Report: Raptors add Chris Finch to Nick Nurse's coaching staff

The Toronto Raptors will add Chris Finch as an assistant on Nick Nurse’s coaching staff, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Nurse lost his longtime collaborator and former Raptors assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren to the Indiana Pacers last month, which created a vacancy on his bench. Finch has experience both as an offensive and defensive coordinator, and was formerly a head coach for many years.

Chris Finch is finalizing a deal to join Nick Nurse’s coaching staff with the Toronto Raptors, sources tell ESPN. Most recently, Finch’ has been an assistant with New Orleans and Denver. He has a long history with Nurse dating back to the G-League and Europe.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 14, 2020

Finch most recently served as an assistant with Alvin Gentry with the New Orleans Pelicans, before that job was vacated and the staff was disbanded. Prior to that, Finch worked for the Denver Nuggets and a half-decade with the Houston Rockets. He interviewed for head coaching vacancies around the league, but with most of those jobs filled, Finch now settles in Toronto.

Nurse and Finch have extensive history dating back to their tenures in the British Basketball League during the late-nineties. Their paths crossed once again in the D-League, as Nurse was hired as Finch’s successor with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Nurse then served as Finch’s assistant for Great Britain’s Men’s Basketball team, most notably at the 2012 Olympics.

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