Sixers’ offensive changes are more evident with each passing game

PHILADELPHIA - Nick Nurse would pop out of his chair and clap his hands from time to time.

It didn't have to end in the ball going through the hoop. He was excited about what he'd just seen.

It's about process right now. Build culture, build habits. Worry about the wins and losses later this month.

The 30-point loss wasn't the focus. How could it be when the best player available rested for 36 out of 48 minutes?

Don't let the final score fool you, the Sixers look different.

We'll see how long it lasts. We'll see if it results in wins.

But it beats watching possessions die on the first pass or in the hands of ill-equipped players.

"We're trying to get, especially early, just a little bit more of a passing culture. Let's move the ball just to kind of let it energize people. Let's get it from side to side a little bit," Nurse said before Friday's 128-98 preseason loss to the Orlando Magic.

He anticipates rough patches. There'll be moments when they pass at the expense of good shots or when they shoot at the expense of the extra pass.

"You probably saw that, where we're kind of overdoing it now. I know there's going to be some slippage probably, and it goes back to maybe 50-60 percent of that, what we're doing now. But I think that would be an improvement. Again, I think it's something that we're trying to do," Nurse said. 

Nurse sees his team coming down the floor and getting side-to-side ball movement. They don't have it down to a science yet. There are times when nothing is cooking. There are times when they've run a pick-and-roll or two and no progress has been made.

"But you probably also notice that there's been an increased number of back-cuts for layups, like way more than we're used to. There were a bunch of drives that dumped off for dunks for the bigs. I think we might've gotten our season total for last year in our first two preseason games," Nurse pointed out.

The head coach is proud that the things they're implementing - more passing, spacing, ball-handling depth - are coming to light.

How do the Sixers balance patience with urgency when the offense gets jammed up?

"Did we get deep into shot clocks too much in Abu Dhabi? Yeah, probably. It's never a great place to be, deep in shot clocks. But I was happy at that point that they continued to search. And, again, it's like you're trying to create some openings and stuff with an offense instead of players just creating everything off nothing," Nurse said.

In this league, if you're lucky enough to have a breadth of shot creation, you rely on that.

"But now we're trying to help them create stuff and get, like I said, back-cuts and dump-offs and some high-percentage shots. I think, yeah, for the most part, we did OK," Nurse told reporters on Friday evening.

While they were playing meaningful minutes, the Sixers ran pin-downs and wide actions for Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. They got shots off the catch and off the drive. The Sixers set a handful of screens on the perimeter, angled parallel to the sideline. Maxey, in his 12 minutes, made a concerted effort to relocate off the ball.

"There would be screens from both angles. There's the vertical step-ups, there's the cross, there's some slip-outs, there's a little bit of variety in what's going on. I think kind of the first group out there, you saw that there were different things opening up for people and all that kind of stuff," Nurse said after the game. 

"They're doing a good job of popping when they should. They're rolling some, they're creating some short-roll opportunities for guys. So yeah, for this stage, I think they're running the stuff fairly well."

The passing culture that Nurse spoke of has manifested in vision for the corners. There is depth to Philadelphia's drive-and-kick game. They didn't just driving the slots. The Sixers attacked closeouts from the corners. One way or another, they got into the paint and kicked to the corners. If that wasn't the shot, they swung the ball until there was a high-quality shot.

You found your eyes pin-balling around the floor on Friday. The Sixers looked, dare I say, young, fast and athletic.

Spear-heading the operation was Maxey, who told Nurse that he felt like he didn't do enough with the ball in the two games in Abu Dhabi.

Nurse told Maxey that it was as freely as he'd ever seen him play.

How did the young guard respond?

17 points on 14 shots in the first quarter. Six attempts from beyond the arc.

The ultimate free rein.

"I'm big on taking what the defense gives me. I think in practice a lot recently, because of guys knowing me and knowing our offense and stuff, they pull in a lot and make me pass a lot and I think that's been really good for me," Maxey told reporters after Friday's game. 

"Just being able to create plays for my teammates. It's going to carry over to the games, for sure. I got out there on the court today and, like I said, I wanted to be ultra aggressive. Not just for myself, but just to get our pace going. I feel like our pace was really good tonight."

Maxey liked that they pushed and moved the ball. He ran down a checklist of things they did well - cutting, passing, screening, rolling, popping and shooting threes.

While he feels it was a good exercise for the team, Maxey feels he's at a point in his career where he has to play freely every night.

"I'm blessed coach has given me the freedom to play, the team trusts me, everybody pretty much trusts me to help our team win games," he said.

"That's what I'm going to try to go out there and do."

Those wins haven't come yet, but the changes are noticeable.