NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS — The second day of the Sixers’ 2024 training camp in The Bahamas came and went Wednesday, with rookie guard Jared McCain supposedly standing out in his second official NBA practice. 

“His toughness level is up there, man,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said.

Some other topics were broached following the team’s practice. A healthy dose of quotes:

Nurse on how Caleb Martin fits into the Sixers’ plans to win the possession battle — emphasized with the slogan “The Ball Wins” — despite typically having low steal and block numbers:

“First and foremost, I want him to secure possessions through defensive rebounding… We’ve had some issues rebounding missed three-point shots, and he’s got really good speed… Hopefully, he can chase. As far as the other part of it, I think we’re a team that really likes to focus on deflections, not so much steals… The collection, I think, with him and Kelly [Oubre Jr.] and [Paul George] — there’s a couple others, too — but those three, the length and athleticism they have, hopefully we can create some turnovers.”

• Nurse on Tyrese Maxey’s continued improvement using his voice on the floor:

“It’s a lot better… When we first started playing games last year, I was like, ‘uh oh, we’ve got a really long ways to go with this’… He grew really fast… He’s assumed more of that [responsibility]. Just, again, having pre-practice and post-practice, pretty high-level conversations with him about what is happening and what needs to happen and all of those things. Today, I had a really long talk with him before practice about some things I saw yesterday that I needed to see differently, and he went out there and did them today.”

• Nurse on if a team needs a star-level wing like Paul George to win a championship in today’s NBA:

“I don’t really know. I’m really bad at analyzing all of that stuff… Because I do believe there’s many roads to the title… Some [teams] are younger, some are older. But I think every coach will tell you that you probably can’t have enough two-way wing players.”

• Nurse on his first impressions of George from two days of camp:

“You can just see a star… You can see it and feel it, and it’s a level above… That helps, too… I’ve been probably most impressed with what he brings defensively. He’s doing things we want to do that we haven’t taught yet.”

• Guerschon Yabusele on his first pair of official practices with the Sixers:

“Pretty good. I know I have to bring the energy and crash the rebounds… We’re having great practices, we’re playing together.”

• Yabusele on if he ever doubted he would receive a second chance at playing in the NBA:

“I know how hard it is to have a second chance to come back, but I always worked hard.”

• Yabusele on how he is trying to blend in with new teammates:

“[Trying] to get to know everybody a little bit more… Try to build the chemistry. This is a new team for me and a bunch of guys… I want everybody to feel comfortable when I am on the court.”

• Yabusele on Nurse’s coaching style:

“One thing that stands out is he never screams. He just talks, he makes sure that everybody understands… I’m just listening to the directions that he is giving us.”

• Eric Gordon on his experience with KJ Martin when the two Sixers were teammates on the Houston Rockets:

“We had a young group and I was always telling him how much I played against his dad, and now we’re teammates. I kind of took him under my wing when he was younger since he stepped foot in the league. It’s good to see him grow and hopefully we can be on something special with this team this year.”

• Gordon on if Martin reminds him of his father, former NBA player Kenyon Martin:

“They’re both super athletic, that’s for sure. His dad was a little meaner, but he’s a great dude. As long as KJ plays like him, he’ll be alright.”

• Gordon on learning how to stay ready to spot up from three-point range without getting frequent touches on star-laden teams:

“You’ve just got to be ready to be a difference-maker every time you step foot into the game… It’s my job to space the floor sir [stars] can operate and shoot when it’s time.”

• Maxey on trying to serve as a leader for the Sixers’ youngest players:

“I’m just trying to give back. I talked to Tobias Harris last night, he did a lot for me… He told me to keep the tradition going… We went to eat last night, me, [McCain], [Adem] Bona.”

• Maxey on a trend emerging early in camp:

“I didn’t even work on lobs a lot, but I had a few good lobs to Andre [Drummond] so far, and KJ today… The biggest thing for me was making reads when I get into the paint.”

• Maxey jokes about improving at making reads as a driver.

“The biggest thing for me was I changed my hair and I can see now… My hair’s not in my face, so I can see!”

Jared McCain impressing at Sixers training camp: ‘He’s a scrapper’

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