Three days into training camp, Nick Nurse had already moved his 76ers from one side of the ball to the other. After two straight days of long, hard defensive work, the coach shifted gears on Thursday and started installing offense.
That’s where the real puzzle begins in Philadelphia.
The Sixers have stacked the roster with star power, the kind that turns heads before a game is even played. But as Nurse put it, “There's a lot of pieces to move around.”
Talent is never the issue in September. Fit is.
Nurse’s plan is straightforward enough on paper: play fast, attack the paint, hunt mismatches and keep feeding whoever has the hot hand. He also wants the Sixers to lean into transition, where they have several “grab and go” players who can rebound, push and start the break themselves. Nurse named James, Jaylen Brown and VJ Edgecombe in that group.
“Having two big wings that can both kind of post mismatches will create a lot of interesting things,” said Nurse. “And you see that already. You can just move those pieces around a lot.”
That flexibility is the selling point. It’s also where the questions start.
Brown said the early work is about building the foundation - defining roles, setting standards and making sure everybody is operating from the same place. “What's the foundation?”
asked Brown. “What's our core values?
What are we not giving up? Little stuff like that is what we're just establishing the foundation here at training camp.”
He added that the important part is getting “on the same page, identifying what our jobs are, what our roles are, and that we can hold each other accountable to.”
Brown is still adjusting to a different kind of leadership role in Philadelphia. In Boston, that part was clear.
Here, he is still sorting it out. Tyrese Maxey has already stepped up as one of the more vocal voices around him, and Brown said Maxey has made an effort to help him settle in.
“He's gone out of his way to make sure that I feel comfortable in the system,” Brown said.
He’s also been encouraged by the younger players coming to him with questions. Brown said he wants to be an “echo” for Nurse on the floor while handling the noise that comes with being part of a team carrying so much expectation.
“How I manage … expectations is just through work,” said Brown. “Being the last guy to leave the gym, getting up extra shots, getting up extra reps just to make sure I'm thinking and seeing through everything, asking questions, not being afraid to ask questions, but just staying calm, cool, and collected.
“Things may happen. We might have adversity like everybody else, but it's a long journey.
Injuries or things don't go according to plan right away. It's okay.
So just don't panic. How you respond is everything.
I've gained a lot of wisdom being in this league for a long time and I plan on gaining even more from this group that we have.”
James, meanwhile, has made his own approach plain. His role is whatever the team needs.
“The luxury of my game is that I can do everything,” James said. “Literally, I can do everything.”
Nurse has already seen plenty of that in camp. He said James has been vocal in practices, stopping plays and pointing out angles. Early on, the coach sees James as more of an offense creator and table setter than just a scorer.
“I consider him a great offense creator,” said Nurse. “I don't necessarily mean scorer, I just mean creator and a table setter and all that kind of stuff.
And I think that's where I could see, if it isn't bringing it up it's probably going to be first pass anyway to the wing. And then we get into our actions and he's kind of seeing what's there and he's creating offense for others.”
The half court will bring its own complications. Brown pointed to the mid-post as one area where James, Brown and Joel Embiid all like to operate, which means some spacing issues are inevitable while the group figures itself out.
“I think we're still kind of figuring that out,” said Brown. “I think I am.
When to go, when not to go, when the floor, when big fella [Embiid] is going down the post or when I can put some pressure on the rim. Just trying to find that balance.
We're only three days in, so it may take a little bit of time, but I'm looking forward to the journey.”
James also made a point of stressing Embiid’s importance on Monday, not just in terms of keeping him healthy but keeping him involved. He’s played with elite bigs before - Chris Bosh, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis - and Brown has had Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis alongside him. Neither has played with a big quite like Embiid, who is most dangerous in the paint.
Embiid has played fewer than 40 games in each of the last three seasons, but he has opened camp looking slimmer. He was a full participant in the first three days and told ESPN he is in a good place physically and mentally. He also said he spoke with a therapist in the offseason and said James’s public comments about wanting to play with him helped motivate him.
“He looks amazing,” gushed Maxey. “He looks happy.
When you're healthy and you're happy and you're at peace with your life and basketball, that's when you're at your best. He's been great.”
That’s the mood around Philadelphia right now: optimism, possibility and a roster full of names that should work on paper. James, Brown, Embiid, Maxey and Edgecombe give the Sixers the kind of ceiling that makes September feel bigger than it really is. The challenge, as always, is turning all that promise into something that actually fits once the games start.
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