Despite coming up short in returning to the NBA Finals for a second year, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse still has much to feel accomplished about. After winning the championship in 2019, Nurse continued constructing an already in-progress book detailing his life from childhood to becoming an intimidating, successful coach.
In his book, “Rapture: Fifteen Teams, Four Countries, One NBA Championship, and How to Find a Way to Win — Damn Near Anywhere.”, Nick Nurse described a tactic that he used to help players become more comfortable during player meetings. CTV News' Meredith MacLeod detailed some excerpts from Nurse in reference to some of his tactics.
He writes about an elephant he keeps in his office, a reminder that sometimes it’s better to just confront the elephant in the room. Players embraced it, he says, pointing to it or grabbing it before sitting down for a chat.
“I knew it was something fairly major (they) wanted to talk about. It was kind of a good icebreaker,” stated Nurse.
The 53-year old Nurse has had quite the triumphant story, landing his first and only head coach job with the Raptors in 2018 after serving as their assistant for five seasons. In just that short span of time, he's accomplished the milestone of winning a championship, a feat that coaches with twice his tenure find trouble achieving.
After being eliminated by the Boston Celtics in a do-or-die Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Nurse and the Raptors will have a busy offseason in deciding on how to proceed with their future to remain an Eastern Conference favorite.
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