Everything Nick Nurse

[G__Deane]

I would say that the team is well-coached and prepared but they don't always have the focus, intensity and effort to make it all work. Last night, they were dialed-in with a full complement of players and, so, they played well. I think a lot of the finger pointing at Nurse more properly belongs with the players who have played far too casually at times all season.

But it easier to blame the coach, same in all sports. If the team is performing/winning, the coach looks like a genius - great players make great coaches etc lol

[3inthekeon]

Blake at The Athletic has an article up today on Nurse's use of the Spain pick-and-roll - like the play that got Kawhi the open lane layup vs the Celtics. One item mentioned is that the Raptors rank 5th in points per ATO plays. This is despite (per CTG stats) the Raptors ranking only 14th in half court scoring.

[bertarapsfan]

Blake at The Athletic has an article up today on Nurse's use of the Spain pick-and-roll - like the play that got Kawhi the open lane layup vs the Celtics. One item mentioned is that the Raptors rank 5th in points per ATO plays. This is despite (per CTG stats) the Raptors ranking only 14th in half court scoring.

I remember earlier in the year nick got pissed at blake cause he was asking him about the spain pnr in a scrum. Nick said something along the lines of we dont need to be talking about our schemes in the media

[moneyball 168]

I like this play. So its called the Spanish PnR...

having Marc will only make that action even more lethal

[inthepaint]

I remember earlier in the year nick got pissed at blake cause he was asking him about the spain pnr in a scrum. Nick said something along the lines of we dont need to be talking about our schemes in the media

Yeah the bball geek in me enjoys reading/watching these playbook pieces sometimes, on the other hand I don't think the beat reporters need to be digging into it too much so they can dissect and publish everything on video/articles. Obviously opposing teams will be doing their own digging as part of the scout report, but I agree with Nick here, don't need to make their life easier by putting too much detail out there.

[planetmars]

Nurse was on Prime Time yesterday. Got a chance to listen to it today. He's a pretty good interview. Just a really laid back guy (sort of like Casey actually).

Some things that I found interesting:

- The experimentation probably won't end.. and might continue right into the playoffs. He likes doing different things and letting the team experience different scenarios so that they'll be more prepared in the playoffs if they have to change things on the fly. Stephen Brunt was hinting that he may want to define a set rotation 3-4 games before the playoffs.. but Nurse was not really committing to that. He might also be playing his cards close to his vest there.

- He wants the #1 seed but he's not really fearing Milwaukee and feels like they can beat them on the road. I don't think he'll kill the team to get that first seed. Feels like he's fine with that 2nd seed (he probably has no choice now anyway).

- He likes that GSW lost to Miami.. he's keeping an eye on them and likes that we have home court over them right now (currently 2 games up with the tie breaker). It's interesting that he didn't mention any other West coast team. It's like he knows that it will be the Warriors in the final and everyone else in the West is playing for 2nd place.

- Load management will continue with Kawhi. Nothing will change there. And he's happy to give guys reps when Kawhi sits. It encourages growth for others that don't usually get the minutes when Kawhi is playing.

- He has no insight into whether Kawhi will come back. He thinks Kawhi is enjoying himself and when they talk they just really talk about basketball and the games coming up, rather than what will happen in the off season. He's optimistic that he'll come back though. He's talked to Masai about it a little.. but didn't really go into it too much.

He also talked a bit about Siakam, Gasol and Lin.

[Shredder]

I feel like Nurse will be a better playoff coach. I feel like he will be able to adapt and adjust to the opposing team. Hiding our weaknesses while exploiting theirs. Should be interesting to see.

[Zainab]

I feel like Nurse will be a better playoff coach. I feel like he will be able to adapt and adjust to the opposing team. Hiding our weaknesses while exploiting theirs. Should be interesting to see.

i pray i pray i pray

[Superjudge]

Nurse is as Godlike as his players FG% will make him

[bertarapsfan]

we gotta give nick credit for the final play in regulation. it was beautiful the camera panned over to him and he was visible mad yelling fuck fuck. it leads me to believe he actually does have plays but he's saving them. he was mad he gave that look away when it could have been nice In the playoffs
not to mention Detroit would be potential playoff matchup so if we do face off they'll be looking for that one. or maybe he just good at callimg up short clock plays music he drew up that nice one for Danny greens game winner vs Orlando and their was only like 3 seconds on the clock . when theirs been more then 10 seconds it almost always a iso or simple screen. I see the light at the end of the tunnel tho I think he does have some tricks up his sleeve

[golden]

[Rudy Bargnani]

I’ve come to the conclusion that when Nurse was younger he developed a statistical program in his parents basement to track and measure rotations. In order for them to have meaning he needs a large sample size of random rotations. He is fanatical about reaching the programs required sample size before the playoffs. So much so that he is playing lineup combos that are obviously not working. Lin and Powell together? My program needs the minutes!

