There is something special about the current version of the Raptors — a team that possesses a unique combination of personalities, talents and determination — and head coach Nick Nurse misses it greatly.
He understands the bigger picture and the more important things the world is dealing with these days, and knows what’s vital and what’s relatively trivial, but it doesn’t make his sense of longing go away.
“Shoot, I could coach these guys 12 months a year,” Nurse said on a Friday conference call with reporters. “We could keep playing all the time. They’re fun to be around and fun to coach, and they compete and they’re tough and they figure it out.