The Sixers’ 1982-83 championship trophy sits within a small display case on the second floor of the team’s practice facility, between the lunchroom and the area that was reserved for interviews during Monday’s Media Day, the annual preamble to training camp and the season beyond.
Next to the display case is a red piano, which according to a Sixers publicist coach Nick Nurse will play on occasion.
Now Nurse, who is entering his second season with the team, must do more than noodle. Now he must help a largely revamped club find its rhythm — and hope it’s not the blues, as has been the case every season since ‘82-83.