CAMDEN, N.J. — It’s still early days for the Philadelphia 76ers. This roster just welcomed Quentin Grimes back following a long stalemate. The roster still hasn’t seen Joel Embiid and Paul George just yet while Trendon Watford hasn’t done much as he’s been dealing with right hamstring tightness.
All of that is to say that coach Nick Nurse has some work to do over these final two preseason games. The Sixers are guard heavy with Grimes returning to join Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Jared McCain when he returns from injury. One has to believe those four will be on the floor at the same together at some point.
Then, there’s the backup big man position as Adem Bona, Jabari Walker, Andre Drummond, and Dominick Barlow battle it out. Through two preseason games in Abu Dhabi, Nurse has some idea of what to look for.
“Listen, I think there’s certainly a good portion of guys that we know are going to be in that top six, seven part of the rotation, and then you’re going to eight, nine, whatever,” Nurse started. “I wish it was harder to do it. I mean, it’s hard enough, but I wish it was harder that we had more time—I mean, a lot of it’s going to be determined on who’s available that’s going to, like, force the rotation almost onto it, but there is a bunch of little things. I think we’re already experimenting with a bunch of other things that will probably show itself Friday night as well. Maybe tomorrow I can get to a couple of them now that I know certain guys are back and ready to go, and so there will be some maneuvering.”
Who starts in the backcourt?
Nurse started Edgecombe next to Maxey while out in Abu Dhabi, mostly out of necessity, as McCain is out with his UCL injury while Grimes was looking to work out his contract situation. However, the results were encouraging. The speed with which Maxey and Edgecombe played with is an important factor so Nurse will probably explore that aspect more.
“I think that, what have I seen so far? I mean, I’ve seen that Tyrese and VJ look very good and very comfortable out there doing kind of both things,” the coach continued. “We were hoping that was the case, but it looked to me like even well advanced, that’s going to be just fine, right? Either one of them can play point. Either one of them can come off the ball. Both of them can be out there on their own at the point. They can they can take turns if they’re out there together and I think it’s plays to their strengths.”
Maxey and Edgecombe can both play with or without the ball in their hands which then leads to versatility and an ability to open more lineups on the floor. Pace and versatility. That’s the key to the game.
“I think Tyrese showed last year, or he showed that he can—he needs to be off the ball some, because of that speed into his shooting and turning the corners and things happens with him not having the ball some,” continued Nurse. “That’s that side of it. Filter in Grimes, filter in Kelly (Oubre Jr.), wait for Jared to return. That’ll factor into it.”
So is a 3-guard starting lineup on the table.?
“Yeah,” pondered Nurse. “I think that’s certainly on the table. I mean, I would if you threw Jared into that mix. Now, you got three of the four maybe. I think that’s certainly on the table at some point. Yep, we’ll see.”
Who starts at the 4? Who’s the backup center?
These are questions that still need answers. Obviously, the Sixers haven’t seen Watford yet and he will factor into anything Philadelphia plans to do. However, Nurse is liking what he’s seeing from both Barlow and Walker.
“Then up on the other side,” Nurse began. “I mean, we just kind of really wanted to explore that 4 position with those two guys, Barlow and Walker, and I think they both did a nice job. They did what I think we need them to do. They’re both kind of 6-foot-8 and play hard. They’re a little different. They’re a little different, but they both kind of drove the ball a little bit and made pretty good decisions.”
Nurse would like to see them take some more 3-point attempts, but that will come.
“They both shot a couple,” he finished. “Walker didn’t shoot them in but he’s more of the shooter of the two. I talked to him about it, and he just said, ‘Coach, I was so tired.’ He said ‘We were working so hard I didn’t feel like my legs were good enough to, like, pull the trigger.’ And I said, ‘Well, that switch is going to be in training. Like, I’m not tapering off leading into a game. Like, we got to get back to work, and we got hard shootarounds and all that stuff.’ So he decided to drive it a little more, and had some success with it.”
The point is, the Sixers have two more weeks until opening night to figure all of this out. Nurse and his staff will undoubtedly be looking at every advantage and every angle in an effort to put the best 5-man unit out there on the floor.