CAMDEN, N.J. — After being fired by the Toronto Raptors, Nick Nurse took the Philadelphia 76ers' head coaching job. No coaching vacancy offers the perfect opportunity but Nurse, after some huge efforts from the Sixers, decided he wanted to take a stab at it instead of taking the job with other playoff teams.

The task ahead of Nurse is to figure out a way to turn Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and a decent-to-good supporting cast of players into a championship contender. He doesn’t even know if his veteran star guard, James Harden, will be there or not. The latest NBA rumors suggest Nurse should want him to stay away, though he is preparing for both scenarios.

Going by the reviews Nick Nurse got from Sixers players at the team's media day, the team believes he can get the most out of the roster.

When asked why the Sixers could compete with the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics — teams already projected to be better than the Sixers that recently just added an All-Star guard via trade — Maxey pointed to Nurse, in whom he said he has the “ultimate faith.”

“One, we have the MVP. We have a really good coach. I feel like we have the pieces around our MVP to be competitive. And I feel like guys are gonna step up, myself included,” Maxey said, adding that he believes Nurse will implement “a great system.”

That system will be different than what we saw when Nurse was the head coach of the Raptors, though. P.J. Tucker, whose half-season with the 2016-17 Raptors overlapped with Nurse's time as an assistant on Dwane Casey's staff, explained that the coach isn’t one to stick players in predetermined, cookie-cutter roles.

“He's very good at having different kinds of energies around different teams,” Tucker said. “I think his Toronto teams, if you look at them, I think he runs an offense that benefits his players. He does things that benefit his teams. It's not like having a system and just plugging people [in]. I feel like he does what he can to make his players look good and be successful. He's a players' coach.”

Embiid said that it was fun going against Nurse, who “threw everything” at him trying to stop him. In conversations with his new coach, Embiid said, Nurse revealed his thinking to him on the many tactics he used against him. That insight gave Embiid a greater understanding of what defenses look to do to slow him down. “So just from those conversations, I've already learned a lot,” the Sixers superstar said.

Nurse may be an advantage for the Sixers not just in what he brings to the table but in the uncertain competition he faces in the Eastern Conference coaching picture. The Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra is the cream of the crop but the Bucks are bringing in a rookie head coach in Adrian Griffin (one of Nurse's assistants from Toronto) and while Boston's Joe Mazzulla pulled the two-big-starting-lineup lever that helped sink Philly in last year's playoffs, his decisions were highly questionable at times.

Obviously, a coach can only do so much. Nurse may have Embiid and Maxey but the primary five-man groups from the Sixers' main rivals seem much, much scarier. The players he has at his disposal see someone who won’t let that get to him, someone who will try everything and embrace the individuality of each player to raise the level of the collective group.

Before media day, Danny Green revealed that Nurse was a massive reason that he wanted to join the Sixers. The familiarity he has with him and with Philly’s roster made them an appealing destination. Green said that he played his best basketball under Nurse and that he “highly” expects that multiple teammates will have career years in 2023-24.

De'Anthony Melton, a Sixers guard who has a knack for taking on various defensive assignments and making plays on that end of the floor, couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what Nurse could do when he was asked about him.

“I'm so excited just to see what he comes up with, his defensive schemes and just seeing where his mind is at,” Melton said. “Me and Nick Nurse have had several conversations about what I can bring to the table and stuff like that. I'm excited. I can't wait to get out there. I think he understands my business capabilities and I think he definitely wants to maximize those, too.”

Nick Nurse doesn’t have his rotation set and said that playing time is up for grabs, particularly on the wing. That’s surely music to the ears of Danuel House Jr., a wild card on the court whose unpredictability was used by the Sixers' last coach, Doc Rivers, when Philly needed it in the playoffs. But his chaos-inducing style of play is likely what held him on the bench for most of the year.

“I love his energy. I love everything about him. He wants you to play with courage,” House said of Nurse. “He wants you to get outside. Yes, everyone's a basketball player but you ain’t gotta be scripted. Like, [just] play basketball. And he's willing to live with mistakes and growth as long as you’re showing growth and hustle.”

The Sixers were an attractive free-agent destination for Mo Bamba, who is a friend and a mentoree of Embiid. Nurse was a big factor, too. Bamba explained this summer that Nurse's pairing of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka during the Raptors' championship run showed him the type of two-big lineup that he yearns to play in.

“One thing that was really attractive in free agency more so than any other team is Coach Nurse's track history of playing two bigs together,” Bamba said. “I know in Toronto, even last year, they had a bunch of bigs that play both out on the perimeter and around the rim. He's a mastermind in trying to put out as much different looks and being creative out there.”

Furkan Korkmaz will look to get back into the Sixers rotation under Nurse. Even though he didn’t play a major role in Philly's many battles with Toronto over the years, they gave him a front-row seat to Nurse's tactical expertise.

“It wasn’t ever fun playing against him,” Korkmaz said. “He has all different types of tricks. I think this is gonna be a new opportunity for most of us, especially coming from the last two years. I'm so excited for him, for this organization…I think he's gonna change a lot of stuff but at the same time, it's gonna be more fun. I think more pace on the court and then I think I'm gonna be also seeing the benefits from him.”

Nurse has made serious efforts to connect with his Sixers players, going so far as coaching some of their Summer League games. Jaden Springer, one of the five players from the summer Sixers who is currently signed to the team, said he gained a lot of respect for Nurse for doing that. Other young players feel the same way. Ricky Council IV said that Nurse and assistant coach Toure' Murry have helped him work on his jumper. Azuolas Tubelis said his comfort grew each day with Nurse and his coaching staff.

On the flip side, Nurse's aggressive tactics had the tendency to wear players out in Toronto. The Raptors' front office wasn't pleased with the development of the young players and didn’t like seeing other players' roles change frequently. While Nurse was hamstrung by the lackluster rosters Toronto gave him in the final few years of his tenure, he didn’t seem to end it on the best terms with the team brass and some players. But that's not to say he left Canada without any supporters. Fred VanVleet can attest to that.

The Sixers may eventually be worn down by Nick Nurse's coaching style. But right now, a swift kick in the butt is precisely what they need. Nurse's creativity and immense passion for the game could get Philly in the right mindset to believe it can compete with and execute better than any team they face.