After the Philadelphia 76ers got eliminated in the second round of the NBA playoffs, reigning MVP Joel Embiid said he’d like for the organization to figure out how to improve around him and James Harden. Is Nick Nurse the solution?
While he may not be the only fix up the Sixers’ sleeves this summer, Nurse has officially been hired as the team’s next head coach, replacing the recently fired Doc Rivers.
Nurse rose to fame after winning the NBA Finals back in 2019 during his first season at the helm with the Toronto Raptors. He won NBA Coach of the Year the next season. Yet, the Raptors still decided to part ways with the 55-year-old coach after he missed the postseason twice in the past three years.
He’d end his five-year Raptors tenure with a win percentage of .582, going 227-163 in that span. Now, Nurse is looking to prove the Raptors wrong, with the Sixers, who are one of Toronto’s rivals in the Atlantic Division.
Yet, it won’t just be Nurse looking to prove his worth. He’ll also be joined by Embiid, who’s still tirelessly searching for a chance to add a championship trophy to his long list of accomplishments. Perhaps Nurse will be the one to bring his career full circle in Philadelphia. Whether Harden views the 76ers’ coaching situation favorably remains to be seen, as the All-Star guard likely heads to free agency this summer.
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