Rico Hines is coming with new Sixers head coach Nick Nurse to Philadelphia.
After a season with the Raptors, Hines is joining the Sixers as an assistant coach, a source confirmed Wednesday to NBC Sports Philadelphia. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the news.
Hines posted a farewell to Toronto on his Instagram page.
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His offseason runs at UCLA, where he played from 1997 to 2002, are well-known throughout the NBA. They regularly feature stars like James Harden, Stephen Curry and Paul George.
In addition to those summer runs and his work privately training players like Pascal Siakam, Hines built his reputation as a player development guru through stints with the Warriors, St. John’s basketball, and the Kings before heading to Toronto.
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“He’s as good as there is in the business in player development, right? That’s a big statement,” Nurse told reporters last year. “Guys trust him. He can command an entire gym, not with just one player, but with 60 in it, sometimes. And he has a deep, deep passion for the game. He’s in the gym all day. He loves coaching and he loves making people better.”
According to Hines, he’s long been drawn to player development.
“I’ve always had it since I was a player at UCLA,” he told reporters in Toronto. “I always knew what I wanted to do; I always wanted to coach. I had some injuries early in my career and I just started coaching early. I was very fortunate to get a start with Coach Don Nelson, who taught me a lot. And then my mentor, Tim Grgurich, who’s like the mentor of the whole NBA, I had a chance to spend a lot of time with him early in my career. And I take a lot of stuff from him — just always being passionate and always being about the players. Always working with them.
“I don’t care if you’re the first man on the bench or the last man on the bench. We’ll figure it out and we’ll work hard, and we’ll come back at night and continue to just improve. Some kind of way, we’ll improve.”
Along with Hines, the Sixers have added former Stockton Kings head coach Bobby Jackson to Nurse’s staff. Following three years with the Sixers, Sam Cassell has joined the Celtics as an assistant.