CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers will have a new style of play in the 2023-24 season under new coach Nick Nurse. The Sixers are looking to get over the hump in the Eastern Conference after three consecutive second-round exits.
For the Sixers to do anything, they need Joel Embiid to be at his best when the playoffs roll around.
Under Nurse, the Sixers look to lean on Embiid’s versatility. Because he can pass the ball, score at all three levels and is a general threat on the offensive end, the Sixers will be in the contention conversation regardless of what happens with James Harden.
“We talked a lot about unpredictability,” Nurse said of Embiid. “I think he loves that. He’s versatile from posting to shooting to driving the ball and then the passing part of it is I just think we gotta relieve some of the pressure. Guys are overplaying and they’re sending multiple people at him. We gotta find the easy baskets out of that or wide-open looks.”
With just a few more days before the season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on the road, Nurse is looking to get the most out of Embiid and get him to understand the system for when the games really count.
“There’s a lot of reading going on out there, a lot of people touching the ball, etc. and then, we’re also finding some go-to stuff and I think that’s all kind of a work in progress, right?” Nurse added. “I think we’re just going to continue to pick away at things that we think are good and then polish those things up and it will evolve a lot here. Especially, early.”
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