After years of battling against Jaylen Brown, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse is looking forward to having the former Celtics star on his side, writes Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire. Nurse discussed the challenges of preparing for Brown and noted that it has become harder to game plan against him in recent years because he keeps improving.
“I think he’s super competitive,” Nurse said. “I think he’s won a lot. Obviously, he won a title. Finals MVP. I think he’s a two-way player. I think he’s versatile. Yeah, I think he’s right there, sitting in his prime. So I think it’s amazing that he’s going to be a Sixer.”
Philadelphia now has an abundance of offensive talent with Brown joining Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, but they tend to be high-usage players and it will be up to Nurse and his staff to make things work efficiently. Nurse sees it as a problem that he’s had to solve before.
“I mean, it’s probably a similar question that you’d have a year ago when we were healthy, right?” he said. “And I mean you guys are there every day, and you know we go through some little ups and downs of trying to get that figured out, and I think mostly the challenge comes is it changes. So, it’s been changing so much all the time. Like, there’s some nights where, I don’t know, let’s say VJ is a fourth option, and there’s nights when he’s the first option or separate, or whatever.”
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President of basketball operations Mike Gansey also discussed the Brown trade during a recent appearance on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia (YouTube link). Gansey explained that his pursuit started with a phone call to the Celtics to check on Brown’s availability after hearing rumors that he was on the market. “We kept talking to Boston for a couple weeks,” Gansey said. “Didn’t know if anything would really happen but kept talking to them and talking to them. Next thing you know, they wanted to do a deal. That’s kind of how it happened. It kind of came out of nowhere a little bit but kind of kept the conversation going. We got lucky and are excited to have Jaylen.”
Dean Wade, who joined the Sixers in free agency after spending the past seven years in Cleveland, believes he’s a perfect fit with his new team, per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). A defensive specialist at power forward, Wade should fill a valuable role on a team loaded with offense. “I’ve got to play with that little chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I love that competitive spirit, where it’s just whose will is going to outlast whose? That’s where I enjoy the defensive part of it. … You don’t want to let any of your teammates down. You know how important you are on the defensive end, and you’ve got to do your job so everyone else can do their job.”
In the wake of the Sixers’ offseason moves, Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron recommends trying to trade Embiid. He admits that Embiid’s contract might be the toughest in the league to move with three years and $187.9 million remaining, but suggests the Mavericks might be interested with P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson and Caleb Martin included in the return.