In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green interviews former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse about the 2018‑19 season, focusing on Kawhi Leonard’s arrival, his on‑court impact, and the surprise of his departure to the Los Angeles Clippers. Nurse praises Leonard’s competitiveness, basketball IQ, and ability to elevate teammates, recounting specific moments such as Leonard’s timing in the fourth quarter and his two‑way play. The conversation also touches on the team’s chemistry, roster composition—including Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, and Norman Powell—and how the Raptors were an under‑the‑radar contender that ultimately won a championship. Nurse explains that Leonard’s one‑year, win‑or‑nothing contract made his exit less shocking, though the team hoped he would stay. The episode includes a sponsor read for Hyperice’s NormaTec Elite compression boots and a promotional ad from Colin Cowherd for DraftKings, highlighting NBA playoff betting. Overall, the interview provides insider perspectives on player impact, coaching decisions, and the dynamics that led to the Raptors’ historic title run and subsequent roster changes.
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Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Start the offseason and all of a sudden, you know, going 2018, 2019 season, get the opportunity to get Kawhi Leonard. How big was that? What was that like coaching him? Obviously didn't get to coach him for sure as long as you would have, but what was it like getting Kawhi, him coming in and kind of taking the franchise up a level?
Yeah, I mean, you know Kawhi, first of all, he's awesome. I loved his just competitiveness, his drive, his smarts, everything. But you know, what he did probably more than anything, Draymond, was he just kind of rose the level of everything, right? He just, Everybody played a little bit better. Everybody believed a little bit more. All those kind of things with his presence. And he was awesome to coach. I think that my most fascinating things with him were, you know, when I'd be in the fourth quarter and things, and I'd be like, you know, like 9 minutes to go. And I'd be like, "Let's go, you gotta get back in there." And he'd be like, "I'm not quite ready yet." I'd be like, "Well, we better hustle because there may not be anything to wait for." But, you know, he knew he knew about the 6-minute mark, 6 and a half, he'd go back in, but he knew, and he just dominate. He just made every play at both ends, every tough rebound. Like, he, he really knew what he kind of had in the tank and what he could provide. And I, I kind of, uh, I just admired that about him because he really would go make, you know, plays at both ends that were just, you know, that's, that's what I love, guys making plays at both ends. And they were just huge plays, you know.
Absolutely, absolutely. I think it's incredible. Obviously we were on the wrong side of it. I must say I was absolutely shocked. And you know, I know he's an LA guy or San Diego, Southern Californian guy, wanted to get back closer to home. But that may be the only player in the NBA that can win a championship with a team, probably get offered the entire country of Canada, and leave and go back to the Clippers. Like, I can't think— can you? I can't think of any other guy in the NBA that would turn that down. As a 12-year NBA veteran, recovery is very important to me. As I continue to get a little older, the body just doesn't bounce back the way it used to. So I'm a big fan of Hyperice, especially their NormaTec boots. What's great about the new NormaTec Elite is that they ditched all the extra hoses and control units from the old model. This one is fully self-contained with a small set of buttons to select your compression level. Super easy to travel with and to get set up after a hard workout or a big game. On top of that, the NormaTec Elite packs 4 hours of battery life. That's enough juice to get full leg compression cycles in before games, after games, and even on the plane. And don't get me started on the tech inside this thing. Hyperice has been pioneering recovery science for years, and the brand new NormaTec Elite takes it to another dimension with 7 different compression levels to choose from. But it's not just for pro athletes. I'm a pro athlete. I'm a pro athlete. Everyone can get their hands on these to help with recovery, increase the circulation, and reducing swelling in the lower body. Shop all your warm-up and recovery needs at Hyperice.com. Use code Draymond for 15% off your order today. Exclusions apply.
I can't think of it ever happening either. I'm not totally, totally shocked Draymond, because the very first meeting I had with him, like, he got traded to Toronto. I'm not sure he was like, "Whoa, what happened here? How'd I end up here?" And I'm meeting with him, and it was super cool. We were kind of going through some stuff. Stuff on the board and just getting to, you know, listen to him feel about, "I like this, I'll move here," these kind of things. And it was a great conversation. And he kind of said to me, "Listen, all right, all right, I'm gonna play to win. I'm gonna play, you know, I wanna play to win. I'm gonna play to win it all." And he said, "I'm gonna do it for one year. After that," he goes, "I'm not sure what's gonna happen, right? But for one year, I'm gonna play 100% and I'm gonna play to win the title." And I was kind of like, "That's a pretty good deal. Let's start with that," right? Right. I wasn't totally shocked, but I thought after we'd kind of done it all and did, you know, all that stuff like you just said kind of rolled out, I was sure hoping he was gonna stay because that was a really, really good team. It really was. You know, in the end it was a really, really well put together team and really had great chemistry as, you know, you've been a part of them and those things are special.
1000% special. I think for me and watching that team come to, like, even when I look back on that team and I know, A lot of people said like, oh, it's Kawhi Leonard just carrying these guys to the championship. And when I look back on that team, obviously Fred VanVleet was not an All-Star yet, became an All-Star there. Pascal Siakam hadn't really become an All-Star yet, became a 2-time All-Star. If I'm not mistaken, I think Pascal made First Team All-NBA at one point this year or Second Team. I mean, throughout those years. Draymond Green, Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol. Like, I feel like those are the championship teams that I remember, right? Like, you go down the list and it's boom, boom, boom, boom. Like, what was it like coaching that team? I think you, if I'm not mistaken, I think you guys had, was Garrett Temple on your bench at that point?
No, we had Norman Powell.
Norman Powell.
Yeah, we had OG, got hurt right before the playoffs, so he was on that team. That was, yeah, you're right. I mean, what was it like coaching them? It was awesome. I mean, I think we knew we had a chance from day one. You know, you go to training camp and you're looking around, you're going, holy shit, this is like, we're good, man. Like, we're really good. And kind of the cool thing about it was we didn't really, nobody else really was talking too much about us. You know what I mean? Like, we kind of stayed under the radar. And it wasn't like even when the playoffs started, I think I went back, I went back one time and looked and I think, I think 1 out of like 16 reporters picked the Raptors. You know, like nobody was talking about us.
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