NIck Nurse teases 76ers fans with brilliant move that could pay dividends

The Philadelphia 76ers were definitely a weary bunch heading to their previous preseason game on the road against the Boston Celtics. They just played the Minnesota Timberwolves the night before, prompting the coaching staff to exercise caution and rest all of their regulars. The result? An unsurprising 50-point drubbing at the hands of the fully armed defending champs.

Obviously, there weren’t a lot of positives to take away from that game. That is extremely rarely the case with 50-point blowouts. Nevertheless, there’s still some good to bring home from that forgettable outing, even if some may deem it proper only to satiate the thirst of the peanut gallery.

Heck, head coach Nick Nurse may have just found lightning in a bottle with a minuscule, yet potentially important move.

76ers head coach Nick Nurse hints at potential solution to longtime issue

Against the Celtics, Nurse made the decision to start newcomer and NBA returner Guerschon Yabusele at center, a daring move — though perhaps not really one in view of the fact that it was a handcuffed situation anyway with both Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond out — that could open up new possibilities for the coaching staff this season.

While Nurse admitted that he doesn’t envision trotting Yabusele out as a center much this season, it’s still an option that he can tap into whenever a very specific need arises.

Drummond, while undoubtedly one of the best backups in basketball, is a notoriously poor free-throw shooter. In games where Joel Embiid is sidelined or in foul trouble and the veteran spells him, teams would probably try to test his mettle at the charity stripe. That’s not a very enthusing prospect for a career 48.2 percent shooter on that end.

Yabusele, a fine three-point shooter, at least it seems, would be a tenable option to mitigate that situation. Hence, it should be beneficial giving him reps as a small-ball five early on to get him acclimated for when the need for him to move a position up arises.

Nick Nurse is certainly doing a lot of experimenting this preseason. Hopefully, his outside-the-box thinking can help him stir the Philadelphia 76ers better as they face various challenges in the upcoming campaign.