Inside the year-round grind of Sixers coaches who guide young players and get new ones up to speed

By 5:03 p.m. Saturday, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Jeff Dowtin Jr., and Colin Castleton had all trickled out to the Wells Fargo Center court for their warm-up ahead of the 76ers’ matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves. As Hood-Schifino, who has been on a two-way contract with the team since March 1, worked on dribble moves to get from the left wing to the basket and to create space to fire jumpers, T.J. DiLeo stood in the way as the defender.

That is part of the typical game day for DiLeo, one of the Sixers’ player development coaches. They are on the floor more than two hours before tipoff, going through each player’s pregame routine. On practice days, those coaches are often running up and down the court for scrimmages or to simulate schemes at full speed. And even if the Sixers do not hold a formal team session between games, those coaches are still at the facility, spearheading players’ individual workouts.

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Those staffers are viewed as the front line of head coach Nick Nurse’s messaging, passed along in the form of personalized on-court skill work and detailed film sessions. And though their behind-the-scenes responsibilities have broadly remained the same during a trying 2024-25 season that ends Sunday, their results have been more prominently on display. Development and evaluation have become the priorities as the organization has shifted to lineups consisting primarily of young players such as Justin Edwards and Adem Bona, new acquisitions such as Quentin Grimes and Lonnie Walker IV, and fringe NBA players coming in and out on two-way and 10-day contracts such as Hood-Schifino and Marcus Bagley.

“The best part is them understanding what type of player I am, and what I provide and what I can bring to the table,” said Walker, a veteran guard who signed with the Sixers in late February after beginning the season playing in Lithuania. “They try to show me how to show my strengths and how to play within my strengths, within the flow in the game, within the plays …

“They really have given me a whole diagram as far as what to do, what might be a little bit harder to do, and how to play the correct way at least to show who Lonnie Walker is.”

The Sixers’ player development staff is spearheaded by Rico Hines, whom Walker recently called the “godfather” of this arm of NBA coaching because of his well-known pickup games at UCLA each summer. Those “Rico Hines Runs” are how he and Nurse first got to know each other, before Nurse hired Hines as an assistant on the Toronto Raptors staff.

Hines oversees the portion of the Sixers’ staff that includes DiLeo, Fabulous Flournoy, Demetris Nichols, Reggie Redding, Toure’ Murry, and Terrel Harris. Many are former players and considered up-and-coming coaches — 34-year-old DiLeo played for Temple and overseas and is the son of former Sixers coach and executive Tony DiLeo, for instance — with the physical athleticism to still hang on the court with NBA players and ability to relate and communicate with them off it.

“If they trust you, they’ll do whatever for you,” Hines added. “ … And how do you gain trust? By listening to them. By being available for them. By getting sweat equity on the court with them. They see, ‘OK, he’s invested in this with me.‘”

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A significant responsibility in recent months has been the Sixers’ rookie class of Edwards, Bona, and Jared McCain. The player development staff has worked closely with all three since July, helping guide them to successful debut seasons and consideration to be part of the long-term rotation.

Hines highlighted Edwards’ focus on playing through hits, to drop his shoulder and finish around the basket. Bona has become a better shooter — he entered Wednesday making 67.5% of his free throws, a positive indicator of potential — with a goal of possessing a range similar to former big man Serge Ibaka and, eventually, out to the three-point arc. Hines added that Bona has tweaked his screening technique to use his hands more than his full body, helping him reduce his offensive fouls.

And even while McCain is rehabbing from December meniscus surgery, he is still drilling ballhandling and passing skills in an effort to continue his path to becoming a complementary point guard.

“We know about the spot-up shooting,” Hines said of McCain, “but he’s a really, really good creator. He has a great imagination.”

Those rookies are all part of the Sixers’ “Rise Up” program that also includes Hood-Schifino, Dowtin, and Ricky Council IV. Nurse even still mentions star point guard Tyrese Maxey as a player who can continue to benefit from player-development work as he begins to enter the prime of his career.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the numerous players who have joined the Sixers’ roster since early February, and utilized those coaches to acclimate quickly.

DiLeo, for example, was assigned to both Grimes and Jared Butler, who were acquired at the February trade deadline. While remaining cognizant that both players must have felt some shock when their lives and careers were uprooted, DiLeo started with introducing the Sixers’ basic offensive and defensive concepts, then ways those players could use their strengths within those schemes. He also keeps track of players’ preferred learning styles — “Do they want to see it on film, or do they need to walk through it? Or do we need to get a couple bodies out there and play it live?” he said — and is mindful of how entrenched players might already be in their game-day and off-day routines.

Now when Grimes finishes his pregame workout, DiLeo settles in for a final film session to talk through plays from the previous game, and how those could apply for the upcoming opponent. Those sessions have paid off, as the 24-year-old Grimes has averaged 26.7 points on nearly 50% shooting since March 1, along with 5.1 assists during that span while tasked with more lead guard duties as Maxey has been sidelined with a finger injury.

“Pushing nothing but positivity,” Grimes said of DiLeo. “You need that when you’re a new guy coming into a new situation. He’s actually been, I would say, a big key to why I’ve been having so much of my success.”

Added DiLeo: “It’s so much about getting them in, becoming confident, [so] they’re not second-guessing or overthinking everything because they say, ‘Oh, where do I go on this play?‘”

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Grimes is not the only individual success story during this stretch-run slide.

Walker, who in his previous six NBA seasons had established a reputation as a microwave scorer, has averaged 4.4 assists in his past five games and says he can lean on Redding “if I’m having a hard time, or if I’m having a great time.” Bona, who scored a career-high 28 points in last week’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, recently gave an unprompted “big shout-out to Fab” for his film critiques. Butler has progressed in balancing being a floor general with aggressiveness, and described DiLeo as “very intentional and very sacrificial in keeping me encouraged and giving me confidence.” Edwards, who went from an undrafted two-way player to earning a standard contract, has a natural rapport with Redding because the coach watched fellow Philly kid Edwards grow up.

“That’s kind of a little bit of the silver lining,” DiLeo said. “Or just the small wins we’re trying to take out of this. As our group, we’re trying to get these young guys better.”

Added Hines: “It’s a whole ‘nother thing when there’s referees out there. There’s a crowd. There’s popcorn. Your adrenaline’s going. All these games, they really matter, because it’s not going to be like the first day of school all the time next year. They’re going to already have been in some of these key moments, to be able to go out there on the court to handle some stuff.”

And the work for the player development staff does not end following Sunday’s finale against the Chicago Bulls. Those coaches will travel to players no matter where they are based throughout the offseason, and will make up the bulk of the summer league staff. When players reconvene in September, those staffers run the informal pickup games and workouts at the facility before training camp begins.

There was evidence of that year-round grind on Wednesday, when the Sixers did not hold a formal practice after losing at the New York Knicks. Yet a visitor at the facility could hear balls bouncing, sneakers squeaking, and enthusiastic yells on the other side of the gym’s wall.

Just another part of the daily routine.

“I always believe in the big picture and just keep working,” Hines said. “ … [The front office] did a great job bringing those guys in, so now it’s our job to keep working with them and keep making them understand that, any time you’re on the court, it’s a chance to get better.”