Nurse named 2019-20 Coach of the Year
Toronto Raptors bench boss Nick Nurse has been named the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2019-20 season.
Nick Nurse is the 2019-20 NBA Coach of the Year! 👏#NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/aRcyFlaaqH
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) August 22, 2020
Nurse received 90 first-place votes en route to 470 total points. Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and Oklahoma City Thunder bench boss Billy Donovan finished second and third with 147 and 134 points, respectively. Nate McMillan of the Indiana Pacers was the only other coach to receive a first-place vote.
Toronto’s Nick Nurse beats out Milwaukee’s Mike Budenholzer and Oklahoma City’s Billy Donovan in media voting for NBA Coach of the Year ... pic.twitter.com/nTvm9Amw8l
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 22, 2020
The 53-year-old Nurse steered the Raptors to a 53-19 record during the regular season. Despite losing star forward Kawhi Leonard to free agency following their first NBA title in 2019, Nurse led the defending champions to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors won 15 straight games from Jan. 15 to Feb. 10 to set a new franchise record and eclipse the longest winning streak by a professional Canadian team in MLB, MLS, the NBA, the NHL, and the CFL.
Toronto finished the 2019-20 regular season with the league's second-best defensive rating (104.7 points per 100 possessions) and fourth-best net rating (6.1), according to NBA Advanced Stats.
"When you see Nick on the sidelines, that's who he is as a person. Relaxed, but so hard-working," Raptors president Masai Ujiri said. "Creative and dynamic. Always setting the tone for our team - attacking our next championship, rather than defending our last. That is who Nick is, that is why we believe in him.
"His journey to this tremendous honor has been a long one - we are so happy to see him recognized this way."
Nurse is the first person to win Coach of the Year at both the G League and NBA level after winning the former in 2011.