76ers' Nick Nurse returns to Toronto with problems of his own

Who says a calendar doesn’t have a sense of humour? 

It was exactly one year ago Sunday that Nick Nurse effectively announced his intention to split with the Toronto Raptors. 

On that day, an under-achieving Raptors team was in Philadelphia when Nurse let the world know that after 10 years in a mutually beneficial relationship, he wanted to play the field a little bit. 

Never mind he still had a year left on his contract in Toronto; spring was in the air, he had itches to scratch. 

Remember? It was the moment when it became crystal clear (in retrospect, at least) that things were about to change in Toronto. 

“I think that 10 years (five as an assistant, five as head coach) is a good time to sit back and reflect a little bit, right?” Nurse said when asked a softball question from a Philadelphia reporter about how the season was going.  “I think we’re going to do that all when the season ends.”

“… I’m going to take a few weeks to see where I’m at, where my head’s at, just see how the relationship with the organization is,” Nurse continued. “It’s been 10 years for me now, which is a pretty good run … we’ve had a lot of good seasons.”

And a lot has happened in the past 12 months, including Nurse being ‘fired’ from the Raptors after last season’s 41-41 campaign ended with a play-in tournament loss, and the remaining core of the team that Nurse led to the 2019 title being dismantled. 

And here we are again, except this year it was the Raptors hosting the 76ers and instead of Nurse pining for a future that didn’t include Toronto, he was back in his old stomping grounds lamenting the season that might have been with Philadelphia and may yet be depending on how the injury carousel lands. 

But on this Sunday, Nurse was in no mood for reflecting or reminiscing about the good times in Toronto, or how they ended so abruptly.  He’s got his own problems, as the Sixers have been without reigning MVP Joel Embiid since Feb. 1st and arrived in Toronto having lost 10 of their last 14 and three straight. 

When Embiid was healthy and putting up 35 points a game for Philadelphia, they were a decent bet to secure the second seed in the Eastern Conference and a lock for homecourt in the first round. Instead, they’ve muddled along at 10-18 since he went down and are in a losing battle to stay out of the play-in tournament. 

“We've had enough to worry about with our own team and trying to put our roster together and make trades and get guys healthy and all that kind of stuff,” Nurse said when asked about the Raptors current fortunes. “My total focus is on Philadelphia right now.”

His old club did Nurse a favour as the Sixers handled the comically short-handed Raptors a 135-120 defeat, Toronto’s 13^th straight, which is tied for the second-longest losing streak in franchise history. The only one longer is the 17-game streak the Raptors had in 1997-98. 

The Sixers record improved to 40-35 while the Raptors are 23-51. Raptors legend Kyle Lowry, who has landed on his hometown team after being traded by Miami and bought out by the Charlotte Hornets, had 11 points and 10 assists for the Sixers. 

The Raptors, who are missing starters Jakob Poeltl (finger surgery), Scottie Barnes (finger surgery), Immanuel Quickley (conditioning) and RJ Barrett (conditioning), along with reserves Ochai Agbaji (hip), Chris Boucher (knee), Jontay Porter (personal), and DJ Carton (ankle), were led by Gary Trent Jr. who had 23 points. Kelly Olynyk had 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Jordan Nwora had 19 points off the bench. 

Given the Raptors host the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday and before going on the road to play Milwaukee and Minnesota, their game against the woeful Washington Wizards next Sunday could have some history on the line. 

It’s the price of a rebuild. 

“Things sure have changed here, huh?” noted former Raptors star Kyle Lowry, who was in Toronto for the first time as a Sixer and whose off-season departure in the summer of 2021 in some ways set in motion all that’s happened since. 

The past 12 months of Raptors history have at least proved one thing: coaches are a lot better when they have good players. 

Nurse’s place in Raptors history is forever secure because when he was a rookie head coach, he was handed a 59-win team which then added two future hall-of-famers in Kawhi Leonard and Marc Gasol, then he took the ball and ran with it. He was adaptable and agile and willing to shapeshift styles as his lineups dictated.

Nurse wasn’t the primary reason the Raptors won an NBA title, but he deserved that ring as much as anyone else. 

But as that team disassembled, Nurse’s win-loss record went along with it. 

Similarly, this season Nurse was looking the part as the right man to replace Doc Rivers in Philadelphia. Embiid was playing the best basketball of his career and Nurse was allowing Tyrese Maxey to run free and being rewarded with all-NBA level production from the electric young guard. 

But then Jonathan Kuminga of the Golden State Warriors fell on Embiid’s leg, knee surgery followed, and the Sixers' season has been hanging by a thread ever since. 

"It's been difficult from a won/loss perspective,” said Nurse. "(But) I think that we're finding out some growth areas in other guys, I think … I just think the group that's out there playing is playing a lot better on the defensive end. It's really where we're going to need it.”

Which is code for:  ‘Hopefully we can hold the fort until our superstar is healthy enough to play and we can somehow last long enough in the playoffs that he can get in shape and return to the dominant form he was showing before he was injured. Maybe then we’ll have a chance.'

He at least will have Lowry to help preach his message. “I’m not the go-to guy on this team,” said Lowry, who just turned 38 and is in his 18^th season. “I’m the guy who’s going to help the go-to guys … whatever I’m needed, I’ll be able to do.”

The crazy thing is if Lowry was on the Raptors on Sunday, he would still have been their best point guard, which is a testament to his ability to stay competitive with his 40^th birthday rounding into view, and a reflection of the roster the Raptors are putting on the floor these nights. 

Nurse saw where the Raptors were headed and wanted no part of the rebuild process, which is why he made plain his desire to move on, giving the Raptors little choice but to fire him. 

But as Nurse has shown in Philly, there are no play calls or ‘janky’ defence to make up for an Embiid-sized hole in your line-up, or a team missing four starters and then some, which is the Raptors' current fate. 

All of which should be kept in mind when anyone tries to evaluate Darko Rajakovic, Nurse’s successor in Toronto, as he makes his way through the final stages of his first season.

Back when the Raptors were relatively intact, Rajakovic had them at .500 through the first month of the season. But then Poeltl sprained his ankle (the Raptors are 2-22 this season when the big Austrian doesn’t play), and the Raptors' record began to slide, there were two significant trades before more injuries and other personnel challenges scuttled any hopes of even a run at the play-in tournament. 

What would Nurse do in a similar predicament? 

Well, we have a decent idea. When circumstances conspired against the Raptors being competitive during the 2020-21 season they spent in Tampa, Nurse’s Raptors finished 12^th in the East and hoped the lottery balls would be kind to them. 

And in a year in Philadelphia where one of the most accomplished coaches in Raptors history is waiting to get his star centre back so they can resume playing winning basketball, in Toronto a lost season will result in a 12th-place finish in the East and hope for more lottery ball kindness. 

A lot has changed as it relates to Nurse and the Raptors in the space of 12 months, but some things never do.