AS PRACTICE concluded Thursday, Sixers coach Brett Brown gathered the six point guards who are vying for what he has insisted are three roster spots: Isaiah Canaan, Tony Wroten, Kendall Marshall, T.J. McConnell, Pierre Jackson and Scottie Wilbekin.
His tone with the players was calm and hushed. But minutes later when talking to reporters, the head coach was loud and animated.
His message to his players: Slow down when the situation dictates.
"You can't drive your car for 110 (mph) for 48 minutes," Brown said he told his players. "The game is going to require for you to feel the game. It's not a coach always calling a play or stamping his foot. We want to play fast and we're going to play fast. But you can't drive it 110 for 48 minutes.
"Just feel the game. You have to be purposeful in a halfcourt offense when it's nut-cutting time. What are we doing in crunch time? That's the delivery of a coach to six point guards trying to make a team and help me blend a style.
"The style has to be able to absorb the realities of our talent and what the time of the clock and the score of the game says. That's as much on a point guard as it is on their coach. That is the challenge that I give to them."
The coach's preferred starter among the six is probably a long time away from even being on the court. Of the injured Marshall and Wroten, both recovering from torn ACLs, Brown said: "They're a ways away. You always get nervous about throwing out dates. I think it would be fair to say that we're not going to see Kendall for the month of October and beyond. I hope not much further beyond. And Tony further along after that, probably not until some time in December. Who knows?
"I don't want to be locked into those time frames, because they could be longer. We're just coaching them and talking to them and are at the mercy of our medical people and how quickly they can 100 percent recover."
So it would appear that Canaan is the starter. After that, it's a tossup.
Jackson, who is a little over a year removed from tearing his Achilles' and has been hampered by a groin injury, will get his first preseason action Thursday night when the team hosts the Washington Wizards at the Wells Fargo Center.
"It's like the combination of not seeing him plus you don't just jump into an NBA game and get what he had," Brown said Jackson. "He's an explosive, athletic, dynamic type of scorer. When you lose that fitness and lose that feel, your game is watered down . . . You'd have to expect that his game has been hurt by not playing a lot."
One in, one out
Brett Brown will get back one of his big men Thursday night, but another will sit.
Nerlens Noel seems fine after suffering knee and back contusions in a game last Thursday, while Jahlil Okafor will still be sidelined with a sore knee. Okafor was easily running sprints at the end of practice and certainly doesn't seem too hobbled. Though he won't play tonight, Brown said Okafor will be ready for the season opener on Oct. 28.
"Nerlens will play against the Wizards, Jahlil will not. It was good just to see them on the floor," said Brown.
Whether Noel will get most of his minutes at the center spot Thursday, where he will back up Okafor during the season, wasn't yet decided by Brown. He seems certain to get minutes at both center and power forward.
Brown on Odom
When Brown was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, he was given the Los Angeles Lakers as his scouting assignment. Many times, Lamar Odom was a focus of his scouting. Odom is in a Las Vegas hospital fighting for his life after being found unconscious in a brothel.
"He would end games," said Brown. "He didn't start most times, but he would end games. He changed the game on how you had to guard him. There were a few years where he shot the ball (well enough that) he had to be respected.
"The message being is that I think of him about how good he was and how different he was (on the court). The message to our players (is) on how life presents different challenges. We're all raised and come up with different privileges, and the bottom line is that we all leave thinking about him. It's very important for me to acknowledge that with our young guys."
His tone with the players was calm and hushed. But minutes later when talking to reporters, the head coach was loud and animated.
His message to his players: Slow down when the situation dictates.
"You can't drive your car for 110 (mph) for 48 minutes," Brown said he told his players. "The game is going to require for you to feel the game. It's not a coach always calling a play or stamping his foot. We want to play fast and we're going to play fast. But you can't drive it 110 for 48 minutes.
"Just feel the game. You have to be purposeful in a halfcourt offense when it's nut-cutting time. What are we doing in crunch time? That's the delivery of a coach to six point guards trying to make a team and help me blend a style.
"The style has to be able to absorb the realities of our talent and what the time of the clock and the score of the game says. That's as much on a point guard as it is on their coach. That is the challenge that I give to them."
The coach's preferred starter among the six is probably a long time away from even being on the court. Of the injured Marshall and Wroten, both recovering from torn ACLs, Brown said: "They're a ways away. You always get nervous about throwing out dates. I think it would be fair to say that we're not going to see Kendall for the month of October and beyond. I hope not much further beyond. And Tony further along after that, probably not until some time in December. Who knows?
"I don't want to be locked into those time frames, because they could be longer. We're just coaching them and talking to them and are at the mercy of our medical people and how quickly they can 100 percent recover."
So it would appear that Canaan is the starter. After that, it's a tossup.
Jackson, who is a little over a year removed from tearing his Achilles' and has been hampered by a groin injury, will get his first preseason action Thursday night when the team hosts the Washington Wizards at the Wells Fargo Center.
"It's like the combination of not seeing him plus you don't just jump into an NBA game and get what he had," Brown said Jackson. "He's an explosive, athletic, dynamic type of scorer. When you lose that fitness and lose that feel, your game is watered down . . . You'd have to expect that his game has been hurt by not playing a lot."
One in, one out
Brett Brown will get back one of his big men Thursday night, but another will sit.
Nerlens Noel seems fine after suffering knee and back contusions in a game last Thursday, while Jahlil Okafor will still be sidelined with a sore knee. Okafor was easily running sprints at the end of practice and certainly doesn't seem too hobbled. Though he won't play tonight, Brown said Okafor will be ready for the season opener on Oct. 28.
"Nerlens will play against the Wizards, Jahlil will not. It was good just to see them on the floor," said Brown.
Whether Noel will get most of his minutes at the center spot Thursday, where he will back up Okafor during the season, wasn't yet decided by Brown. He seems certain to get minutes at both center and power forward.
Brown on Odom
When Brown was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, he was given the Los Angeles Lakers as his scouting assignment. Many times, Lamar Odom was a focus of his scouting. Odom is in a Las Vegas hospital fighting for his life after being found unconscious in a brothel.
"He would end games," said Brown. "He didn't start most times, but he would end games. He changed the game on how you had to guard him. There were a few years where he shot the ball (well enough that) he had to be respected.
"The message being is that I think of him about how good he was and how different he was (on the court). The message to our players (is) on how life presents different challenges. We're all raised and come up with different privileges, and the bottom line is that we all leave thinking about him. It's very important for me to acknowledge that with our young guys."
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