WEBVTT - One on One with Nick Nurse, the New 76ers Head Coach 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.880 This podcast is part of the seventy six Ers podcast network. 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:16.640 Search seventy six Ers Insiders wherever you get your podcasts. 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:20.919 Welcome back, everybody to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.599 I'm Lauren rose in here with Matt Murphy on the 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.680 heels of Nick nurses introductory presser and our time with 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.560 him on his first day as the head coach of 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:32.680 the seventy six Ers. Matt Murphy, what's going on? 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.520 Lauren Rosen, little off season podcasting here, new coaching higher. 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.240 It was good to be back in the facility, heard 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.560 from Darryl Murray, Josh Harris, and of course the man 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:48.080 of the hour, Nick Nurse, the twenty nineteen championship winning 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.760 coach with Toronto, the twenty twenty MBA Coach of the Year. 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:54.639 Something Darryl Murray talked about was his winning at all 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:59.000 different levels and stages of basketball. He's a by my 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.720 account and I think els to a five time champion 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:07.200 at three different levels. Carol, Iowa native, and you got 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.959 the chance to have a one on one conversation with him, 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.080 which everyone out there will here during this episode of 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:17.200 seventy six Ers Insiders. Some really good stuff in there Obviously, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.440 you guys went pretty in depth on some things, but 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.679 just from a surface level, it was good to be back. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.040 The energy was good surrounding that day. 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.440 And it's interesting, Matt, There's been a lot of continuity 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.160 with this roster, and I found myself sort of reflecting 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.839 about how almost rare it is to speak to someone 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.280 new and someone that I didn't know and haven't had 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.920 experience sitting down one on one with so cool to 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.520 sort of strip it down, do the research, get the background, 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.959 and think about from Nick Nurse's perspective over the last 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.440 ten years, of course with the Toronto Raptors, what it's 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.480 been like to watch this Sixers team very up close, 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.960 very personal, and now to sort of flip everything that 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.400 he already knows about this team on its head and 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.840 activate the things he was working to limit over the 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:04.600 last ten years. He called what the Sixers and Raptors 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.800 have shared a bit of a rivalry, and I think 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.720 if you ask players on this team, Joelle Embiid Tyree 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.000 Snaxy have both talked about the fact that they feel 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.160 some personal beef with the Toronto Raptors, just based on 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.880 playoff series, seeing them in the preseason, playing miniseriies with 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.400 them in the regular season. It does feel like, while, 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:23.320 of course we play the Raptors the baxim amount of 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.520 times you can play any team, and you've probably seen 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:27.720 them about the same amount of times as you've seen 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:29.960 the Boston Celtics or the Miami Heat over the last 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.960 few years, there is something personal there, and so now 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.440 to have all of that experience that both teams have 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.840 shared on the same side. I'm looking forward to it. 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:41.679 It sounds like Nick is looking forward to it, and 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:43.040 I really enjoyed our conversation. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.200 When you think about the handful of years he spent 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.519 as an assistant coach in Toronto and then another handful 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.440 as the head coach, and you talk about the scheduling, 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.880 there is a familiarity there, even from our seat. So 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.760 I can't imagine how heightened that is for people who 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.720 are game planning against one another, whether it's members of 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.600 the coaching staff or in this case, the players that 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.440 we've talked about who are part of those game plans. 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.959 And it feels like we all know Nick Nurse a 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.840 little bit because of the last decade or so. One 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:16.320 thing I wanted to touch on before we get to 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.920 your interview is him talking about Tyrese Maxey's speed because 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.560 this is just not something he's talked about on his 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.400 first day as the Sixers coach. It dates back his 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.520 respect for Tyrese Maxey as a player and how fast 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:30.440 Maxie is. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.720 You saw me behind the scenes for a couple of 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.000 days trying to dig up a specific quote that Nick 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.640 Nurse spoke to describe Tyrese Maxey. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:39.400 I thought it was. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.760 In the playoffs, but I wasn't positive, and I knew 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.720 it was pretty effusive. Of course, like in the NBA, 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:50.280 it's rather rare to hear head coaches praise opposing players 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:55.320 with the amount of I don't know, enthusiasm. I guess 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.880 that Nick Nurse shared in this quote about Tyree, so 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:00.640 I ended up finding it. It was an April twenty fifth, 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.880 twenty two quote from during that series between the Sixers 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.000 and the Raptors last season's opening round at the playoffs, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.720 Terresa just scored thirty eight points, his playoff career high 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:12.480 against the Toronto Raptors. 