Nurse ready for new 76ers era: 'I don't vibrate on the frequency of the past'

Recently hired Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse spoke of beginning a brand new era for the franchise at his introductory press conference on Thursday.

While discussing taking over an organization with a laundry list of postseason disappointments in recent seasons, Nurse told reporters including ESPN's Tim Bontemps, "I don't vibrate on the frequency of the past."

The 76ers won at least 62% of their games in five of the last six seasons but fell in the second round in every one of those campaigns. This year's 54 wins marked the team's best output in over two decades, but Philadelphia blew a 3-2 lead and fell to the Boston Celtics in the second round.

Nurse also drew parallels from taking over the Toronto Raptors in 2018. The team had five straight playoff appearances fall short of the title round before he arrived, and they won the franchise's first NBA championship in his first season as head coach.

With that in mind, Nurse still has confidence in the current roster led by 2023 Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, adding that he thought the 76ers "could be playing tonight" in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

For the 76ers to remain mostly intact from the prior season, they will likely need to retain point guard James Harden in free agency, as the veteran is bound to reject his player option this summer.

Though Nurse didn't get into details about Harden's status, he did say he would be "very happy" if the former MVP came back, according to Philadelphia Sports Network's Sean Barnard.