Sixers head coach Nick Nurse answered injury question after injury question Sunday.
At one point, he joked, “Anybody else?”
For now, his team has four players sidelined. Ahead of their matchup Monday with the Hornets, the Sixers listed Joel Embiid (sinus fracture), Jared McCain (left lateral meniscus tear), Caleb Martin (right shoulder impingement) and Adem Bona (left knee tendinopathy) as out.
The Sixers have not yet given a timeline for Embiid's return. According to Nurse, he had an evaluation scheduled Sunday afternoon. The All-Star big man suffered the injury Friday in the Sixers’ loss to the Pacers when Bennedict Mathurin accidentally hit him in the face.
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McCain is out indefinitely and expected to undergo surgery “shortly,” Nurse said.
“It’s a difficult one. I think we’ve got to try to keep things long term,” he said. “How does this affect him going forward in his career, which we hope is many, many years? You never really get a chance to go back and win the Rookie of the Year award. That’s a major one to have. You get that thing and you have it for the rest of your life, that at one point in time you were the Rookie of the Year. It’s obviously a tough way to go out, not having that.
“But, keeping it in perspective, it’s a long career, hopefully, and we’ll just get him ready to go as soon as we can.”
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On the court in the present, veteran guards Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon and Reggie Jackson are among the players who may receive more minutes without McCain. Lowry practiced Sunday after missing the Indiana game with back spasms.
“I think there’s a couple pieces you’re trying to replace with Jared gone,” Nurse said. “One is a part-time backup point guard, so that brings in one of our other guys. And then obviously the shooting, which may bring in another one of our guys. So we certainly made some plans on that today, working on some things.”
Bona did not practice and Martin was a limited participant. Nurse called both players “still day-to-day.”
Martin said he’s “definitely feeling better” and is confident he’ll be able to make sufficient progress during the season. He seemed to suggest that he’s aiming to have a smoother, more comfortable jump shot.
“I think a lot of it is fluidity,” he said. “Being fluid with my body and the motions I have. Allowing things to be one motion, instead of a concern or stoppage or blockage … things that you can tell are clear signs that I’m preventing myself from feeling a certain way.
“And the only way for me to not feel that way is to take the time and go do the rehab process. … So just focusing on how I’m feeling, listening to my body and really just finding that fluidness throughout my body have been key things.”
On Nurse’s end, he’ll handle whatever injury news comes his way and hope it gets less grim.
“We can’t seem to clear the runway and get going,” he said. “And when we do, the snow piles up again. … Chances are it changes tomorrow, hopefully for the positive. If it’s not, then we’ve got to adjust again. It’s obviously difficult. You guys are here watching it all and there’s a lot of disruption, a lot of non-rhythmic play.
“We had a couple weeks — six, seven games — of really good play. Give them credit, they fought through it a little bit. We’ve got another little bump in the road here and we’ve got to keep on moving.”
