Toronto Raptors: Nick Nurse an early Coach of the Year contender

The Toronto Raptors are the Eastern Conference’s best team this season so far. New head coach Nick Nurse is a key reason why.

Replacing Dwane Casey with Nick Nurse during the offseason didn’t come without controversy for the Toronto Raptors.

Shortly after his dismissal, Casey was named the Coach of the Year for the 2017-18 season. How could his successor do any better?

Pardon the pun, but the new coach has nursed this team back to their peak levels.

Instead of folding back to the middle tier of the Eastern Conference, the Raptors have risen above the competition to lead the standings through 12 games.

Sure, there are reasons Toronto has jumped ahead of the pack that have nothing to do with Nurse. An infusion of talent as large as Kawhi Leonard‘s hands is one. Serge Ibaka‘s renaissance despite an undetermined role is another.

But it takes a leader pushing all the right buttons to mold the team together.

Each member of the Raptors — with the exception of Greg Monroe — has been put in a position to succeed. As a result, Toronto is firing on all cylinders.

Take the deployment of big men at the start of the season.

Nurse has been putting different starting lineups on the court almost every game, trying to hone in on matchup advantages and times his players shine. On Sunday, that meant starting Jonas Valanciunas and letting Ibaka come off the bench.

Leonard wasn’t available for the game, putting even more pressure on every player to come up big in their first trip to the new-fangled Los Angeles Lakers, where archenemy LeBron James now resides.

Ibaka dominated off the bench, scoring 34 points on 15 field goals – both were career-highs for the veteran big man.

So far, Ibaka is averaging career-highs in points, steals and field goal percentage, despite averaging his fewest minutes since his rookie season.

Remember when tension was supposed to rule the day following the chemistry-shattering trade of DeMar DeRozan? Tell that to an 11-1 team that couldn’t play any better basketball if they tried.

With the help of upper management, Nurse has done a stellar job of getting Leonard to buy into times of playing and times of rest without alienating his star, the opposite of how things ended for Leonard with the San Antonio Spurs.

The challenges are only going to increase as the season goes on. Just this week, Toronto received word that key cog Norman Powell would miss the next four-to-six weeks, giving the team another hole to fill.

The rest of the Eastern Conference is going to catch up as well. The Milwaukee Bucks — with their own Coach of the Year candidate — are nipping at Toronto’s heels. The Boston Celtics are beginning to coalesce as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward get back into their groove.

But right now, everything Nick Nurse touches turns to gold.

No team in NBA history has ever won consecutive Coach of the Year awards. A bias against repeat winners is in play as voters begin to recognize the importance of the roster talent and construction, not just the coach’s contributions.

Not only might Toronto do it this season — they might do it with a first-year head coach.