Recruited to succeed Doc Rivers who failed to pass this last milestone to the Sixers, Nick Nurse will not have had to point to unemployment at all. Left free by the Raptors after a season without playoffs (an elimination in “play-in” in fact), the technician crowned champion in 2019 ultimately did not land very far.
Still in the Atlantic Division, he considers himself lucky to be able to lead one of the historic franchises of the Great League. And in this case, the reigning MVP, Joel Embiid.
“I inherited a good team. In my opinion, she was one of the contenders this season, with a real chance of going all the way.”explains Nick Nurse in the podcast The Hoop Collective. “So I don’t think we have to change everything because we’re close to the goal. You have to make small adjustments and modifications. I’m going to have to dig deeper before I can tell you more, but first we will agree on our vision of things, and the plan to achieve this objective. »
Nick Nurse counts (for now) on James Harden
This process has already started for Nick Nurse who has started to meet his new players, and his new colleagues, since his official presentation to the local press about ten days ago.
“I have almost finished seeing the players in our squad face-to-face, I hope to finish by the weekend. We are also in the midst of the recruitment phase to fine-tune our staff and we have made good progress on the subject. And then obviously, we will all be together for the Draft, and in the process, to form our summer league team. We take things step by step. »
One of the burning questions of the summer in Philly will be the James Harden situation. The former Rockets MVP would be shared between the Sixers and the Rockets and could therefore pack his bags. At the same time, at the time of these lines, Nick Nurse has met his star back and is counting on him for the future.
“I met him, we had a good discussion. He is an intelligent player who sees a lot of things on the pitch. We simply talked about basketball, the last playoffs, the team. It was really fun. His pick & roll combination with Joel Embiid is an interesting weapon for us but we also want to try to develop other situations for him. And of course, finding the best way to defend collectively. »
A very busy summer with the World Cup in Asia
According to Nick Nurse, the Sixers already have a squad cut out to go after, on the model of the Nuggets with a pivot and a back who can dominate in turn. But also a quality “supporting cast”.
“Maxey will be called upon to play an increasingly important role. When the two stars will be on the bench. Likewise for Tobias Harris. PJ Tucker will also be back with us. Melton. So we have players [de complément], like the Nuggets. »
Currently in the process of moving after ten years on the other side of the border, in Toronto, Nick Nurse also has another challenge to face this summer, with the Canadian selection at the next World Cup. With possibly Jamal Murray alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to meet the Blues from the group stage.
“As for the Canadian selection, we already have three years of continuity behind us with the same people in the staff. Rowan Barrett and Michael Bartlett are ready and they are doing a great job preparing for this deadline. jamal [Murray] played until the end this season and it will therefore be a bit of a short vacation for him, but I know that he has always been very involved in the project. Just like Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]. Lu sleeps. Dwight Powell. Kelly Olynyk. Big Zach [Edey] will also be part of the group [en préparation]. And plenty of other guys we haven’t talked about. But we’re going to have a great team! »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Joel Embiid | 66 | 34.6 | 54.8 | 33.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 8.4 | 10.2 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 33.1 |
| James Harden | 58 | 36.8 | 44.1 | 38.5 | 86.7 | 0.7 | 5.4 | 6.1 | 10.7 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 21.0 |
| Tyrese Maxey | 60 | 33.6 | 48.1 | 43.4 | 84.5 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 20.3 |
| Louis King | 1 | 28.8 | 61.5 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 20.0 |
| Tobias Harris | 74 | 32.9 | 50.1 | 38.9 | 87.6 | 0.9 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 14.7 |
| Mac McClung | 2 | 20.5 | 45.0 | 36.4 | 60.0 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 12.5 |
| De’anthony Melton | 77 | 27.9 | 42.5 | 39.0 | 79.3 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 10.1 |
| Shake Milton | 76 | 20.6 | 47.9 | 37.8 | 85.3 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.4 |
| George Niang | 78 | 19.4 | 44.2 | 40.1 | 86.7 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 8.2 |
| Jalen Mcdaniels | 24 | 17.5 | 48.8 | 40.0 | 82.4 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 6.7 |
| Montrezl Harrell | 57 | 11.9 | 59.8 | 0.0 | 69.3 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 5.6 |
| Daniel House | 56 | 14.4 | 47.2 | 33.6 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 4.8 |
| Paul Reed, Jr. | 69 | 10.9 | 59.3 | 16.7 | 74.5 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 4.2 |
| Furkan Korkmaz | 37 | 9.6 | 43.2 | 39.1 | 72.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 3.8 |
| pj tucker | 75 | 25.6 | 42.7 | 39.3 | 82.6 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 3.5 |
| Dewayne Dedmon | 8 | 9.6 | 59.1 | 50.0 | 20.0 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 3.5 |
| Saben Lee | 2 | 5.1 | 75.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.0 |
| Matisse Thybulle | 49 | 12.1 | 43.1 | 33.3 | 75.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 2.7 |
| Jaden Springer | 16 | 5.6 | 48.6 | 40.0 | 75.0 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 2.6 |
| Michael Foster, Jr. | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Julian Champagnie | 2 | 3.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
