No NBA team is more locked in to the hit songs than the Philadelphia 76ers, and that’s thanks to Nick Nurse.
Paul George is in his first season with the 76ers after spending the last five seasons with the Clippers. He is getting used to Nurse’s system, and during a recent podcast episode, George talked about his coach.
George talked on his “Podcast P with Paul George” show presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment for an episode published Monday about the adjustment. George has been blown away that Nurse has a personal DJ who handles the music for the team.
“Yeah, bro it’s different. It’s all different. His coaching philosophy, his environment that he creates. It’s crazy. We have a personal DJ that travels with the team and plays like [during practice] when we shoot free throws. So I love that you have to be locked into what’s going on. We’ll be doing practice and then this free throw song plays and right away you understand, all right, it’s time to shoot free throws. We could be doing five-on-five, we can be scrimmaging, going live but then this song comes on and it’s straight to free throws.
“It’s little cues to just keep you locked in and focused to what’s going on. Every team has maybe similar plays but different calls, different terminology and I’m still, it is crazy. I’m year 15 but I’m still like, alright, what do I do here? Or what are we doing here? Or what’s this called or what is this play? I’m reprogramming what it is with these certain plays. But man, Nick Nurse is awesome, bro. He’s really created a great environment to practice and get better and he’s a great leader man. He’s a great leader. I’ve been enjoying being a part of the Sixers organization man, with him being at the helm.”
The 76ers are in their second season under Nurse, who was a successful coach with the Toronto Raptors prior to being fired and joining Philly. The team made the playoffs last season but lost in the first round. They’re hoping to go further this season, though George is dealing with a knee injury already, and Joel Embiid isn’t looking to play a full load.
That DJ is going to be busy playing songs all season. Whether George and Embiid will be at the practices to hear them all remains to be seen.
