CAMDEN, N.J. -- The Philadelphia 76ers got back to work at practice on Tuesday as they continue preparation for the preseason finale on Friday and the regular season opener on Oct. 20. The Sixers are relatively healthy, but there are some ailments to some bench players that need to be ironed out.
Anfernee Simons, who has not yet played in the preseason due to a hamstring issue, and Adem Bona, a foot sprain, were partial participants at practice on Tuesday. Simons was a big addition for Philadelphia and Bona is the primary backup big man off the bench.
"They did a good majority of stuff in the half court," said coach Nick Nurse. "There was no scrimmaging or full court work, but a majority of it, and there was a pretty good chunk of time spent in the half court today.
So, they got a good section of practice in."
In terms of the preseason finale on Friday, Nurse did add that there is some hope that they can get in and play.
"I think there is," Nurse said succinctly. "I hope so. There's some hope. I don't know where that hope line is, but there's certainly some hope. Yeah."
When considering how new Simons is, and how important Bona is for the bench unit amid the injury to Ariel Hukporti, Nurse and the Sixers would like to see them get some game action in before the opener. Therefore, the hope is they both can play in that matchup with the Boston Celtics.
"If we can, absolutely," he added. "I think it's important. I mean, I think we know what we got with Bona, and Anfernee’s obviously a seasoned veteran player. So, two big additions if they can come back for sure."
As far as Dominick Barlow is concerned, he has been dealing with a back issue and Nurse is not sure when he will return as there is no present timeline for him.
"There is no timeline," Nurse finished. "He just has some soreness that he's dealing with. Giving him some kind of real real decent time off to see if that'll better kind of progress it quickly. So, there's no timeline. Just hoping it hopefully gets a little better and feels a little better and get back out there fairly shortly."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers injury updates: Latest on Anfernee Simons, Adem Bona, others
