Former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will become the new boss of the Philadelphia 76ers, ESPN reported on Monday.

Nurse parted ways with the Raptors after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs this season. Meanwhile, the 76ers fired their coach, Doc Rivers, after they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Nurse led the team to finish the regular season with a 58-24 record, the second best in franchise history, during his first season as the Raptors' head coach in 2019. They then went all the way to the NBA Finals and beat the Golden State Warriors in the series to win their first NBA Championship.

Since then, the Raptors' aggressive defensive style has impressed the league, including Joel Embiid and the 76ers, who lost to the Raptors in the East semifinals in 2019. Embiid was limited to only 17.6 points and 37 percent from the field per game during that series. He left the court in tears after Game 7.

The 76ers understandably want Nurse to repeat his success in Philadelphia. With Embiid, the NBA's Most Valuable Player, in his prime and the potential for big contracts for him, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey and James Harden, the team has no option but to fight for the throne.

However, assembling a champion team is more complicated than building a Lego Eiffel Tower. Nurse's experience and coaching style, no matter how great, cannot be a cut and paste from Toronto to Philadelphia.

Two primary reasons Nurse could mount such a unique defense with the Raptors were his top assistant Adrian Griffin and the team's remarkable depth in the forward and swingman positions. However, Griffin did not make the move with Nurse. Instead, he has agreed to become the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. And the 76ers don't have a group that can go up against the likes of Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, or Scottie Barnes, who are big and athletic enough for quick switching, trapping and recovering.

The 76ers have only one player who matches the above standard, P.J. Tucker, and he is already 38 years old and an offensive liability. Harris will have to take a spot in the regular rotation – and probably as a starter. But he is too slow to guard perimeter players. De'Anthony Melton is a good defender but is too small at 1.88 meters tall to switch up. Maxey is even smaller than Melton and a much worse defender.

Nurse also has other challenges to overcome in the 76ers. When the Raptors won the title in 2019, they had a balanced, well-run starting lineup where everyone played their roles excellently. That enabled Kawhi Leonard to focus on providing the sharpest firepower by averaging 28.5 points per game in the NBA Finals.

Even if the 76ers manage to assemble a similar squad, they will be disappointed at their ace Embiid's inability to score against any type of defense. The lost series against the Celtics revealed how flawed his offensive skills are. His lack of 3-point shooting ability limits his efficiency, and poor finishing skills near the hoop hurt his consistency. Also, his offensive moves always take too long for the team to launch a second attack.

There is also the issue of Harden's contract extension. He agreed to a $14 million pay cut last year for the team to sign other players to improve their lineup. He will likely opt out of the final year of his current deal this summer and probably seek the last big contract of his career. He and the 76ers may have a lengthy bargaining process before reaching an agreement.

Harden has also expressed his willingness to play as the second-in-command to Embiid multiple times since joining the 76ers. That has been what Rivers kept asking him to do. Rivers left after they lost the series against the Celtics, and Harden has proved that Embiid is not necessarily a more qualified leader than him. It will be Nurse's job to rebalance their roles if Harden agrees to stay.