[MixxAOR]

I’ve come to the conclusion that when Nurse was younger he developed a statistical program in his parents basement to track and measure rotations. In order for them to have meaning he needs a large sample size of random rotations. He is fanatical about reaching the programs required sample size before the playoffs. So much so that he is playing lineup combos that are obviously not working. Lin and Powell together? My program needs the minutes!

That's kinda true. he was saying that he wouldn't give up on rotation if there's not enough sample size.

[inthepaint]

I was looking at some substitution patterns from some of the top teams this year, just out of curiosity. They are before the trade deadline movement, so a bit dated, but still interesting. I don't know how to embed images, so try to open the following 4 tabs (for Philly, Golden State, Milwaukee & Toronto) on the same browser to compare these graphs:

--Philly (http://nbarotations.info/team/PHI2019)
From the graph, you can see Embiid's and Redick's minutes are pretty much in sync. Simmon's and Butler also overlap very well. The result is Philly pretty much always has 2 of Redick, Embiid, Butler and Simmons (their 4 best players) on the court at all times, and the 4 of them are actually on the court together a lot.

--Golden State (http://nbarotations.info/team/GSW2019)
Durant's and Curry's minutes overlap nicely for the deadly 2-man game between those two. When they sit though (usually early in the 2nd and 4th quarters), Draymond and Klay are almost always in. The result is that 2 of Durant/Steph/Klay/Green are always in. The 4 of them also play together a lot to start the halves

--Bucks (http://nbarotations.info/team/MIL2019)
Bucks is an interesting one. They typically give Giannis & Brogdon a quick breather mid 1st and mid 3rd, but they both typically close all the quarters. Giannis/ Brogdon/Snell (their 6th man) overlap, and Middleton/Bledsoe/Lopez overlap. The common thread here is that you have 3 of those guys (their starters plus Snell) together on the floor at almost all times.

--Raptors (http://nbarotations.info/team/TOR2019)
We're a bit the oddball among these 4 teams. If you look at the graph, there's like two "white eyes" looking at you, representing the time that all of our 5 best players are sitting at the same time (late 1st, early 2nd, late 3rd, early 4th). That's the Halloween all-bench hour. Worked well last year, this year not so much, but we're still riding it.

Try to cycle through the 4 tabs quickly glancing at the top of the graphs to have a good feel for how much overlap these other 3 quality teams have in their rotation. They're maximizing their starters time. Now this is all before the trades so things are still *ahem..clears throat*... "fluid", but it's interesting to see how different teams choose to play their higher usage guys.

[GLF]

I was looking at some substitution patterns from some of the top teams this year, just out of curiosity. They are before the trade deadline movement, so a bit dated, but still interesting. I don't know how to embed images, so try to open the following 4 tabs (for Philly, Golden State, Milwaukee & Toronto) on the same browser to compare these graphs:

--Philly (http://nbarotations.info/team/PHI2019)
From the graph, you can see Embiid's and Redick's minutes are pretty much in sync. Simmon's and Butler also overlap very well. The result is Philly pretty much always has 2 of Redick, Embiid, Butler and Simmons (their 4 best players) on the court at all times, and the 4 of them are actually on the court together a lot.

--Golden State (http://nbarotations.info/team/GSW2019)
Durant's and Curry's minutes overlap nicely for the deadly 2-man game between those two. When they sit though (usually early in the 2nd and 4th quarters), Draymond and Klay are almost always in. The result is that 2 of Durant/Steph/Klay/Green are always in. The 4 of them also play together a lot to start the halves

--Bucks (http://nbarotations.info/team/MIL2019)
Bucks is an interesting one. They typically give Giannis & Brogdon a quick breather mid 1st and mid 3rd, but they both typically close all the quarters. Giannis/ Brogdon/Snell (their 6th man) overlap, and Middleton/Bledsoe/Lopez overlap. The common thread here is that you have 3 of those guys (their starters plus Snell) together on the floor at almost all times.

--Raptors (http://nbarotations.info/team/TOR2019)
We're a bit the oddball among these 4 teams. If you look at the graph, there's like two "white eyes" looking at you, representing the time that all of our 5 best players are sitting at the same time (late 1st, early 2nd, late 3rd, early 4th). That's the Halloween all-bench hour. Worked well last year, this year not so much, but we're still riding it.

Try to cycle through the 4 tabs quickly glancing at the top of the graphs to have a good feel for how much overlap these other 3 quality teams have in their rotation. They're maximizing their starters time. Now this is all before the trades so thing are still *ahem..clears throat*... "fluid", but it's interesting to see how different teams choose to play their higher usage guys.

Nurse will be the death of us. That's all this is telling me