With each passing game, it is becoming more apparent that Nick Nurse might not be the best person to man the sidelines for the Philadelphia 76ers this season and beyond. That was on full display during the team’s most recent game against the Warriors, where they managed to blow a huge lead, but were saved thanks to the heroics of their starting backcourt.
Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe came up huge late in the game to hand the 76ers their 12th win in the season, but Nurse’s miscalculations left many frustrated. The main gripe with him is his continuing lack of faith in Jared McCain, who remains tethered to a strange situation where he is not getting the kind of role he should already be having.
McCain logged just 21 minutes against Golden State after norming nearly 27 in the last five games. While that may not come off as a drastic deviation from his average, one has to factor in the fact that Quentin Grimes started as the nominal small forward. Instead, Nurse played both Grimes and Tyrese Maxey for nearly 40 minutes.
The 76ers have a major Nick Nurse problem
Nurse’s minutes distribution in the backcourt has been nothing short of head-scratching. He has played Maxey way too many minutes, and while there is some credence to tossing that up to matter of necessity, part of that design is brought upon by the coaching staff’s lack of optimization in that regard.
VJ Edgecombe, who surprisingly played just 23 minutes against the Warriors — probably due to his struggles handling the ball — is still averaging 35 minutes per night. Grimes easily leads the league in that department among all players coming off the bench, registering 32.7 minutes per contest.
Meanwhile, McCain is not being given the ample opportunity he needs to continue getting his mojo back, and even when he is on the court, the amount of time he spends as the main ball handler has gotten shafted for some reason.
Nurse has to do a much better job at highlighting each of his guard’s skill set by putting them in more ideal roles. So far, he has not afforded McCain with the ideal platform to maximize his skill set, and people have definitely noticed.
Hopefully, this trend comes to a halt very soon. The 76ers have one of the most lethal backcourts in the NBA, and Nick Nurse disrupting that dynamic by giving Jared McCain a not-so-ideal hand is having some unwanted consequences.