Thursday’s practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine ended much better than Wednesday’s for the Sixers. This time, instead of ending practice with 10 players, they finished with 11.
One of those players was Nerlens Noel, who jumped in and out of Wednesday’s session. According to coach Brett Brown, Noel (knee/back) is all-systems go for Friday night’s preseason game against Washington at the Wells Fargo Center.
Jahlil Okafor, on the other hand, will not play in Friday’s game, though he practiced lightly with the team on Thursday. Still nursing soreness in his knee, Okafor missed Monday’s preseason game in New York as well as Tuesday and Wednesday’s practice sessions.
When asked if he was concerned about Okafor’s knee, Brown said no.
“Not really anything,” Brown said. “He has a sore knee and we see him coming around with the stuff we’re doing. But the short answer is none.”
When opening night rolls around in a couple of weeks, Okafor will be out there, Brown says. Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten, however, will not. Both are recovering from ACL injuries, and according to Brown neither is close to returning to action. Wroten, Brown said, could be out until December.
“They are a ways away,” Brown said. “I think it’s safe to say that we’re not going to see Kendall for the month of October and beyond and Tony, much further than that, probably into December. Who knows? I don’t want to get locked into a date because it could be longer.”
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In the meantime, the Sixers have to put together a healthy roster to play when the season starts. And with Okafor out for Friday’s game, Brown anticipates Noel playing some minutes at the center spot. The coach also intends to get more playing time for players like J.P. Tokoto and Furkan Aldemir. Draft picks like Richaun Holmes, Jordan McRae and Christian Wood could see a little extra playing time, too.
“I think you’re going to get a look at some of these guys because we have some real battles going on,” Brown said. “J.P. deserves a chance to make the team and Furkan probably deserves more playing time to make sure we’re properly evaluating him.
“We still need to see more of the guys truly fighting for jobs. I don’t look at it as just a coach. It’s human decency and fairness and they deserve a chance, so that factors in from time to time.”
Pierre Jackson, locked in one of those battles to make the team at point guard, will make his preseason debut on Friday night. Jackson missed the entire 2014-15 season with a torn Achilles and suffered a groin injury during summer league action in Las Vegas. During training camp the groin injury flared up again and Jackson has been in and out of practice since.
“I’m excited to get back on the floor and not sitting on the bench watching,” Jackson said. “I’m not where I want to be, obviously, but I feel good, I have some good plays here and there and my teammates are keeping me positive. I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”
Isaiah Canaan, who started the first four preseason games, could get a night off, though Brown wasn’t ready to make that decision yet.
After Friday’s game, the Sixers play Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn and then close out the preseason against the Celtics on Oct. 23 in Manchester, New Hampshire.