{"id":164972,"date":"2025-10-30T18:55:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T22:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=164972"},"modified":"2025-10-30T18:55:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T22:55:46","slug":"how-will-sixers-manage-nba-best-backcourt-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/30\/how-will-sixers-manage-nba-best-backcourt-rotation\/","title":{"rendered":"How Will Sixers Manage NBA&#8217;s Best Backcourt Rotation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Philadelphia 76ers guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccaija01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared McCain<\/a> has taken the next step in his return from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/26\/jared-mccain-gets-major-injury-setback\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the torn UCL he sustained<\/a> during a late offseason workout.<\/p>\n<h2>Sixers&#8217; Jared McCain Takes Another Step In Return From UCL Injury<\/h2>\n<p>On Thursday, McCain was <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KyleNeubeck\/status\/1983930363383599133\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a full participant<\/a> in a non-contact practice, per PHLY Sports reporter Kyle Neubeck.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He has worked extremely hard on a number of fronts to get back and play,&#8221; Sixers head coach Nick Nurse would say in his post-practice presser (h\/t PHLY Sixers).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Nick Nurse speaks on Jared McCain post-practice today <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kllNhFjoMU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/kllNhFjoMU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 PHLY Sixers (@PHLY_Sixers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PHLY_Sixers\/status\/1983951951772402020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So, I think from a conditioning standpoint, I think he&#8217;s going to be in a good place,&#8221; he continues. &#8220;He&#8217;s taken, as of the last couple of days, lots of shots \u2013high-volume attempts \u2013and he&#8217;s making them like he normally does. I think it&#8217;s still very early here. We got to get him into some contact and get him checked again&#8230; But we&#8217;re making some progress.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nurse&#8217;s latest statement doubles down on his comments from Monday, when he noted that McCain is &#8220;going to have to go through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/sixers\/sixers-jared-mccain-right-thumb-joel-embiid-dominick-barlow-orlando-magic-20251027.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a series of days of contact<\/a>,&#8221; per The Philadelphia Inquirer&#8217;s Keith Pompey. At the time, Pompey revealed that McCain had been &#8220;cleared to switch from his initial splint to a smaller one and take part in drills after being reevaluated a couple of days ago. As was the case prior to the injury, he shot the ball at a high percentage during the workout.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>How Will Sixers Manage NBA&#8217;s Best Backcourt Rotation?<\/h3>\n<p>The Sixers should be incredibly excited. In the world of sports, it&#8217;s easy to get carried away and become hyperbolic. Yet, there&#8217;s a legitimate argument that Philadelphia has the best backcourt rotation in the NBA when healthy.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164978\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164978\" style=\"width: 2129px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-164978\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2129\" height=\"1419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres.jpg 2129w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27422699_168404789_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2129px) 100vw, 2129px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164978\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oct 25, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe (77) and guard Tyrese Maxey (0) look on during the third quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With Los Angeles Lakers guards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a> playing out of this world right now, that&#8217;s quite a claim to make. Even so, the Lakers don&#8217;t have <em>four<\/em> starting-level and star-caliber guards. Between McCain, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edgecvj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">VJ Edgecombe<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grimequ01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quentin Grimes<\/a>, the 76ers do.<\/p>\n<h4>What Will Jared McCain&#8217;s Role Be?<\/h4>\n<p>As there&#8217;s only one ball to go around, the quality of their backcourt rotation is a gift and a curse. Factoring in the juice that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oubreke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a> have with the ball in their hands only adds layers of complexity. Yet, with enough selflessness and creativity, everyone will be able to eat. Plus, winning makes any pill easier to swallow.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, it should be easier to integrate McCain into the offense now than it would&#8217;ve been prior to the season. Maxey and Edgecombe have already secured their starting positions. Maxey, who&#8217;s leading the NBA in scoring, is the team&#8217;s offensive engine with 37.5 points and 8.3 assists per game. Edgecombe&#8217;s athleticism and instincts allowed him to come out of the gates looking like one of the league&#8217;s premier two-way players.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Grimes has been utilized in an assertive sixth man role. Thus, McCain should be slotting in as Maxey&#8217;s backup. With Maxey, Edgecombe, and Grimes playing so well, his numbers may not constantly sizzle off the grill. Even so, he should be able to play an important role as a go-to scorer in the second unit. His presence also allows Maxey to rest more. To that point, Maxey&#8217;s 43.0 minutes per game leads the league.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Kyle Ross-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain has taken the next step in his return from the torn UCL he sustained during a late offseason workout. Sixers&#8217; Jared McCain Takes Another Step In Return From UCL Injury On Thursday, McCain was a full participant in a non-contact practice, per PHLY Sports reporter Kyle Neubeck. &#8220;He has worked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":164979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1608,62,3],"tags":[49067,4745,3160,2478,49644],"class_list":["post-164972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76ers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-jared-mccain","tag-nba-injuries","tag-quentin-grimes","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-vj-edgecombe"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164972"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164983,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164972\/revisions\/164983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}