Nick Nurse talks about the Raptors' elephant in the room
Whether you’re involved or not, nobody likes that feeling of uneasiness or tension between people. The ones who have a bone to pick with each other usually don’t like it, and not a single person around them feels comfortable either.
It becomes the ‘elephant in the room’ and usually it’s not much fun to deal with. It’s just a fact that you wouldn’t feel at ease with the world’s largest land mammal crammed into the same room as you. The amount of wiggling that could be done would be minimal.
So, rather than just letting issues manifest, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has devised an interesting way for players to air their grievances.
And no, it does not require a pole like for Festivus.
“One of the things I told the team was that we were gonna say ‘hi to the elephant’,” the Raptors bench boss stated during a recent episode of Inside the Green Room with Danny Green. “There’s a little elephant in my office, if you ever want to come in and grab the elephant and put it on my desk, I know you’ve got a problem you want to talk about.”
“It’s kind of a light hearted way of addressing serious issues and hitting them head on and then moving on with them.”
As a coach, you are in charge of much more than just strategies and setting the right lineup. You also have to manage personalities and ensure all members of the team are happy.
And sometimes, the best way to address the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’ is with a toy one.
Subscribe to the Danny Green podcast
More Inside the Green Room with Danny Green
