Sixers’ Paul Reed Prescribed Nurse’s Pill This Offseason

Nick Nurse has focused strongly on Paul Reed's development this offseason.

Before he was coaching in the NBA, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse had gained plenty of experience working in player development.

Whether it’s coaching a team overseas, coaching an NBA team’s affiliate in the G League, or simply running training sessions for players who want to improve their game, Nurse made a name for himself in the hoops world before he took over as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors in 2018.

While he’s at a higher level these days, with an NBA title under his belt and five years of head coaching experience as he enters his sixth season to begin a new era with the 76ers, Nurse still likes to apply his early shooting lessons for his players at the highest level of the game.

Sixers center Paul Reed hopes to have an increased workload this season.  / USA Today

Recently, Paul Reed was prescribed the “Nurse’s Pill,” the name of the specialized ball that the head coach would use for training sessions.

Meeting with reporters several times this offseason, Reed has done a lot of promotion for his incoming improvements entering the 2023-2024 season. 

After a decent playoff run in 2023, which included two starts in place of the injured MVP, Joel Embiid, Reed returned to the Sixers on a brand new three-year deal, which is worth over $20 million. 

Investing some significant cash into the fourth-year center, the Sixers clearly see legitimate potential in Reed. According to the young veteran, Nurse has put him to work from the jump.

“I feel like since the first day, he’s been very hands-on,” Reed told reporters this week, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Noah Levick. “I feel like he already knew what he wanted to work with me on. He let me know that from the first day. He wants me to shoot. He wants to make sure my form is straight, and he worked with me personally on that. It’s been amazing.”

The changeover from Doc Rivers to Nick Nurse has been a smooth transition so far for Reed. During his first three runs in the NBA, Reed had a short leash. Not only did he possess an inconsistent role in each season under Rivers, but Reed was also encouraged to focus solely on defense and rebounding. 

The frequent message Rivers would send to reporters regarding Reed would be that he’s not worried about the former second-rounder’s scoring.

Nurse, on the other hand, leads Reed to believe he sees the situation differently. Knowing that Reed works on every area of his game, including shooting from all areas of the floor, the new Sixers head coach seems to have an interest in making sure Reed fine-tunes skillset in under-utilized areas of his game rather than avoiding them altogether.

Reed called his role doing the “dirty work” last season under Rivers. While he’s clearly looking to turn up the volume on his shooting this season, the mindset of putting the team first surely hasn’t faded for the fourth-year front-court hybrid.

“I’ve just been focusing on ways that I can get better for the team,” Reed added, per Levick. “I understand that I’m about to come in and play a different role this upcoming season. I understand that my role is expanding, so I’ve been working on whatever the team needs me to do, which is spacing the floor, playing defense, getting rebounds. Just making sure that I stay in tip-top shape, and trying to be extremely coachable as well.” 

Recently, Nurse touched on his plans for Reed during a sit-down on the ‘Pat Bev Pod.’ Noting that he loves Reed’s game, the head coach credited the young veteran for his work ethic and teased an increased role for the upcoming season. 

“He’s had a great summer,” Nurse said on the podcast. “I mean, amazing. He’s really worked. From the moment I got the job, he got in the shooting program, and he’s been on it. He’s in shape. … He’s gonna be out there playing hard. He’s gonna be defending. He’s gonna be doing probably more than he’s done before. I think he’s ready to take a step up. He can play.”

Gunning for a potential position in the Sixers’ starting lineup, Reed is more motivated than ever to earn every dollar he signed for when the Sixers and the Utah Jazz offered up contracts for his services. With the hands-on help from Nurse and the pill, Reed could be in for a notable jump in production this season.