CAMDEN, N.J. -- As the Philadelphia 76ers move forward in the first year of LeBron James, one has to wonder what his role will be in his first season with the team.
There is a lot that James can do on the floor. He can quite literally do everything from defending on the perimeter, score at an extremely high level, handle the ball and run offense, and also find ways to be effective without the ball in his hands.
"Whatever the team needs for me to do," James said on media day. "I think the luxury of my game is I can do everything. Literally, I can do everything."
Yes, James can in fact, do everything. However, what is it that coach Nick Nurse wants from him is one of the bigger questions he and the Sixers will figure out as time moves on.
"What I
would like to do first," Nurse pondered. "I mean, like you said, first of all, he's very versatile, right? Like, I got an idea, as I do with every guy, like what their role should be, and even and even like bullet points underneath it. But I kind of want to see the group for a couple weeks before I start really trying to narrow that down."
Right now, the Sixers have so many players who can handle the ball. From Tyrese Maxey to VJ Edgecombe to James to Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, and others. Therefore, it means there are plenty of roles for somebody like James. The Sixers will use training camp, preseason, and even some of the regular season to really figure it out on the floor.
"I want to collaborate with each player on that, to see – I think that's one thing we need to do is clearly define roles for everybody, but I think that's not yet," Nurse added. "I think we need to see more just action, and then you know, I think that'll clear up the vision of it a little bit."
James and the players have preached the word "sacrifice". It's a word that always gets thrown around on talented teams such as this one. Players will have to give up shot attempts, minutes, and other aspects of the game for the greater good. Sacrificing could find a nice cohesion for Philadelphia, but Nurse doesn't want to put his players in a box either.
"Not really," Nurse said on the notion of sacrifice. "I mean, I don't really view it that way. Like, first of all, I want these guys to be who they are. I want them to not have rigid roles. I think there's always roles shaped throughout the year. I've said this to you 100 times. I'll say it again. But it depends on who hits the floor certain nights."
Essentially, whoever is available to get up and give the Sixers some production around James and Co., then that will determine what Nurse wants from his guys every night.
"One night your role’s this, and the next night it's that because of what you are able to do," the coach finished. "So, I think it's a little bit of shape-shifting, right? Sacrifice. It seems like such a negative term to me, and I'd rather really emphasize being who you are, right? But maybe we need you to do something super special for our team at this moment, and you have the abilities to do it. Then let's do it, right?"
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Coach Nick Nurse discusses LeBron James role as Sixers move forward
