Sixers practice notebook: Joel Embiid’s knee responds well, Nick Nurse excited to turn the page on summer school

CAMDEN — Chris Finch could sense the anguish in his conversations with Nick Nurse over the summer.

Nurse did not hide his frustration, his pain from his long-time friend in the basketball world.

"I fully expect this team to be a really good team near the top of the East this year and have a big bounce-back," Finch told reporters ahead of Friday's preseason finale in Philadelphia. 

"You can sense the confidence in their ability to do that when I talked to him this summer."

Nurse spent his summer of 'pissed off-edness' hoping that last season's endless barrage of injuries was just a stroke of misfortune. He's still hoping that that's just a chapter of this story.

But he has to use the last chapter to write the next one.

The Sixers couldn't just forget about the failures of last season. It couldn't end with 'well, see you in September'. They had to make up for what Philadelphia endured in 2024-25.

If you fail a class, you go to summer school. The Sixers failed miserably, so class was in session.

Nurse estimated that the Sixers, in some way, shape, or form, have been in the gym "at least four to five weeks on top of [training camp], and maybe another four or five on top of that from player development work from the summer league".

That's how they're digging themselves out of a hole.

They've talked about showing up - from the film room to the practice floor to game-like situations. It's paramount to making progress.

"Guys are filtering back in after a long stretch of the other way around. That certainly makes a big difference," Nurse said at Sunday's practice of his excitement for the season to start.

Of course, that has to be a function of Joel Embiid's health.

Nurse stressed the importance of seeing how Embiid's knee reacted to his first game in eight months on Friday. It wasn't just about the in-game. It was about the postgame. The day after.

Was there any feedback?

"Well, he went through practice today. So I think that's our biggest tell. He's out there doing a full practice, so he's reacting pretty good," Nurse said on Sunday.

Embiid and Paul George were full participants at the Sunday session.

"All the way through. Pretty heavy day. As far as this is kind of one of the last days of a real, long, extensive session and both went start to finish."

According to Shams Charania, George is not expected to play in Wednesday's season-opener in Boston.

The Sixers have not given a ruling on either. All signs point to Embiid being available for that game against the Celtics. George seems close behind, if not secretly right up there with Embiid.

George has made progress in each of the last three practice sessions. Sunday was the first practice he's completed in full.

It sounds like conditioning is the last box he needs to check.

"He looked good, he's moving good. He needs to have some more conditioning and things. But looked good. He's really pushing himself to get in shape," Nurse said.

"Defensively, he looked really good. He was really moving and he's such a good guy at reading situations and being able to get back with his length and handle closeout situations. Really knows what he's doing on that end. Yeah, he's making progress."

George isn't the only one making his way back to the court. Newcomer Trendon Watford missed all of preseason with what the Sixers have only called 'right hamstring tightness'.

Watford is in the early stages of re-integration.

"He's making progress, too. He's obviously running more. He's in the five-on-zero stuff. He's in a little bit of the drill work at the beginning that was not quite live action but it's pretty close," Nurse said.

He almost certainly will not be ready for opening night. But, frankly, opening night is more of a milestone comparing where the team was a year ago to where it is now. It inspires some level of hope that maybe, just maybe, this thing is getting back on track.

But it's hardly the goal. The Sixers are striving to manage their way through a long, grueling season with as few health-related road bumps as possible.

It has to begin with opening night. The stairs don't reach the top floor without starting on the ground floor.

That ground floor is opening night. Assuming Embiid plays, that starting lineup has three known regulars locked in. Obviously, Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. On Friday, Nurse confirmed that rookie VJ Edgecombe will be in that group.

It's a testament to his work and production in practice, which Nurse described as "outstanding".

Edgecombe's perimeter shooting in the preseason reflected his rookie status. But Nurse is compelled to favor everything else he's doing and trust that the shooting will come.

"Progress has been really good. Like, technically, the things that we've done, he's corrected. He really has worked hard on it," Nurse said.

In the head coach's eyes, it's a matter of repetitions now.

"I know it sounds funny but you got to take them in real NBA games and meaningful shots. To me, it's just a matter of time. Even if it goes like this for a while, it's just a matter of time. You got to get those reps into you. But I think the best thing is the opportunities are there. The guys are collapsing down and finding him. He's got some good looks. I'm super confident he's going to make them."

It's too early to worry about a rookie not making an adequate percentage of his jumpers. But, at some point, results have to matter more than process does.

When will that be?

"He made a few the other night, a couple the other night after he hadn't made any. So, again, just to consider when it gets swung over to him and he's getting ready to pull it, I'm very excited because I'm expecting it to go in because of the work that he's put in," Nurse said.

But it's the work that the entire group is doing that has Nurse excited to begin this new chapter.