CAMDEN, N.J. — Five games on the bench was uncomfortable for Eric Gordon. The veteran of 17 NBA seasons won’t pretend otherwise. Neither, though, was watching him flail through his first 16 games as a 76er. So Nick Nurse made the potentially thorny decision to drop the guard from the 76ers rotation. The soon-to-be 36-year-old opted to take it in stride, knowing the length of an NBA season. And Nurse and those above him in the 76ers hierarchy hoped to prove that what they got in Gordon was not just a dependable scorer but a savvy, veteran presence who could handle such a challenge. “It’s tough,” Gordon said Wednesday in Camden. “It was the first time in my whole career where this has happened. So it’s definitely new and it’s definitely different, but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to be mentally prepared whenever you’re going to get a chance to go out there.” For one night, Gordon rewarded that faith Monday with three big 3-pointers for nine points in a win in Charlotte. That stands, improbably, as Gordon’s fourth-best scoring game as a 76er, for a player who has never averaged fewer than 11 points per game over a season in his pro career. Perplexing as Gordon’s early season regression has been, Nurse is very clear on how the guard has stuck with it in practice and worked his way back into a useful role for a team that has won five of seven and on Friday gets a fourth crack of the season at a Charlotte squad it has already beaten three times. On the weekend, Nurse lauded Gordon’s work in practice, whatever disappointment he may have harbored from his time on the pine. Joel Embiid’s facial fracture and especially Jared McCain’s meniscus tear opened a new void in the Sixers rotation, and Nurse tabbed Gordon as a potential remedy. Much of that faith stemmed from the work he’d seen in practice. “It’s not easy, especially for someone of his stature,” Nurse said. “He’s been a really good player and had a long career. And most of the conversations revolve around, stay ready and you never know when we’re going to try to get you back in there. But that is the conversation, that we do want to get you back in there and make you part of the original plans.” “He’s a pro,” said KJ Martin, who also played with Gordon in Houston. “He’s been around for a long time, and he understands the game. He knows how to play the game. So just for him to go out there and see him shoot 3s, that’s what he does. It looks effortless.” Gordon has struggled mightily, especially on offense. The one-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year is shooting 34.1 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from 3-point range. He’s only been under 40 percent for a full season once in his career, and he hasn’t dipped so low on 3-point percentage since a nine-game cameo in 2011-12 with New Orleans. As his reliable scoring dimmed, so did his value in Nurse’s rotation. Some of Gordon’s struggles are attributable to the upheaval around him. As a prime free-agent, catch-and-shoot option, he was envisioned as spacing around an MVP center, an elite slasher and one of the league’s emerging point guards. All three were then injured in the first quarter of the season. The returns of Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have brought stability, and McCain’s emergence provides a blueprint for guard play in the second unit. Gordon, meanwhile, acknowledged his struggles and has sought to combat them with consistency. He has treated practice days like game days, whether minutes the next night seemed likely or — for the first time in more than a decade — not. “You’ve got to just focus on what you do best, scoring, getting to the basket,” Gordon said. “It’s all about preparing yourself for a game every day.” NOTES >> Both Adem Bona (knee) and Caleb Martin (shoulder) were full practice participants Wednesday. Nurse expects both to be ready for Friday. … McCain’s meniscus surgery went well Tuesday, the club reported. No timeline has been set for the rookie guard’s return, and recovery time for meniscus injuries are notoriously variable based on the extent of damage. “Very optimistic about how it went and how the recovery will be,” Nurse said. “He’s obviously still trying to come to grips with it and all that kind of stuff. Very disappointed, and we feel bad for him.”