New coach Nick Nurse begins his task with the Sixers: ‘You are paid to work through some things’

BOSTON — The job, as much as it is anything else, requires a coach unfazed by distractions. It requires a coach with a history of winning with rosters that have players deemed too old, not good enough, or with the potential to become locker room time bombs.

So, naturally, the 76ers are fortunate to have Nick Nurse to lead them while the James Harden saga is hovering over the organization. The 56-year-old coach’s presence has had a positive impact on what could be a stressful preseason.

“That’s kind of like his personality,” Tobias Harris said of his new head coach. “He’s really like [centered on] ‘control what you can control’, basically. And he establishes that message to us day in and day out, every time we’re here.”

» READ MORE: James Harden, Joel Embiid, and more to miss Sixers’ preseason opener vs. Celtics

Nurse’s message has been ”Let’s get better.”

He wants the Sixers to figure out how they can jell as a whole unit, figure out how good they can be.

“Yeah, he’s kind of like an in-the-moment person,” Harris said. “Everybody really appreciates that here.”

But the Sixers have fallen further behind the Celtics — Sunday’s preseason-opening opponent — and the Bucks on the road to Eastern Conference supremacy, according to public perception.

For Sunday’s game, Harden, along with Joel Embiid, De’Anthony Melton, and Furkan Kormaz (leg strain), did not play in a 114-106 loss at TD Garden. Harris, P.J. Tucker, Paul Reed, Patrick Beverley, and Tyrese Maxey were the starting five.

Maxey showed why he’s expected to be a problem for opposing teams.

The Sixers guard was basically unguardable, scoring 24 points. Nineteen came on 7-for-11 shooting in the first half.

Reserve guard Jaden Springer provided solid defense and energy. He had 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting along with five rebounds, two assists, one steal and a block after entering in the second quarter. The third-year player replaced Tucker in the starting lineup in the second half.

Springer had a solid 1-minute, 7-second stretch in the third quarter. He had a powerful two-handed dunk at the 6:08 mark. Forty-six seconds later, he blocked All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum’s dunk. And then he muscled his way to a layup while being fouled with 4:59 left in the quarter.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid has to be better for the Sixers to keep up with the Celtics and Bucks. Does he get that?

Payton Pritchard, who agreed to a four-year, $30 million extension Sunday, paced the Celtics with 26 points. The reserve guard made six three-pointers.

The perception is that the Sixers are behind the Celtics and Bucks in the pecking order.

That’s because the Bucks added future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard from the Trail Blazers on Sept. 27. This is the same Milwaukee team that Nurse, the offseason’s most sought-after coaching candidate, withdrew his name from consideration for its head coaching job.

Then on Oct. 1, the Celtics added Jrue Holiday, a two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive selection, in a trade with the Blazers. The Sixers’ most notable offseason happening involved Harden calling president of basketball operations Daryl Morey “a liar.”

And the Sixers’ most notable offseason moves were matching the Utah Jazz’s three-year, $23.5 million offer to restricted free agent Reed and signing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a $2.8 million, one-year minimum deal.

Embiid, Tucker, Springer, Reed and Filip Petrušev are the only Sixers with standard NBA contracts that go beyond this season. Meanwhile, the Bucks and Celtics are expected to have a core group of All-Star-level players locked up for seasons to come. And they don’t have to deal with the uncertainty that comes with a key player like Harden wanting out.

“This is for me, to be [in Philly] — I think that,” Nurse said. “I’m super happy that I am here. I’m enjoying the city and the team.”

The coach said the Sixers had an unbelievable week of training camp at Colorado State University followed by an intense practice Saturday at Emerson College in Beantown.

“Like, I’ve got a job to do, and sometimes that job has a few things you’ve got to work through,” he said. “It’s not perfect on a lot of professional sports teams, right? You are paid to work through some things. That’s what we are trying to do.”

But one has to wonder if Nurse realized exactly what he was getting into. He chose the Sixers’ job despite interviewing and being the leading candidate for the same position with the Bucks and Suns. Phoenix is expected to contend for the Western Conference title with the addition of Bradley Beal to play alongside Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

But Nurse knew the Sixers’ current situation could be a reality when he took the job.

“I think that we knew [that] in the interview process, and the whole time James was a free agent,” Nurse said. “They talked to me, ‘How do you feel about if he’s here or if he isn’t?’ He certainly could have turned down his option and gone somewhere else. That was a possibility.

“But, like, you know my job is [to] work together with the front office. I believe in those guys. They got a track record of bringing in players, putting good teams together and my job is to coach the guys that are there. And that’s what I will do.”

In Nurse, the Sixers have a coach with a charismatic, yet no-holds-barred personality. He also has a reputation, as a head coach, for thinking outside the box. Those are the attributes that have made him a unique and successful coach.

» READ MORE: Coach Prime to the Sixers: ‘How bad do y’all want it?’

He led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title in his first year as an NBA head coach and had three postseason appearances. Nurse was the 2020 NBA coach of the year. He also won two NBA Development League championships and two British Basketball League titles before coaching in the NBA.

And it was perhaps his experiences overseas and in the D League that make him the perfect person to deal with the Sixers’ current situation.

“I always say my training has been in some obscure places, but it was basketball,” Nurse said. “... You are playing in England, the bus breaks down on you on the way to the game. What are you going to do? Well, you’ve got to find a way to get there and when the ball goes up, you’ve got to put a game plan together and compete.

“That’s the kind of synopsis of a lot of things that can happen. And you’ve still got to compete. You still have to go out there and do your job, man.”