Plenty of early intrigue for Sixers at center behind Embiid

Plenty of early intrigue for Sixers at center behind Embiid originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers’ starting center Monday night acted like a stretch five. Their 6-foot-8 backup center, who’s known as the “Dancing Bear,” shot 6 for 6 from the floor in his first NBA game since May 8, 2019.

Plenty of intrigue for a preseason opener that Joel Embiid watched from the sidelines.

Andre Drummond took the opening jump ball for the Sixers and posted 11 points and seven rebounds in their 139-84 exhibition win over the New Zealand Breakers.

That sort of stat line isn’t abnormal for the 31-year-old big man. More significantly, he made a corner three-pointer (and missed a top-of-the-key attempt, too).

Semi-regular three-pointers would be new for Drummond. He’s hit zero long-range shots over the past four seasons and his highest-volume year was a 5-for-38 season with the Pistons in 2018-19.

However, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse didn’t talk about Drummond’s jumpers as anything along the lines of preseason silliness or harmless experimentation.

“He can shoot ‘em,” Nurse said postgame. “He can shoot ‘em, so yeah, we’re working on ‘em for sure. I think there’s moments where you can find some space for him, if you’re playing against a rim protector … but I think he can shoot ‘em. From what I’ve known for a while, he’s a lot more skilled than maybe he’s ever shown.

“He just kind of rebounds and hands the ball off all the time, but he’s got some ball skill, he’s got some passing skill, he’s got some shooting skill that we’ll keep working on.”

Behind Drummond, Nurse turned to Guerschon Yabusele before going to rookie Adem Bona in the second half.

While Yabusele’s a natural power forward, he’d also spent time playing center over the prior week at training camp.

“I did work a lot at the five, so I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “Especially with Joel not being (in), that’s something I was expecting and they told me that before. But I’ve been doing both. Sometimes I was also on the court with Drum. I think it’s interesting work for me to figure out the the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/plenty-early-intrigue-sixers-center-123450303.html

Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia

Publish date : 2024-10-08 12:34:50

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