In the immediate hours following the Philadelphia 76ers‘ season finale, an assortment of players made their way to the podium to address the media and give their exit interviews. Following the players, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and Head Coach Nick Nurse took to the podium to discuss the direction of the franchise.
The first question on the minds of many fans was whether or not Nurse and Morey would return to the team next season, especially given the volatile state of the head coach and front office job market right now.
It didn’t take long into Morey’s end-of-season report to answer what would be considered the biggest question of the Sixers’ offseason if it wasn’t for several other titan-level questions surrounding the team and their future.
After touching on where the season went wrong, Morey knocked down the first domino of the Sixers’ offseason:
“Coach Nurse and myself will be back, but we’re going to, with Elton Brand and ownership, assess everything and where we can get better. We owe that to the fans. We owe that to really everyone who cares so much about this team, [those] who stuck with us through this. And I want to thank the fans that have stuck with us. It is amazing, the support we get, even in a very tough season like this.”
Do Nurse and Morey deserve to stay?
The return of Morey and Nurse is not an entire shock. While the argument could be made to relieve one or both of their duties, one can make a just as convincing list of reasons why the two should remain in place.
Excuses regarding the team’s various injuries are tiresome, and there were warning signs well before signing Paul George and extending Joel Embiid that injuries would be a potential concern. Still, there is some credit to give to balance out the negatives of the year.
The acquisition of Quentin Grimes is one of the first things many, including Daryl Morey himself, point to when acknowledging what went right this year from a decision-making standpoint. To the credit of Nick Nurse, he has encouraged Grimes to return to his point guard roots—Grimes was a point guard in high school, which helped elevate his play to the shocking level we saw after the trade.
The acquisition of rookies Jared McCain, Adem Bona, and Justin Edwards is a credit to Morey, and their development is a partial credit to Nurse—we cannot forget to credit the players themselves for seizing the opportunity as well.
The ability to keep the team from imploding, although it came close several times—including the occasional pointed comment in the exit interviews, is another credit to Nick Nurse, with special mention to Tyrese Maxey as well, who many veterans praised for his leadership ability in their own exit interviews.
The only path is forward
While some fans will likely linger on claims that the team should have moved on from one or both, Nurse and Morey—along with the rest of the team’s collective front-office mind—are focused on the future, looking to take what lessons from this year they can before putting this season behind them.
Without a playoff berth, they will have longer this year than most to re-evaluate their path.
