Instant observations: Sixers run away from hapless Nets

The Sixers sat two of their stars and still made light work of a brutal Nets team, winning 117-95 while sitting their veteran players the entire second half.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Tyrese Maxey has rarely had the opportunity to play with multiple above-average athletes on the floor with him at the same time, so this season might feel like playing a different sport. He has rarely had anybody to run with him or make explosive plays around the basket, and the Sixers are now pretty well-loaded with guys who can play off of his speed.

The sequence of the preseason might have come in the first quarter when the Sixers got a runout with the trio of Maxey, KJ Martin, and Kelly Oubre jogging the other way. Martin and Oubre couldn’t decide who was going to get the dunk before takeoff, but Oubre would eventually win out in the end:

For the KJ Martin stans among us, fear not! Martin and Maxey hooked up for a beautiful lob finish later in the first half, with Martin blowing right past his man for a perfectly timed lob over the top from No. 0:

Philly’s lead guard has forgotten his shooting boots over the last couple of games, but since we all assume that’ll correct itself over time, his focus on playmaking has helped the other guys shine a bit. He has also been the only guy to take Nurse’s mandate to push the pace and do so without looking like the game is moving too fast for him — Maxey’s hit-ahead passes have been on time and on target, leading to some stress-free points early in the shot clock.

— Since we already mentioned him, let it be said that KJ Martin continues to separate from the other fringe forward/wing types on this roster. He feels like a safe bet to be the ninth or tenth man in the rotation after a summer spent referring to him as nothing more than a future contract to trade. Great work by him.

— Eric Gordon has a chance to be a semi-regular starter for this team, and games like this show exactly why. He may not be the microwave scorer he used to be, but the deep range combined with defensive will might keep him on the floor longer than you’d expect.

Perhaps it’s because he knows he has an opportunity to fight for that starting spot, but Gordon played with a lot of spark for a 35-year-old vet trying to get through the preseason. He broke up a couple of plays at the top of the key in the first quarter, squeezing around Brooklyn screens to create fast break opportunities for Philly.

Gordon is also a breath of fresh air compared to some recent Sixers role players because he has zero fear as a catch-and-shoot player. He hit a pair of threes in the first quarter on deep catch-and-shoot opportunities, with the second coming on a shot Gordon launched with his feet set near the logo. His range starts when he enters the gym, and that’ll open up acres of space for their stars.

— I’m not entirely sure how you can miss a guy this big coming down the floor, but credit to Yabusele for the first interception made in South Philly since the Eagles’ season started:

I have been on the seesaw with Yabusele in the preseason and was generally on the negative side in this one. But it’s a meaningless game and this was a fun moment, so YOLO.

(More seriously, I do like the effort Yabusele plays with while he’s on the floor, though I am still a bit leery of the lineups where he’s the nominal center. More on that in the days to come.)

— There was a little too much, “It’s Andre Drummond time!” for my liking but I did enjoy the fact that Drummond took Brooklyn’s lack of size as a personal insult. He rag-dolled Nets defenders on a few possessions around the basket, and I can live with a turnover or two if it stems from a big guy trying to throw his weight around near the rim.

One thing I will offer on Drummond: he is working on the right things when we see him go through his pregame routine and putting time in at the practice facility. With Drummond screening for Maxey higher than he might have on other teams in the past (and with Maxey getting trapped on those actions), Drummond is being asked to put it on the deck and make frequent decisions on the short roll. Making quick reads on the move is something we see him work on before every game, and I can appreciate his focus on the right prep after watching Ben Simmons shoot warm-up threes for years.

— Justin Edwards has been one of my favorite deep reserves of the preseason, and I appreciate his economy of movement as a player who has rarely been on the ball. He has shown great understanding of spacing and relocating off-ball, has gotten to his spots fairly well as a driver, and has held up well on the defensive end. His instincts have been way ahead of where I expected coming out of a tough Summer League run, and I look forward to seeing if he can rise out of the two-way muck after a tough year in college.

The Bad

— Some will call me a hater for putting a guy who had 18 points at halftime in this part of the column, but I care about how Kelly Oubre got there more than the fact that he got there. Oubre’s shot selection doesn’t matter all that much in the preseason, naturally, but I don’t generally want to see him shooting heavily-contested threes. He hit a pair of, “No, no, no, yes!” shots in the first half where you just have to shrug your shoulders and thank your lucky stars.

It was undoubtedly a productive night, and his off-ball work (in the halfcourt and in transition) was excellent. He was robbed of another two points due to an uncalled goaltend on a dunk attempt but was still able to score a few buckets and get to the free-throw line with relentless rim pressure.

Plus, he was awesome on the bench in the second half, celebrating every highlight for the third-stringers like it was a playoff game. Good vibes.

— Reggie Jackson’s contribution to this game was a few overly long possessions and two clanged jumpers on pull-up threes. No bueno.

The Ugly

— This category belongs almost entirely to Jared McCain, who was a complete disaster for the first three-quarters of this game. It’s a shame that he bombed this hard with an opportunity to play real minutes because he might not get a better opportunity next to rotation regulars for a while.

With Kyle Lowry sitting out for the night, McCain played first-half minutes alongside Maxey and did just about nothing with them. He could not get shots to drop, but more importantly, McCain felt completely off the pace the entire game. When he tried to play with strength, he was overzealous and picked up bad offensive fouls. When he tried to play with tempo, the Nets stonewalled him and forced him into difficult shots. If he wasn’t turning the ball over, he was scrambling out of position on defense. He even got called for a defensive three-second violation, which feels impossible for a guard.

McCain’s lone first-half highlight came on an excellent catch on an overly ambitious Reggie Jackson outlet, which he pinged to Yabusele before fanning out to the wing for a quick three. He came on strong in the fourth quarter as the game wound down, hitting a pair of threes in addition to finding some driving lanes to set up teammates for open shots. Still, a rough go overall.

(Independent of that, McCain had a scary moment late in the game after falling on his back and having his head snap back, as he struggled to catch his breath afterward. The optimist’s view would say he simply had the wind knocked out of him, but we’ll wait for something more official after the game.)

— Brother, the Nets STINK. Simmo the Savage has his work cut out for him.