Nick Nurse impressed with Thad Young's defensive prowess, finish

Raptors coach Nick Nurse thinks the defensively-versatile Thad Young will fit in seamlessly with the core group, allowing for minimal disruptions to team chemistry as Toronto works its deadline-day acquisition into its schemes.

Video Transcript

- Of course, today's news will be like, well, Thad, he can bring to your team.

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, we'll have to wait and see. I think Thad is pretty versatile. You know, he's pretty good defender and been around a little bit, can finish around the basket, drive it, shoot it a bit, especially from the corners. Got some experience, which I think come in handy. I think it provides some depth for us.

- Not just this year, but every year right after the deadline closes, there is sense of not necessarily relief, but just like, this is your group moving forward after a couple of weeks, probably a little bit of tension.

NICK NURSE: Yeah-- yeah, I mean, I think that for me, I'm always just concerned about each guy's role and where they're positioning themselves within the league, et cetera. And obviously those guys know they've kind of made it. Everybody's made it to a certain point here in the league. And now, we've got to continue to monitor getting them better.

I mean, of course, we want to get our main guys better. But there's other guys along the roster too that you're trying to help and make sure they can position themselves in the league as well.

- But what do you see when you look at the Houston Rockets team and the young talent that they have?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, they obviously a lot of talent, a lot of athleticism. You know, and I think one thing is I think I give them credit. They've hung in through some ups and downs playing pretty well. Right now, obviously, the young guards are good.

I think they got two big guys that are complement each other pretty well as well. But I think they've-- I think they've weathered some bumpy moments. And they continue to come back and fight. I think that's a really good sign of making progress and being well-coached and that kind of thing.

- Coach, obviously the one thing the [? team ?] likes about you that you're not afraid to throw anything at anybody. You throw a [? box in ?] one. Sometimes you double team on the out of bounds and things like that. Is that something that you just learn through coming up to the coaching [? right? ?] So that's something that you had to adapt to?

NICK NURSE: Well, I think my training was in some interesting leagues. And I probably had to try and see just about everything. And I was able to experiment with a lot of things and never really lose that aggressiveness.

I guess that's the one thing. I just like to stay aggressive. I like to change and do things and disrupt the rhythm and all those kind of things. And all those things that we do enable us to do that.

- So we'll have virtual questions, please.

- Thanks, [? Jake. Here, ?] we're going to start with Doug.

- Hello, Nick. How are you today?

NICK NURSE: Good, Doug. How are you?

- I'm good, thanks. In the past without Fred, you started Pascal as the point guard. Will you do that again tonight? Or has Delano shown you enough to get that kind of role?

NICK NURSE: Haven't really made a decision on that yet, Doug. I was just kind of going over it with the coaching staff right before the media session here. I would say there's a couple of options. Just got to look at it and evaluate it a little bit more here yet.

- All right, just try to sneak in some news. Thanks, Sir.

NICK NURSE: You're welcome, Doug.

- Good try, Doug. We'll go to Josh.

- Hey, Nick. Obviously there's always an adjustment period when you're bringing a player in mid-season. You spoke about that the other day. Would seem like because of Thad's experience and his probable role that the risk of disruption in terms of chemistry and what you guys have going on is pretty low. Is that one of the things that you liked about an addition like this in the middle of the season?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, I think that for sure, Josh, our core guys are getting a lot of opportunity, I think, again. I think Thad will fit in well. He's versatile, right. I think he's-- I think he'll fit in good. I think that he give us some insurance as well. And I got to get him in here and take a look at him.

But I think my favorite thing is he's going to be versatile on the defensive end. So we won't have to really change any of the things that we're doing once he picks them up and have some time with us. He ought to be able to execute all the things we want him to at that end.

- How much does the off-court implications of a move like this matter as a young team with young guys-- some of whom have never gone through a stretch run like this-- some of whom have only gone through it once or twice or whatever? Does it make a big difference, you think, to have a guy come in that can sort of shepherd them along and help them down these next few months?

NICK NURSE: Well, I mean, I think it helps. You know, when you get a veteran, you get a guy who knows how to be a pro. A guy who's continues to make his way in the league maybe not under always the best circumstances. But he must be doing something right to continue to stay in the league and be a pro and play a role. And all those things, I think he'll have some-- I'm sure he'll have some good tips and words of wisdom and maybe just habits that he'll be able to pass along.

