The Philadelphia 76ers have hired former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, according to an Associated Press report.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Monday because the team had not announced the move.
Nurse has been an NBA coach for 10 seasons − five as an assistant − with the Raptors. He’s led Toronto to the playoffs three times, including his first season in 2019 when the Raptors won the NBA title.
He has a 227-163 (.582) regular-season record and is 25-16 (.610) in the postseason. He was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2020. He was fired by the Raptors in April after Toronto missed the playoffs with a 41-41 record.
Nurse replaces Doc Rivers, who was hired as Sixers head coach in 2020 and went 154-82 over three seasons. While Rivers’ tenure was successful, the Sixers consistently struggled during the postseason, failing to make it out of the second round of the playoffs. Rivers was 20-15 as Sixers coach in the playoffs.
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This season, with NBA MVP Joel Embiid and guard James Harden, the Sixers were considered contenders for the NBA title. After finishing the regular season 54-28 and earning the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Sixers eliminated the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. They were up 3-2 against Boston in the second round, but the Celtics used a fourth-quarter rally to win Game 6 and force Game 7.
In Game 7, Jayson Tatum scored 51 points and the Celtics dominated the third quarter en route to a 112-88 victory. It was the third-straight year the Sixers were eliminated in the second round and dropped Rivers’ record as a head coach in Game 7s to 6-10. Rivers was was fired two days later.
Who is Nick Nurse?
Nurse played at Northern Iowa, then started his coaching career there as an assistant. He wound up becoming a head coach at Grand View University when he was just 23.
He coached in Belgium and Britain — winning a pair of British Basketball League titles as a coach in Birmingham in 1996 and London in 2000 — then got a couple of titles in what is now called the G League.
The second G League crown got Nurse noticed. He guided Rio Grande Valley to a title in 2013, and that’s when the Raptors called and wanted to talk to him about offense. They ended up hiring him as an assistant, and he’d been with Toronto ever since.
What does Nick Nurse have in the 76ers?
The 76ers have reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid won his first MVP this season, and the Sixers believe he can lead them to a championship. The roster has some uncertainty. James Harden can become a free agent, and there is no guarantee he remains with Philadelphia. The Sixers will be active in free agency and may need to make bigger moves if they lose him, but they still have Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey and P.J. Tucker alongside Embiid.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
