Monday wasn\u2019t just another day at the office for Jameer Nelson.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters for the first time since his elevation to Sixers executive vice president of basketball operations<\/a>, Nelson thought back to how he got there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually a surreal moment,\u201d he said from the lobby of the Sixers’ training complex in Camden, New Jersey. \u201cSix years ago when I started, I had no idea where this journey would take me. Credit to the organization for believing in me \u2014 Daryl (Morey)<\/a> and (Elton Brand) as well, pushing me to do more, get better at my job and just allowing me to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been a 76ers fan. I\u2019ve always wanted to play for the organization. To do it for the home team gives me goosebumps, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s now only one person above Nelson in the Sixers\u2019 basketball operations department in president Mike Gansey.<\/a><\/p>\n He wanted to team up with Nelson, a Chester native, Saint Joseph\u2019s legend and longtime NBA point guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m obviously very, very excited to have Jameer as my No. 2,\u201d Gansey said. \u201cThat was kind of a sticking point, talking to (Sixers managing partner Josh Harris) and Bob (Myers, president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment). <\/a>He was someone I really wanted throughout the process. Jameer\u2019s very, very well-respected throughout the league.\u201d<\/p>\n Nelson played his final professional game in 2018. He interviewed for the St. Joe\u2019s head coaching job in 2019 <\/a>(Billy Lange was hired), served as an in-studio college basketball analyst for CBS Sports Network, and considered his next steps.<\/p>\n Brand pitched him on the front office route and Nelson started in 2020 with a duel role as Sixers scout and Delaware Blue Coats assistant general manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to be honest with you,\u201d Nelson said, \u201cI thought I was going to be a coach. But when you\u2019re working in the front office, you get to coach in your own way. Starting as a scout and in the G League, being able to run a team in the minor leagues, it\u2019s important. It was important for shaping me into the executive I am now. Collaborating with coaches and players, I quench my thirst for coaching there.\u201d<\/p>\n Once Nelson got rolling with the Sixers, he enjoyed the work and earned <\/a>promotions.<\/a><\/p>\n The location was meaningful, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past I\u2019ve had opportunities other places,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cI wanted to be part of the solution here. The thing that matters most to me here is I\u2019m home. My family is here. I\u2019m a Sixers fan. My favorite basketball player of all time is Charles Barkley, and (Allen) Iverson and Kobe (Bryant) \u2014 people that played in this area. I feel like there are possibilities to help this organization move forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n With the Gansey era underway and many major roster decisions to come\u2014 the NBA draft<\/a>, team options, free agency,<\/a> potential trades \u2014\u00a0Nelson knows his voice will matter. <\/p>\n \u201cJust being able to learn and grow is the main focal point this year,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Gansey said it up there: You don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen tomorrow. You don\u2019t have to be ready, but you have to be prepared.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI look at it like that. Just be prepared for everything, figure things out and help make the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday wasn\u2019t just another day at the office for Jameer Nelson. Speaking to reporters for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,7086,6,678,207,3817,5902,4186],"class_list":["post-757974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-76ers","tag-76ers","tag-basketball","tag-jameer-nelson","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia76ers","tag-sixers-analysis","tag-sixers-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116729103248060477","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}