Nurse on future with Raptors: 'I love it here'
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Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse addressed his future Thursday morning as the team held its season-ending media availabilities after being eliminated by the Chicago Bulls in the play-in round.
"Listen, I love it here, and we've built a really strong culture... We've all got to evaluate how we can get that culture back to where we want it," Nurse told reporters Thursday.
“We’ve got a president and we’ve got a head coach who passionately wants to win, right? That's why we've always been been on the same page and have a great level of communication, our goals are to win here. And that takes some evaluation on all fronts.”
Nurse has one year remaining on his contract with the Raptors but reports have connected him to possibly joining the Houston Rockets, who parted ways with head coach Stephen Silas at the end of their season. Nurse coached the Rockets' NBA G-League affiliate Rio Grande Vipers from 2011 to 2013 before departing to work under Dwane Casey in Toronto.
Nurse said he doesn't know where the rumours connecting him to Houston came from.
"From my standpoint, the speculation of whether I will be back or not, I have no idea where that comes from, or what I was supposed to do about that. What I thought was, I needed to try to get the team or any of the players focused back on the job at hand, and try to not have to answer that question every game. It started coming one after another after another. I was trying to put it to bed, so we can focus on the season," Nurse said.
“I think when this season gets done, we'll evaluate everything,” the 55-year-old told reporters last month in Philadelphia. “Even personally, I'm going to take a few weeks to see where I'm at, where my head's 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.”
TSN's Josh Lewenberg reported earlier this month Nurse is looking for a long-term commitment and has no intention of going into 2023-24 without a contract beyond that season.
Reports indicate the Rockets have spoken with or made plans to speak with a number of head coaching candidates, including Frank Vogel, James Borrego, Kenny Atkinson, Scott Brooks, Ime Udoka, as well as current Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin.
After an up-and-down 41-41 regular season, the Raptors fell 109-105 to the Bulls Wednesday night in the do-or-die play-in matchup to mark the second time in three seasons they have failed to reach the postseason. The Bulls will play the Miami Heat on Friday with a trip to the first round of the playoffs on the line.