Report: Raptors meet with Steve Nash, Nick Nurse finalist in Milwaukee

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The Toronto Raptors continue to cover all their bases in the hunt for the 10th head coach in franchise history.

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Canadian basketball icon Steve Nash was the latest to meet with the Raptors, The Athletic reported on Monday afternoon.

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Nash, the two-time NBA MVP, went 94-67 for a .584 winning percentage in two seasons plus seven games this year as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

Renowned as one of the great floor generals and leaders in NBA history, not even Nash could get the dysfunctional Nets on the same page as various off-court issues popped up (mostly involving Kyrie Irving), or injuries to the team’s three superstars compounded.

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Nash had previously worked as a player development consultant for the Golden State Warriors, where he earned two championship rings and developed a rapport with Kevin Durant, before things soured between the two in Brooklyn.

While Nash received some criticism for his tactics and adjustments, like most coaches, many were quick to leap to his defence when the Brooklyn parting of ways occurred.

“You’re not finding anybody who doesn’t have the highest regard for Steve Nash in the league,” said long-time head coach turned broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy to Sirius XM Radio. “And, I gotta say, I just don’t know who wouldn’t wanna play for him. His personality, his success, his outlook on life, his compassion, and his empathy for people. To me, he’s a model for what we say we want in leadership, and it’s a shame the Nets decided to move on.”

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Steve Clifford, a former Van Gundy assistant who has coached in Orlando and now twice in Charlotte, where he is the current head coach, also stuck up for Nash, who he worked as a consultant for between head coaching jobs.

“There’s always things you can do better as a coach, but the problem there was not coaching,” Clifford told reporters. “Nor receptiveness to the way we did things. I totally disagree with any of that and sometimes it’s just health.”

Nash’s Nets took the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks to the limit in the 2021 playoffs, despite injuries to two of the team’s Big 3. Had Durant not stepped on the three-point line, Brooklyn — and not Milwaukee — would have advanced. Nash’s staff that season included Mike D’Antoni and Ime Udoka, many have noted. Once they left, things declined in Brooklyn, for a variety of reasons.

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In Nash, Toronto, one of the NBA’s worst shooting teams and least reliable offences in the half-court, would be getting one of the best shooters and play-makers in league history. That said, they’d be getting him of course as head coach, not as a player. Nash hasn’t yet proven he can translate his massive success as a player to his work behind the bench. The same can be said of the likes of Jason Kidd or Isiah Thomas or Magic Johnson in the past (though Larry Bird was pretty darn good at anything he did).

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The Raptors, under Bryan Colangelo, pitched Nash hard during his playing days when he was a free agent, even involving Wayne Gretzky in a video. Nash ultimately signed with the Los Angeles Lakers before injuries cut his career short.

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Toronto is looking to replace Nick Nurse, who was fired on April 21 and went 227-163 (.582), including an NBA title win, while in charge of the Raptors.

Reports Monday had Nurse emerging as a finalist for the job in Milwaukee, along with his lead assistant in Toronto Adrian Griffin, who began his coaching career with the Bucks, and Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson. Nurse is also believed to be a front-runner for the now-open jobs in Phoenix and Philadelphia.

@WolstatSun