PHILADELPHIA — Changes at the trade deadline left the 76ers mostly untouched. But with injuries, the backcourt has almost had to be reborn midseason.
The 76ers surged in January via a guard rotation of Justin Edwards, Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson. February’s swoon has found that group, respectively, hurt, hurt, hurt and traded.
So with their play-in aspirations on life support, Nick Nurse has had to on-the-fly cobble together a rotation that includes Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler, both of whom have been here mere weeks.
“These guys have had to learn a lot in a short amount of time,” Nurse was saying after a practice on Wednesday. “And then as you might expect, we throw in some other packages here in the break. And so everybody’s learning some new things as well offensively, but he’s got a good grip on that stuff.”
The results have been — well, “encouraging” isn’t a word that should be used about anything around a team that resumed play after the All-Star break against Boston Thursday night having lost seven of eight.
Grimes, acquired from Dallas for the injured Caleb Martin, scored 30 points his last time out in Brooklyn, starting in place of Tyrese Maxey. He drew his second straight start Thursday with Maxey back. Grimes has scored in double figures in all four games as a 76er.
“He’s been aggressive,” Maxey said of Grimes. “He’s catching on to things fast. We’re going to need him to score. We’re going to need his defensive abilities and just what he brings to the basketball court.”
Butler, converted from a two-way to a standard player contract, had 15 points against Toronto and eight points and nine assists against Brooklyn. He spent the All-Star break taking a train to Washington to pack up his car and relocate to Philly.
“Every day, it just gets a little bit more comfortable,” the one-time Wizard said. “Just seeing the same faces, even the facility, jerseys, everything, just getting a little more comfortable every day.”
They’re going to have to play, with Lowry’s soon-to-be 39-year-old hips still balky and Edwards joining the injured list this week with an ankle sprain.
Gordon is a more pressing concern. He shot 52 percent from 3-point range in January, before knee soreness forced him to sit for two games, then a wrist injury flared four games later. The latter has occasioned two visits to specialists who can’t agree on a problem, much less a solution.
“He’s seen two specialists, and they still don’t know what to do,” Nurse said Thursday. “There’s a problem with it. They’re trying to decide the right course of action to get it better. And we’re just unclear on that right now.
Asked about his level of concern, Nurse said: “It’s very concerning, because I think there is a scenario that could hold him out for a long time. There’s a scenario that doesn’t, as well. So it gets concerning whenever that’s on the table.”
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One thing the guard shortage doesn’t change, at least not yet, is how Nurse plans to use Maxey.
Maxey picked up a knee injury against Toronto, which limited him to 5 points, ending a run of 16 straight games of 25 or more points. Rest over the All-Star break rectified it, and Nurse is still going to rely heavily on Maxey, who at 38.0 minutes per game is second in the league this year.
“I don’t know if I’ve gone that far to seeing that we need to change how we’re using him,” Nurse said. “I think we’ve got to continue to vary what we’ve done, and we’ve tried to do that all season long. What I’m hoping though, is that there is a little bit more athleticism and energy and youth back there, and hopefully we can see that.”
Butler is the only one who can run the point for any sustained stretch other than Maxey, though Grimes can spell him occasionally.
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One more reinforcement is coming for the 76ers, with Lonnie Walker IV reportedly on the way. The Reading High graduate last played for Zalgiris Kaunas in Lithuania. He’s a veteran of 322 NBA games wit the Spurs, Lakers and Nets.
Nurse said the club is still waiting on international paperwork to clear.
“It’s in the mail,” he said. “It should hopefully be ready to go for the next game.”
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If you’re keeping score at home, the 76ers Thursday started Maxey, Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr., Joel Embiid and Paul George. In game No. 55, that’s the 34th unique starting quintet Nurse has had to dial up.
Thursday was the 14th time the 76ers have started Maxey, Embiid and George together. They’re 7-6 in such games.
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Defense in the lane has been a big issue for the 76ers, a product of all the time missed by Embiid and his backup, Andre Drumond.
With both of the bigs back and Guerschon Yabusele restored to his more natural power forward spot, Nurse hopes that improves.
“Our rim protection numbers for the year are really, really bad. So that’s going to affect your defense hugely,” he said. “That is the thing that we’re trying to fix, and most of it, we all know how hard Yabu has played, the effort he’s given. But he’s a 6-6 center.”
The response Thursday was letting the Celtics make 11 of their first 16 3-point attempts. Boston was 15-for-25 from 3-point range in the first half, scoring 75 points. The 76ers shot 3-for-17.
The Celtics lead the league in 3-pointers attempted per game (48.3, with only three other teams over 40) and 11th in 3-point shooting percentage (36.7).
Source: Berkshire mont