Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach Nick Nurse on a Great Game 1 and Expectations for the Season Ahead
be filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, and after the Phillies get eliminated from the playoffs, after the Eagles have back-to-back tumultuous weeks, it was nice to have like a a breath of fresh air. And we got that Wednesday night and we were able to celebrate it Thursday morning. And I said to you, John, I said to Connor, and I said to everybody, you said it first thing in the morning at 5:00. I asked everybody this question. Who do you believe was the happiest person Wednesday night? What was your answer? It was the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, Nick Nurse. Nick, I know you went through a rough year last year and I spoke with you at the Sixers Youth Gala last year and I commend you for not using the injury excuse as to why the team struggled last season. I commend you for it because we all saw the injuries that you guys had to deal with. How happy are you after night one seeing some of the guys healthy and of course seeing your rookie VJ Edgecomb? Yeah. I mean, listen, I think that um we had a summer of of really hard work, man. And I and I just thought that you kind of you kind of want or deserve or think you you should maybe get some success from that, right? That’s why you do put in all that work. So, that’s probably what I’m the most happiest about is I I’m, you know, I’m just like the guys, the staff, I mean, they really really worked hard and I thought they they do do deserve some success and it was nice to pull that one out the other night. How surprising though was it to see a rookie come out on that stage. I mean, it’s Boston and I know you know about it, Nick. I mean, but but for everybody who grew up here and has lived here whole lives, it means more when you do it on the floor in Boston. And for that young man VJ to come out and do that, it is unbelievable. Yeah, it’s super special, you know. I think um but he but he kind of is. I think that um again, I want to keep harping on the same theme, but he was everywhere we asked him to be from the minute we we drafted him this year. You know, he was he had a few things planned that he that he rearranged and changed around. Like he just was he was he was in the gym early. He was he was super coachable. We, you know, we did a a bunch of just kind of like early stuff with him that we we noticed that we needed to get on um right away. Uh he just has a a high motor to work every day. You know, he’s not he’s not overwhelmed by the workload in the slightest. Um yeah, and I think he’s got a really good feel. I mean well well well um you know much much more mature than his age I think just in his composure and his steel and and uh just character I think. Yeah it’s amazing. VJ Edgecom 34 points seven rebounds and he’s been the main talking point and we almost forget that Tyrese Maxi dropped 40 which is unbelievable. Uh coach for you how good was it to see Tyrese Maxi a look happy on the court? Last year was rough. So you saw the the smile of Tyrese Maxi that we all know and love and then for him to able to put the team on his back, especially in that second quarter. How good was it to see Tyrese Maxi play the way we all know he can on Wednesday night? Well, first of all, he better be happy when he’s dropping 40, right? Oh my goodness. But yeah, it was good. I mean, listen, I’m I’m uh a super huge fan. Always have been, as many people are. I just keep trying to keep him aggressive, you know, uh just tell him a lot. He’s our best option out there. Trying to trying to stress transition. I think everybody saw him get outlets and and and you know, shift it to fifth gear right away, you know, a bunch of times the other night, which which, you know, that’s still an amazing attribute he has that I don’t think he uses enough. I’m encouraging the pull up three and then we’re encouraging, you know, continue tough tough tough fight on defense and I think that continues to improve for him as well. Coach, when you see Edgecomb and Maxi and McCain, just the just those three guys there, do you see a common DNA? Do you see something in their dayto-day, the way they approach their job, maybe their personalities and things like that that maybe leads you to believe that that’s part of their success? for sure. I think I think the the character and the work ethic um the competitiveness um you know I think all three of them have it and that’s you know and and the talent right there’s there’s there’s just innate like you know uh there’s innate athleticism there that goes along with this work ethic and and character um and and maybe for McCain it’s more of a he’s just a super competitor like that’s his like his number one calling card or whatever like that. But I mean, I throw Grimes in there, too. You know, he’s explosive and and um can score buckets as we know. I thought he played good the other night as well and took, you know, took what was there when it was there, made some buckets when we needed them. So, I like the the four the four of them there for sure once we get Jared back. We got our first look at Joel Embiid returning from the injury, played 20 minutes. What