It’s a perpetual push and pull in pro basketball. NBA players generally love to know their role. They appreciate the security of knowing, on any given night, what to expect and what’s expected.
NBA coaches, on the other hand, mostly hate to box themselves into a more limited number of options than is necessary. They’re generally less averse to dealing with the unexpected. The predictability that players crave, after all, can be a vulnerability opponents exploit.
So you could understand Nick Nurse’s subtle expression of frustration Saturday when he was asked how he intends to handle the impending reinsertion of OG Anunoby into the Raptors lineup.