Raptors, Nick Nurse show off new analytics-driven scoreboard
Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse explains what data the team's new scoreboard displays during practice and how it benefits the coaches and players.
Video Transcript
- What do you think of the new addition to the gym? I guess you guys have had this for a little while?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, it's-- I love it. It's great. There's so much up there we can do. As you guys probably can see, there's a lot of information flowing across those boards, from the Noahlytics, from the shooting stuff, to last game's footage, to next opponent footage, to a bunch of charted things that we have up there.
So there's a lot of stuff we can put up there. And we can definitely use it. It looks really cool, too. players really like it.
- I was going to ask, have you gotten feedback from them? Like, do they-- is it too much for them, or are they taking stuff from it?
NICK NURSE: I-- all the stuff has been really positive from them. They really love it, yeah.
- Every year, it seems like you have a word or a slogan for the team. And I know you talked about that when you were abroad this summer. Can you tell us what your mottoes are for this season, and maybe what that photo up on the wall means?
NICK NURSE: Well, that photo is just part of the opening preseason thing. I mean, obviously, we got a couple priorities you've heard me talk about before. You know, this business is about winning, right? And then the rest of it is-- there's some things up there, the things that we do defensively and all that kind of stuff as well, just some things we're trying to emphasize.
But there's some new things there this year. A lot of it's still carrying over from a year ago. But we try to evolve it a little bit each season, yeah.
- You guys announced your 905 coaching staff. Some returning names, and of course Siakam in the bunch. Your impressions of that group, and how you expect things to play out for them?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, really good, really good group. Really happy with that, obviously. We've tried to keep that thing-- that job, that head coaching job, as a real growth and opportunity for-- within our staff. And it's turned out really well, I think, for everybody that's come through there. They've gone on to really, really nice jobs.
And we were able to take a couple of guys off our other staff and move them down there and stuff. So there's a really good-- I'm really happy with that group. It feels like there's a lot of great synergy there.
And we've got a couple of them that spend a lot of time with us as well. We're trying to kind of hybrid that a little bit. So I think the connection there continues to be a really strong one, yeah.
- Nick, how much contact do you have with them regarding the system [INAUDIBLE]?
NICK NURSE: Well, yeah, yeah, a lot. I mean, we do want them to be almost in line exactly with what we're doing. Just because I think especially now with the two-ways-- and we always will use it for roster guys, too, so that there's-- if we need to call up somebody on a quick situation, that they haven't lost any of the terminology, mostly play set calls, those kind of things.
We do use it as well as some-- a little bit of a laboratory. They do let them veer off and try out a few things that we're interested in or talked about that we haven't quite decided to use for us yet. So there's a little bit of that going on too, yeah.
- You would have seen Christian Siakam around here quite a bit over the years.
NICK NURSE: Yes.
- He's obviously had a big part in Pascal's growth.
NICK NURSE: Yeah.
- What have you seen from him that kind of lets you know that he's ready for this opportunity?
NICK NURSE: Well, he has been around a lot, right? That's the main thing. I think that-- like, the key for me in just about with anything, but in particular something like this, is you've kind of got to put both feet in, right? Like, being around and doing it some and whatever, like, putting both feet in and getting a full season under your belt, I think, will be a huge step forward for him, right?
So he's familiar with, like, working us out. He's familiar with spending a lot of time in the gym. He's familiar with a lot of things we do.
And then he's interested in coaching. Well, now, you've got to go see if you are for real, and you like all the late nights and early mornings, and film watching, and player development, and all that stuff that comes with it for the grind. You know that we talked about the grind of coaching.
So I like it. He's a really good dude. He's got a great personality. And like I said, he's familiar with what we do. So we'll see what he does with it.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- --have a chance to ask you about the take fouls.
NICK NURSE: Yes.
- [INAUDIBLE] you had one the other night. And do you teach against it? Or like, how do you-- how do you--
NICK NURSE: Yeah.
- --implement it?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, so--
- Do you like it?
NICK NURSE: --well, I do like it because I think it was stopping a lot of open floor play. And we've had a little-- we have experience with FIBA, right? So we do have to-- I haven't done much with it yet, Doug. I'm going to see how it plays out here a little bit.
But I will say this, is we did have to literally show it, talk about it, have somebody explain it, show it on film again, and then drill it with the national team. And it really helped us, right? There's a way you need to do it if you still want to do it, right? And there are certain guidelines-- you can't do it all, which would be an automatic, right? So you do have to go through that stuff. And we'll probably get to that soon.
- Yeah, you can-- you can teach take fouls without them being take fouls.
NICK NURSE: You have to. Yes, you have to, yes.
- That's a coaching skill--
NICK NURSE: Yeah, and it's just--
- --and a playing [INAUDIBLE]?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, it's just-- and it's just-- like, there's some obvious things that you can't-- like, if you go put two hands on them--
- Right.
NICK NURSE: --no matter what you do, like, that's like a signal for automatic take foul, right? So there's-- so you have to go through that and make sure everybody understands it.
- The GM survey came out. And it had Toronto as the best home court advantage in the league.
NICK NURSE: Wow.
- What do you think makes Scotiabank Arena so special compared to everywhere else?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, well, I mean, listen, there's a lot of good crowds out there. But I would-- the atmosphere in our place is second to none. So I would imagine that the intensity and the quantity with the crowd noise is there, and that the fans are into the game would-- lends itself to that.
I mean, you guys know. I always tell everybody if you haven't seen a game there, it's a really good place to see a game. Because the atmosphere each and every night is really good.
- What was your impressions of Christian in the first exhibition game?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, you guys saw what we've really been seeing. I think solid player, moves his feet, sets screens, finishes around the rim a little bit, has a good IQ out there. Good, solid player. We're going to be able to use him. Yup.
- --very much, Coach.
