It's crazy to think back when the Raptors were going through their coach hiring process, and the line on Nurse was that he was an offensive specialist, so probably wouldn't have a big impact on the defensive side.
A little over a year later, and he hasn't just made the Raptors defense arguably one of the best in the league despite losing two elite defensive players this season, he's also impact defenses league-wide, with Lillard mentioning that he's had to face box-and-1 defenses multiple times already this year, something that would have been a laughable idea before the finals. (Which isn't to give credit to Nurse for inventing it, but he did show that it can be an effective piece of a modern NBA defense.)
I was a big fan of hiring Nurse, but I had no idea he would be this good an all-round coach, this early in his career. Even his team management strategy, like having playoff rotation guys from last year playing the first couple games of the season, to set the tone for what the expectations are for the whole team. And now that he's opening up the playing time, guys like Davis II and RHJ and Boucher and Thomas (definitely below the others in defensive impact and awareness but still giving his all at that end) are playing with playoff level intensity.
|