We'll Know Very Early This Season If Nick Nurse Has Learned Anything

It's adapt-or-die for our third-year head coach, sez MOC.

If you had told me a year ago that the Sixers were about to have a disaster season, I think most of the factors that led to it could have been easily predicted. Joel Embiid missed a bunch of time due to injuries? Bummer, but that checks out. Paul George was injured a lot and looked old when he did play? Ah, that makes sense. Maxey had a couple freak injuries and the veteran guards behind him were even more washed than we thought? Yeah, I could imagine that.

What I would not have expected is to leave the season feeling as though Nick Nurse’s tactical decision making was a massive contributor to the season being as bad as it was. As I wrote in February, I was stunned by Nurse’s inability to adjust the basics of his schemes on both sides of the ball as the team navigated life without MVP-level Embiid.

I suppose the best defense that one could offer for Nurse would be that the team was in a constant state of expecting Embiid to be back on the floor and dominating again within a matter of weeks – so, overhauling both the team’s offense and defense would make little sense when they would just revert back to their far more simplistic system (which worked quite well in ‘23-24!) whenever Embiid was back to being himself.

But this year, no such excuse will exist. We know that Embiid cannot be counted on to play consistently and at his peak level. We know that George is unreliable, past his prime, and is entering the season already injured. We know that an offense based on “let Maxey cook and have everyone else stand around and watch” does not lead to good results.

There needs to be massive, massive changes to the team’s offense, and I expect to know very early on in the season – perhaps even as soon as the preseason – whether Nurse has made such changes. If George and Embiid miss opening night, and the offense once again turns into nothing but Maxey hunting mismatches, I think we can safely assume that Nurse simply has some ideological objection to running an intricate NBA offense. Don’t take it from me – take it from Pat Bev and Marcus Morris, who played under Nurse in ‘23-24, and mutually agreed that, “his offense was nothing.”

As I’ve said before, running that incredibly simple offense is not a bad idea when you have a player as dominant as peak Embiid. It inarguably produced good results two years ago when Embiid played – Jo’s numbers were better than ever, and the team’s offense was absolutely dominant when he was on the floor. But when you are without a player of that caliber, there desperately needs to be a more structured offense, and the coaching staff must offer some ability to scheme up open looks, which Nurse and co. did not have last season.

So, I’m going to need to see some real offensive structure this season. I need to see Jared McCain running through elevator doors screens. I want to see him running through Floppy sets and setting tons of screens off the ball. He needs to be used in similar ways to how Brett Brown used JJ Redick and Marco Belinelli. Nick, just turn on the tape from that ‘17-18 team and run the off-ball sets they ran for their shooters! It’s not that hard!

Nick Nurse's Performance This Season Is Inexcusable

While I still have major concerns about the Sixers’ front court, the team does now have Trendon Watford, who brings a skill that was woefully absent on last year’s front court – passing. As The Danny highlighted recently, Watford has excellent vision both on the move as well as in post-up situations. If Nurse doesn’t have a few set plays involving Watford passing the ball with high-post splits, I’m going to lose my mind.

For better or for worse, three of the Sixers’ best players – McCain, George, and Maxey – are arguably better at playing off the ball than creating from scratch with it. If this team is going to have any hope of not being terrible, Nurse must find ways to capitalize on their abilities in that area.

Anyone who has followed me for a long time knows that I’m not Mr. Fire The Coach guy. I defended Brett Brown from criticism for a long time, and I was pretty lenient on Doc Rivers up until that fateful Celtics series. I’m even willing to give Nurse a pass for last year if he comes into this season with an offense built to maximize the personnel he’s given. It is certainly possible that he just viewed the season as boom-or-bust, and wasn’t willing to switch to a different offense when A) the team’s only hope of winning anything was with a healthy Embiid, and B) his simplistic offense was the best way to maximize healthy Embiid.

But yeah, suffice it to say that I’m gonna need to see some major changes to this year’s offense if I’m going to have any faith whatsoever in Nurse being the right coach here for the long term. They’ve had an entire off-season to learn and adjust from what went wrong last season. No sane person could watch last year’s tape and come to the conclusion that nothing needs to change.

While I wouldn’t say I’m wildly optimistic about the Sixers heading into this season, I do firmly believe that even if George and Embiid look exactly the same next season as they did last season, the Sixers absolutely should not be as bad as they were in 2025. One could easily make the case that the Sixers have one of the best backcourts in the league, factoring in depth. Even if George and Embiid play a combined 60 games once again, it would be completely unacceptable for this team’s win total to wind up in the 20s. This is not a Process Era team; there is legitimate star talent on this roster, and if Nurse can adjust properly, I don’t think we will be watching another bottomfeeder. And if that is something they end up being, well, I think that should be the final word on the Nick Nurse era in Philly.

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Mike O’Connor is the best O’Connor in basketball writing. Previously of The Athletic, you can find Mike on Twitter @MOConnor_NBA. Mike’s writing is brought to you by Body Bio, supplements based on science, focusing on your gut and brain health.