- Cool. Thanks, Nick. Good luck tonight.

NICK NURSE: All right, Josh.

- Thanks, Josh. We'll go to Aaron.

- Hey, Nick. Busy day for everyone. What did you make of the rest of the league and I guess specifically the Eastern Conference and maybe more specifically the Harden and Nets 76ers swap? How much tougher did this conference get?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, it sure seemed like there was a lot of fireworks in the East, right? A lot of changeover. I would say that maybe Cleveland and Chicago-- I guess Cleveland just may-- Cleveland made a trade a few days ago. But I think Boston made some interesting moves. Washington certainly made some interesting moves.

And then the big one, it'll be-- I think all eyes will be on that big move to see how it all plays out, you know. Who gets the best of it short-term. Who gets the best of it long-term. That's a major player swapping there. So that's always kind of a blockbuster type of thing when it was a lot of good players switching teams there today. So--

- You feel like a--

NICK NURSE: --quite active and very interesting.

- Does it feel like the conference got a lot better or improved?

NICK NURSE: Well, I think that the conference is really good, right? I don't think anybody was-- I think everybody had Philly and Brooklyn. Once Brooklyn got healthy regardless of the way they were or the way they are now, I think both those teams were always going to be dangerous.

And factors-- you know, I think there's-- yeah, there's some teams that bolstered up some things. I would imagine that all the teams, including us, think they helped themselves. They don't do deals thinking you're getting worse very often, especially if you're in the top 6, 7, 8, 9.

- And one more quick one for you. You mentioned the other day that you're having a tough time finding minutes for Cam because the way Chris and Precious are playing. Is Thad going to make that even tougher for him and the other guys? Have you figured out how you're going to try and make that all work?

NICK NURSE: No, I mean, I think it's a good thing, though, Aaron, I mean, listen, we are like, something like, three games for the season with our top seven guys available tonight. There's not another one. So I think circumstances, I think, will shift around to open up some of these areas. And that's-- it's what we need to be able to do is to be able to have these guys around and fill in and step up and move up the rotation and things like that when there's issues.

- Thanks, Nick. Good luck tonight.

NICK NURSE: Thanks, Aaron.

- Last one for you, Coach, goes to [INAUDIBLE].

- Hey, Nick. Thanks for taking the time. A couple more about the Thad Young acquisition. In terms of how-- obviously it's early. You haven't seen him yet. But in terms of how you envision using him, do you see any Marc Gasol in his game in terms of putting the ball in his hands and kind of asking him to facilitate whether it's from the elbows or in the short role? Have you imagined anything like that?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, listen, he's a pretty good playmaker. I think any time you're in actions, like ball screens and DHOs, you got to be able to make plays out of that spot. I think he's played pretty well around the basket. He's got a kind of a crafty way of finishing. He does just enough to keep you honest on the perimeter, I think. He's got a little bit of a driving game and I think a versatile defender, you know.

So a lot of things there. I would imagine-- I would imagine, though, like to answer your question that as we continue to go here, the ball continues to stay. And Freddy and Pascal. And Scottie's a facilitator. I'd like to get to that-- keep growing that aspect of our team as well. I think that's going to be important for us as we go here too.

- So with that being said and assuming the starting lineup stays as the current five that it is, how is it going to be to kind of play Boucher and Precious and Thad all together? That's like, three similar-sized players coming off the bench. Do you think that's possible to play those three together?

NICK NURSE: Well, we're going to try it. We're going to find out. And yeah, my answer is yes, I do. I mean, I would have probably thought to you, sometimes when we roll out there to start the quarter with Pascal, Scottie, Chris, Precious, OG-- let's say that you would say, what are we doing here and what does it look?

And so far it looks a little strange and feels a little strange at times. But it's been pretty productive. They're kind of figuring it out. And I'm hoping we can continue to do that. It's a little unorthodox, but we don't mind an orthodox.

- All right, thanks. Good luck tonight.

NICK NURSE: OK, thank you.

- Thanks very much, Coach. Those are all the questions for you.

NICK NURSE: All right, thanks, everybody. Enjoy the game.