Tipping The Scales
This year, under curiously similar circumstances, the weight of failing is bypassing Bryan Colangelo and falling upon Brown. Yet there is little Brown can do.
Jerryd Bayless was projected as a starter at point guard. Ben Simmons was projected as a starter at small forward. Nerlens Noel was a solid option to rotate at either center or power forward. Between the three players, 60 minutes of playing time must be made up by others on the roster.
And those players would have been coming off the bench. But even the minute restrictions eventually catch up to the team’s schedule:
Practice update:
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 8, 2016
•Thompson probable
•Okafor, Rodriguez, Henderson limited; no scripting
•Embiid will not travel to Indiana (load management)
With all the rhetoric of center logjam, the only healthy center for Tuesday’s game versus the Indiana pacers will be minutes restricted Jahlil Okafor, plus converted to center power forward Richaun Holmes.
And this is all Brown’s fault?
So that leaves the bench depleted so far this season. Where the team might have boasted Noel, Rodriguez, and Covington coming into the game, the trio would bolster the team with their staunch defense. Instead, the team now stretches the minutes of Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid, and sends out Hollis Thompson and T.J. McConnell.
So many fault Brown for the 76ers struggles, but he is coaching only 60% of this years starters so far. This was not expected to be a great team to begin with.