Green and Nurse have been reunited in Philadelphia
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It took Danny Green nearly three years to get his championship ring from the Raptors and a welcome back from Toronto fans, so maybe it’s not a surprise that he initially thought that the Raptors had forgotten to do a tribute for Nick Nurse on Saturday night.
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“I wasn’t sure what was gonna happen. I was expecting to see a video maybe. Maybe it was too soon to get one in the works,” Green told Postmedia after his Philadelphia 76ers beat his former squad the Raptors. Told the video tribute did in fact take place, Green laughed and said he missed it. The truth is Nurse did too, the Sixers were strategizing at the time, but both couldn’t miss the standing ovation given to Nurse after the video concluded.
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“They did give a warm welcome. And obviously he didn’t care to celebrate it too much, he was more likely trying to win the game,” Green said of Nurse, his coach for a second time in his 15-season career. “But you know he deserved it. You gotta love that. (That the fans showed) so much love, especially in a city he spent 10 years,” Green said, adding, “I gotta see (the video).”
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Green has won titles with three different teams, including one with the Raptors, in a season that saw him average 10.3 points on a career best 45.5% shooting from beyond the three point arc. He then left for the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent, before ending up in Philadelphia for two seasons and then Memphis and Cleveland as he tried to work his way back from injury.
Green has seen just about everything during his time in the NBA, so he said Nurse’s firing by the Raptors after last season wasn’t a big shock, even though Nurse had led the Raptors to that championship in 2019.
“You know, things happen. A lot of things,” Green told Postmedia in the Sixers locker room. “Not much surprises me in this league anymore. But it is a little bit surprising. But he’s a great coach. You see great coaches like that they bounce back quickly.”
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And to that point, Nurse was in demand for several jobs. But instead of coaching Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in Milwaukee, his former lead assistant Adrian Griffin has that job. Instead of coaching Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal in Phoenix, he’s in a more complicated situation with the Sixers.
Nurse seems pleased with where he’s at though.
“It’s pretty refreshing. I think it’s been good it’s been energizing for me,” he said before the game of his new start. “It’s all new everything. There’s always a lot more work to getting that all situated, but always a lot of excitement too.”
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Originally posted 2023-10-29 12:42:23.
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