Toronto Raptors: 3 reasons Raptors have been as good as last season
3. It starts at the top – the Toronto Raptors have an elite leadership team
In the NBA, teams can only sustain long-term success if they have a strong organizational structure. That, and an insatiable desire to repeat success. Masai Ujiri has proven to be an elite front office executive. He might just be the best in the league.
Ujiri proved it by doing what many wouldn’t have done – firing freshly-minted Coach of the Year Dwane Casey and replacing him with Nick Nurse. He showed it again by shipping out fan-favorite DeMar DeRozan for Leonard. He’s discovered treasures in the draft (Siakam, OG Anunoby) and outside of it (VanVleet, Davis). When Ujiri realized the team’s championship window was wide open, he snagged Marc Gasol at the trade deadline in 2019.
Ujiri is fearless and has built a strong organization that could be successful in Toronto for quite a while.
When Ujiri replaced Casey with Nurse, many (myself included) were skeptical. So, what has Nurse accomplished in his short tenure? Besides bring Canada a championship in his first season, he’s developed into an elite NBA head coach. The Raptors didn’t win last season solely because of Kawhi Leonard, they won in part because Nick Nurse is one of the best coaches in the association. All he does is win. After winning 58 games in 2018-19, he’s at it again this season. In fact, he’s won 97 of his first 135 games as head coach, good for nearly a 72 percent winning percentage.
To little surprise, Nick Nurse is the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month. The Raptors won 12 of 15 games in January, including 10 straight. Nurse has won the award for 2 of the 3 months so far this season.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) February 3, 2020
The Toronto Raptors are now an elite NBA franchise, proving that last season was no fluke. With this leadership structure in place, this may just be the start of something bigger.