Best of Friends Are Rival Coaches in D-League Finals

It's not quite the same as the Harbaugh brothers facing off in the Super Bowl, but it comes close when the Santa Cruz Warriors and Rio Grande Valley Vipers square off this week for the championship of the NBA Development League championship.

The rival coaches in the best-of-three D-League Finals -- which start Thursday evening (6:30 p.m.) at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz -- are the best of friends on and off the court.

Warriors' coach Nate Bjorkgren, 37, and Vipers coach Nick Nurse, 45, grew up in Iowa towns an hour apart, Bjorkgren played basketball for Nurse at the University of South Dakota and later served four years as Nurse's top assistant for the D-League's Iowa Energy. In their last season together, the Energy, based in Des Moines, won the 2011 championship by beating Rio Grande Valley 2-1 in the Finals, and Nurse was D-League Coach of the Year.

Then Bjorkgren left to become coach of the Golden State-owned Dakota Wizards who a year later moved to Santa Cruz to become the Warriors, and Nurse sought a new challenge as coach of the Houston Rockets-owned Vipers. Now they are facing each other for the first time with a championship on the line.

"Sure, it's special," Bjorkgren said this week. "He's one of my best friends, and I learned a lot of basketball from him working under him for four years. I've never been in this position before -- going against my mentor. But I wouldn't want it any other way. It's just competing against each other, and he's the best coach in the league. Much of my coaching philosophy is based on what he taught me, both offensively and defensively. 

"I can't say enough about our relationship. Throughout the year we talk to each other, and I'll call for advice. The D-League is the toughest place to coach -- it's been very challenging, especially with the roster changes -- he taught me how to do it. You've got to work everyone in with all the players coming  and going, and you've got to get them to work hard all the time."

"I think it's special, too," Nurse said, "We didn't plan on this ... you know how difficult it is to navigate through the playoffs. But we're both playing well. I'm really happy for my team and his too. 

"I think it'll be a tough series but a great series where the games will be close. It'll be a battle of opposing wills ... we have the best offense in the league and they have the best defense. We're an attack team and push the pace and try to score.  It'll just come down to which one can win out.  But we try to play pressure defense, control the boards and play with intensity, too, just as they do," added Nurse after the Vipers' first workout in Santa Cruz on Wednesday in preparation for Thursday's start of the Finals.

Although 86 percent of the 901 season-ticket holders have purchased playoff tickets and renewed the same seats for next year,  plenty of good seats are still available for the only game at Kaiser Permanente Arena. They can be purchased by visiting the Warriors offices at 903 Pacific Avenue, calling (831) 713-4400 or online at boxoffice@santacruzbasketball.com.

The second game of the series is scheduled for 5 p.m. (PDT) at State Farm Arena in Hildalgo, Texas, 360 miles south of Houston and across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico. It is near the bottom tip of Texas. The third game, if necessary, will be Monday at the same place at 5 p.m. The first and third games are being televised live by CBS Sports Network, but what could turn out to be the deciding second game will not be shown in the Santa Cruz area until 10 p.m. Saturday night.

Bjorkgren (pronounced BEE-ork-Gren) grew up in Storm Lake, Iowa, began his college career in 1994 at the University of South Dakota, then graduated from his hometown college --  Buena Vista University  -- in 1998 with a degree in Exercise Science. He played college basketball for both teams.

He began his coaching career at the high school level in Arizona, where he served as coach of Cactus Shadows  in Cave Creek, qualifying  for the state tournament each of his three seasons and being named Arizona's High School Coach of the Year following the 2005-06 season. Then Bjorkgren made the leap to the D-League, joining the Energy as an assitant for the 2007-08 season. During his four years there with Nurse, they won three Eastern Conference titles and had an all-time D-League-best 37-13 record in each of the last two seasons culminating with the title in 2011.

"The Energy was an expansion team when Nate came knocking on my door looking for a coaching job," recalled Nurse with a laugh. "He wouldn't go away until I gave him an assistant's job. Well, it certainly worked out well for both of us."

