CAMDEN, New Jersey — The answers Anfernee Simons gamely tried to offer about the first day of 76ers training camp were suddenly drowned out by the furious whirring overhead of a helicopter leaving the team’s complex.
LeBron James’ helicopter.
James indeed used the rotorcraft for the rich to take him after practice from New Jersey to presumably close to wherever he decided to live in New York. The helicopter noises are usually reserved for when billionaire team owner Josh Harris lands at the complex for the NBA Draft or a major news conference.
Not anymore.
The Sixers were quickly caught in the whirlwind of the first days of the LeBron Effect, even as a pair of players and coach Nick Nurse professed all was good on the court.
Off the court, make room.
Sixers staff moved the news conference backdrop from a corner where a few dozen reporters are usually stuffed to shout questions at Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey to a spot closer toward midcourt for a roomier feel for the more than 50 credentialed reporters, bloggers, TV camera operators and more that came to get an early report card on James’ official first day as a Sixer.
James was gone on Tuesday by the time the media was allowed on the court to watch practice. Embiid, Maxey, former Boston star Jaylen Brown, they were all absent, too, a day after holding court on media day.
Nurse is starting his fourth season as coach of the Sixers. He’s used to handling the demands that come with working in a major market and dealing with star players in Philly such as with Embiid and his daily injury report or the high drama that surrounded former Sixer James Harden.
Nurse did say he had conversations with the team about looking out for each other and staying connected while navigating a spotlight season — especially early — that already has a postseason-type of aura around the franchise before the Sixers even played a game.
“It is going to be different,” Nurse said. “More people, more eyes, more stories, more national TV. All that kind of stuff. It’s the same, just a little more. I’m just trying to get to the practice floor and to the game floor. If we can do those two things, all that other stuff, we’ll just kind of handle it as smoothly as we can.”
