Nick Nurse has some decisions on his plate that are hard for good reasons.
As the Sixers’ head coach acknowledged Friday, figuring out how to integrate his new players is difficult partly because his established ones have started the season quite well.
“Maybe,” Nurse said when asked whether the Sixers’ recent trade additions would be in the mix Saturday afternoon vs. the Suns. “I think I still probably don’t mind the rotation where it’s at right now. Just probably don’t want to disrupt the rhythm and things like that. But we’ll see. I’ve got to think about that and discuss it with the staff a little bit.
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“We’ve got to work them in. It isn’t like the schedule’s going to ease up — not like there’s a big break coming up or something — so you’ve got to get ‘em in there some time.”
Nicolas Batum remained away from the team for personal reasons and is officially out against Phoenix. Nurse said he was unsure of Batum's status moving forward.
Extended minutes don’t appear likely in the near future for Marcus Morris Sr. The 34-year-old Philadelphia native missed the Clippers’ preseason because of a groin injury and then was out to begin the regular season with a “coach’s decision” listing.
Philadelphia 76ers
Along with Robert Covington, KJ Martin, several Sixers bench players and player development coaches, Morris scrimmaged at the end of Friday’s practice.
“He hadn’t played at all,” Nurse said. “I don’t even think he played a preseason game or a regular-season game. He’s more in the ramp-up phase of trying to get him going.
“You guys can see over there, he’s playing 5-on-5 full court, trying to get him going. He looks good to me, individually, working out. Looks pretty good in the scrimmage here today. So he shouldn’t be too far away.”
Martin made his Sixers debut in the team's win Thursday night over the Raptors, while Covington played his first game for the Sixers since Nov. 9, 2018. The two only played the final 75 seconds, though.
Before that, Kelly Oubre Jr. made a strong first start, scoring 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting. He's looking forward to when everyone on the latest version of the Sixers is available and gelling.
“I’m excited, man,” Oubre said. “I played with Markieff (Morris) in my Wizards days, so I’ve always kind of been really close to that family. (Marcus is) a dog, so I’m excited to go to war with him. He makes the game exciting because he keeps that ‘90s era of basketball still in play.
“With him, RoCo, Nic … Nic, Godspeed, he’s not here right now, but he’s a vet. What is he, the French knight? You don’t get that name for just being anybody. So I’m really excited. I want to see KJ dunk some. And we’re going to keep it rolling, keep it flowing.”
Although Oubre and De’Anthony Melton got into first-half foul trouble against Toronto, the Sixers held a second consecutive opponent under 100 points.
The team’s intelligent, cohesive scrambling impressed. The Sixers often used Joel Embiid as a quasi-roamer, having him double team driving Raptors and then rotating as appropriate from there.
On the play below, Tyrese Maxey did excellent work to run Gary Trent Jr. off the three-point line and stay tightly connected on his drive. Furkan Korkmaz also snuck back well to deflect Trent’s pass.
Embiid’s looming help defense led the Raptors to lose some crispness at times, too. After Maxey and Embiid contained a snug pick-and-roll late in the shot clock, Korkmaz got rewarded for solid positioning at the nail (and an odd Dennis Schröder decision). He picked up a steal and an easy slam courtesy of Maxey's clever pass ahead.
Even in unstructured, chaotic situations, the Sixers sprinted to close out on shooters, helped their teammates and largely looked on the same page following a slow defensive start.
“I’ve spent a lot of this time — most of this time — building some foundational stuff,” Nurse said. “We’re starting to work in some game plan stuff, because we have games. I’m wondering how much of it we can use, as we learn the guys a little bit.
“But we had some schemes in to start the game last night, as you guys could see, and (the players) executed them. So that just becomes part of the package of things we can do, and you just kind of keep building that thing as you go.”
Nurse’s team will aim to improve to 4-1 Saturday against a 2-3 Suns squad coming off of two straight losses to the Spurs.
Phoenix’s Bradley Beal (lower back spasms) and Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) are out. Devin Booker is questionable with a left ankle sprain. His career scoring average of 29.6 vs. the Sixers is his highest against any opponent.
“I think that tomorrow with Phoenix coming in as a high-level, talented, star-studded team … we need that challenge,” Nurse said. “I look forward to that challenge from those guys, and we’ll see what we can do against some really high-powered scorers.
“I think they’re all challenges right now. I thought Milwaukee would be a super challenging game, and it was. I thought Toronto would be really geared up to play; they’re going to give you everything they can give you. All of those kinds of challenges, we need. We’ve got to meet ‘em.”