It takes up the entire jersey. And then you throw in those weird pinstripes. There’s a lot going on.
Tracy Murray (Player, Toronto Raptors 1995-96): I loved the colors. The original colors, man. Purple, black and white. I loved it.
Skeets: On the one hand, it didn’t matter because I was such a huge basketball fan, so it was like, who cares, Toronto is getting a basketball team. And then it was like, what are they called? What was that thing? What does that have to do with Toronto and Canada?
Top 10 Quotes from the Oral History of the Toronto Raptors’ first jersey – Raptors HQ
8. “On the one hand, it didn’t matter because I was such a huge basketball fan, so it was like, who cares, Toronto is getting a basketball team. And then it was like, what are they called? What was that thing? What does that have to do with Toronto and Canada?”
Much love to J.E. Skeets here for capturing so much of what it felt like to be a Raptors fan in the early days. I was about nine years old when I first heard the news, and while my reaction wasn’t quite like this (again, I was nine and a dinosaur nut), it checks out. Can you imagine being, say, a 20-something basketball fan and hearing your home town was about to get a pro team called the freakin’ Raptors? Sometimes I don’t know how this all worked.
That is changing this year. While Lowry will not leave the starting lineup unless there is an injury or an unforeseen circumstance, Valanciunas has already been in and out of the opening group. With the Raptors moving Serge Ibaka to the centre spot almost exclusively, Valanciunas and his former frontcourt partner have split the starting duties. Overall, it has worked out well. Lowry and Ibaka are already have already shown a connection, while Valanciunas’s per-36 statistics have been astounding: 22.8 points, 16.6 rebounds. And with Valanciunas primarily exposed to matchups that flatter him on the defensive end, the Raptors are allowing just 102 points per 100 possessions with the slowish big man on the floor.
The second unit’s offensive productivity is about the only thing to worry about at the moment. The group’s constitution changes by the game because of the changes in starting lineup, and the lack of cohesion has shown. While a lot of that will be fixed by C.J. Miles (14.3 percent) and Fred VanVleet (25 percent) regressing to the mean from the 3-point line, the group has been plagued by some over dribbling, a lot of the time via VanVleet’s hands. That might have something to do with a certain foundation missing.
“It takes time. It takes conversations,” VanVleet said of gaining chemistry with Valanciunas in pick-and-roll scenarios. “It’s such a small window and such a nuance that it’s hard to master or get really good at because the slightest wrong move on my side or wrong move on his side can be the difference in getting a good shot or not. It takes time, it takes reps, it takes practice, it takes some back and forth. We’ve been able to develop some of that over the last year or so.”
VanVleet missed Wednesday’s game with a sprained big toe, but getting on the same page as Valanciunas will go a long way toward making that version of the second unit effective, which would naturally limit Lowry and Kawhi Leonard’s minutes in the process. Valanciunas and VanVleet played a mere 206 minutes together last year, with a whopping 166 of those (80.5 percent) coming with Lowry also on the floor. Through just four games when both were healthy, the two have played 36 minutes together, with Lowry on the floor for just 11 of those (30.5 percent). With the small-sample size caveat in effect as it always is this time of year, it is clear VanVleet and Valanciunas are going to have to sync up some more as long as the 1-5 pick-and-roll is a big part of their offence. (So, you know, forever.)
Ibaka and Valanciunas flourishing with split role at centre – Video – TSN
Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas have formed a platoon at the centre position for the Raptors while giving up some playing time. Josh Lewenberg has more on how the change has helped both players.
Leonard making Raptors must-see TV – TSN.ca
Here in Canada, viewership for the first three games aired on TSN this season is up 67 per cent over the first three games the station aired last year. Last Wednesday’s season-opening win over Cleveland was the most-watched Raptors regular season game ever on TSN with 528,000 viewers.
Chris Bosh, DeMar DeRozan and Lowry are all great players and deserving all-stars that have each made their mark on the franchise, but in a superstar driven league, Leonard is in a class above.
Not unlike Carter, Leonard will do something incredible almost every night, only most of his ‘I can’t believe he just did that’ moments come on the defensive end, where he’s well on his way to establishing himself as an all-time great. Look away at your own peril. Whenever he’s on the court there’s a chance you might see something you’ve never seen before.
