(Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
Following months of speculation, the Toronto Raptors have officially agreed to part ways with Nick Nurse.
Nurse led them to the NBA championship in 2019 and managed to keep the team competitive for the most part of his tenure, but there were rumblings of discontent within the locker room.
Now, Ian Begley reports that the Raptors could target former Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka as his replacement.
Some members of the Raptors’ organization hold Ime Udoka in high regard, per @IanBegley pic.twitter.com/p00IqXSxeF
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 21, 2023
Udoka was one of the quickest risers in the NBA coaching hierarchy.
He led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his first year on the job, also orchestrating the league’s best defense in no time.
However, an incident in the workplace led to his suspension and eventual dismissal, and while some claimed that he might never get another shot to coach in the league if the truth came out, the details of the story were never disclosed.
Udoka was reportedly a strong candidate to replace Steve Nash on the Brooklyn Nets this season, yet the team opted to skip the potential backlash and PR nightmare that could’ve come with that hire.
The Raptors might not want to take that same approach, hoping it’s all water under the bridge and people will simply forget about that incident, which seems unlikely at this point.
Even so, Udoka sure earned his stripes in the league as an assistant coach, and he’s the kind of coach that knows how to deal with young stars, which seems tailor-made for an up-and-coming Raptors team with a plethora of rising talents.
The post The Raptors Reportedly Have Interest In A Former Celtics Coach appeared first on The Cold Wire.