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:13.720 I found the quote. 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:15.760 I read it to Nick Nurse, and if you guys 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.040 want to hear the rest of the conversation, stick around 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:19.920 for the next ten minutes or so, because here it 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:24.320 is Nick Nurse, Welcome to Philadelphia. We are very excited 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.040 to have you. You said upstairs in your intro presser 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.599 that you believe this is a team that could play 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.160 tonight in the NBA Finals. So when you made the 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.400 decision to come here, what are those factors about this 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.960 team that makes you believe they could still be playing 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:37.880 at this point in the season. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.920 Yeah, well, first hand, close up look of. 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.239 Playing against them, for sure. 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:49.280 I think that the quality of the roster, the combination 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.279 of Daryl Elton and I've known Darryl for a long 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.440 time and their track record for putting a roster together. 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.720 Ownership is second to none, you know, as I did 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.039 my research and all those things. 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:03.560 But mainly I think. 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.920 It's a chance to try and try and win it all. 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.640 I mean, that's that's what coaches are do. We get up, 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:10.160 We get up every day trying to figure out how 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.440 to get there to the end and be playing tonight. 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.560 Right. So excited Joelle. 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.279 Says that all the time, right, that that's the ultimate goal, 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.600 is to win it all. Joel is someone that you, 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.520 as an opposing coach, perhaps did maybe the best job 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.800 in the league of limiting over the years. How do 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.440 you even go about conceptualizing trying to now activate what 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.120 you were once trying to limit when it comes to Joel. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.279 Yeah, I mean, first of all, like a lot of 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.240 those things that we did, throwing everything in the kitchen 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.720 sink at him, was done out of necessity. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:40.159 Really. 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.320 I mean, we were just trying to stop a really, really, 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.440 really great player, and we would do something and he'd 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.120 figure it out, we'd have to do another thing, and 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.359 so the list got pretty long in the end, and 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.520 it kept you know, I think again, to his credit, 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:58.880 he kept figuring out things just scheme wise to combat 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.880 what we were doing, and then he started figuring out. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.120 Things skill wise from year to year two. 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.320 So I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.080 and play against him, because it is it is difficult, 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:15.680 and it is nice to have a player with that 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.000 skill set and mindset. I would think he's a real 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.760 competitor and all those kind of things, and I think 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:22.360 he's hungry. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.360 That was another reason I took the job. I think 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:25.239 this team's hungry. 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.080 Yeah, it's a team that had some iconic battles with 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.320 the Raptors during your time there. For better and for worse, 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.360 we think about Kawhi's shot, we think about Joelle's game 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.479 winner in the playoffs last season. When you think about 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.119 the times that you played against this team, either those 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.680 memories or are there any sleeper memories that come up 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:43.120 for you when you think about what it was like 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:44.760 to face the Sixers. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:48.960 First of all, I winced when you talked about his 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:50.560 fade away that seemed to bother. 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.880 Me more than the one that went in. That's coaching 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:53.159 for you. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.400 And first of all, but just like I think in 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.920 the eighteen nineteen series, again, like once we got into it, 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.920 but maybe after Game three, I just kind of remember 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.760 taking the team into the locker room at the arena 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.359 we were practicing is here in town for Game four, 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.840 and just the list of like issues that we had, 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.960 you know, like there's some really good players, we don't 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:17.440 need to go through them all, but there was so 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.080 many things we had to do for each guy, you know, 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.760 starting with starting at the top obviously, and then there 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.160 was things that we need to do better offensively, and 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:26.640 there was a pocket of things that we had to 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.360 do just effort and energy wise, and I just kind 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.240 of remember that being like, wow, that's a lot and 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:34.640 that we had to do because that was a very 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.960 very good team and an unbelievable series. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.760 An unbelievable series. Indeed, you mentioned the guys that you 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.600 had to work through. Tyrese Maxey wasn't one of them. 