FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up their first training camp under the guidance of new coach Nick Nurse on Friday and turned their attention to the Boston Celtics on Sunday in the preseason opener.
Nurse is an innovative thinker who will try any lineup or scheme he can think of if it means helping his team win a basketball game. He has shown during his time with the Toronto Raptors that he will do whatever it takes to win basketball games.
Veteran PJ Tucker, who has some history with Nurse during his days with the Raptors, gave the new head man in Philadelphia some credit when it comes to his defensive schemes in camp.
“He’ll just throw anything out there,” Tucker laughed. “Triangle-and-two or box-and-one or 1-3-1 and stuff like college stuff. He was trying anything. So you just keep an open mind and give this stuff a try. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, but just giving stuff tries throughout games and throughout practices. Mix it up.”
As far as the offensive system is concerned, Nurse relies a bit more on ball movement and having it move from side-to-side on that end of the floor. That is a bit different than what Doc Rivers ran in previous seasons when he focused on the pick-and-roll offense.
“A little more movement,” Tucker said of Nurse’s system compared to Rivers’. “A lot of different terminology that guys are getting used to, but like I said, it’s just a lot more energy, I would say. Ball moves around, bodies move, get up and down quick, but I think it fits our personnel pretty well.”
Overall, it appears that it was a good camp for everybody involved, and Tucker and the Sixers were able to get some of Nurse’s terminology down for the future.
“It was cool,” Tucker finished. “Good energy. Another training camp. Camp’s always interesting. Young guys bring energy. Older guys kind of get back started, get going, get around each other. We had a good time. It was good.”
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