Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri hasn’t forgotten the first time he met Nick Nurse.

It was 1995 and Ujiri Cheap Christian Kirk Jersey , now president of the Toronto Raptors, was playing for the Derby Storm of the British Basketball League. Nurse was coach of the rival Birmingham Bullets. Not yet 30, Nurse had already been on the bench for six years, quickly establishing himself as a coach on the rise.

”His teams were tough,” Ujiri said Thursday as the Raptors officially introduced Nurse as their coach. ”There was always something about the Birmingham team that was different from the whole league. People talked about them that way.”

More than two decades on from that initial introduction, Ujiri is hoping Nurse has what it takes to turn Toronto into the talk of the NBA.

The ninth head coach in Raptors history, Nurse replaces his former boss, Dwane Casey – under whom he spent the past five seasons as a Toronto assistant. Casey was fired after the Raptors were swept out of the second round of this year’s playoffs by Cleveland, their third straight playoff defeat at the hands of LeBron James and the Cavs.

Ujiri called Nurse ”everything you want in a candidate” and said his new coach, the first he has hired as an NBA executive, is someone who ”thinks the game differently.”

”He was outstanding,” Ujiri said. ”He really came out on top. Trying new stuff, being innovative Anthony Averett Jersey Elite , is who Nick is. You can tell he’s a tactician who really thinks the game.”

Nurse called it ”a long month” of waiting for a decision following Casey’s dismissal but said he understood why Ujiri needed to take his time.

”Even though I’ve been across the gym from him for five years, there’s a lot of detail to go through,” Nurse said.

Nurse also gave credit to Casey, who was hired as Detroit’s head coach this week.

”We shared a lot of winning together,” Nurse said. ”He’s a competitive guy, a great professional. I learned a lot from him. You can’t take away the five years we shared.”

Toronto went 59-23 this season, the best record in the Eastern Conference and second-best in the NBA behind Houston. Nurse was in charge of the offense, led by All-Star guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. He also engineered a successful overhaul of the game plan before last season as Toronto put increased emphasis on ball movement and 3-point shooting.

For the coming season, Nurse said he wants to inject more defensive creativity ”so we can try to be ready for more things in the playoffs.”

Rex Kalamian, a Raptors assistant alongside Nurse last season, is expected to join the Los Angeles Clippers, leaving Nurse multiple spots to fill on his staff. Nurse said Thursday he has a good idea of what he’s looking for.

”I think it’s really important that we get an experienced staff,” he said. ”Guys that have been head coaches at some level is important to me. It’s good to know what it’s like to be the decision maker.”

There’s also the possibility of new players Los Angeles Rams Jerseys Womens , with Ujiri acknowledging Toronto has ”work to do” with its roster.

Nurse graduated from Northern Iowa and got his first head coaching position at Grand View College when he was only 23. He spent more than a decade in Europe and was an assistant coach for Britain at the 2012 London Olympics. A past G League coach of the year, he’s the only coach to lead two teams to an NBA G League Championship, winning with Iowa in 2011 and Rio Grande in 2013.

Nurse’s career has seen its share of stops and opponents, but he still recalls facing Ujiri while with Birmingham.

”I remember,” Nurse said, smiling. ”He played really hard.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ difficult April got a lot worse with news that two-time All-Star shortstop and 2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the operation will be performed Friday in Los Angeles to repair a right ulnar collateral ligament sprain.

The 24-year-old infielder had been bothered by a sore elbow since the middle of last season but had tried to deal with the problem with rest and rehabilitation rather than surgery.

Seager spoke to reporters in the dugout before the Dodgers played NL West rival Arizona on Monday night. He said he felt pain and numbness after a couple of throws in the recently completed series at San Francisco. There was no doubt surgery was needed, Seager said, calling it ”cut and dried.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Hoping for clearance to begin a throwing program, San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner is headed to Arizona to meet with the same doctor who performed surgery on his left pinkie.

