Right now, the auditions are pretty clear.
Andre Drummond and Adem Bona are probably in a battle for the full trust of Nick Nurse as the backup to Embiid.
Drummond appears to have the advantage in that his abilities aren’t a mystery – a little bit of scoring, a whole lot of rebounding and decent rim protection.
On the other hand, he isn’t going to help against a team that is perimeter oriented. That’s the strength of Bona, who, with his athleticism and quickness, can be a presence against three-point shooting bigs. But Bona makes many mental mistakes with head-scratching fouls, unawareness of his surroundings at times and probably a little bit of distrust from his coaches and maybe even teammates.
Who will back up Paul George when he returns from his suspension is another area that garners attention. Dominick Barlow has filled in admirably while George has been sidelined, and provides a spark in going after offensive rebounds and loose balls. But the question is if that is what Nurse wants at that spot.
Maybe he would lean towards a more diverse player in Trendon Watford, who can handle the ball well for a big, but he seems to have been surpassed in the rotation for now by Jabari Walker.
Then there is Justin Edwards, who can provide an offensive spark if he can get back the nice shooting groove he had earlier this season.
When playoffs come, or get close, the rotation almost certainly will shrink to eight or nine, and the challenges stated above are still unsettled. What is settled and getting stronger since the All-Star Break is the play of backup guard Quentin Grimes. In the three games since the break, Grimes has averaged 14.7 points and shot 15-for-30 from the floor, including 9-for-19 from three in about 27 minutes of play. The hesitation has vanished; the confidence has returned and a solidification of the backcourt restored.
“We’re just trying to get him a target number of shots to take just so it feels like he’s got situations where he’s got to get them off,” said Nurse of Grimes, who scored in double figures in 21 of the first 24 games.
“It’s a difficult one, too, because he can get them off any time he wants. He can get them (when) guarded and he’s actually really good at those. So getting him in situations where we’re going to get (him) the ball and need (him) to shake (his) guy down and shoot the ball just because we need some three-point productivity out of (him). It hasn’t come very easily. He’s gotten more of them in random stuff that’s happening. But we’re just going to continue to encourage him to be aggressive. He’s feeling good now and I think that will be helpful.”
When you have a fellow guard in Tyrese Maxey — who is not only leading the team in scoring, but up among the leaders in the league — telling you to shoot and be more aggressive, that says something. Maxey has been encouraging Grimes to catch and shoot, to not think about anything else. He has, and his overall play has improved, as evidenced by Grimes dealing seven assists in the 135-108 win over Minnesota on Sunday.
With the addition of Cam Payne recently — who provides a playmaking spark for the second unit — there isn’t much concern about the backcourt of the team as the playoffs inch closer.
How the frontcourt plays out will come down to, as always, health and whoever proves they deserve their coach’s trust.
