Nick Nurse touts Sixers’ versatility and Paul George shows off his work ethic

The 76ers are blessed with a plethora of interchangeable wings.

That’s a great luxury to have for coach Nick Nurse. And it’s similar to the roster he had with the Toronto Raptors.

“I guess you can sit there and kind of think about it a little bit,” said Nurse, whose Sixers opened exhibition play Monday night against the New Zealand Breakers at the Wells Fargo Center. “It feels like there’s a lot of talent out there similar to Toronto. The only thing that keeps holding me back is Freddy [VanVleet] and Pascal [Siakam] blossomed late.

“We kind of knew who they were. They kind of exploded as the season went along, especially in the playoffs.”

» READ MORE: Germantown Academy’s Matt Walsh used to ride shotgun with Shaq. Now he owns a New Zealand team playing the Sixers.

VanVleet wasn’t a forward, but the undrafted point guard played a vital role on the Raptors’ 2019 NBA championship team as a third-year professional. He was capable of playing on and off the ball in two- and three-guard lineups. VanVleet would become an All-Star who would sign a three-year, $130 million contract with the Houston Rockets on July 7, 2023.

Siakam came to Toronto as a late first-round pick in 2016. The versatile 6-foot-8 forward was named the league’s Most Improved Player during the championship season.

From there, he went on to become a two-time All-Star capable of excelling at the small forward, power forward, and small-ball center positions. Siakam, who was traded to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 17, signed a four-year, $189 million extension with Indy on July 6.

“I’m not sure who those two guys are for us,” Nurse said. “Maybe they are there, but they’re already veteran guys. Maybe Kelly [Oubre] is Pascal or somebody. I can’t quite add it up, because we did have a good segment of kind of youthful guys that weren’t just rookies. You know [the Raptors had forwards] Norman Powell and OG [Anunoby] was super young, too.

“There was more of a core where we were still building with that team. But you know me, I like to be super versatile, and you got to be able to shift people all over the place. We do have a lot more in the middle that we can shift around.”

Right now, the Sixers are projected to start three wing players in Paul George, Caleb Martin, and Oubre. They also have wings coming off the bench in Eric Gordon, Ricky Council IV, and KJ Martin. The Sixers could also include reserve point guard Reggie Jackson and power forward Guerschon Yabusele among their list of versatile players.

Most of the Sixers stuck around for light drills before heading to the locker room after Monday’s shootaround. George did more than that.

He participated in dribbling drills before running flights of arena steps and doing plyometric drills under the supervision of his trainer.

George’s work ethic is one of the reasons the 34-year-old is a nine-time All-Star.