What Can Nick Nurse Take from Team USA and Apply to the Sixers' New Big Three?

July 23, 2024, was a whirlwind of a day for Nick Nurse.

In the morning, he sat front row at Paul George’s introductory press conference.

Hours later, he stepped onto a flight for France, the 2024 Olympic games in Paris slated to begin.

For a hoops junkie charged with steering an NBA ship, the Olympics offer an opportunity to do a number of things: catch up with friends in the basketball community at a global level; observe the best team of Americanized players Grant Hill and company could assemble at work; and maybe even envision what his new-look Sixers could look like on the court, Joel Embiid slated to play alongside stars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and others.

Earlier that Tuesday, he couldn’t guarantee what the symphony of Embiid, George, and Tyrese Maxey would sound like on a basketball court. But, he was in the process of writing the sheet music, the notes to be played at a later date.

“I think it’s helped a lot by the 1-3-5 thing, right? Joel and Tyrese, they’re bookends, and then Paul slots right in the middle of that for sure. I think that my mindset right now is that most of my ideas are going in in pencil. I’ve got some thoughts on things, but I really do think that we’ll experiment and try a bunch of different things,” Nurse told reporters of his approach to scheming with the new star trio just a few minutes before George was introduced. 

“I think that what we go into training camp running schematically, both sides of the ball, will take some twists and turns and evolve to where it gets to by the end of the year. So, I just kind of want to see how it looks and unfolds without trying to make it too narrow of a box than we think that it’s going to be. I just think that, listen, I want guys to read and make the right plays, right?”

Perhaps Embiid playing for Team USA couldn’t serve as a perfect prelude to what would go into Nurse’s toolbox with the Sixers. But, it could serve as a proxy for a team armed with the supporting starpower of Maxey and George.

Some of the ideas might be crumpled up and thrown away anyway, as Nurse likes to say, but at least he’d have a head start on envisioning what his made over roster could do.

Basic three-man actions

Embiid played the majority of his Olympic minutes next to Curry and James. Steve Kerr utilized the three stars in actions together often, using Embiid’s size, Curry’s gravity, and James’, well, everything to create pockets of space with ease.

Chicago action was something of a staple, James setting down screens for Curry to curl from the corner and toward the ball, sprinting around the arc and to Embiid to receive a DHO, catalyzing the play:

James has already forced Serbia to make some defensive decisions with his screen by the time the clip above starts. But, Embiid puts the ball right in Curry’s gut and holds the screen just long enough to free the ball-handler. A snake and a couple of shot fakes later, USA is within nine points.

Nurse could invert that action in what is known as Miami. In that case, the DHO occurs in the corner, the ball-handler flowing into a ball screen somewhere between the wing and the top of the key.

Floppy is another basic action that USA frequented on its way to the gold. Two screeners would set up on either side of the lane - sometimes as low as the blocks - and lay obstacle to Curry’s defender as the sniper sprinted to the strong side of the floor and curled for a catch:

This action often yields a good look from three for the world’s greatest shooter. If one of the screeners’ defenders sells out to help on Curry, you get a catch-and-dump-off, like in the clip above.

More complex actions

USA involved Embiid in some more complex actions, too. The level of complexity doesn’t have to be qualified by how difficult it is to follow what’s unfolding in real time. Speed of execution, layers involved, and the degree to which the ball changes direction on the floor also matter.

You can take Kerr and Curry out of Golden State. But, as long as they’re together, Split action will travel wherever they go. Split was a devastating staple of the Warriors’ dynasty, and USA never had to dig too deep into the playbook to get Curry an open jumper:

In a traditional Split, the ball would be entered into the post to catalyze the action. In this case, while James isn’t really facing the basket, he’s not posting up, either. Nonetheless, Embiid enters the ball to him and then screens away for Curry. James and Embiid serve as the uprights, all Curry has to do is split the uprights for the field goal to be good.

Pistol action is its own series in any coach’s playbook. It’s complex because it’s quick and can spawn in different forms each time down the court. This nasty Pistol Flare against Brazil was my personal favorite action USA ran throughout its Olympic run:

Embiid’s prowess as a shooter allows USA to invert this action. Rather than have the big set a flare screen for the guard, Jrue Holiday sets one for Embiid. As Embiid flares, Holiday merely taps his defender on the back as he cuts hard to the basket for a feed from James.

Like I said, nasty.

Complexity can also be judged by how the action creates leverage for the offense. Put another way, does the action put defenses in compromising positions?

USA treated itself to a steady diet of James-Curry Ghost actions. As Curry heated up in the gold medal game against France, one Ghost action stood out:

Embiid decides to complicate matters for France by stretching Rudy Gobert out to the strong-side corner. Not only does he take the rim-protector away from the basket, but he forces Gobert to pick his poison when the Ghost screen comes. Curry fakes the ball screen and juts out to the wing. France is too slow to react, leaving Gobert to make a decision. If he stays along the baseline, Curry gets an open catch-and-shoot three. If he helps on Curry, Embiid is left open. If he closes out too hard on Curry, it’s likely a fake and reset or paint attack.

Maybe not nasty, but sure is mean.

It wouldn’t be international hoops without some Spain pick-and-roll. USA rolled out this funny-looking one against Serbia:

It would be pretty generous to call what Curry does here a ball screen. A more honest depiction would be that he cut uphill to bait his defender into doubling James. From there, Embiid is in position to back screen for Curry. I say “in position to” because, well, that wasn’t exactly the world’s best back screen, either.

Other actions

It was pretty surprising that USA didn’t make more of an effort to use Embiid in Iverson actions with Curry. Iverson involves running a shooter or secondary ball-handler off staggered screens at the two elbows. The target of the action is moving from one wing to the other wing, parallel to the baseline.

The current Sixers regime has been running it for years. When you consider the namesake of the action, it’s been in Philadelphia basketball for decades. It was a staple of the offense when Seth Curry was with the Sixers.

They don’t need film from the Olympics to have that action in their back pocket. With George’s footwork coming off screens and catch-and-shoot equity, they shouldn’t have much issue integrating him into the action:

Speaking of catch-and-shoot equity, Philadelphia has the luxury of being versatile with these actions because of the shooting prowesses of the three stars. None of Embiid, Maxey, and George have to play the same role in the same action in consecutive possessions. They can switch it up or invert the play:

But, in order for Philadelphia to maximize the potential of this offense, they’ll have to set real screens. That doesn’t mean simply making hard contact with defenders. It means being on time to the spots, setting up at the correct angles, and not departing the actions too early.

It all starts with the biggest guy on the floor. It all starts with Embiid.