Philadelphia 76ers Pick Nick Nurse As Next HC

We’ll spare you another “Doc to Nurse” pun. The Philadelphia 76ers have reportedly agreed to hire former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse as HC, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Nurse is a hire that’ll make this fan base happy.

Known as a premier X’s and O’s coach with an attitude, Nurse is the type of hire that could jumpstart the latent Sixers roster, led by reigning MVP Joel Embiid and James Harden.

Previous Sixers HC Doc Rivers let this championship roster down with a disappointing second-round exit. Rivers was fired after three seasons with the team.

In five seasons with Toronto, Nurse coached the Raptors to a 227-163 regular-season record and 25-16 postseason record.

Philly Gets Their Guy In Nick Nurse

Known for leading Kawhi Leonard’s Raptors team to the franchise’s first NBA championship, Nurse is a highly respected name until a rift with Toronto’s front office resulted in his departure. He was named the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year.

Nurse has been able to get the most out of his rosters. Working with Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet as his top options, Nick Nurse led the Raptors to the play-in tournament this year, eventually losing to the Chicago Bulls.

Nurse had an interesting comment on the Raptors upon his departure. In his exit interview with Toronto's Masai Ujiri, he wished Ujiri "luck" with his roster ... slighting the team's lack of talent.

The 55-year-old has deep ties with Philly's president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey. Nick Nurse led Houston's D-League team (now the G League), the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, to a championship in 2013 at the time Morey was the Rockets' GM.

An interesting dynamic to note with this hire is Nurse's dynamic with star big man Joel Embiid.

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers points against the Boston Celtics. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Nurse and Embiid shared a heated moment after the playoffs last season when the ex-Raptors coach was told to stop b*cthing about fouls called on Embiid. The coach didn’t back down from Embiid’s spicy comment but chalked it up to their competitive spirits. Now that he’s Embiid’s coach, Nurse may be asking the MVP to do a couple more laps at practice than his teammates...