76ers hire former Raptors coach Nick Nurse, AP source says
PHILADELPHIA -
The Philadelphia 76ers went all-in with their NBA championship pursuit on Monday, selecting veteran Nick Nurse as their new coach to try to win the franchise's first title since 1983.
The 76ers hired the 55-year-old Nurse following his exit last month from Toronto Raptors, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the move.
Nurse led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA championship after they beat Joel Embiid and the 76ers in Game 7 of the the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Nurse will replace Doc Rivers, who was fired after he led the 76ers to their second straight 50-win season behind NBA MVP Embiid but again failed to lead them to the Eastern Conference finals.
The 76ers held a 3-2 semifinals series lead against Boston before dropping Game 6 at home and were crushed in Game 7 on the road.
The 76ers still have to decide if they will try to bring back veteran James Harden, but making a move for a championship-winning coach like Nurse shows the franchise is still all in as it goes for its first title in 40 years.
Nurse went 227-163 in his five seasons as coach in Toronto, where his .582 winning percentage ranks as the best of any coach in Raptors history. He also spent five years as an assistant to former Raptors coach Dwane Casey before taking over the top job.
Nurse played at Northern Iowa, then started his coaching career there as an assistant. He wound up becoming a head coach at Grand View University when he was just 23. He coached in Belgium and Britain -- winning a pair of British Basketball League titles as a coach in Birmingham in 1996 and London in 2000 -- then got a couple of titles in what is now called the G League.
The second G League crown with Houston's team got Nurse noticed, with the Raptors calling because they wanted to talk to him about offence. They ended up hiring him as an assistant, and he'd been with Toronto ever since.
The Raptors finished 41-41 this season before losing at home to the Chicago Bulls in the play-in round of the postseason.
Sixers president Daryl Morey continues to build the team around his old Houston Rockets connections. Besides Harden -- and others -- Nurse coached Houston's G League-affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers for two seasons while Morey was in charge. Nurse won the G-League title in 2013 before moving on to a successful NBA career. He also won the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year award.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Nearly half of Canadians have no plans to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
A new survey found that 48 per cent of Canadians say they won’t be taking any specific action to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
'Stories of resilience and survival': Indigenous-led tourism is one way to support communities in Canada
A growing number of businesses popping up across Canada are offering unique experiences that invite tourists to dive into the history, language and culture of Indigenous communities.
What do Indigenous Peoples across Canada really need and want?
The federal Liberal government has made a lot of promises to Indigenous Peoples. But do those promises line up with what communities on the ground really want and need, or reflect their diversity?
Canada’s greenhouse gas emission up 2.3 per cent from last year due to oil and gas production, cold winter: report
New data from the Canadian Climate Institute shows that emissions from the oil and gas industry and buildings continued to climb in the previous year, undercutting Canada's overall emissions reduction progress.
The Dianne Feinstein they knew: Women of the Senate remember a tireless fighter and a true friend
When Washington Sen. Patty Murray received a call early Friday morning that Sen. Dianne Feinstein had died, she immediately started calling her fellow female senators.
On the brink of a government shutdown, the Senate tries to approve funding but it's almost too late
The United States is on the brink of a federal government shutdown after hard-right Republicans in Congress rejected a longshot effort to keep offices open as they fight for steep spending cuts and strict border security measures that Democrats and the White House say are too extreme.
Here's how a U.S. government shutdown could impact Canadians
Economists warn both Canada's economy and individual Canadians could suffer from impacts of a U.S. government shutdown, and that those impacts will deepen and broaden the longer it lasts.
Toronto family shocked they have to rip out $20K synthetic grass putting green
A Scarborough family said they were shocked to get a notice from the City of Toronto that the artificial grass in their backyard, including a putting green, will have to be ripped out.
Walking just this much more per day can lower your blood pressure: study
A new study finds walking an additional 3,000 steps per day can significantly reduce high blood pressure in older adults with hypertension.
Politics
-
Defence minister insists $1B spending reduction is not a budget cut
The country's top soldier and outside experts say that finding almost $1 billion in savings in the Department of National Defence budget will affect the Armed Forces' capabilities, although the defence minister insisted Friday the budget is not being cut.
-
CRTC sets threshold for online streaming services subject to Bill C-11
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has set a threshold that determines which online streaming services will be subject to new rules arising from the Online Streaming Act, formerly known as Bill C-11.
-
Blinken on Canada-India rift: 'Those responsible must be held accountable'
America's top diplomat is again urging India and Canada to work together on bringing Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killers to justice -- and hopefully forestall a deepening of a serious geopolitical rift between two important allies.
Health
-
Walking just this much more per day can lower your blood pressure: study
A new study finds walking an additional 3,000 steps per day can significantly reduce high blood pressure in older adults with hypertension.
-
Food insecurity among Indigenous kids is a 'public health crisis,' doctors say
Rising food prices have put 'an even bigger burden on families who were struggling before,' said the doctor, who is a member of Lax Kw'alaams First Nation on her father's side and Metis on her mother's side.
-
Some hospitals are bringing back masking - and the general public should consider it this fall too, experts say
Some hospitals are instigating stricter masking rules again amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases, and although we’ve probably seen the end of broad masking mandates, some experts say the general public should also be making more use of this tool in our arsenal of measures to fight illness.
Sci-Tech
-
Scientists have observed antimatter free-falling due to gravity for the first time
For the first time, an international team of scientists have directly observed that antimatter – the mysterious counterpart to ordinary matter – free-falls under gravity, answering a question which has been the subject of endless speculation among the scientific community.
-
Man arrested in killing of Baltimore tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere was released from prison in 2022
The man arrested Thursday in the killing of a Baltimore tech entrepreneur was released from prison last year after serving a shortened sentence for a 2013 rape and was suspected in another rape days before the slaying last week, police said.
-
Endangered red wolf can make it in the wild, but not without `significant' help, study says
The endangered red wolf can survive in the wild, but only with "significant additional management intervention," according to a long-awaited population viability analysis released Friday.
Entertainment
-
An arrest has been made in Tupac Shakur's killing. Here's what we know about the case and the rapper
An arrest has been made in Tupac Shakur's killing, here's what to know about one of the most infamous fatal shootings in hip-hop history.
-
As China censors homegrown feminism, a feminist scholar from Japan is on its bestseller lists
In the last few years, China's government has promoted increasingly conservative social values, encouraging women to focus on raising children. It has cracked down on civil society movements and made laws to drive out foreign influence.
-
Thriving NFL benefits most from Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship
The NFL didn't need a popularity boost before Travis Kelce became enchanted with Taylor Swift. They'll gladly welcome millions of Swifties to watch this love story unfold.
