Nick Nurse is single-handedly ruining the 76ers’ biggest strength

With each game, it becomes more apparent that Nick Nurse may not be the best person to be on the sidelines for the Philadelphia 76ers this season and beyond. That was on full display during the team’s most recent game against the Warriors, where they managed to take a huge lead. but were saved thanks to the heroics of their starting backcourt.

Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe came up big late in the game to give the 76ers their twelfth win of the season, but Nurse’s miscalculations left many frustrated. The biggest problem with him is his continued lack of trust in Jared McCain, who remains trapped in a strange situation where he is not given the role he already should be playing.

McCain logged just 21 minutes against Golden State after logging nearly 27 minutes in the last five games. While that may not seem like a drastic departure from his average, keep in mind that Quentin Grimes started as the nominal small forward. Instead, Nurse played both Grimes and Tyrese Maxey for nearly 40 minutes.

The 76ers have a major Nick Nurse problem

The distribution of the backcourt nurses’ minutes was nothing short of head-scratching. He’s played way too many minutes against Maxey, and while there’s some credibility in elevating that to a matter of necessity, part of that design comes from the coaching staff’s lack of optimization in that regard.

VJ Edgecombe, who surprisingly only played 23 minutes against the Warriors – likely due to his ball-handling issues – is still averaging 35 minutes per night. Grimes easily leads the league in that department among all players coming off the bench, with 32.7 minutes per game.

Meanwhile, McCain isn’t getting the ample opportunity he needs to get his mojo back, and even when he’s on the field, the amount of time he spends as the lead ballhandler is thrown into disarray for some reason.

The nurse needs to do a much better job of showcasing the skills of their guards by placing them in a more ideal role. So far, he hasn’t provided McCain with the ideal platform to maximize his skills, and people have certainly noticed.

Hopefully this trend will come to a halt soon. The 76ers have one of the most lethal backcourts in the NBA, and Nick Nurse disrupting that dynamic by dealing Jared McCain a less-than-ideal hand has some unwanted consequences.