PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers have their revamped roster fully available for the first time since the trade that brought four new players into the mix. Nick Nurse has a lot of players who deserve playing time but only so many spots to go around. The juggling act he and the coaching staff do will be very telling of their philosophies and how good this Sixers team can be.

Aside from Joel Embiid dealing with knee soreness that could cost him at least one game, everyone on the Sixers is available for the first time since their roster shake-up. Right after Philly's second James Harden trade, Nicolas Batum left the team to tend to his wife, who was dealing with a medical issue. Just as he got back, as he and the newcomers were still getting acclimated to a new team, Kelly Oubre Jr. was hit by a car, resulting in a rib fracture that took weeks to recover from. Batum and others missed time here and there while Ourbe recovered.

Now, the Sixers are seeing their team at full strength. When asked for preliminary ideas for how his rotation will look with everyone available before last Friday’s game, Nurse revealed the eight players who have firm spots in the lineup.

“Well, I think you could pretty much safely say the five starters are gonna be in the rotation,” Nurse said. The Sixers coach said that “you could pretty much safely say” that Patrick Beverley is the backup point guard, Paul Reed is the backup center and Kelly Oubre Jr. will be in the mix “considering what he brings on both sides of the ball.”

Each of those players ranks in the top nine on the Sixers in minutes per game along with Robert Covington. Nurse explained that choosing between guys like him, Marcus Morris Sr., Jaden Springer, Danuel House Jr., Furkan Korkmaz, and Mo Bamba is not a straightforward choice.

“There's a lot to like about all the other guys. That's where we gotta figure out, are playing 10? Yeah, we are for now, for sure, 'cause we're trying to figure out who fits,” the Sixers coach continued. “What's Marcus bring? What's Cov bring? They all can bring something. All of 'em all the way to 15. We've seen Jaden bring his things. We've seen House bring his things. We've seen Furk bring some things. We've seen even Mo, who's hardly got a chance, had a pretty good game under his belt the other night.”

Bamba's path to playing time is the steepest as the third-string center, even if Nurse starts using two-center lineups more often. The Sixers opted to get Springer some run in the G League, which does give him a chance to ramp up after a string of recent absences but is also not the type of move a team would make for someone regularly in the big-league rotation.

“It's not like there's five [open spots] there and I'm trying to find three or four out of the other 10. There's only a couple of spots that get that much chances,” Nurse said. “So we just can only go on what we evaluate and we try to evaluate as much we can at practice, too, 'cause like you guys see, we do play a lot at practice.”

Sometimes after the main portions of their practice that already feature live action, the Sixers will hold scrimmages including players and player-development coaches.

When asked about the starting lineup and whether Oubre will be elevated back to the starting lineup, Nurse said that he “wouldn't put it as concrete and I wouldn't put it as fluid either. Somewhere in between those two.” He clarified that there “still could be some movement there” and said before the Sixers' recent game against the Washington Wizards that he doesn’t like to “get all that wrapped up into starting lineups and stuff.”

Regardless of how much Nurse wants to mix and match lineups in games, the Sixers have to find the right ways to utilize the roster they have. Their rotation should consist of guys who can impact the game on both ends (even if the tendency is skewed way more toward one side) and keep the game flowing around Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

One highly alarming trend the Sixers have to fix is lineups with Morris, which get outscored by over 20 points per 100 possessions. That’s in the 1st percentile among forwards on Cleaning the Glass, far and away the worst of any qualified Sixers player. Even when he's in lineups with Embiid or Maxey, the production is very poor. When he's on with both of them, those lineups only get moderately outscored.

Whatever good things Morris does on the court is a bonus to his other value for the Sixers, which is his expiring contract that can be used in a variety of trades. Nurse has spoken highly of his size and toughness and he has shot a staggering 48.0 percent from deep so far with the Sixers. Shooting from deep has always been a strong suit of his for most of his career. But with Philly being so exposed when he's on the court — due in large part to his defensive limitations and tendency to hold the ball for seconds at a time without creating an advantage — his minutes should not be guaranteed game-to-game.

Conversely, leaving Covington and Springer out of the 10-man rotation leaves the Sixers without two of their best defenders. Both players seem to be on the outs right now, with Nurse even going so far as playing a nine-man rotation last game rather than finding time for them.

Covington has the highest steal percentage among forwards on Cleaning the Glass and is in the 94th percentile in block percentage. He's also a good shooter from deep — 39.5 percent from three so far this season with the Sixers, 36.2 percent for his career — and has started showing with Nurse that he can serve as a solid cutter.

Springer's block percentage is the second-highest among wings, which is made even more impressive by the fact that he's 6-foot-4, and is in the 74th percentile in steal percentage. He is a bulldog on the ball and is versatile enough to guard a variety of perimeter players. Offensively, he's a work in progress. But he’s not afraid to shoot nor does he hijack possessions trying to find his rhythm.

As far as the eight players Nurse indicated are locks to get minutes, Embiid and Maxey are obvious, Reed is the best option to back up Embiid at center, and Batum, Oubre, and De'Anthony Melton are all 3-and-D players with their own quirks and skills that make sense to put around the two stars. Tobias Harris and Beverley will get their minutes but the amounts in each game should be subject to how well they’re performing.

Harris goes through waves of playing like almost everything is clicking and playing like nothing is. He's on the downturn now, providing paper-thin resistance on defense and struggling to find his way on offense. In the first half of last season, Harris showed he can be the sharpshooter Philly needs him to be. He showed at the beginning of this season he can score very well by getting right to the hoop. If he's not in those grooves, the Sixers should not be afraid to give some of his minutes to other wings. That's the benefit of having great depth, after all.

Beverley has gotten more productive as the season has gone on. His 3-point shot has not been as reliable and his ability to create offense with the ball in his hands is not very reassuring but he at least has a little juice left when it comes to attacking closeouts. Plus, size disadvantages be darned, he'll guard whoever he is asked to and play with endless energy.

For the time being, the Sixers should be able to compete against every team with stars like Embiid and Maxey, plus enough depth around them to make life easier. It's going to take some tough calls on who to get regular minutes to in the 10-man rotation — or to be bold and expand it further. Some players who can make an impact won’t get regular minutes. It's up to Philly's coaches to help manage those expectations and figure out which guys those need to be in order to make the team as good as it can be.

A lot of the work the Sixers will end up doing in their rotation patterns will eventually be for naught. The front office is looking to make another trade to fortify the roster even further, which will lead to some more feel-out periods for a new roster makeup. Before that happens, Nurse and his staff should be able to optimize the guys they put around Embiid and Maxey. And at least they’ll know how to do it all over again in a few months.