LeBron's Trust in Nurse Is Powering the 76ers' 8-1 Start

Every LeBron James team change has come with the same subplot. The new coach, the new system, the first few weeks of sizing each other up — and, more than once, the whispers that it was not working. In Miami, people wondered whether he wanted Erik Spoelstra fired in the first month. Back in Cleveland, he never gave David Blatt a chance. In Los Angeles, it went sideways quickly with Luke Walton.

Philadelphia, so far, is different. And according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, that difference is the single biggest reason the 76ers are 8-1 and sitting on top of the Eastern Conference.

James signed with Philadelphia this summer having never worked with Nick Nurse before. Rather than letting the relationship find its own awkward rhythm, the two of them talked several times before training camp even opened.

What has stood out most is how willing James has been to bend. He has taken on the lead creator's role for stretches of games, running the offense the way he always has. But he has also done the unglamorous work, filling in at center when injuries sidelined several of Philadelphia's big men — a job description no one would have attached to LeBron James a decade ago, and one he has taken on without a murmur. Nurse, for his part, has welcomed the knowledge James brings from more than two decades at the top of the league, and James made a point of praising Nurse's accomplishments in Toronto before the season even started.

"LeBron didn't vibe with Spoelstra at the start, and lots of people think he wanted him fired in the first month of 2010-11," a veteran NBA executive told Windhorst. "He never gave David Blatt a chance, and it went sideways really quick when he went to L.A. with Luke. From the outside, Nurse and James look like they're working together very well."

A Western Conference assistant coach put it more simply. "(LeBron) had a good relationship with JJ Redick from day one with the Lakers and they worked well together and that's a better way to live," he said. "If LeBron thinks you're smart and you put him in a position to be successful, he's going to respect you."

The results back it up. Philadelphia avenged its only loss of the season by beating Detroit 112-106 on Wednesday, with Jaylen Brown scoring 30 and Joel Embiid adding 26. The Sixers have won eight of nine, and they look like a team that knows exactly what it is — something that has not always been true of LeBron's teams in their first months together.

There is a long way to go, of course. November records do not win championships, and the real tests — the nights when the shots do not fall and the injuries pile up — are still ahead. But the hardest part of any LeBron James move has always been the beginning, the period when a new coach has to earn the trust of a player who has seen everything and forgotten nothing. In Philadelphia, that part already looks done.

The Sixers get their next chance to show it on Friday night, when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers in NBA Cup play — James back in the building where so much of his story was written, this time in different colours.