‘It’s totally been a village’: How ‘study hall’ sessions helped newcomers acclimate after the James Harden trade

Jaden Springer started with the ball at the top of the key following Wednesday’s 76ers shootaround, initiating a variety of cuts and passes run at half-speed before the ball eventually found Nicolas Batum for a three-pointer from the left corner.

Welcome to what coach Nick Nurse calls “study hall” for the newcomers who arrived from the Los Angeles Clippers in the blockbuster James Harden trade. It’s been a whirlwind week personally and professionally for Batum, Robert Covington, Marcus Morris and KJ Martin while aiming to quickly pick up their new team’s schemes and personnel tendencies. But swift acclimation — with the help of the Sixers’ robust player-development staff — put Batum and Covington in position to play critical fourth-quarter minutes in the Sixers’ marquee win over the Boston Celtics.

“They’ve been into it,” Nurse said of those new players. “They’ve wanted to stay. They’ve wanted to come in extra, all that stuff, to try to get up to speed. And they’ve done a good job. They’re not there yet, but they’re probably a little further along than I thought they’d be right now.”

Nurse acknowledged he wished this trade had occurred last month, giving those players a training camp with a first-year coaching staff already instilling a new playing style and philosophies for a Sixers team off to an impressive 6-1 start entering Friday’s game at the Detroit Pistons. Yet assistant Rico Hines, who is overseeing that implementation process as the head of the Sixers’ player-development program, told The Inquirer on Wednesday morning that the transition has been “seamless” so far.

Hines first gives credit to the experience and basketball IQs of the players acquired, who, with the exception of Martin, are veterans. They have also benefited from a schedule that placed the Sixers in the midst of a five-game home stand, providing extra time at the practice facility without travel. Reigning MVP Joel Embiid also attributes his team’s internal culture, which he describes as welcoming while simultaneously setting high expectations.

“No one has an ego on this team,” Embiid said following Wednesday’s win. “We’ve got new guys. We took them in. We got them up to speed. The fact that guys want to play with each other and they like being around each other, I think it helps a lot, too. Guys are unselfish.

“The ball is moving. No matter if the shots are going in or not, guys are just happy worrying about the right things — which is to win. That’s the only thing that matters, and that’s the only thing that should matter.”

When Batum, Covington, Morris and Martin first arrived at the Sixers’ facility last Wednesday, they received a film package containing basic schemes on both ends of the floor. Those players observed practice that afternoon while the trade was finalized following physicals.

At last Thursday’s shootaround prior to a win over the Toronto Raptors, assistants Coby Karl and Bobby Jackson directed Covington, Morris and Martin while walking through plays with Furkan Korkmaz and Mo Bamba (Batum was away from the team for about four days for personal reasons). They went through a post-practice scrimmage Friday, with Nurse, Embiid and standout guard Tyrese Maxey watching from the sideline. They came in for extra work Sunday, while the rest of the team was off. Another Tuesday scrimmage was sandwiched by Monday’s and Wednesday’s victories over the Washington Wizards and Celtics, respectively. In between those workouts, conversations with teammates and personalized film sessions with player-development coaches were designed to foster comfort and confidence.

Entering Wednesday’s game, Nurse estimated those newcomers had completed about nine of those extra “study sessions,” which can be methodical and monotonous but create muscle memory.

“It’s not that much fun to do that all the time,” Nurse said. “Five-on-zero gets old pretty fast, so they’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

Added Martin: “Repetition becomes habit, especially for me. Just running through it over and over again, that’s how it sticks in my head a little bit easier.”

» READ MORE: Sixers’ new depth, new coach, and gritty defense was obvious in win over the Celtics

This rapid integration is a bit of a callback to Nurse’s fluctuating rosters while coaching in the G League, though he joked following the trade that, at that level, the players acquired would be immediately thrust into the starting lineup.

Instead, the Sixers’ staff first wanted to observe conditioning levels, especially since Morris was away from the Clippers during training camp because of personal reasons. Basketball-wise, they began with a simplified package of “NBA commonality sets,” Nurse said, and defensive rotation schemes those players probably ran with previous teams.

An example: A “zipper” out-of-bounds action, featuring a down screen that can free up outside shooters or isolate a post player on the block.

“You can’t give them a million things, because they won’t remember any of it,” Nurse said. “You’ve just got to try to start with the basics so they can function on the floor as quick as possible, and then just kind of ease them in as you go. … The menu that we’re giving them’s growing pretty quick.”

Nurse now estimates those players have been exposed to about 60 or 70% of the Sixers’ playbook. Subtle in-game strategy, such as having a new player deliver the inbounds pass, can help ease current responsibility. And though terminology is often cited as the biggest adjustment for players who change teams, Martin called Nurse’s schemes arguably the “simplest” he has had from an NBA coach.

“Pick-and-roll terminology is ‘weak’ or ‘strong,’” said Martin. “We’re going to keep it one direction, or the other direction. The Clippers did it a little bit different. It was a little more complex. But here, Nurse keeps it pretty simple. Which is easier for us to, not even just understand, [but] in the game, we’re doing it this way or [that] way. There’s no in between.”

Added Hines: “It’s not like we’re Dr. James Naismith and trying to reinvent basketball. The NBA is a copycat league. Everybody pretty much does the same thing. We just name it a little bit different.”

» READ MORE: James Harden’s Clippers debut at Madison Square Garden draws an audible exhale

By Saturday, those players began filtering into the in-game rotation, giving Nurse plenty to evaluate with a now-crowded wing group. Covington played meaningful minutes in a victory against the Phoenix Suns, recording four rebounds, two steals and one block while spending time guarding superstar Kevin Durant. Two days later, Morris and Batum, who went 3-of-4 from three-point range, saw action against the Washington Wizards. Against the Celtics, Batum and Covington each played six fourth-quarter minutes and finished the game with five points.

Naturally, there have been slip-ups along the way. On one play during Wednesday’s post-shootaround session, for instance, Batum and Covington nearly ran into each other (or at least would have crowded the same space on the left side of the court). Though Batum said he felt “pretty good” about those offensive sets that morning, he suddenly felt “lost” hours later against the Celtics because “during the game, it’s so different.”

“I’m still in the learning process,” Batum said. " ... I try to make no mistake on defense, because defense is just effort.”

Still, Nurse felt comfortable putting Batum on the court in crunch time — thanks to those study hall sessions fueling his ability to swiftly acclimate.

“It’s totally been a village in here,” Hines added, “with everybody helping [those players] get accustomed to whatever we’re trying to get accomplished. We’ve got a big picture in mind, and that’s what we’re trying to do. Just get a little better every day. Those guys see that. They feel that.”