CAMDEN, N.J. — The first back-to-back of the season brought manpower challenges for Nick Nurse and the 76ers, both expected and unexpected.

The primary takeaway for Nurse isn’t one that’s going to surprise anyone who’s been paying attention.

“I think the defensive rebounding has to improve, right?” Nurse said Tuesday after a practice before the Sixers fly to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers. “And I think we’ll get challenged with it. I think teams are sending lots of crashers against us, so we’ll get challenged. We’ve got to fix that, and we should be able to do that.”

Whether LeBron James is playing the small-ball five or not, the 76ers have to be better on the glass.

In Saturday’s 127-116 win over Milwaukee, the rebounding deficit was 62-40, with a minus-16 on the defensive glass. For all its shortcomings in a rebuild, the Bucks still have some big bodies in Kyle Kuzma and Kel’el Ware, who had field days.

Even without Jalen Duran on Sunday night, Detroit managed a 54-37 edge on the glass in a game Joel Embiid sat. Even with progress from Adem Bona — 13 rebounds and six points in 25 games — that’s too much of a rebounding deficit for any individual to affect.

“I think the biggest thing I’m happy about is Bona played more like we’re used to seeing and probably would have went that way if that body of work had been in front of that game,” Nurse said. ”So, it’s nice and easy to say when you’re looking back on it that you could have made some other moves and all that kind of stuff. But we’ve had some amazing moments with LeBron at the five.”

Reinforcements could be on the way in the paint. Embiid was listed with right plantar fasciitis injury management as his designation for Sunday, but he’ll be back Wednesday. The Sixers face another back-to-back Friday against the Knicks and Saturday in Charlotte but then have two weeks before the next.

Dominick Barlow (back) remains out. Jabari Walker (left knee) did only individual work at practice Tuesday. He is listed as out. Tacko Fall (left quadriceps strain) was a full practice participant as he works back from a training camp injury but will remain out Wednesday.

VJ Edgecombe, who missed Sunday with an abdominal contusion, was also a full participant Tuesday and was not listed on the injury list. Neither Embiid nor James, who missed the first half of the back-to-back in the name of managing his sciatica, are on the injury report.

Some of the rebounding woes owe to chemistry. Dean Wade, for instance, is one of the lane fillers and needed crashers. He’s getting up to speed after missing the first two games with a sprained ankle.

“Obviously the intensity from preseason to regular season is completely different,” Wade said. “But overall, it felt good. Conditioning hasn’t been too crazy, but feeling pretty good.”

Wade and Anfernee Simons are among the new depth players adjusting in a hurry. For Simons, as a source of instant offense, the scoring guard’s adjustment has been pretty quick, it not yet unlocking the full suite of possibilities.

Wade in particular is working through the shooting balance.

The Sixers have shot just 31.7 percent from 3-point range as a team through four games. Wade was one of the players expected to shoulder a big spacing burden as a long three-and-D guy. He’s 3-for-6 from range this season, but the consensus is wanting to up the volume.

“If you’re open, you have to shoot it,” he said. “I passed up two — I think it was two — in the Detroit game we watched today that ended up in turnovers. So an open shot is better, even if it’s a miss, than a turnover. And so if you’re open, you’ve got to shoot it. I think when the ball gets to me and I’m open, I have to shoot it. I have no choice.”