PHILADELPHIA — On paper, the Toronto Raptors were supposed to join the 76ers as one of this season’s Eastern Conference’s elite teams.
The Raptors’ season, however, has been a difficult one for their coach, Nick Nurse, from a number of standpoints.
“Early on, [Toronto] had some pretty serious injuries with some key guys,” Nurse said before Friday’s game against the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center. “I thought we kind of weathered that for a little bit, but it kind of caught up to us a little bit. And, yeah, I think the trade deadline stuff. I don’t know if there was a 1,000 rumors, 999 of them were about us, it seemed like.
“So that was probably as interesting as it gets.”
Yet the Raptors took a 38-38 record into Friday’s game after winning 15 of their previous 23 games. And they had the fifth-best defensive rating in the NBA since the beginning of February. However, there are reports that Nurse could be out as coach at season’s end with former Sixers assistant and former Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka reportedly being the frontrunner to replace him. Other reports have Nurse as a potential candidate to take over the Houston Rockets job.
So where is the coach’s head at right now on the cusp of the playoffs?
“My head, I would say, is probably two things,” Nurse said. “First of all, I think when this season gets done, we will evaluate everything. And even personally, I’m going to take a few weeks to see where I’m at — like you said, where’s my head at — and just see how the relationship with the organization is and everything. It’s been 10 years for me now, which is a pretty good run.
“And I don’t know over those 10 years, we got to be up there with a number of wins with anybody in the league.”
Nurse spent his first five seasons in Toronto as an assistant. After being named head coach before the 2018-19 season, he’s compiled a 224-160 record. He led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title in his first year and had three postseason appearances.
“And right now, my head is to get this and make this as long a season as possible,” Nurse said. “This team needs playoff experience, right? That is where I’m at right now. And I think since Feb. 1, we have the third-best record in the league, which isn’t too bad.
“I think we have a top-five defense, which we are trying to get to, and are playing some pretty good basketball.”
The Raptors had the ninth-best record in the conference, and would be slated to participate in the play-in tournament if the season concluded Friday.
Nurse said he hasn’t put any thought into the possibility of not being back next season.
“I think that I’m concentrated on this job, for sure,” he said. “And this game, essentially. But I think 10 years is a good time to sit back and reflect a little, right? So I think … we’re going to do that all when the season ends.”
