November 10, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Should Sixers head coach Nick Nurse already be under a microscope?
CHICAGO – The Sixers are 9-2 with a Net Rating that is right around the NBA average.
If you like a glass half full, you would argue this team has already proven its crunch-time dominance. If you like a glass half empty, you see regression coming imminently.
Time will tell, and in a loaded Eastern Conference the Sixers will not play many more games like two against the Chicago Bulls in which they largely coasted to a victory. Even Sunday’s road win in Chicago was far from encouraging; the Sixers scored points against the NBA’s worst defense and also gave up a whole lot of them with a brutal defensive showing of their own.
In this week’s Sixers mailbag, diving into the Sixers’ below-average offense through 11 games and more:
From @ykyk226: The Sixers' defense has been great, but what are your thoughts on the offensive currently? The Sixers rank 19th in Offensive Rating. With all the talent on that end, does this raise concern?
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse and all five of his starters have been self-aware dating back to the beginning of training camp on Oct. 1. This operation, even with an enormous amount of offensive talent, would take time to coalesce.
What the Sixers have put on tape (and in the box score) is, more or less, what I expected to see from them in the season's opening weeks – but with more frequent flashes of potential brilliance.
When the Sixers have looked decisive, they have looked dominant. Their lulls come when passivity seeps into the offense. None of their stars want to be the one that gets in the way of the others. But somebody has to be assertive. I asked Tyrese Maxey about it after Sunday's win.
"You know what's funny about that? We had [a film] edit today. We talked about us passing too much," Maxey said. "Getting in trouble could be passing up a lot of shots and being unselfish, which is a good thing. As you can see, we want everybody to be successful. Everybody [should] pick their spots to be aggressive. And I think we all want each other to be successful, which makes it really easy.... I remember last game I had a wide-open three, ended up turning the ball over or something like that. So you’ve got to shoot those shots. It's good being unselfish, but sometimes those are the plays I got to make."
MORE: Takeaways from Sixers' 2-1 road trip
The primary culprit here may be Dean Wade, slated to be this team’s most important reserve. Wade’s defensive versatility has already been a godsend, but he is running the lowest usage rate in the entire NBA and actively passing up open threes.
It is easy to say the Sixers should simply instruct Wade to trust his quality three-point shooting more, but a leopard cannot always change its spots in that way. I asked Nurse about that in Chicago, too. How does he approach those conversations?
“I mean, definitely show them, right? Definitely show — he's not the only one," Nurse said. "I think that's also one of the things that we've talked about now a few times coming out of games, just showing our guys: listen, we've created the shot, we need you to take it. And that's not just him, it's quite a few guys. So it's all part of learning what it feels like out there with certain players, certain rotations, all that kind of stuff.”
Mentality is one thing; scheme is another. And while this team has a group that caters to significant volume inside the arc, the Sixers’ middling number of three-point makes is certainly putting a ceiling on what they can accomplish as an offense.
These Sixers have only managed 11.5 long-range makes per game, and some of that stems from poor performance. Joel Embiid is now 3-for-30 from long range this season. LeBron James is 8-for-32. Maxey is 28-for-82.
But this team was 25th in the NBA in three-point attempts per game after Sunday’s win. That number is at least somewhat troubling.
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From @1gbopr1nce: When are we going to see Caleb Love minutes?
After a long run of more productivity from signees of two-way contracts than any other team in the NBA — punctuated by standout seasons from Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker last season — the Sixers have gotten nothing out of their three two-way players so far this season.
Much of the focus has been on 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall given his name recognition and position. But Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert are two of the higher-caliber two-way players in the league. Neither appears to have a pathway to rotation minutes on this team.
If Justin Edwards cannot get on the floor with his standard contract, how could Rupert expect to see playing time? And given the Sixers’ ball-handling depth — Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Anfernee Simons and Labaron Philon Jr. are all on roster in addition to James as another initiator and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as another guard — it is going to be tricky for Love to find a pathway to playing, too.
Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter had both Love and Rupert last season with the Portland Trail Blazers. I asked him about that experience and what they can bring to the Sixers.
“I think those two players brought a spark in the middle of the season for us," Splitter said. "Caleb Love scoring the ball, he had important games for us. I remember one at the top of my mind in Golden State, he basically won that game for us, scored 20-something, clutch points at the end. Rupert, I think, he's one of those players that every coach wants to coach because he does everything you ask. He never gets out of the scouting or the scheme that you want. Great memories with them.”
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