Definitely….think he’ll be fine as he’ll bring a disciplined approach that this team severely needs. Udoka would too, but from what I’m hearing he is more likely to land in Toronto due to his relationship with the GM and the quick termination of Nurse was due to our interview with Udoka on Wednesday.
Kawhi went there on loan, while it resulted a championship; he didn't stay. Lowry left. FVV might leave too. Siakim, seems happy there... for now. While you see guys like Harden, who's willing to follow Daryl (to other teams). Notice no NBA stars is banging down the door to come to Toronto. Toronto is not a bad city, but outside of home growing talent, their GMs hasn't exactly made Raptors a free agent destination...even after a recent title. Ujiri is also becoming a bit of a figure head. He's technically the president. Actual Raptors GM is Robert Webster and assistant GM is Dan Tolzman. The day-to-day duties have been farmed out. Could also be why Nurse saw recent Raptors talent pipeline dried out. Nurse wants to win, and as a talent evaluator, saw Raptors young/bench guys have low ceilings. Saw them before the Raptor's young GMs (Webster & Tolzman). Ujiri is a corporate ladder climber. He's already the president there in Toronto; outside of ownership stake, can't go up any higher. If other "higher" positions open elsewhere like running the NBA African league, or if Adam Silver takes the Disney CEO gig, Ujiri is the type of guy who might apply for NBA commissioner or do other things like get into politics. Those guys have ambitions, but if you're Raptors fan it also could mean he's not going to necessarily stick around.
Siakam and FVV are best friends, I think they both stay or they both go. Siakam was placed on the market along with everyone except Barnes. Masai didn't even wait for the new coach to destroy the whole team's morale going into the offseason. Players know GM's are the ones who leak this kind of stuff. GM's know the players know. I can't for the life of me understand why he would do such a thing unless the next coach has secretly been decided already and has told Masai what to do. Otherwise if I'm a TOP TIER coach I would say to him: why TF would you tell the whole roster they're unwanted right before I come in? Seems like a dumb thing to do. You can just shut up till trade season. Now I have to win back the morale of players I may want to keep or players we can't find a trade for. The biggest mistake Masai made was to go into the season with a team that was clearly going to be a treadmill team. They would have to be in playoff mode for 82 games in order to make the playoffs and that's not sustainable, hence the wheels falling off and injuries to players who don't normally get injured. The players were allegedly exhausted at the end of the season. Everyone thought Masai has something up his sleeve at the deadline, turns out he just paid for a soon to be restricted FA Poeltl. Nowhere near enough and WAY too late given the team was suffering without a rim protector for more than half a season. I think we wouldn't have been surprised to see these Raptors make the playoffs with Nurse, but I'm simultaneously not surprised that the players were fully aware that they had to give 82 games of being in playoff mode just to get swept in the first round. You might be able to do that with a team that's young and never been to the playoffs, but you ain't doing that with a team that knows what it takes to win a title. I'm honestly so surprised with Masai's performance. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, but this was a big one. He wasted an entire NBA season and has neither playoffs nor a good pick to show for it, his elite HC is bouncing, the players are pissed off and he's firing everyone. I don't understand how ownership is chill with him right now, are they really so dumb as to believe everyone is at fault (head coach, entire roster minus Barnes) rather than just the one guy at the top? Anyway, worked out nicely for us.
smart guy, has a Ph.D. If he's blowing the roster, it's better to be honest. We are too used to our sleazy GMs (Morey and Stone) thinking that lying and BS-ing is a competitive advantage. It is not. Did any of the BS about Wall and Gordon being mentors and leaders, and about what picks we are getting for 'Dipo help? Masai is a no-nonsense guy, not a sleaze like Stone/Morey.
And REALLY cold weather. And Toronto isn't just snowy. It's off the great lakes so you get the Lake Effect like you do in Chicago and upstate/central New York. The lake effect is brutal.
Oh it counts. You best believe all of us at Clutchfans would have been out catching COVID if we would of won the championship that year. You kidding me lol.
The Rockets can have interest in Nick Nurse - but they better get him to agree to an interview before it's too late.
This sh#t is moving way too slow for me. We’ve got 3 good candidates. Zero in on our top choice and make them an offer they can’t refuse. Lock this in this week!
Too slow for a variety of reasons. The Rockets have said that they want a coach in place, sooner than later.... they have already interviewed a number of candidates. The longer this drags on without an interview, the more I question whether Nurse wants to coach or at least coach the Rockets. The Rockets have been linked to wanting Nurse for sometime... and so far, there has been no confirmation of an interview. Maybe we hear about one scheduled in the next couple days, but this is starting to feel like Nurse either doesn't want to make a quick decision or he and the Rockets are on different wave lengths.
There is a lot less stigma with Toronto than in the past. It is a major cosmopolitan city that is wealthy and has lots of opportunities. It isn't like LA or NYC, or even PHX or MIA or HOU - but it can still attract free agents. If I were trying to build my brand, I would choose Toronto over 60% of the NBA.
I would imagine the coaches we are interviewing are also hoping a better team than Houston frees up - at least one that allows them to be competitive sooner rather than later. No one is likely to rush into an offer in Houston because the reality is that job will likely still be there and there could be openings after this first round of playoffs. Is Toronto a better spot? Is Atlanta a better spot? Is 'Sota a better spot? I've heard grumbling that maybe the Cavs are disappointed with their poor playoff showing and would consider "upgrading" at coach. I mean there are a few fringe contenders out there. I won't debate whether one is better or not than another - that's ultimately up to the coaching prospect and I'm sure they have their own priorities - financial stability, whether they are expected to compete in the short/long term, synergy with front office, specific playing styles, market exposure, etc. Houston is attractive because it's a 'nowhere to go but up" situation but otherwise I'm sure the pay isn't great, the front office is probably concerning for most coaches, and the stink of a bad team/org is something you don't want on you if you are trying to build up your future unless you are damn sure you can overcome whatever in the hell happened here over the last 3 years.
Lol, I honestly wouldn't. I think it's super unfair how teams got healthy from having guys injured during the regular season and healed up for the fake playoffs. No Fans, just the environment for sports that year did not count and was not the same for everyone. That year basically did not exist for any championships.