Nurse grew up  in Carroll, Iowa, which is just 56 miles down country roads from Storm Lake, two towns with approximately the same-size in population (10,000). He recalls playing in a state championship game for Carroll Kuemper Catholic High School, and one of the fans in attendance was then 10-year-old Nate Bjorkgren, who went to the game with his dad.

"I still remember it too," said Bjorkgren about watching Kuemper beat Waterloo West for the state title in 1985. "It's how I became interested in basketball and led to me wanting to be a coach. My dad (Keith) would take me every Friday and Saturday night to nearby high school or college games."

 "Then Nate and I met when he came to South Dakota to play for the team, and I was an assistant," Nurse said. "Our friendship grew from that point on."

Prior to joining the Iowa Energy in 2007 when the team joined the  D-League, Nurse spent 12 seasons coaching in Europe, mostly in the British Basketball League where he won Coach of the Year Awards in 1999–00 and 2003–04. After three seasons with the Energy, Nurse agreed to join the coaching staff at Iowa State, but shortly afterward  went back to the D-League team when Cyclones head coach Greg McDermott became the head coach at Creighton. Then after winning the title in 2011 he jumped to the Vipers.

"I wanted to be associated with the Rockets, and thought it would be one small step, but a step forward, " Nurse said. "In Iowa, I thought we went  as far as we could because it was an independent operation and didn't allow you to have the same opportunity. I wanted to work with an NBA team and learn from a big league operation. And they've allowed me to do that, going to training camp and workouts before and after the season and at the draft. It has turned out to be a positive."

Neither coach has designs on reaching the NBA at the current time, but haven't ruled out such employment in the future.

"Sure, I'd like to coach in the NBA one day," Bjorkgren said. "but I do not think about NBA coaching until May when our season is over. The focus of our staff (which includes Vitaly Potapenko and Casey Hill)  is to get players to the NBA or to Europe during the season ... that is our competitive focus throughout the season. There's nothing like seeing one of these young men to make it to the next level."

"Yes I'd like to one day coach in the NBA," Nurse said. "It's a difficult task coaching in the  D-League and then moving up. But it's a rewarding experience here ... even if you always want to help your players move on. The No. 1 goal is to work with them and get them better where they can move on. You want to help them individually ... to work with their strengths and keep them away from their weaknesses ... but it's strange to want to get your guys out of here."

Five players that have spent time with the Santa Cruz Warriors this season have also played in the NBA. Center Chris Johnson was picked up by the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier in the season and stayed with the team, guard Kent Bazemore is currently with the Warriors, guard Scott Machado and center Jeremy Tyler both have spent time with Golden State, and Travis Leslie signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz.

Bjorkgren is happy to have Leslie back, but says, "For 10 days he did what 100 percent of the players in our league want to do ... make the NBA. He may not have gotten to play, but he got to work out with an NBA team for 10 days, and all the experience he gained during those workouts is invaluable. I'll be glad when he returns to the NBA."

The Vipers have "lost" three players  to the NBA -- D-League MVP candidate Andre Goudelock, a guard the Lakers signed April 14, James Anderson with the Rockets and Maalik Wayns with the Clippers -- and have two others that saw time -- center Tom Ohlbrecht on assignment from the Rockets and another Chris Johnson, who is a swingman back from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Goudelock was a one of the top players for the Vipers after arriving in a trade from the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He averaged 21.4 points and 5.8 assists in 51 games, including 37 for the Vipers. "Andre was one of our best scorers," Nurse said, "but i'm happy he's getting a chance to play with the Lakers in the playoffs. We just hope we can continue to survive, and so far we have."
All the remaining players have the D-League championship on their minds.

As do Bjorkgren and Nurse. And Bjorkgren wants to reverse what happened to Santa Cruz area sports fans when the Harbaugh brothers met in Super Bowl XLVII. In that one as we all know, the local favorite Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers went down to John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens 34-31.

This time Nate Bjorkgren hopes to get the better of his friend Nick Nurse by having the local favorite Santa Cruz Warriors walk off with the NBA D-League championship trophy.