Philadelphia 76ers Position Analysis Under Brett Brown: Part II Power Forward Position

High Evolutionary

How that evolution lies entirely in the hands of Brett Brown.  One of the reasons for his retention is simply that there are too many pieces flying around to reboot the coaching at this point in time.  Brown develops players, and the greatest task facing his is placing the right player(s) at the four to maximize this teams effectiveness.  It’s that positive attitude and goal setting doctrine which will turn the corner for the team at this position.

In part I- we discussed how head coach Brett Brown has patiently been shaping the players who will be the future of the team.  At the power forward, Brown will need to develop the player into a power forward.   With the exception of Carl Landry, the team is currently manufacturing player skill-sets for the power forward.   That work will continue throughout next season.  But the challenge is not limited to the player.  Embiid will likely have a strong set of skill sets, and so the center position will likely depend on who generates the better synergy – the offense of Jahlil Okafor or the defense of Nerlens Noel.  In either case, the team will be in a stronger position next year, both in the arrival of the final pieces to the “core group” and in the ability to formally begin the assembly of who compliments who, and therefore, will define the first wave of pruning both to set next year’s roster and to refine the team through trades and free agency.

This is a position that began in 2013 with Thaddeus Young and evolved into Joel Embiid.  But along the way, the team had countless changes, backups, tryouts and looks to see who plays well enough to keep playing there.  Much like a word morph, each year the team changes a player to evolve from a dysfunctional team into one with young players emerging into true talents in the NBA simultaneously.    We’ve looked at the evolution at center, and now with the power forward position.   Next we’ll finish off the front court with an analysis of the small forward position.

Keep in mind that we often mistakenly measure the coach for what the team achieves, and ignores what the man achieves in each of his players.  In this analysis, we look to both.  The team continues to find gemstones with value – such as the play of Richaun Holmes.  With relatively low cost, an NBA team can afford to await his development into a true NBA player… quite literally.  And that inexpensive growth gives the Sixers the financial capital to invest in NBA free agents or their own developing players, when the time is right.

For now, the team has 1/3 of a season to figure out what it needs to know to enter the draft and free agency with answers.  For now, there are questions.  But at the power forward position, the answers are already on the way.