If you took those Carter years for granted, you’re probably not alone. The Raptors were a young franchise at the time and Toronto was a city still relatively new to basketball. Carter took the league by storm, and he was doing it in a Raptors uniform. It was surreal, and it seemed like it would last forever, or at least much longer than it did. And then, just like that, Carter was gone and so were the fun and iconic basketball moments.
Now, almost a decade and a half later, the fan base knows the value of witnessing greatness – wherever, whenever and for however long it comes. They’ve loved and lost, they’ve experienced high highs and low lows, success and failure, hopefulness and heartbreak.
With the fickle nature of professional sports, and the circumstances that brought Leonard to Toronto in the first place, it’s even more important to savour his tenure. Whether it lasts months or years, Raptors fans are seeing something that’s worth appreciating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLHDBAlsbwg
Oh Yeah, Duh, Kawhi Leonard Is Still The Shit – Deadspin
Toronto is simply a complete team, and Nick Nurse seems to have figured out how to stagger the team’s flawed big men to maximize their talents. Take Serge Ibaka, who is finally playing center and is looking much more interested than in years past with Toronto. The Raptors can go 10-deep with real NBA players, and with a refreshed Kyle Lowry (he’s averaging a full extra three assists more than he was last year) and Danny Green alongside Kawhi, they seem like they can hang with anyone. The extremely early MVP horse race probably has Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo ahead of Kawhi right now, but the Raptors can feel more confident in their chances of playing into the summer. Who knows whether Kawhi will want to stick around in Canada for years to come, but it’s very clear that whoever signs him this summer will have to pay all the way up.
Podcast: Locked on Raptors #404 – Getting to Know the Mavericks w/ Nick Angstadt – Raptors HQ
In Episode 404 of Locked on Raptors, Sean Woodley and Nick Angstadt (Locked on Mavs) preview the Raptors’ Friday date with the Mavericks by chatting about Luka Doncic’s start to the year, how he affects Dennis Smith Jr’s future in Dallas, how the defensively-challenged Mavs will match up against the Raptors, and which random Maverick will have a monster game against Toronto this time around.
WOLSTAT: Kawhi’s no-look steal the talk of Raptors practice | Toronto Sun
Pascal Siakam is doing a little bit of everything for the Raptors so far, but the thing that has stood out the most in these early days is his vastly improved outside shooting.
After connecting on only 22% of his three-pointers last year, Siakam has hit 3-of-6 so far from beyond the arc.
“I put a lot of work in (and now he’s) just letting the work I put in pay off,” Siakam explained to Postmedia after Wednesday’s win.
Siakam says he feels more confident and has more of a plan when he lets it fly than he did in the past.
“I think the most important thing is just take it when it’s there,” he said.
“I’m taking whatever the defence is giving me. I just make sure that I actually shoot the ones that I’m ready to shoot, not rushing them. I think last year I got into just shooting because (people said he should).”
And just like with DeMar DeRozan, having Leonard on the floor definitely helps, Siakam said.
“He’s a great player, so that’s something that’s going to make things a little easier for us. He’s so good at choosing his spots and we’ve just got to try to play off of him,” Siakam said.
Kawhi Leonard leading by example for Raptors | The Star [subscription]
Leonard is not the only big name on the Raptors roster showing that kind of devotion to playing the game the so-called “right” way, with the utmost commitment to the team. Kyle Lowry burst onto the scene with double-doubles in three of the team’s first five games. Green has impressed with his transitional defence and his three point shooting, as advertised when he was traded alongside Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs this summer.
And Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas have shown selflessness of a different kind by buying into a platoon-like approach to the starting No. 5 spot, meaning reduced playing time for both. If either player’s feathers are ruffled by fewer minutes, neither is showing it: The two centres combined for 31 points and 16 rebounds in Toronto’s last game.
“Nick wants to play open, he wants to play free, he wants everybody to be free and do great things, and that’s what we do,” Valanciunas said. “It creates more opportunities for everybody. So we’ve just gotta use that and keep winning the games by doing that.”
Nurse said both players are playing great in their adjusted roles. “It’s really nice that we can give a couple different looks there,” he said. “(Valanciunas) comes in and overpowers ’em and Serge kinda comes in is a little bit more versatile. I’m impressed with what both of ’em are doing. So far, so good. We’re trying to improve ’em as players and improve the way our team plays and they’re buying into it.”
