The Sixers were back at practice Monday with an only slightly clearer injury picture.
After concluding their preseason last Friday and hosting an intersquad scrimmage for the fans on Sunday, the Sixers returned to practice Monday.
With the season opener just days away, the team has turned their focus to the Milwaukee Bucks. Because their name is the Philadelphia 76ers, most of the post-practice media availability was spent discussing the health of the various banged up players on the squad. So here are some takeaways from practice as they look to the start of the season.
Injuries and the new normal
The first order of business for Nick Nurse was giving an update on who did and didn’t practice, and that answer was basically everyone but Paul George. Joel Embiid and Jared McCain were partial participants in practice today while Tyrese Maxey was a full participant.
Nurse said that Embiid once again did not take part in 5-on-5 scrimmaging, and indicated McCain did not either.
The Embiid portion prompted a follow-up, given that the big fella has yet to scrimmage this preseason, and Nurse explained that this just seems to be how they’ll be managing Embiid, at least for now.
“He’s going to be very limited in that stuff as the kind of, new normal,” Nurse said. “He’s moving pretty good, he’s getting a lot of work in. He’s out there … 60, 70 percent of the team practice, until we get to the real physical stuff.”
He went on to finish by saying that that stuff will come soon, but they don’t want to “overdo it this early in the year.”
So it’s not just that Embiid won’t have a preseason to ease into the new squad, he won’t have played any sort of 5-of-5 with them in practice either. That’s how much he and the team seem to prioritize keeping him healthy this year.
Staying confident and ready for whatever …
… though no one could accuse Kelly Oubre, Jr. of lacking either of those things. Oubre was asked about not getting the chance to play or practice as a full team yet, but he didn’t seem too concerned.
“I wouldn’t say next man up mentality, but when we see Wednesday who steps out onto the court, we have to go out there and do what we know how to do,” Oubre said.
He was also sure to point that the team has still been around each other plenty.
“Everybody’s here and present, everybody’s very vocal, and everybody is a part of the team,” he said, “so I don’t feel like we’re missing any pieces, but we just got to go out there and be ready for whatever and do our best, play hard.”
Tyrese Maxey learning from playing without Embiid
If the season opener is any indication, the Sixers are going to have plenty of games this year with guys in and out of the lineup, and likely, the guys in and out will be some of the stars.
This is going to put a lot of the regular season workload onto Tyrese Maxey, who will be under new exceptions to carry that workload after making the leap to an All-Star last season.
Maxey feels confident he will be able to, drawing on his experiences last year trying to lead the team when Embiid was out for much of the second half of the season.
“It really helped me grow my game and my mind,” he said. “I saw a lot of different coverages. Teams try to do a lot of different things to try to take my success scoring and passing away. So I had to find ways around that, to get my teammates involved.”
It isn’t just scoring production he’s expected to pick up either. “Vocal leader” is a role Maxey has felt he has been for his whole life. With how long he’s been a Sixer, he feels he’s been able to establish himself as one for this franchise.
“Guys see the work that I put in, and guys see how much I care about winning. They respect it,” Maxey said. “I have a voice that I use it a lot. I try to use as much as possible. Because I want to win. I want to bring guys along with me.”