Nurse assigns roles to Sixers coaching staff, preps for Pacers mini-series originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The question happened to nicely intersect with some very recent answers.
A few weeks back, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said he was still assessing which members of his staff would be best suited for specific responsibilities.
So, with the Sixers sitting at 7-1 after a win Friday night over the Pistons, what roles has Nurse assigned?
“It’s still evolving,” he said Saturday afternoon. “I’m only chuckling because I gave two more assistants jobs last night on the plane on the way home.
“Yeah, right now Bryan (Gates) has taken the defensive side of the ball. Coby (Karl) and I are taking the offensive side. Bobby Jackson is working on what we call special teams. I gave Doug (West) a special assignment last night, which I’m not going to share with you what it is. And I gave Matt Brase a special assignment as well. Rico (Hines), (Fabulous Flournoy) and their crew are player development. As you can see, they’re over there playing — half of them — right now, and we need them on the court as bodies doing that. That about rounds it out.”
Gates previously had Nurse as one of his assistant coaches for the now-defunct United States Basketball League’s Oklahoma Storm. He later won the D League’s first two Coach of the Year awards and has clearly stayed close with Nurse during their time on different NBA teams. Tyrese Maxey noted Wednesday night that both Nurse and Gates have shown faith in the Sixers to switch frequently on defense.
West and Brase each served on Nurse’s 2012-13 Rio Grande Valley Vipers staff, so they should have a solid sense for how he wants them to approach whatever those “special assignments” are. (Though Nurse was a little cagey there Saturday, we’d expect to learn more details at some point.)
As for Jackson, a former Sixth Man of the Year guard who coached the G League’s Stockton Kings to a 25-7 record last season, what does “special teams” entail?
“That’s out of bounds under, out of bounds side, zone offense and defense, late-game situations, jump balls,” Nurse said. “Anything that isn’t just half-court offense or half-court defense.”
Flournoy on Saturday ran Kelly Oubre Jr. through post-practice shooting drills.
He’s an all-time British Basketball League great — as both a player and a player-coach — who worked with Nurse in Toronto, too. Flournoy retired from playing in 2019 at 46 years old.
The player development crew Nurse mentioned includes a younger generation as well. Jason Love, TJ DiLeo, Reggie Redding, Toure’ Murry and Terrel Harris are all former professional players in their mid-30s, able to scrimmage next to new Sixers trade additions and lower-minute bench players trying to keep sharp.
KJ Martin currently fits into both of those categories. The 22-year-old forward is the only one of the Sixers’ four James Harden trade pickups to not receive rotation minutes yet.
He’s shot jumpers after practices and shootarounds with Robert Covington, who’s highly enthusiastic about the sensational dunker’s talent and potential.
“Man, he’s athletic as a motherf—,” Covington said with a laugh, stopping just short of an excited expletive. “It’s crazy. His athleticism is phenomenal, he’s a student of the game, and he’s trying to get his feet wet. … We’re still learning with everything. He’s a guy that can — phewm — back and forth. And when he hits the trampoline, it’s over with.
“KJ, I’ve been with him since he got traded from Houston. We’ve spent a lot of time on and off the court together. He’s a great kid. He has a real chance to be really great. He’s just got to keep going. The situation’s not ideal right now, but it’s the opportunity. We’re all trying to get acclimated into everything. And I’m pretty sure, once he gets that shot, he’s going to take off full throttle.”
At Saturday’s practice, Nurse walked Martin, Covington and the Sixers through the team’s game plan against the 6-3 Pacers.
The Sixers will play a mini-series vs. Indiana on Sunday and Tuesday nights, and Nurse has good reason to be wary of the Pacers’ offense. Ahead of Saturday night’s NBA games, the Pacers ranked first in offensive rating and second in pace.
Point guard Tyrese Haliburton seems well on his way to a second consecutive All-Star selection and another year at or around 50/40/90 shooting splits. He’s averaged 23.6 points and a league-leading 11.6 assists.
“Listen, they’re playing at an unbelievable pace,” Nurse said. “They’re playing a whole bunch of guards, so they’re fresh. They’re really running. We were showing (the team) today, ‘Look how fast the guys off the ball are running up the floor.’ How are they doing it? Well, they’re doing it really hard for four minutes, and then three more guys are coming in — and they’re doing it really hard.
“Being a fast-paced, running offensive team, everybody always talks about, ‘Yeah, we want to be like that.’ It’s super hard work to play that pace, right? So that’s what we were trying to get across today. They’re spreading out, beating you off the dribble, shooting lots of threes. Lots of talent. You can see the energy, you can see the chemistry and connectivity they have. They’re playing very well.”
So are Nurse’s Sixers, who’d match their longest winning streak of last season — eight games — with a victory Sunday at Wells Fargo Center.