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.080 But last year's playoffs in twenty twenty two, you had 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.000 some effusive praise for Tyrese. You said he's the fastest 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.360 guy out there by a mile. He's super fast. With 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.560 those type of guys, that's usually their whole game and 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.760 it's not with him. He's also a great shooter with 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.520 really great touch. A year later, he became a top 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.840 five most efficient shooter in the NBA. He's gotten better. 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.600 He's only twenty two. So what excites you about Tyrese today? 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:11.080 So getting better part, Like, that's a good synopsis what 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:12.880 I said there. So it must have been fresh after 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.240 he torched us for about thirty six or thirty eight 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.120 points or something. So yeah, So I mean it was, like, 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.600 you know, it's it's kind of almost like the reverse 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.080 of like the guy who was bigger than everybody growing 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.960 up and just you know, dominated at the basket, like 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.119 the little fast guys, even though he's not that little, 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.880 but the fast guys just can use their speed to 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:36.360 produce so much that they don't develop maybe other parts 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.560 of their game are a well rounded game. But I 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.160 was just amazed at how like good a shooter he became. 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.200 And then you know, again like he's laid in at 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:45.880 the front of the rim. Well, we had to do 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:47.320 a lot of things to try to get there, and 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:49.760 he just kept you know, the touch just part. He 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:52.079 just kept going further and further away and still making 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.880 him and it was just like, holy you know, we're 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:56.920 gonna do here, and we really didn't figure out what 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:58.079 to do very very well. 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:01.480 So, but the thing I like about him is. 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:07.320 Good dude, right, hard worker, loves the game, wants to 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:12.800 get better, and has a ton of a god given ability. Right, 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.400 that's a pretty good combination of a guy that's going 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:16.280 to impact the team. 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.320 Yeah, looking back on your career, we'll start somewhat recent 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.160 and then get a little bit further back, but you've 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.720 worked with Daryl Morey before, So can you tell us 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:25.800 sort of the nature of your relationship when you were 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:27.719 for those that don't know, the head coach of the 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:30.360 Rio Grand Valley Vipers when he was in Houston. What 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:32.199 your dynamic was like then and then what it's been 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:33.920 like to stay in touch and reunite now. 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:38.640 Yeah, So I kind of went there as a reason 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.520 to try to develop myself as a coach. They were 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.680 heavy analytics before analytics was even fashionable yet, and so 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.160 I kind of wanted to get in there and learn 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.960 some of those things. When I interviewed for the job 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:52.640 down there, he was like, this is going to be 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:54.920 a total laboratory for you to try things. And that 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.840 really interested me again to just try and improve and 0:09:58.880 --> 0:09:59.360 that's not that. 0:09:59.360 --> 0:09:59.880 Easy to do. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.679 You need you need backing to kind of like say 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:04.320 we're going to do this, and then we'd be like 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.280 what they say, say no, try it, you know, just 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:07.559 see what happens, you know, or whatever. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:12.480 So that was good, and I just there was a 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:18.120 lot of just collaboration away from that. 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.680 Even I just remember like when the season would be 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.520 over in Rio grand which is down there along the 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.520 Mexican border, I'd go back to Houston and we'd we'd 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.920 sit in there all day watching basketball prospects or whatever 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.360 and just talking talking the game and how to how 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.160 to do things, you know, like can is there a 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:37.240 better way to do things? 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.920 And or how good is this player? How does he fit? 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.960 You know? So a lot of a lot of time together. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.480 Yeah, a couple of decades prior to that experience with Darryl, 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.720 you spent time internationally, You coached in college. You've had 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.640 a plethora of stops, but it's been a while since 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.920 you've had to start fresh after ten years in Toronto, right, 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.520 So what can you take from those experiences starting over 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.280 over and over again through your youth of coaching, into 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:01.840 this experience starting over today. 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.600 Yeah, so like just kind of kinaund logically. Like one 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.440 thing I do know is that the first six months 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.920 of taking a new job in the NBA is really something. 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.640 It is really a whirlwind of intensity that I didn't 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:15.840 really know when I got. 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.839 The raptor's job. So I was, you know, I understand. 