Rapture: Fifteen Teams, Four Countries, One NBA Championship, and How to Find a Win—Damn Near Anywhere

In this enthusiastic memoir, Toronto Raptors head coach Nurse details his decades-long path to winning an NBA championship. Before landing in his position with the Raptors, Nurse had a fairly nontraditional résumé: one year in Belgium and four stints coaching in the British Basketball League (including the Brighton Bears beginning in 2001, where as part owner of the team he had to beg banks for credit). When the Bears franchise folded, he returned to Iowa in 2007, where he put flyers on windshields to get work as a shooting coach, while lobbying for the creation of a D-league team in Des Moines so he could coach it. “There’s a fine line between entrepreneurial and desperate,” he writes. Throughout the obscure championships and job changes, Nurse developed a strategy—being brutally honest with players while also earnestly listening to their suggestions—which earned him a spot as an NBA assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors in 2013. Nurse comes across as grateful and resourceful in recounting his circuitous route to pro basketball glory. The narrative loses some momentum when Nurse chronicles the Raptors’ 2019 championship run, but his down-to-earth approach more than makes up for it. This inspiring take on turning a dream into a dream job is pure joy for basketball fans. (Sept.)