Bumgarner was scheduled to leave the Bay Area for a checkup with Dr. Donald Sheridan, who inserted three pins into Bumgarner’s pitching hand one day after the 2014 World Series MVP was hit by a line drive late in spring training. If Bumgarner is cleared to start throwing, the four-time All-Star is still likely a month away from rejoining the big league club.

The Giants also said second baseman Joe Panik underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb and will miss at least six weeks. Panik had flown to Los Angeles to get a second opinion before opting for surgery.

FOOTBALL

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Former NFL player and general manager Matt Millen says he is being treated for a rare disease that has robbed his heart of most of its normal function.

The 60-year-old Millen told the Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania that he has been diagnosed with amyloidosis http://www.49ersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jeremiah-attaochu-jersey , a life-threatening illness that may force him to seek a heart transplant. Millen said he has been receiving chemotherapy once a week to treat the condition that left his heart functioning at just 30 percent.

Millen played 12 seasons as a linebacker in the NFL for the Raiders, 49ers and Redskins – and won four Super Bowl rings. He later served as Detroit’s general manager and has also spent three decades as a broadcaster. Millen told the Morning Call he plans to return to the booth in the fall.

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Vikings have re-signed cornerback Terence Newman, bringing the NFL’s oldest active defensive player back for a 16th season that will begin five days after he turns 40.

Newman, who has played the last three years with the Vikings, has 42 career interceptions to lead all active players in the league. With Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes the starters on the outside, Newman and Mackensie Alexander remain the primary options to play the slot in the nickel defense. The Vikings also drafted Mike Hughes out of Central Florida in the first round Thursday.

OLYMPICS

The whistleblower who exposed Russian cheating at the 2014 Olympics filed a motion to dismiss a libel lawsuit against him, which his lawyers portrayed as a ploy led by the Russian owner of the Brooklyn Nets to reveal his whereabouts.

Former Moscow lab director Grigory Rodchenkov has been living in hiding in the United States, fearful of Russian retribution since revealing his country’s elaborate scheme to cheat at the Sochi Games.

Rodchenkov seeks dismissal of the libel lawsuit supported by Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov on behalf of three Russian biathletes whose medals from the Sochi Games were stripped for doping.

He also filed a countersuit against Prokhorov, the former president of Russia’s biathlon federation. Rodchenkov’s lawyers say Prokhorov’s support of the biathletes is part of a scheme to flush out Rodchenkov from hiding.

HOCKEY

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – The Carolina Hurricanes terminated the contract of demoted general manager and Hall of Fame player Ron Francis.

The Hurricanes announced the move in a three-sentence statement nearly two months after Francis was reassigned to another front-office position – president of hockey operations – while the team began a search for a new GM that will report directly to new owner Tom Dundon.

Francis, 55, is a four-time All-Star who won the Stanley Cup twice with Pittsburgh in the 1990s and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. He took over as Carolina’s general manager in 2014 after being groomed for the position by former GM Jim Rutherford – who now is trying to win the Cup for a third straight year with the Penguins.

The Hurricanes Cheap Ito Smith Jersey , meanwhile, have not made the playoffs since 2009. Their nine-year postseason drought is one of the longest in NHL history.

GOLF

PLANO, Texas (AP) – Tony Romo didn’t get out of the opening stage in another failed attempt to play in the U.S. Open.

Romo three-putted his opening hole at Gleneagles Country Club, made only two birdies and shot a 5-over 77 in the 18-hole local qualifier. The top eight finishers from Gleneagles advance to 36-hole sectional qualifying on June 4.

Romo, the retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback and NFL analyst for CBS Sports, failed to get through local qualifying for the second straight year.

He was tied for 24th among the first half of the field, meaning he would miss advancing by at least five shots. Romo played his first PGA Tour event in March in the Dominican Republic and had rounds of 77-82, missing the cut.

SURFING

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – A Brazilian surfer rode a monster wave off Portugal to set a world record.

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