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.960 Like, okay, here we go, here we go, Like six 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.680 months is going to be something. So that is a good, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.920 good experience to have been through. And just like all 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:30.839 the other stops, I don't even know if this is 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.400 your question or not, but I'm just was like I 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.920 was always just trying to learn stuff and try stuff 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.640 and get put in so many, so many situations of 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:44.840 like you know, boxing one or only having six players 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.760 available for a game, or having a great team and 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:49.400 all of them getting called up one day to the 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.440 NBA and the d League and having to teach really fast. 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.360 You know, all those all those kind of things just 0:11:54.480 --> 0:12:00.000 add to an experience, you know, and a growth experience. 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.480 But you know, like mostly it's. 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.040 How can you connect the team, how can you get 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.800 them to play a little bit harder? Right, like, just 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.080 continually trying to experiment with how that can work. And 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.640 I think that's really like two really huge things of winning. 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.000 Basketball away from the court or I guess adjacent to 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.920 the court. I'm told that you travel with musical instruments. 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.640 I used to don't anymore. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:26.880 Well, we're going to think about that. 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:29.520 I used to for sure. I don't know why we're 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.520 going to do that going forward, but go ahead with you. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.720 Sorry to meet an interrupt I'm curious where that passion 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.480 came from, how important it is to balance basketball with 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.720 life and what music sort of means to you. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.560 Yeah, so just you know, my mother's side of the 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.320 family was really musical. I'm the youngest of nine kids, 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.080 and we all had to kind of try to do 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.240 something with music other than. 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:49.840 Just play sports. 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.600 It was a struggle for most of us because we 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:53.600 really played a lot of. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:54.280 Sports, so. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.280 And just kind of now for me it is total 0:12:58.440 --> 0:12:58.760 like my. 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:05.760 Zone place. I guess play a little bit. I'll listen. 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.120 Whatever it is, we use it at practice to create energy. 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:12.640 And I try to learn. 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.520 It's kind of a stretching like like of create you know, 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.600 your mind, so you can maybe hopefully some of that 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.360 stuff gets stretched to be creative in my day job, right, 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:22.960 day night, whatever job. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.959 This is right, Yep, that's awesome, and hopefully you'll get 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:27.360 embedded in the Philly music scene. 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:28.760 Oh for sure, can't wait. 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:33.280 Last question, I promise it's okay. You said in your 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:35.920 intro pressor that you don't vibrate in the frequency of 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.079 the past. Clearly you've learned a lot from your past 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.240 understanding that we're not vibrating in that frequency. Though. What 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.840 do you think the future looks like for this sixer team? 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:45.680 What do you hope the future looks like while you're here? 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:51.200 Well, I really kind of mean that like an incredible 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.400 tradition here, but it doesn't really have to do with 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.600 what we're trying to accomplish next year, right, good or bad? 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.000 There's a lot of great tradition here and then we're 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.599 in this little second round thing that everybody wants to 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.240 talk about. Doesn't even like enter my mind right like, 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:06.880 like I'm just trying to figure out how we can 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.760 get this team to play its. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.520 Best basketball when it really matters. 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.720 I don't think last year of the year before, ten years, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.720 before twenty years has anything to do with that. 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.200 Awesome well, we look forward to watching that future with you. 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.320 Thanks a long time, you got it, anytime, appreciate it. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.280 Thank you, Thanks of course to Nick Nurse for sitting 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.040 down with us on his first day in the facility. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.080 It was awesome to just see the facility through his 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.920 eyes on his first day. There was a lot of 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.640 energy in the building, a lot of positivity around the 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.080 new head coach, and just awesome to get to know 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.720 him a little better. He was super candid, super comfortable, 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.040 and I really enjoyed the conversation for sure. 