Nick Nurse singles out 2 newcomers to begin Sixers training camp

CAMDEN, N.J. -- The Philadelphia 76ers got to work on day one of training camp on Saturday as they look to move forward towards proper preparation for their season. The Sixers have some new pieces to incorporate into their schemes and they will need all the practice time they can in order to get everybody on the same page.

Coach Nick Nurse spent the first day of camp focused on the defensive end of the floor. Obviously, that is such an important factor in winning in today's NBA and Nurse wants to make sure everybody gets on the same page and build some togetherness on the floor in this early part of camp.

"You got to always keep a little bit of an eye that you do actually have to go throw it up and play another team here, I think Thursday, right?" Nurse started. "So you do our putting in just enough things to get through a game, you know? Making sure you got some basics in to get through a game, but other than that, it was heavy, almost all defense today, defense based and playing out of that. We like to do our drills and then play out of it for a bit, and then get back to the drill and play out of it again. So almost all the whole practice was different coverages and things"

With that being said, when Nurse was asked who stood out to him the most on the first day of camp, he singled out two specific newcomers: Dominick Barlow and rookie VJ Edgecombe.

"I think if I had to pick a couple, I think, again, VJ was very good," Nurse thoughtfully pondered. "Dominick Barlow is standing out early on here. He's really on the glass and making some shots and playing extremely high, just involved in a lot of good stuff. So that's one good one. Tyrese (Maxey) was really good today. (Adem) Bona was good. I mean, there's a lot of guys, obviously, fairly fresh today. You know, fairly fresh. We gave them a day off yesterday. If you count media day as a day off, so, yeah, there was some good stuff, but probably Barlow and VJ."

When it comes to Barlow, specifically, he's here on a two-way deal after two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and one with the Atlanta Hawks. He can do a lot of different things for the Sixers and Nurse is determined to explore everything he can do in order to unlock his full potential. Is Barlow a 4? Is he a 5? Could he run some at the 3? The possibilities are endless for now.

"4 for sure," Nurse started. "I don't know about 5. I know he's played some, so I guess that's always an option, but he's playing almost exclusively 4 and even 3 right now. Running the wings and things like that. You want guys to understand, like, here's what we want you to do. We really want you to up and guarding the ball, and he's doing that every chance he gets. We want you when we get the ball, to run to your spots and run hard. He's doing that. He's attacking the basket in the open floor a little bit, and the big thing he's doing is he's on the glass."

The Sixers have another day of camp on Sunday before heading out to Abu Dhabi for two preseason games with the New York Knicks.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse singles out 2 newcomers to begin Sixers training camp