Seeing the likes of Valanciunas and Ibaka commit to a plan that may affect them personally but could benefit the team, or watching Leonard and Lowry throw themselves into these early games with a vengeance, sets the tone for the team as a whole, Green said.
“We have so many threats, so many options that a lot of guys aren’t going to get as many minutes as they want to get,” he said. “I have no complaints, obviously, but there are so many guys coming off our bench or even starting that don’t play a ton of minutes and they should or they could. There’s even guys that don’t play any minutes that could give us some great minutes, like Greg (Monroe) … It’s for the bigger picture, the better part of the group. They’ve been big for us and hopefully they can continue to do that.”
Norman Powell is still making his way for the Toronto Raptors – Raptors HQ
Because Norm looms so large in the Raptors’ recent playoff history, and because we really do want him to jump up in the rotation and succeed, he’s proven to be a fascinating bellwether for Toronto. In one sense, Powell’s play will not make or break the Raptors’ season — not even when Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet are both dealing with injuries. The team is just too deep and well-balanced for that. In another sense though, having Powell at peak capacity, doing all-caps Norm things on the court, gives the Raptors one more weapon at their disposal.
Through the season’s first five games, Powell is averaging 6.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists, with shooting splits of 46/33/100 percent, in 15.0 minutes per game. He’s nabbed one start, getting in 23 minutes during the second night of a back-to-back contest vs. the Washington Wizards last weekend. After what most would deem a disappointing season, Powell looks if not spectacular on the floor, then at least steady for the Raptors.
“I was pretty happy with the preseason, the way [Powell] looked,” said coach Nick Nurse before the team’s Wednesday night game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a relatively easy 112-105 win. “For the most part I thought he was taking more what was coming than trying to force the issue. And that’s where we’re trying to get him, to get in the rhythm of the offense instead of kind of four guys playing and then it gets to him and something else is happening.”
So what does an in control, in rhythm, Norman Powell look like in the NBA regular season? If last night’s Minnesota performance is anything to go by, the Raptors are looking at a player who fits in with what’s going on. Powell played just over 12 minutes in the contest, but managed 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting (including a below average 1-of-4 from deep), two assists, one rebound, and a steal, to finish at +7 for the game. He had one turnover and took perhaps one hopeless shot, a long two off-the-dribble characteristic of the “bad” Norm.
“That’s where we’re continuing to go with him,” said Nurse. “He’s gotta take what’s there and not force his own play sometimes, and then again, we just want him to be really good defensively, ‘cause he’s got some speed and strength and athleticism to be a really good locked-in defender.”
Raptors’ hot start by the numbers: 5 reasons Toronto is 5-0 – Sportsnet.ca
Green leads the Raptors in plus/minus at 15.4. Leonard is second at 14.8.
So, yeah, the newest players have made an impact. Both have been as advertised — game-changing two-way talents — and each have excelled at what they do best.
Green has played a big role in solidifying the defence and is a significant improvement over DeMar DeRozan in that regard. Apart from being an above-average shot blocker for his position (he leads the Raptors at 1.2 per game) opposing shooters are hitting just 34.2 per cent of their shots when guarded by Green, including just 27 per cent on three-pointers. For comparison, last season DeRozan’s matchups shot 45 per cent from the floor and 39.3 per cent from deep.
Offensively, Green’s own three-point contributions have been significant. He’s hit over 42 per cent of his long-bomb attempts, and has been most effective on quick catch-and-shoot opportunities. Nearly 65 per cent of his team-high 6.6 three-point attempts have come off catch-and-shoot chances, and he’s converting 48.1 per cent of them.
Like Green, Leonard’s fingerprints are all over the 5-0 start. He’s missed one of those games — resting on the second night of a back-to-back as the team takes precautions following his season-ending injury last year — but when on the floor he’s been a magnetic force.
His 35 points on Wednesday night were a season-high, and he’s now averaging 28 points on the season — which would be a career-high if sustained — along with 7.8 boards. His 31.4 per cent usage rate is currently the highest of his career, as is his 123.4 offensive rating.
But when it comes to Leonard, the numbers can never capture what he does on the floor. For example, this play was recorded as just another one of his five steals this season, but it’s
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