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.600 The part about him learning on the first six months 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.280 of a new job, particularly a new NBA job, is 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.920 really interesting and like the first day and the first week, 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.160 I can't even imagine he's done a time a ton 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.600 of interviews. I'm glad that we got your unique interview 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.240 in the mix here. A lot of people have seen 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.400 some clips and seen the video on the six Ers 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.440 YouTube channel, but for our podcast network listeners, maybe people 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.440 from the Twitter spaces community, people who are hearing it 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:19.120 in audio form, It's just one of many media hits 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.359 that he has done. I know it comes with the territory, 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.760 and I'm not feeling bad for him in any sort 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.560 of way, but in our limited exposure to him, he 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.760 was very personable to everyone and he met a lot 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.360 of people. I've been telling everybody I'm reading Nick Nurse's 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:37.120 book Rapture. I'm like halfway through, so I have to 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.440 finish it because I'm at the part where he becomes 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.960 the Toronto Raptors head coach. But some of my takeaways 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.120 about maybe who he is as a person, or some 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.720 insight into his personality that we saw on display when 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.080 he was meeting everyone, is that he's this lifelong learner. 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:57.600 And before the conversation there, I mentioned his different coaching stops. 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.240 He's been a lot of different places, multiple kinnes, multiple leagues, 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.680 multiple teams. Something that I think is interesting is how 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.400 he's worked to develop as a communicator in this job. 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.720 So quick fact is that he has his PhD from 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.400 Concordia University, and he's very interested in how people learn 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.960 and kind of developing these relationships. So I'm interested to 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.080 see how that goes with the players on the team, 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.800 because he's someone who's always striving to get better, better, 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.080 not just with x's and o's. It's well documented that 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.320 he's a very smart basketball coach, but I think over 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.280 his career he's really worked to become a well rounded 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:41.280 basketball coach and leader and has experience. 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.240 Of course, I liked hearing about his relationship with Darryl Morey, 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.800 the way that the two of them used the Rio 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.560 Grand Valley Vipers. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.560 As talking G League now, of course. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:55.360 As an opportunity to not necessarily pilot and like brand 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:59.080 new concepts in the NBA, but try new things and 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:00.760 see what works, see what doesn't. And then it's been 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:02.440 cool to see him sort of apply a lot of 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.240 those concepts he talked about Darryl giving him the freedom 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.920 to experiment with in the G League as head coach 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.480 of the Raptors, And of course you follow that whole 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.080 world a lot closer than I do, but you've shared 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.119 with me a lot of different things about what his 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.440 reputation was like in the G League, the lasting impact 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.680 he's had there. So for you to have followed him 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:22.920 through that phase, in this phase, what do you make 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.679 of that part of his experience as he joins the 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:26.720 seventy six ers. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.560 I think it really helps, particularly in the regular season. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.320 So on the one hand, you have his playoff winning 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.960 percentage being very high at sixty one percent, But when 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.800 you're talking about the grind of an MBA regular season, 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.520 the lineup can look different at times, and in the 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.200 G League the lineup always looks different. So he's learned 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.680 how to have his system in place so that anyone 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.480 can do it and execute it, and you can kind 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.639 of mix and match different pieces in what is a 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.240 long season. And then something I've heard for years in 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:03.400 the G League from various coaches and executives is their 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.040 goal is to win, but another is to have the 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.399 group as many players as possible leave the season in 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:12.520 a better situation than they were when they came in. 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.239 And that I think originates with Nick Nurse when he 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.760 was a G League coach. He wanted to elevate guys 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.200 to the NBA or even to better teams in Europe 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.280 or anywhere. Overseas and at the NBA level, I think 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.399 it still applies. I think you can still help guys 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.959 improve their individual careers, win individual awards, and have it 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.200 lead into team success. So at first glance, it might 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.440 not appear that that G league principle of the two 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.280 different things, winning and better situations applies directly, but I 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:45.040 think it does well. 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:47.480 He's talked about it on some other shows shout out 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.439 to former sixer JJ Reddick and The Old Man and 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.360 the Three. But something that stood out to me when 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.280 he talks about sort of what his initiatives are as 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.120 a head coach. It's, of course, to win, but it's 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.720 also the words he used is to raise the market 0:18:57.840 --> 0:18:59.480 value of each player. 0:18:59.160 --> 0:18:59.600 On the team. 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.440 And of course Nick Nurse, someone who has a reputation 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.240 for playing maybe shorter rotations or higher minute loads for 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.160 similar guys, also has a reputation for growing young guys 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.719