Ranking the 3 best options for 76ers coaching vacancy

1. Nick Nurse

Nick Nurse won the championship with Toronto in 2019 and has a long track record of very transparently despising how the Sixers play basketball with Embiid and Harden. So, who better to lead the way forward? One has to imagine Nurse would perk up quite a bit at the prospect of Embiid drawing fouls and bludgeoning the interior with a 76ers logo on his chest.

The Sixers should target Nurse for his recent track record of success, yes. But also for the reasons driving that success. Nurse is a master of in-game tactical adjustments. He will change defensive schemes completely mid-game; he will try different tactics offensively to see what works and what doesn’t. His adaptability was key during Toronto’s run to the Finals and during Toronto’s subsequent postseason forays. He was able to consistently get the most out of a team with very little offensive firepower on the perimeter.

His personnel offerings would change significantly with the Sixers. Even if Harden does leave, Philly has Embiid, Maxey, and a nice collection of reliable shooters. It figures to be a more balanced offensive group than what Nurse had in Toronto. The majority of the offense would flow through two players, but the floor would be spaced and the shot chart would be more favorable than what the Raptors were doing offensively last season. Nurse has a strong offensive mind. Just imagine what he’s capable of with shooters.

In the end, no coach is perfect. Nurse was notorious for running his starters into the ground last season and relying very little on the bench. The Sixers probably have a slightly deeper team if they can manage to retain their peripheral free agents, but there’s a chance Nurse would run Embiid and Maxey even harder and longer than Rivers did. With Embiid’s injury history, however, one has to imagine Nurse would take the proper precautions. He did it with Kawhi in Toronto to great effect.