The Philadelphia 76ers need help at the center position. With Joel Embiid getting the Indiana Pacers matchup off due to his injury management plan, the Sixers didn't have a true center available outside of the two-way big man, Tacko Fall.
Currently, the Sixers are down Adem Bona for at least a week, and Ariel Hukporti isn't returning to the team, as he suffered an Achilles tear during the preseason. Nick Nurse has committed to a small-ball lineup this season, but the 76ers have Fall waiting in the wings as emergency depth.
Going into Sunday's game against the Pacers, Nurse was asked about his utilization of Fall so far. The head coach actually didn't sugarcoat it. A thoughtful answer is always appreciated, but said answer brings some confusion to the table.
"I just haven't seen much," Nurse admitted to reporters. "It's not something, I guess you say, is there something I want to see?"
Valid thoughts for sure. Nurse sees more than anybody from the outside looking in, so clearly the two-way center hasn't shown enough behind the scenes to make the head coach feel confident that the 76ers are better off with Fall, rather than a combination of Jabari Walker, LeBron James, and Dean Wade. But then he throws a wrinkle in the quote.
"I just need to see him out there, in some form, I think, right? I think it's unfortunate that he missed all of training camp, and he has, you know, no preseason games, not a G League game. You know, there's just not much of a body of work," Nurse added.
Here's where the questions come up...
An injury prevented Fall from doing much in training camp beyond day two. He missed the entire preseason due to his setback. That's unfortunate for both sides.
And if Nurse doesn't trust Fall in the regular season, then we just have to take it for what it is. But if you need to see a body of work in the G League then, you know, send Tacko Fall to the G League?
The 76ers just had two days in between games. When they defeated the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, the Sixers assigned Justin Edwards and Labaron Philon Jr. to the G League to play for the Delaware Blue Coats. Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert (the other two-ways) also suited up and played in Friday's action against the Maine Celtics.
After night one, Philon was recalled and got Saturday's game off. Edwards stayed down to complete the back-to-back set. Where was Tacko Fall? How is he supposed to give Nurse and the coaching staff a body of work to show when he doesn't get a chance to play some real minutes?
Nurse stated that the staff had to take a leap at some point to give Fall a shot. The big man saw the court for a quick stint (five minutes) on Sunday against the Pacers. It was his first non-garbage-time run of the season. He came down with three rebounds, wrapping up as a plus-one.
Following the game, Nurse stated that he thought he gave the Sixers a “nice lift.” Soon, we’ll see if that’s enough to slowly ease Fall into a role when the Sixers are shorthanded.
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