Nick Nurse expects free-flowing new offense to get buy-in from Sixers and ‘make everyone a threat’

There’s an unwritten rule when watching preseason basketball: Never take away too much from the games.

For the 76ers, that’s especially true this preseason.

Joel Embiid and James Harden — the Sixers’ two best players last season — have yet to play. And there’s no telling how long the latter will even remain a Sixer because of his trade request.

With that being said, the free-flowing offense implemented by new coach Nick Nurse has been effective and fun to watch.

» READ MORE: Jaden Springer makes his case for Sixers’ rotation

The days of players standing around and watching Embiid and Harden dominate the ball in the two-man game are over.

Nowadays, if Tobias Harris grabs a defensive rebound, he can dribble up the court and get his teammates into offensive sets. And as the Wells Fargo Center crowd found out in Wednesday’s 112-101 preseason home-opening loss to the Celtics, a lot of Sixers are getting opportunities.

“That’s Nick,” Sixers forward P.J. Tucker said. “That’s what I’m saying about Nick. There’s different looks. Tonight might be your night. Tonight might be his night. You never know, but the ball is going to pop. Everybody is going to touch it. Everybody is going to feel involved. And that’s how it’s got to be.”

Even Tucker, who rarely handled the ball last season, dribbled it up the court and initiated the offense during a possession in Sunday’s 114-106 loss in Boston.

On Wednesday, there was a lot of ball movement in the first half. Things became a little disjointed in the second half.

“It was all right,” Tucker said. “Different lineups were different. We’ll still figure it out. It’s still preseason. No Joe, no James. Everybody else will figure it out. We’ll figure out the offense, how we are going to play off each other, how we are going to play as a team, read each other, and [work on] the flow.

“That’s stuff we got to keep working on. We got a couple of weeks. So keep working on it every day.”

But early ball movement enabled reserves Kelly Oubre Jr., De’Anthony Melton, and Danny Green to all shine.

Oubre scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half on 5-for-5 shooting, including making four threes. Green had all eight of his points in the first quarter on 3-for-3 shooting. And Melton scored all 10 of his points in the first half.

Reserve guard Jaden Springer had his second straight solid performance, finishing with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting. Starters Tyrese Maxey and Paul Reed had 17 points and 10, respectively to give the Sixers five double-figure scorers.

The new strategy is “making everybody a threat on the floor,” Harris said. “Obviously, we didn’t have Joel and James, but I think you can see the overall theme of moving around, playing at a good pace.”

In the first game, the Sixers’ defense also displayed plenty of its training camp work. But the offensive changes are what stood out most.

Harris should be this season’s biggest benefactor of that new offense.

He’s getting a chance to showcase his overall offensive skill set, something he’s rarely done as a Sixer.

Nurse will take advantage of mismatches by posting him up on occasion. He’ll also roam freely on the court instead of standing stationary around the three-point line.

The offensive freedom is actually derived from particular matchups that Nurse hunts.

“Sometimes that means we have to find what defender we are going at, too,” Nurse said. “So if he’s supposed to be the ballhandler, he’s [playing] off of that.

“So a lot of the stuff, I do it out of necessity.”

» READ MORE: New coach Nick Nurse begins his task with the Sixers: ‘You are paid to work through some things’

On Sunday, when Tucker brought the ball up, Nurse wanted two players in the halfcourt action. So he asked Tucker if he could bring the ball up the floor.

The Celtics switched guard Payton Pritchard on Tucker to bother him, but he still did a solid job of getting the ball past halfcourt.

The tactic is designed to speed up the offense, enable multiple players to touch the ball, and create good shots.

“That keeps guys playing hard,” Nurse said, “and rebounding and fighting for the team a little bit.”