{"id":512702,"date":"2026-01-02T23:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T23:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/512702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T23:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T23:08:10","slug":"sixers-notes-oubre-power-forward-grimes-embiid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/512702\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixers Notes: Oubre, Power Forward, Grimes, Embiid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said earlier this week that forward Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a>, who has been sidelined since November 14 due to a sprained left knee, could return to action during the team\u2019s current road trip. That trip will wrap up on Saturday in New York, and Oubre\u2019s chances of playing against the Knicks may hinge on whether he can take part in a five-on-five scrimmage on Friday, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oubre participated in a three-on-three scrimmage on Monday and a four-on-four session on Wednesday, Pompey notes. If he plays five-on-five and his body responds well, his return should be imminent, though the 30-year-old declined to speculate on that subject, indicating he\u2019s leaving the decision up to the experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going off what the trainers and the docs say,\u201d Oubre said. \u201cSo for me, I don\u2019t feel any pain, any shortness after workouts, and things like that, which is a good sign. So I take that as a positive and just continue to build from there and get stronger. But I\u2019m leaving it to the docs and the trainers.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the 76ers have been hit hard by injuries over the past year-and-a-half, they\u2019re close to getting fully healthy, with both Oubre and Trendon Watford<\/a> (adductor) in the final stage of their respective recovery processes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Sixers:<\/p>\n

Even when Oubre returns, Nurse says he envisions Paul George<\/a> \u201cmostly\u201d as a three, according to Pompey<\/a>. So who will handle the primary power forward duties? Nurse suggested he may take a committee approach to the position. \u201cI think it\u2019s Paul. I think it\u2019s (Dominick) Barlow<\/a>. Could be a little Oubre. Could be a little (Adem) Bona<\/a>,\u201d the Sixers\u2019 coach said. \u201cBut I think it just depends on who we\u2019re playing. Hopefully, we can be versatile enough to figure out what we are doing in all those different lineups. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to take some time.\u201d
\nQuentin Grimes<\/a> averaged 11.8 shot attempts per game in his first 24 outings of the season, but that numbers has dipped to 7.5 per game in his past six contests. As long as Joel Embiid<\/a>, George, and Tyrese Maxey<\/a> are healthy and available, that trend may continue, but Grimes can continue to provide value with his defensive effort and by making the most of the opportunities he does get on offense, Pompey writes for The Inquirer<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of a good wild card for us,\u201d Maxey said of Grimes. \u201cHe can get hot. He can make threes. He can drive the ball. He can play defensively, too. That\u2019s what\u2019s really good for us. He can play with a lot of lineups too.\u201d
\nWhile Embiid\u2019s offensive production has increased as of late \u2013 he has averaged 29.2 points per game in his past six starts \u2013 the former MVP says he believes his improving health is more evident on the other end of the court, per Pompey<\/a>. \u201cPhysically, where I felt most (like myself) is defensively,\u201d Embiid explained. \u201cI\u2019m getting back to that level of (protecting the rim), blocking shots and being that defensive presence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said earlier this week that forward Kelly Oubre Jr., who has been sidelined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3724],"tags":[1262,7,7479,936,3147,526,4155],"class_list":{"0":"post-512702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-adem-bona","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-dominick-barlow","11":"tag-joel-embiid","12":"tag-kelly-oubre","13":"tag-paul-george","14":"tag-quentin-grimes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115828025354613035","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}