Nurse hit right note for Raptors

From the outside, the hiring of Dwane Casey’s assistant to replace the successful Casey as head coach of the Toronto Raptors seems rather uninspired and a whole lot of same old, same old.

It appears that way until you start talking to Nick Nurse, understanding him just a little, hearing him explain some of his philosophies and beliefs, and then getting to know something really important about him — like his taste in music.

Why did it take this long for Nurse to be named Raptors coach?

Well, he played a part in his own delay. The announcement of Nurse — or the closing of the deal that made him Raptors coach — was put on hold because he had tickets for the Rolling Stones at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on June 5. His first NBA head coaching position was pushed just slightly to the side in favour of some Satisfaction and Sympathy for the Devil.

“It takes a second to get used to them,” said Nurse, 50, who is 24 years younger than Mick Jagger. “They look a little different. Three songs in, you don’t notice anymore and Mick is going bonkers and it was sold out and fun.”

Raptors games between November and April are often sold out and fun. And then playoffs begin and with it Toronto angst and the Raptors deal with their own Devil in the form of Lebron James. It won’t be until April or May, unless the season goes total disaster mode, that we will really get our first impression of who Nick Nurse is and what kind of coach he will be to start, and maybe more importantly, what kind of coach will he grow into.

Dwane Casey was a better head coach at the end in Toronto than he was at the beginning and a better coach in Toronto than he was in Minnesota. Coaching is as much about learning as it is about teaching. These lifers, like Casey, like Nurse, coach years in other countries and other leagues and other places to finally get the big job. And the big job has now started for Nurse — he knows that because every time he’s one the phone, there are three calls waiting for him. He’s talked to almost all the Raptors now and maybe most importantly met in person with Kyle Lowry, whose autobiography one day may be titled ‘Impossible to Coach.’

“I love him,” said Nurse. “I’ve Whatever happened at the end of the Cleveland playoff series internally and externally left scars. There’s a lot to love about the way he plays and what he’s brought us all. I’ve had some similar guys to him in my coaching past. For me (my way of thinking) he had a really good year, we cut his minutes way down, it was 4-5 games on the year. He had a good playoff. I met with him and he’s excited to have a good year.”

If you listen to Nurse close enough, he sounds both original and old school — old school in that he loves all his new players. Which for him, have been his old players. He thinks he can salvage Norm Powell, who was terrible last season. He thinks he can find more useful ways to get minutes out of Jonas Valanciunas. He believes he can fix Toronto’s traffic problem.

OK, he didn’t say that. But that’s what coaches do on the day their hiring becomes official. They talk proud and how they’re going to change their team and the game and just about everything in between.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri talks about how innovative Nurse is, and what an original thinker he is, and how he views the game, and in between those sentences you

THE FIRING OFCASEY IS STILL A MATTEROF CONTENTION.

can hear him taking shots — intentional or not — at his former coach. The firing of Casey is still a matter of contention around the Raptors and it is still too raw on the day Nurse is officially hired.

Nurse worked for Casey and Casey brought him to Toronto. They used to be close. You could call them friends at one time. They’re not anymore. Whatever happened at the end of the Cleveland playoff series internally and externally left scars.

Casey, with a new team in Detroit and a huge contract, hasn’t completely gotten over what happened in Toronto and maybe the ascension of Nurse doesn’t make that any easier. The final days of the Cleveland series — Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland — saw an implosion of the Raptors coaching staff and by the end, one insider contends, it was every man for himself.

Casey is in Detroit. Rex Kalamian, the defensive equivalent to Nurse, has gone to the Clippers. G-league head coach Jerry Stackhouse has gone to Memphis. A year earlier, general manager Jeff Weltman left for Orlando.

“For me, if you have good people and you have success, you’re going to lose good people,” said Ujiri, the team president. “I’m proud of those guys and where they are.”

Stackhouse and Kalamian wanted the Raptors head coaching position. When neither got close to the finish line, they departed. Nurse, after three interviews, was the last man standing, dancing to Jumpin’ Jack Flash, one last concert before the big stage becomes his.