76ers Rumors: Joel Embiid, Morey Played 'Significant Part' in Nick Nurse Joining PHI

There was no shortage of suitors for Nick Nurse in this year's NBA coaching cycle.

But the perfect match of talent and familiarity made the Philadelphia 76ers a can't-miss opportunity for the former Toronto Raptors coach.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the opportunity to work with the reigning league MVP Joel Embiid as well as Nurse's familiarity with team president Daryl Morey played a big role in helping the Sixers stand out.

Wojnarowski also reported that Nurse ultimately chose Philadelphia over the Phoenix Suns, who fired coach Monty Williams on May 13 and who were in contact with Nurse's agent leading up to the decision.

Having coached the Raptors for five seasons, Nurse is extremely familiar with the 76ers' roster and especially how dominant Embiid can be.

Embiid is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 33.1 points per game to go along with 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

The 2020 Coach of the Year, Nurse also has a fairly good relationship and history with Morey, whom he worked with while he was the coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the G League affiliate of the Houston Rockets.

Morey was the Rockets general manger from 2007-2020.

Nurse will inherit of the league's more talented rosters and will try to get it over the hump as Philadelphia hasn't reached the conference finals since the 2000-01 season. It failed to make it past the second round in each of the past three campaigns under Doc Rivers, who was let go on May 16 after the team's Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics.

Philadelphia fans will remember that Nurse was the architect of the 76ers' demise in 2019 as they lost to the Raptors on Kawhi Leonard's miraculous buzzer-beater.

Nurse won a championship with the Raptors in 2019 but was fired after this season when the team failed to make the playoffs and the relationship between the two parties began to sour.