Nick Nurse opened up about the influence the legendary Phil Jackson had in his coaching style.
The head coach of the Toronto Raptors called Jackson his ‘mentor’.
“He was my mentor, but he did not know that. What happened to me was that I was watching every game of the Chicago Bulls, I was studying their way of play on offense (triangle) and on defense.
I spent 3-4 days with Jackson, it was really surreal, we were talking about basketball, his coaching style helped me a lot and influenced my ideas,” Nurse said during his appearance on the World of Basketball podcast with Fran Fraschilla.
Jackson has won 11 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls (six) and the Los Angeles Lakers (five).
For his part, Nurse won the 2019 NBA championship with the Raptors in his debut season as head coach in the league.
