That applies to the Philadelphia 76ers as well, the team he coaches. Not us, as in the Toronto Raptors, the team he worked for the prior ten years—five as a bench boss and five as an assistant. He was responding to inquiries mostly concerning his ties with the team he led to its inaugural NBA title in 2019. In addition, it was not our senior men’s national team from Canada that won the World Cup this summer and qualified for the Olympics. Before the tournament, he and Canada Basketball parted ways after he coached them for four years. Nurse had to familiarize himself with his new professional role.

“Us” referred to many people. To be fair to him for resigning from his position with Canada Basketball, it’s not like his new position—which includes James Harden’s concentrated campaign of silent resignation—is an ordinary one.

Before the 76ers defeated the Raptors 114-107 on Saturday, Nurse stated that there is a lot going on during the first year of taking over a new team. Getting to know the players, hiring personnel, getting to know everyone in the organization, and getting to know the media involve a lot of moving parts. The first 14 months of my employment with the Raptors were, in my opinion, somewhat hectic.

That was kind of like that circumstance. A few weeks after Nurse was hired in Toronto, the Raptors added Kawhi Leonar, another erratic star, somewhat against Nurse’s wishes based on geography. At that time, Nurse had to work out a way to get along with Leonar. A few weeks after Nurse’s employment in Philadelphia, Harden requested a trade. Fortunately, things turned out well with the Raptors.

The nurse went on, “It added a few months to the summer, maybe.” I’m glad that in Philadelphia, I had a hunch about it.

That is Nurse’s off-court argument for why he is the best person to lead one of the more dysfunctional teams in modern NBA history during this specific period. This summer, a running joke in NBA circles was how uncomfortable 76ers presidents Daryl Morey and Harden are ready to get in order to obtain what they want. Nurse has, of course, experienced uncomfortable situations in the past—most notably while managing Leonard’s health issues and the chemistry-related worries of nearly every other player on that championship team.

Regarding his squad, Nurse remarked, “I simply don’t think that [the Harden scenario] influences them between the lines.” Do we really need to talk about it for a few minutes here and there? Perhaps a little bit here and there, perhaps every day? Yes, but it’s really not that much of a waste of time and effort—just a small amount.

It was uncomfortable in Toronto last year, too. Raptors president Masai Ujiri fired Nurse due to the awkward situation, and Darko Rajaković, a rookie head coach whose main selling point seems to be that he is not Nurse, took Nurse’s place. Nurse played his starting forty minutes a night if a victory in February was on the line, urged an extremely aggressive defense, and wasn’t always straightforward in his communications with players when things became tough. Rajaković has advocated for defense containment, a 10-man rotation, and frequent one-on-one talks. Ujiri noted that Nurse’s club from the previous season played with selfishness. Rajaković wants the Raptors this season to pass as much as they can.