(Reuters) – Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has been named NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the defending champions to another 50-win domestic season, the league said on Saturday.
Nurse led the Raptors to a 53-19 record in the regular season and set a franchise-record with a .736 winning percentage.
“When you see Nick on the sidelines, that’s who he is as a person,” Raptors President Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “Relaxed, but so hard-working. 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 honour has been a long one – we are so happy to see him recognized this way.”
Nurse, who led the Raptors to the NBA title in his rookie season last year, received 90 first-place votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer finished second and Oklahoma City’s Billy Donovan came third.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
