CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers returned to practice on Thursday following an impressive win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. They play host to the Toronto Raptors on Friday before heading on the road for a four-game trip to end the 2023 calendar year.
Despite only having one off day between games, coach Nick Nurse had the Sixers practicing as he continues to install his vast playbook. Therefore, a Nurse in-season practice is much more detailed than practices in past seasons.
“Every day we get in this gym and really get to work on different things that we can get better at,” said Tobias Harris. “With a day like today, we ran a bunch of games in a duration of time. We’re not going live against each other, but we’re going out there, we’re running through our offensive sets, we’re game planning for tomorrow, and how we’re gonna play a couple of schemes defensively there, and there’s music. It’s a good atmosphere, you know?”
Nurse’s practices have been all about work. He has to get Harris on the same page with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. He has to make sure Kelly Oubre Jr. and others are not forgotten. He needs to make sure everybody understands where they need in his defensive schemes.
“We’re probably into 60% of our defensive stuff in now,” Nurse said. “We’re getting there. Looking back historically, when did I think we were ready in Toronto? My first year there was probably not till late February, March when I thought we got to who we were. Knew who we were and what we were gonna be moving forward. What we were able to accomplish and stuff like that.”
To that end, the Sixers need all the practice time they can get. This is what the early season is for.
“Very detailed,” Oubre said of a Nurse practice. “We don’t come in here to waste time. We don’t come in here and just laugh and play the whole practice, but he still incorporates some of that stuff in practice, right? We can still have fun, but we know we’re here for a reason and we get in, get our work in, and be efficient, and get out. It’s very dope to see and as a player who’s instructed to come to practice every day, I’m happy to practice because we’re not gonna waste our time.”
Nurse continues to add schemes in the middle of games. In the win over the Timberwolves, the Sixers ran coverages they never had run before.
“I think that I don’t really have a timeline on it,” Nurse said of a possible finished Sixers product. “I think it’s probably a you never quite get to the end, right? I think you’re kinda always adding and subtracting, but we played like seven different defensive schemes last night in that game. We hadn’t played all of those before, but again, we’re trying to build up some of that stuff. The same applies to offense.”
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