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What can new 76ers coach Nick Nurse do to elevate Joel Embiid? | Locked On 76ers

Nurse is the third head coach of Joel Embiid's career.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers hired a new coach almost as quickly as they fired Doc Rivers following a second-round playoff loss, installing Nick Nurse as the successor who will be tasked with finally getting Philadelphia and reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid to the conference finals and beyond.

Locked On 76ers hosts Devon Givens and Keith Pompey discussed how Nurse can help Embiid and vice versa on a Wednesday edition of the podcast.

“It’s going to be good for Nick Nurse,” Pompey said. “He’s finally going to get a guy who’s going to get calls, and he’s also going to get a guy who’s a dominant big.”

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The two reportedly were in contact during the interview process and Nurse had the support of Embiid, in addition to president Daryl Morey, who oversaw Nurse as head coach in the NBA D League in the early 2010s when both were in the Houston organization.

“Whatever Nick Nurse shared with Joel Embiid, he liked it enough and saw enough of a vision to say that ‘I can get on-board with this and we can potentially get this thing done,’” Givens pointed out.

Nurse has long been known as someone who could get under Embiid’s skin from the opposing sideline, with Nurse’s Raptors having beaten Philadelphia in the 2019 playoffs and nearly doing so again in 2022.

“When you’re talking to an MVP, now you’re just explaining, ‘this is where I had success against you, this is how I wanted to game plan against you,’” Givens said.

“The thing about Embiid is … Nick Nurse has had the most success against Embiid than any other team,” Pompey added.

Nurse will be Embiid’s third 76ers coach, and the franchise has still yet to make it to the third round of the playoffs with Embiid.

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