Many people wrote off the Toronto Raptors following the off-season departure of Kawhi Leonard.

Those people were wrong.

After winning 58 games and the NBA championship in 2019, Toronto didn’t skip a beat this season. The Raptors held a 46-18 record when the NBA paused and were on pace to tie their franchise-high for wins (59).

It's been over one month since the NBA suspended play due to COVID-19 and it remains to be seen if it will return this season. However, that hasn't stopped sites from providing lines on year-end awards.

As of Thursday, the most recent betting odds have Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse sitting atop the pack to win Coach of the Year at +150. Bucks bench boss Mike Budenholzer and Nuggets coach Mike Malone trail Nurse at +200 and +700 respectively.

"I don't know at this particular time how we do it, but it's not unlike going into a playoff series,” Nurse said in July about keeping his team competitive after Leonard departed for the Clippers. “I'd look at these teams and I'd say, 'I don't know how in the hell we're going to beat them,' and then you go to work and put a plan together.

“So right now I'm not sure how we're going to be able to do it, other than we're going to come out and guard you, and we're going to move the ball, and we're going to play with energy, and we're going to try and play a lot of people, and we're going to keep developing our guys. And Masai [Ujiri, team president] and [general manager] Bobby [Webster] will keep acquiring talent. And I'll coach the team that they give me, and I'll do that to the best of my ability.”

Nurse has stayed true to his comments, coaching to the best of his ability and helping Toronto sit second in the Eastern Conference, 6.5 games behind the 53-12 Milwaukee Bucks.

But it hasn’t been easy, TSN’s Josh Lewenberg notes that the Raptors have lost 219 man-games to injury this season – fifth-most in the association. By mid-season, six of their top seven players had already missed at least 10 games, and the full roster was available just twice all year.

Despite losing Leonard – a two-time Finals MVP – and veteran Danny Green, Nurse continued to roll out lineups that found ways to win.

Under Nurse’s coaching, role players like Terence Davis, Chris Bouchard and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson have seen an uptick in production, while Norm Powell is in the midst of a career year.

Every button Nurse pressed seemingly worked, and the Raptors next-man-up approach helped not only avoid a championship hangover, but had the team looking poised for yet another deep run in the playoffs.

If he is able to win the award, Nurse would become the third Raptors coach to win it, following Sam Mitchell (2007) and Dwane Casey (2018).

 

VanVleet a longshot to win Most Improved Player

Fred VanVleet has been a major part of the Raptors success during the 2019-20 season.  Despite missing 16 games with an injury, the point guard has seen all of his numbers go up, averaging career highs with 17.6 points 6.6 assists and 2.7 three-pointers made per game.

His numbers and play have landed him sixth in odds to win MIP at +2000. The 26-year-old guard sits directly behind Canadian point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (+1200) of the OKC Thunder, Mavericks star Luka Doncic (+500), Miami big man Bam Adebayo and Hornets guard Devonte’ Graham (+300). Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram (+150) is currently the odds-on favourite.

VanVleet would be just the second Raptor in franchise history win the award, after Pascal Siakam won it just last season.

One could make a compelling case for Siakam winning it back-to-back years. The forward is averaging more points, assists, three-pointers made and rebounds this season than he did during his 2018-19 MIP campaign.

However, no player has ever won the award twice, let alone in back-to-back seasons. One site – Points Bet – has Siakam at 150/1 odds to repeat.​

Unless stated otherwise, all odds are as of March 2 via OddsShark.