Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse discusses time in British Basketball League
Watch the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks take on the Cheshire Phoenix live on Sky Sports Arena from 4:30pm on Thursday, followed by the Newcastle Eagles' clash with the London Lions.
Tuesday 1 December 2020 11:56, UK
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse recalls sharing the 'gospel of basketball' during his time playing and coaching in the British Basketball League.
Nurse served as a player/coach for the Derby Rams from 1990-91, before heading back to the US to work with Grand View and then South Dakota until his return to Britain with the Birmingham Bullets from 1995-1997.
It was there in 1996 where he won the first of two BBL Championships, the second of which came with the Manchester Giants in 2000 following a year in Belgium with Telindus Oostende.
The two-time BBL Coach of the Year also led London Towers in the Euroleague in 2000-2001 and has since spent five years as part of the Brighton Bears setup from 2001 to 2006 in-between several US-based roles prior to landing with the Raptors.
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"It was just trying to promote the game," said Nurse ahead of the BBL's return to Sky Sports. "I worked pretty much all day long, all night long, either trying to sell tickets or get into schools to teach basketball, coach the team and then back into another school that night teaching basketball, kind of spreading the word and gospel of basketball in Britain.
"Those were some long days, hard-working days, very informative and learning days for me and I look back on them with great fondness. I loved being in the BBL, I loved all those cities I lived in and I look back with a lot of fondness.
"I just enjoyed everything. I enjoyed the people the most, it was fun running my own team as a head coach, I loved the players.
"I kind of just found a home spreading the gospel of basketball and I loved it. The passion I had for the game I could share and go out everyday and do it as long and hard as I wanted to in England."
The BBL Championship gets underway on Thursday as the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks take on the Cheshire Phoenix, followed by the Newcastle Eagles' clash with the London Lions.
Last season finished without a champion as the 2019-20 campaign was brought to a halt prematurely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The London Lions claimed their first league title back in 2018-2019, before the Leicester Riders went on to win the playoffs.
A new two-year agreement means Sky Sports will air 30 live BBL matches a season, including both the men's and women's BBL Trophy Final, BBL Cup Final and BBL Playoffs.
Sky Sports previously provided coverage for the BBL between 1995 and 2001, and again in 2010.
"I think it all gave it a lot of validity," said Nurse of past coverage. "I think having that regular slot we had it just gave everybody something to look forward to and everybody in the league that was working so hard.
"When the cameras came to your town there was an extra crowd there and an extra buzz in the building, everybody wanted to put their best foot forward.
"I just think it gave it a level of big-time sport. The arenas helped that, Sky Sports helped that with being such an incredible platform to show the game on."
Sky Sports is the home of basketball in the UK and Ireland with the BBL complemented by exclusively live coverage of the NBA and WNBA on the channel. Clips, highlights and best-of content can be found on skysports.com, YouTube and Sky Sports' social media platforms.
