76ers take first step towards hiring Nick Nurse as head coach

The Toronto Raptors don’t appear to be in any rush to hire their next head coach after the firing of Nick Nurse, but the rival Philadelphia 76ers appear to be moving as fast as possible as they try to find a replacement for Doc Rivers. Nick Nurse remains near the very top of their list.

Philly’s initial list of coaches included past champions like Nurse, Mike Budenholzer, and Frank Vogel. With Joel Embiid about to turn 30 years old, Daryl Morey is seeking someone with multiple years of proven success in this league as the next coach for this aging roster.

Nurse is fresh off one of the more disappointing seasons any coach had in this league during the 2022-23 campaign, but he certainly didn’t have a roster with the same level of star power that the 76ers have. Philly knows this, and they are pursuing Nurse very aggressively.

Keith Pompey has reported that Nurse and Philly executives will meet soon to discuss potentially hiring him as the team’s next head coach. With Phoenix and Milwaukee also needing new coaches, the 76ers will have some competition for his services if they want him.

Toronto Raptors: Will Nick Nurse join the 76ers?

Nurse makes sense for Morey due to the familiarity that both parties already have with one another. When Morey was in Houston, Nurse was the coach of the G League Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Nurse can also walk into that interview and slam that championship ring down on the table.

The 76ers, unlike a Raptors team that went all-in on a boatload of positionless forwards to fit Nurse and Masai Ujiri’s positionless vision, do not have the players needed to execute Nurse’s scheme properly. Significant offseason work is needed to turn them into a legit contender.

With James Harden potentially going back to the Rockets in the offseason, Nurse will need to replace his scoring and distribution. For a coach that has typically struggled with generating elective half-court offensive schemes, losing him could make his debut season in Philly even more strenuous.

The 76ers would likely get a kick out of hiring a coach like Nurse one year after one of their biggest rivals parted ways with him, and the Raptors likely won’t be in love with the idea of facing them four times every year. Still, if Philly has their mind dead set on hiring a coach with experience, they could do a lot worse in this cycle than Nurse.