is the plan for Joel Embiid in your eyes moving forward just to try to get him back to being that player that can play 30 plus 35 plus minutes a night? Yeah, I mean I think listen I I was pretty happy first of all just seeing him out there and and I thought he took good shots, right? I mean he hasn’t really played in a in a game in a long long time. You know, we had a had a blue and white scrimmage, a preseason game. Um, and and it was it was intense and fast out there the other night. I just think that takes anybody some, you know, some time to get the rhythm back, but I thought, you know, he makes a few of those shots last night and you’re saying, “Oh, he played, you know, he played pretty decent.” I thought he I thought he um did a good job of of being a great teammate. I thought he did a good job of of encouraging the other guys, helping helping the bigs that were on the floor and coverages and what to do, all that stuff when when he wasn’t in the game. That was encouraging to me. Uh you asked me what the plan is. I mean, I’ll find out a little bit more here when we get to practice, but it’s it’s probably similar. It’s going to be a minutes restriction here for a bit and uh I don’t know. I don’t know when it’s going to go up or whatever like that, but he got 20 the other night. I’m planning on the same until I hear different. You mentioned that it was intense and fast the other night. I know this is a good problem to have because you get to work in so many different ways with these players, but how will you try to balance the explosiveness and of course getting out on the break with VJ Edgecom and Tyrese Maxi and Quinton Grimes when knowing that you have Joel Embiid and how he does his damage in the half court. Yeah, I mean I think I think that’s um that’s certainly a um you know a priority is how how do we take care of that? And I think I think right now the answer is those guys got to look to go, right? Like we need some throw ahead. We need some attacks in transition. Um those guys need to take advantage. I always say, you know, like you can we can always push it and we don’t have to rush it all the time. And those times when we don’t rush it, we can settle in and and and Joe’s there and we start playing through them, you And I think I think more of that I I just want a little more variety of of personnel with Joel, you know, not not just Tyrese Joel. I want BJ Joel. I want Grimes Joel. I want Paul George Joel when we get back. And I want Kelly and Joel. I just I just want it to be a little less predictable even though we’re playing probably through Joelle. Do you think it’s easy or very difficult to be able to transition a guy like Joel Embiid into playing sort of a different role as his career goes along? Um, I I’ll take the middle road on that. I don’t think it I don’t think it’s easy. Um, and I don’t I don’t consider it should be super difficult either. I think that Joel Joelle is a good passer and does want to pass the ball and things like that. I think I think um um I think he’s enjoying so far, you know, what what it looks like a little bit differently this year and let’s just see how it goes. It’s a it’s a work in progress for sure. Um but I think, you know, just watching it, you know, you know, just with the eyeball test, I think it’s I think it’s got some um we got some room to grow for sure, but I think it’s off to a decent start. Last thing for you, Nick and Nick Nurse, head coach of the Sixers on the Comcast Business Hotline here. How are you balancing your expectations? Because we know the talent of this team and we also know that injuries have plagued the team over the years. You look at the Eastern Conference, there are a lot of teams that are plagued with injuries coming into this season. How do you balance your own personal expectations, but also trying to grow a team that has a lot of new faces? Uh, pretty easily really. I mean, I just I just try to like we we work really hard. I just try to work really hard and get the team prepared and just try to go out and get the next one. I I know it’s I know it’s like um everybody wants to get caught up in where you going to finish and how you going to be that. I mean, I don’t have enough time to worry about that, man. I got to I got to lock in on Charlotte tomorrow night. Well, first I got to lock in on the Sixers here in about an hour, you know, polish up some of the stuff from the other night and then I got to lock in on Charlotte. Coach, we appreciate the time as always, man. Congratulations on night one. Sounds like you’re having fun. Look, the vi the vibes seemed high since training camp. So that that was good to see. Good to see smiles on the faces of players like Joel Embid and Tyresese Maxi again. And again, I think you’re the happiest person, whether you want to admit it or not. I think Nick Nurse is the happiest person after what we watched Wednesday night. Thanks for the time, coach, and we’ll talk to you again soon. Thank you so much for checking out our content here on our YouTube channel. You know, you can like and subscribe and that way you’re never going to miss anything that we’ve got going on right here at 975 the Fanatic.
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