How much will Nick Nurse lean on older Sixers players in 2024-25? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The 2024-25 Sixers will begin training camp next October 1 in the Bahamas.
As that date approaches, we will dive into several topics of significance to the team Nick Nurse’s second season as head coach.
We have looked so far what the Sixers can depend on this season and whether the team has done enough to address its defensive rebounding problem.
Next: How much will Nurse support its older players?
Nurse has shown over the years that he is happy to go to his guys.
During Nurse’s time as Raptors head coach, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam became regulars in the NBA minutes by game board. Tyrese Maxey averaged 37.5 minutes last regular season en route to a Most Improved Player Award. When he’s on the fence about rotation decisions, Nurse has often turned to one of his most reliable players or kept his stars on the floor for extended, important stints.
Back in the 2019-20 seasonKyle Lowry ranked fourth in the NBA with 36.2 minutes per game. Although Nurse still adores the six-time All-Star guard, that number will obviously be much lower in the 2024-25 season. He knows what it takes to get the Sixers’ veterans healthy through the season.
“I think that definitely has to be part of the plan. … Lowry, (Eric) Gordon … it’s going to take some management of those guys as they get older,” Nurse said on July 23. “Most of that comes in what you do every day — training camp, practices, travel. .
“Physician and front office and everybody will come together closely. … I think everybody is probably on that same page. I think we want to get to the playoffs with health management.”
With By Anthony Melton rarely available due to a back injury, Nurse started Lowry last year and played him 29.2 minutes per game in the postseason. The Sixers signed a versatile, starting caliber player this summer in Caleb Martin and took in two very experienced guards Gordon and Reggie Jackson. They drafted a combo guard Jared McCaintoo. Regardless of the 38-year-old Lowry’s level of play, the Sixers shouldn’t owe that much to him.
Nurse may still have some nights when he is drawn to important Lowry minutes. And he understands that Lowry doesn’t move out of the park so easily these days.
“It’s not best for him to let him sit for a long time and then bring him back like that,” Nurse said following March 10 win over the Knicks in which Lowry came back in the fourth quarter and sank a timely three-pointer. “He kind of revs his engine and then when he turns it off, it’s hard to turn it back on.”
Along with Jackson (34) and Gordon (35), Paul George is the other Sixer in his mid-30s.
Last season was the 34-year-old George’s healthiest since 2018-19 – no long-term injuries, 74 games played, available through the playoffs. He knows well that health is most important for both stars like himself and Joel Embiid and relatively “old” guys like Lowry.
asked at his introductory press conference on keys to the Sixers going past Round 2 of the playoffs, George started simply.
“I think for us, it just ends up healthy,” he said.