Sixers First Practice Just Went Down… Who Stood Out?

Sixers First Practice Just Went Down… Who Stood Out?

It turns out it was the Sixers first practice today and Joel Embiid was out there competing in drills and he actually had a little knee brace on. As you can see here is a full quote from Nick Nurse talking about Joel Embiid after practice. He did participate. Like I said, everything right from the start was alive and he was in there participating in that stuff. He didn’t do everything but he did quite a bit. I mean, I think he’s probably told you how he’s feeling, how he’s looking, and he was moving good and playing hard and had great spirit out there today. I think that last part is very important to me because as you guys know, last season he didn’t bring the best vibes. So, seeing him happy day one at media day, it just feels good. Hopefully, that can carry to oncourt success and also good health. Moving on to Paul George. So supposedly he did an individual oncourt workout today during practice. Yesterday’s shams gave us the first timeline for Jared McCain’s injury. Four to 6 weeks as we expected. And honestly, I feel like Paul George is on that same trajectory, maybe even a little sooner. So as a fan, I think a fair expectation is we will see Jeremy Kane and Paul George in live action on the court a couple weeks into the regular season. For me, Joel Embiid is a little more unpredictable. They’re not really giving you a timeline, so it seems like he’s on the pathway of, you know, playing night one, but you never know. Also, Trendan Watford has a right hamstring strain. Also did an individual workout and is considered dayto-day. Probably nothing serious. I’m sure he’ll be ready for the regular season now for the first game in Abu Dhabi. Maybe he’s questionable. Maybe you won’t see him. Also, I would like to note that Nick Nurse mentioned VJ Edgecomb as a first day standout. Here’s a quote via Kai Carlin from VJ talking about how they’re fixing his shot. I had a flat shot in college, so now my arc was way better than a month ago or maybe 3 weeks ago. My arc is way better and it’s more consistent. It’s crazy now. It’s rare for me to shoot flat. I know when my shot is flat now. It’s just about getting it up. Pause. To be honest, keep my elbows high. Just getting it up. pause. I tend to just shoot the ball quickly, but I’m more focused on it. I’m paying more attention to details on my shot just so I can get better. Hopefully, he can take that from practice into a live game because that’s the hardest part because in a game, you don’t have a chance to think about it. So, most likely, you’re just going to go with your natural instincts and hopefully he doesn’t revert back to the usual flat shot he had in college. I will say Nick Nurse’s track record from Toronto, OG Anobi, Pascal Seakum, Chris Buchet, all came into the league bad three-point shooters and all of them have turned into average shooters and some even great. Tyrese Maxi and Adona also stood out as well. He also raved about Dominic Barlo. Supposedly, his rebounding inactivity stood out. I’ve seen a few Sixers fans talk about how they would bring back KJ Martin and I don’t disagree because he just got waved by the Utah Jazz and he was actually a positive player with the Sixers last season which is rare because they were poverty and he had a lot of good chemistry with Tyrese Maxi. However, I will say Dominic Barlo really reminds me of KJ Martin and brings a lot of the same things. He’s also taller and longer. Sixers Adam asked nurse if he views Barlo as an option at the four or five. He stated definitely the four. Not quite sure about center, but acknowledged he’s played there before. Said he’s almost exclusively been at the four so far here, but has actually played on the wing some as well. That’s definitely someone to keep an eye on during the preseason because I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of minutes. It’s also good to hear that he’s playing him at the power forward position rather than the five because if he’s at the center spot, you got an undersized lineup right away. He has good size for a power forward or enough size, but at the five just too small. But it does help you play faster. You’re more versatile defensively, more switchable. But honestly, yesterday the Sixers talked about wanting to play the same no matter who’s out there. And you got to keep in mind, you got Joel Embiid. He’s not a switchable center. He likes to play drop coverage and protect the rim. You got Tyresese Max, you got Jared McCain. Most likely getting the best out of them. there’s not going to be, you know, switching one through five going on consistently. But yeah, Dominic Barlo’s main skill is going to be offensive rebounding. Last year he graded B on basketball index. Also was A+ in terms of putback scoring impact. And I think under Nick Nurse, he can get the best out of him defensively. He graded B for rim protection and B+ for rim disruption. Also a minus for help defense talent. I think if you have maximum spacing and you put him at the power forward spot, he can be really annoying in the dunker spot, on defense, and also of course, you know, offensive rebounding. But yeah, that’s all I got for day one of Sixers practice. Let me know your thoughts below.

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