Welcome to Sixers training camp, where ‘the ball wins’ and the Bahamas are a perfect backdrop

NASSAU, Bahamas — A steady blast of air conditioning to counteract the glasses-fogging humidity still present in October forced many 76ers staffers into sweatpants at the team’s first training camp practice at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort.

And a handful of them, ranging from assistant coach Bobby Jackson to dietitian Emily Werner, wore black hoodies featuring one simple message: The ball wins.

“Good eye,” coach Nick Nurse said when asked about the attire following that first team workout Tuesday afternoon.

It’s a motto the Sixers are carrying into a high-profile season, and applies to both ends of the floor. It means valuing every possession when the Sixers have the ball — a.k.a. limiting turnovers. And on the defensive side, it means creating more possessions by forcing turnovers and rebounding.

» READ MORE: The Sixers are determined to keep Joel Embiid healthy — and that process starts now

“If the other team has the ball, I want it,” said veteran wing Kelly Oubre Jr., who boasts the long arms and athleticism to cause havoc along the perimeter. “I want to take it from them. If they shoot the ball and they miss, I want it. I want to get a rebound. And if we have the ball. We have to value that because the ball wins.

“There’s more nuances to that slogan, but it’s self-explanatory. Coach is implementing that the ball wins, because we have to cherish the ball and go get it if the other team has it.”

These tasks are hallmarks of Nurse’s aggressive style — fueled by pressuring ballhandlers and pushing the pace in the open floor — that he brought into his first Sixers season in 2023-24.

The team ranked in the NBA’s top five in fewest turnovers committed (second, an average of 12 per game) and forced turnovers (fourth, 14.6) during the regular season, along with third in points off turnovers (17.7), fourth in deflections (16.2), and fifth in fast-break points (15.8). But the Sixers also ranked 20th in the league in rebounding (43 per game), a number that could rise with a healthy season from superstar center Joel Embiid and the return of Andre Drummond.

During his first Sixers training camp, Nurse talked about needing to use station work to break down defensive fundamentals. Did he need to go that far down to the studs again this year?

To an extent, yes, given that there are eight new Sixers on the roster. Coaches “kind of [threw] a lot of information at them” during a Monday night meeting. But as Tuesday’s practice progressed from those drills to four-on-four work to scrimmaging, Nurse and Oubre said they felt the high tempo.

“You just want to expend a lot of that energy everybody’s had,” Nurse said. “And you do a lot of fast-paced stuff today, a lot of defensive transition stuff today, as well. We got a lot accomplished in a few hours.”

Added Oubre: “It’s very intense, very fast-paced, and very energetic.”

Atlantis certainly is one of the more unusual training-camp environments.

The multi-hotel beachside resort features amenities from a casino to a pool where one can swim with dolphins to a water slide in a structure shaped like a temple. And because it is the Bahamas’ offseason, the property is fairly desolate as far as visitors.

Nurse did not choose this Caribbean locale but said it has “been on the table for a few years, I think, with the Sixers organization.”

“Once I made the bold move to go to [Fort Collins] Colorado last year — which was awesome,” Nurse said, “… they wanted to get this Bahamas one in. So that’s why we’re here. Happy to be here, though. [It’s] very nice.”

» READ MORE: The Sixers are determined to keep Joel Embiid healthy — and that process starts now

Atlantis also is familiar with hosting high-level basketball activities, as evidenced by advertisements for the late-November Battle 4 Atlantis men’s and women’s college tournaments already peppered throughout the resort. That event takes place in the same ballroom where the Sixers are holding practices this week. Tucked away in the convention center portion of the resort, it features plenty of space for two full-length courts along with strength and conditioning and training areas.

“Got everything we need,” Nurse said. “Facilities are great.”

Perhaps the most surprising participant in Tuesday’s post-practice long-range shooting? Drummond, who swished a handful of three-pointers from the top of the key alongside Guerschon Yabusele.

Drummond is not exactly known as a stretch-5. He has gone 15-for-120 from beyond the arc in his 12-year NBA career. He took a grand total of three deep shots last season with the Chicago Bulls, and two in 49 games with the Sixers in 2021-22. He has not made a three-point attempt since the 2019-20 season he split between the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers.

And yet …

“If you see me shooting, it’s for a reason,” Drummond said. “It’s not for any other reason besides I was told to [by the coaches]. But my job, first and foremost, is to be a defensive stopper, get rebounds, block shots, get out on the break, and finish strong in the paint.

“If there’s a time where I do get out there and shoot that shot, I feel comfortable shooting it.”

Oubre on Tyrese Maxey: “Tyrese is dunking. That’s what’s different, also. He came back dunking. Tomahawks, and all types of stuff.”