Raptors’ Nick Nurse named NBA coach of the year

After taking the defending champs minus Kawhi Leonard to the second-best record in the East, Nick Nurse is getting his just due

Nurse is in just his second year on the job, his first being a championship-winning season in Toronto. This is after Masai Ujiri got rid of longtime head coach Dwane Casey, a move which many around the league ridiculed. Ujiri then traded away longtime star DeMar DeRozan in a deal which guaranteed them just one year of Kawhi Leonard. And what a year it was.

But Nurse isn’t winning the award this year for his 2018-19 accomplishments. Rather, it was his ability to overcome the loss of Leonard and take part in what might be the quickest retooling in the history of basketball.

Nurse won the Kia Coach of the Year award for the 2019-20 season

Without a major star in Leonard to carry the load, the Raptors had to rethink their approach, instead relying on their player development around Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet, not to mention the always-steady hand of Kyle Lowry. It’s this team that won Nurse such a coveted award, and has the Raptors with a sleeper’s chance at back-to-back championships despite their Finals MVP walking away to Los Angeles.

Nurse won the award over Milwaukee’s Mike Budenholzer and Oklahoma City’s Billy Donovan. Budenholzer took home the hardware in 2018-19 after taking part in a surprising turnaround with the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo. This season, the Bucks only increased upon that win total. Donovan, meanwhile, overcame the loss of Russell Westbrook via trade to Houston, and led Chris Paul and a team of misfits to the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.

There was no wrong choice, but Nurse receiving such an accolade is absolutely necessary given his stunning ascent into the top tier of coaching in a short period of time.