CAMDEN N.J. — If there’s a criticism to be leveled against the 5-3 Sixers early this season, it’s on the defensive end of the basketball court. And those worries would seem more pronounced if the team didn’t have one of the league’s best defensive players nearing a return to action.

Paul George will meet with doctors over the weekend to assess the progress on his surgically repaired knee. George has practiced fully since late-October but has not been cleared. He’s looked like himself in portions of practice open to the media, and coach Nick Nurse is optimistic that a return could be near.

“I think he’s moving very well,” Nurse said Friday, after a practice session that ended with George and Jared McCain going up and down the court in shooting and fitness drills. “He’s shooting very well. He looks good. I’m like everybody out there in Sixers nation, I’m hoping the doc gives him the clearance and we can get him out there.”

The 76ers have proven that they will not rush back George, who had knee surgery in July. He played just 41 games last year, averaging 16.2 points per game, his lowest output since his second pro season. George dealt with knee, ankle and groin issues last year and was rarely, if ever, fully healthy.

George would be another valuable cog in a rotation that remains unsettled in part through a wealth of options to offer different matchups. But George’s biggest contribution could be on defense.

Driven by the backcourt grouping of Tyese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes, the 76ers rank second in the NBA this young season in offensive rating (120.5). They’re 22nd in defensive rating (116.5).

Elite offense is ahead of schedule but understandable from this group, and reaching those heights before Joel Embiid is consistently playing at his best is even more promising. But George on the defensive end could provide a massive boost, if he’s up to the level that has made him a four-time NBA All-Defensive pick.

Nurse, a coach whose identity is predicated on fierce defense, recognizes it.

“He looks really good on defense,” Nurse said. “He’s just got such an instinctual feel for that end of the floor that, he’s got the size at 6-9 and there’s deflections and all that stuff. And he’s a kind of a captain-type guy there. He knows what he’s doing, and he helps other guys. He talks. He knows how to help other guys navigate some situations and stuff like that. That would be useful as well.”

• • •

This weekend brings the76ers’ third of 15 back-to-backs, Toronto visiting Saturday and Detroit Sunday.

Nurse is hoping that a little less focus on the back-to-back of it all might help his team perform, in what he’d prefer to call two separate games that happen to be temporally proximate.

“There’s a couple of things that we’ve learned that we need to tweak,” Nurse said. “… Mostly I just want to try not to make such a big deal out of it being a back-to-back. I think that’s a good place to start in a mindset of, let’s just play the game. It is talked about and a million things are going on because it’s a back-to-back. But I want to get us a little bit more into, just play it like another game.”

The Sixers swept a back-to-back at home against Orlando and at Washington in October. They lost in Chicago and in Cleveland Tuesday and Wednesday.

Embiid hasn’t played the second game in either back-to-back. He’s not expected to start to anytime soon. McCain, who returned from thumb surgery to make his season debut Tuesday, didn’t play the next night in Cleveland.

Nurse has options. He’s gone to four-guard looks. He’s gotten unexpected strong minutes from Dominick Barlow at the beginning of the season and Jabari Walker lately. He has two bona fide back up bigs in Andre Drummond and Adem Bona that he can tailor matchups with nightly. Trendon Watford has provided a boost after starting the season injured. George’s return looms.

While Nurse prefers a nine-man rotation, it’s not necessarily the same nine every night. That is what he wants to emphasize, not the back-to-back of it.

• • •

McCain’s first NBA game in nearly 11 months didn’t go as planned Tuesday. The second-year guard played 15 minutes, shooting 0-for-4 from the field with no points, one rebound and two assists.

But McCain woke up the next morning with no issues with either the thumb ligament he had repaired in September nor the left knee in which his meniscus was operated on in December. That was a win.

“After the game, we were just trying to see how it felt the next day,” McCain said. “It felt really good. Didn’t play up, have any swelling or anything. So just taking small wins one at a time.”

McCain is wearing a soft cast on the thumb. He’s sporting a bulkier brace on his knee, one that the speedy guard is getting used to. He’s trying to get over how it impedes his mobility.

“It’s just completely different to when you get into a real game with people who are literally trying to take the ball from you every single play,” he said. “It feels unbalanced. It just feels like it’s super heavy, like you’re lugging another leg on top of your leg, and it’s just hard to move. I said it to my family, it’s like my mind wants to do something, but my body’s like not letting. So it just takes getting used to.”

McCain hopes that a medical reevaluation later this month could lead to the brace being removed.

• • •

NOTES >> On Embiid, Nurse said he doesn’t think anything has changed in terms of minutes restrictions. “I think for the very short term here, he’s going to still have the minutes restriction and the game restriction of back-to-backs,” he said. “When we play him is to be determined.” Embiid played a season-high 26 minutes in Chicago. … Barlow left the home opener with what the team termed a right elbow laceration. He’s missed six games and will miss both this weekend before being evaluated by doctors next week. The cut is not major, but it is in a place where his arm has to be immobilized by a grim looking cast to keep it from reopening when he moves. “I’ve never seen that one,” Nurse said. “… Yeah, it falls under bizarre.” … Drummond didn’t play Tuesday against the Bulls but was excellent a night later in Cleveland after a game-saving turn against Charlotte. While Bona has been preferred by Nurse as the primary back-up center, both will continue to get chances. “I think that that’s always, not up for grabs, but I think it’s always something we’re looking at,” Nurse said.