“First of all, I think when this season gets done, we’ll evaluate everything, and even personally, I’m going to take a few weeks to see where I’m at, you know?” Nurse said. “Like you said, where my head’s at. And just see how the relationship with the organization is and everything- Raptors’ Head Coach Nick Nurse. Source: ESPN/ Tim Bontemps

Let’s be honest. The Raptors lost their play-in game against Chicago long before Diar DeRozan stepped onto the flight to Toronto. Probably before we knew the Raptors were going to play the Bulls. If I were to pinpoint the moments when it happened, it was probably the game against Philly.

Before that game, analysts were talking about the possibility the Raptors might actually have a chance at fifth place; if only they kept on winning. Then Nick Nurse opened his mouth deciding that before a game in which he had to coach, and most importantly win, it was a good time to muse about his future with the team. It was a pretty big example of a recurring theme this season; confidence. I’m still surprised that he wasn’t given his walking papers then. How the players kept it together the rest of the way was a testament to their professionalism, determination, and competitive spirit. Because how do you believe in yourself, when your head coach no longer does?

Team confidence ebbed and flowed like the tide throughout this season. They’d string a few wins together, and look like world-beaters, and then lose a close one on a last second three making that ominous hollow clanging sound as it bounced off the rim. When positionless basketball worked, it was gorgeous to behold. Every player hit their switches on defence, it created chaos by making opponents look like they didn’t know what they were doing. On offence, they moved to the fast break so quickly, it was as if man was meant to fly.

Injuries made that approach unsustainable, starting with Otto Porter Jr. and spreading throughout roster. Opponents started figuring out how to stop the Raptors’ fast break by using a half-court or zone defence. So much focus on positionless basketball meant those 6″9 guys did not have enough practice breaking zones in a game situation. The offence was as cold as a -30 Celsius day with the wind coming off Lake Ontario. The trade deadline brought a familiar face back to the team, and addressed a need that festered for almost two years. Jakob Poeltl brought confidence, and structure back to the team, they started winning again.

With that was a “tough love approach” adopted by Nick Nurse, which brings us to the other issue with positionless basketball. It requires total trust, and confidence in each other to the point where players have to constantly communicate, but also practically read each other’s minds. It’s tough to do in an environment where the head coach isn’t high on much of his bench; you probably would need to organize the roster into five-man units for this to be effective. I remember back at the start of the season the word “development” being thrown around a lot. Watching these games I kept thinking ‘if this is a development season, then why not give Malachi Flynn minutes as the backup PG? From some of his off-season activities, maybe all he needed was time.

Now back to that fateful night in Philly where Nurse made the above comments before the game. Thad Young has a reputation as being a thorough, patient, positive guy off the court. On the court, he has the ability to metaphorically speaking “break ankles” of one likely MVP, and 76ers star Joel Embiid. He did it in the playoffs last season, and there was no reason to see if he couldn’t do it again, while playing a role in winning the game. He didn’t play a single second that night, which brings us back to the role of confidence in this season. If Nick Nurse didn’t have confidence in a player that had been in the NBA for well over a decade, and has probably seen it all by this point, then who does he trust? This one decision, effectively ended this season because it showed a stunning lack of confidence in the players. Jeff Dowtin Jr, as your proxy centre, did not work out well, as we saw.

The one thing I think they will do this off-season is “part ways” with Nurse. They have enough talent to go places in Siakam, VanVleet, Barnes, and Anunoby. We know what these four guys can do, with Poeltl. They just need to find out what this remaining bench is all about. Until they figure that one out, I can’t see front office making major deals unless there’s a financial need to- or they get a solid one-in-a-million chance at a superstar. But there again, Masai Ujiri seems pretty committed to building from within, so even that may be a pipe dream at best.

Enjoy the NBA playoffs everyone…