In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green interviews NBA head coach Nick Nurse. Nurse recounts his brief four‑day associate head‑coach role at Iowa State, which earned him $175,000, and explains why he left after a weekend to return to the Iowa Energy, where he later won a D‑League championship. He outlines his G‑League coaching trajectory—from the Iowa Energy to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (the Houston Rockets’ affiliate)—and how his work caught the attention of the Toronto Raptors, leading to an assistant‑coach position under Masai Ujiri. Nurse describes the Raptors’ rapid rise (from a 32‑win season to a 48‑win playoff team) and the repeated playoff battles against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, highlighting a pivotal Game 1 loss that kept the team from advancing. The conversation shifts to broader NBA trends, with Nurse and Green debating how rule changes and salary‑cap dynamics have altered player roles and matchup strategies in recent Finals. The episode also contains sponsor reads for Hyperice NormaTec Elite recovery boots and DraftKings betting promotions, which are peripheral to the core discussion.
Chapters
Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Just tracing back a little bit, can you talk to me about the easiest head coaching job that you had where you was assistant for 4 days and cashed out on $175 grand? Can you talk to me? I'm looking for a gig like that, by the way.
Best job I ever had. So I was coaching at the Iowa Energy in the D-League. Guy I played college basketball with at Northern Iowa, Greg McDermott, was then the coach at Iowa State. He offered me a job to be his associate head coach. I went up there on a Thursday. I literally got on a plane on Friday and went to Europe to recruit. And on Sunday, he called me. I was in London getting ready to go to Greece. He called me and said, "Hey, I'm going to Creighton." And he said, "You wanna come with me to Creighton?" And I was like, "Whoa, whoa, what just happened here? We just moved up, you know, we just started this job." And I said, "Let me come home and think about that." that for a minute. I ended up going, thank goodness, you know, all things happen for a reason. I end up going back to the Iowa Energy after 4 days at Iowa State. And that was when we won our first D-League championship. And then we went rolling from there a little bit.
That's incredible. When you were in the Iowa Energy, I've been trying to trace your path to the Raptors. When you were with the Iowa Energy, were they the affiliate of the Raptors at that time? Like, what was your, how did you? Hey, what was your path to the Raptors?
No, so the path to the, so I coached the Iowa Energy, then I went to Rio Grande Valley as the head G League coach, which was the Rockets team. And literally they just, they just kind of called me up outta nowhere. I think they'd seen the team play. We had a couple, I think we had Glenn Rice Jr. who was in the draft. He was one of the first guys in the D League that was in the draft. And a lot of people were coming to watch him. And it was actually Brian Colangelo who saw the team play and just said, "Let's talk to this guy." And then they hired me as an assistant after a little, a lot of changeover and turmoil. It was Masai came in and Dwyane Casey hired me and all that stuff. But we made it through that little change of management to get the start in Toronto.
What was it like as an assistant coach during those years where you guys were having absolutely incredible seasons in Toronto? And then you kind of just run into a buzzsaw in LeBron James in the East. Like what were those years like kind of ultimately hoping to get over that hope? Did you, I mean, hoping to get over that hump, did you guys like not, I mean, I don't wanna say not believe because I think anytime we're in the locker room you wanna believe, but did you guys really believe that that team could have gotten over the hump and like— Yeah. What, like, what was it, um, with that squad? 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. Everyone can get their hands on these to help with recovery, increases circulation, and reduces 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.
Yeah, like, so in general, it was awesome. It was awesome because we kind of, I think, now don't quote me on the exact numbers, but I think the year before we started in Toronto was like a 32-win season. So the first year we went to 48 and got in the playoffs, which they hadn't been in in, I don't know, again, 10 years, maybe 11, 12 years. And so the buzz was like, oh my God, they're a playoff team. And then we kind of, 155, maybe 158. And like you said, we'd run into, everybody was getting chopped down by LeBron and the Cavs then, right? So it was super exciting. And then there was always that frustration of how can we figure out how to beat this guy? And then the last time around, I think we had the home court advantage and we had a higher seed and they hadn't really played that well. That year. We thought we, we really did think we could, we could get over the hump. And it was just like one of those, one of those, I think game 1, Draymond, it was like we had, we had to lay up and it missed and we had a tip in. And like if we would've just one of those bounce in, we win game 1 and maybe the whole series. And that was like a crushing, like last second defeat. And, and then that was, that was it. And then just never could get, I mean, you know how, how tough it is to get past any of his teams.
Absolutely. I mean, obviously we played against those guys for what, 4 straight years, 5 straight years?
15 something.
Yeah, 5 straight years. And it's crazy because I was watching the NBA Finals. I was watching NBA Finals a few days ago with Bron, and we were actually sitting there talking about like, The different things when you watch the last couple finals that teams kind of get away with, like it was tougher to get away with then. And I don't wanna sound like one of those old ass dudes who like, in my day, they couldn't. But like, I feel like when we were like in the finals against you guys, against LeBron, like there was some guys that just couldn't get on the floor. Like if you were just a shooter, right? And you couldn't put the ball on the floor, you didn't have size, couldn't skate. Like you couldn't get on the floor. And it's like now all of a sudden teams aren't capable of necessarily like taking a guy out, you know, like the guys that you knew you had to take out who's like, he's a shooter. We did it to Kyle Korver when they were, when he, when he was with the Cavs. It's like you take those guys out. Now you don't see that as much. Do you think that's actually a byproduct of the new NBA bylaws or salary cap where you can't, quite build out the teams how you would? Because I've been seeing that and when I look at it, I'm just like, man, like that stuff never would've flew in the NBA Finals even 4 years ago.
Yeah, I don't know. I think things change so fast and even, even it seems to me they change more rapidly sometimes during the season and everything. I just think that you're always adjusting to the style of play or the physicality that's being allowed or not being allowed. It seems to be, you know, like all over the place at times. So I think, I think, you know, and again, I think some series guys look great, those kind of guys you're talking about, and then some series they don't too. And all of a sudden you're like, what happened? You know, those guys were, those guys were playing great last series, you know, what happened to 'em? And, and you're right, they think, I think scouting different, different schemes, different personnel, some matchups are just bad for certain players, right?
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