Wednesday night’s win over the Brooklyn Nets gave us our first look at how Brett Brown’s rotation will shake out for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Joel Embiid‘s return marked the Philadelphia 76ers‘ first win of the preseason, with the 7-foot-2 behemoth bullying his way to 22 points and seven rebounds in just 15 minutes on the court. If that’s any indication, the Sixers will be fully capable of performing at a high level with Embiid playing in a limited capacity.
There were some concerns, especially on the defensive end, but this was irrefutably the best game we’ve seen from this new-look Philly team to date. A large part of that was Embiid’s return, but another contributing factor was Brett Brown’s more defined rotation.
Philadelphia 76ers
Before the game, Brown said that his goal was to “start locking into a group that going to see play,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Even with Markelle Fultz out and Embiid limited, we got a good sense of how Brown’s substitutions will run next season.
The starting lineup was pretty straightforward. Jerryd Bayless got the nod in place of Fultz, but Embiid, Ben Simmons, Robert Covington and J.J. Redick expectedly rounded out that group. Amir Johnson — not Jahlil Okafor — was the first man off the bench behind Embiid, which means we could see the 30-year-old taking on Richaun Holmes‘ minutes to kick off the campaign.
Dario Saric got extended run as the sixth man as well, even spending time with the starting unit as a de facto center. Small ball is an idea I’ve preached in the past, and something this current group could execute at a high level. A Saric/Simmons frontcourt ups the pace of the game significantly, which allows Brett Brown to change the flow of the game when Embiid’s off the court.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Justin Anderson also got the edge over Nik Stauskas and Furkan Korkmaz, which was the expected outcome at this point in the preseason. Even with Korkmaz showing he can produce at this level, it seems as if the Sixers will focus on development this season. We didn’t see the 19-year-old Turk until garbage time.
T.J. McConnell was the backup for Bayless, but it’s likely that we see him on the bench more often once Fultz is back. Fultz will almost assuredly take on a starting role, while Bayless’ scoring is something that could prove valuable in a second unit that lacks go-to weapons outside of the aforementioned Saric.
We could also see Fultz and Bayless’ minutes staggered in way that gives Fultz more time with the second unit, where he can handle the ball and act as the primary facilitator — rather than playing primarily off-ball with Simmons. He seems more comfortable attacking off the dribble for the time being, and that might be the best spot for Brown to place him in early on.
Assuming this is the group Brown is sticking with, he answered (or at least hinted at the answer to) a lot of significant questions Wednesday night. Johnson will get more run that Okafor, while Korkmaz’s strong preseason run might not be enough to earn playing time.. It’s also evident that Bayless has won the backup point guard spot over McConnell.
Next: 5 things to watch for with Markelle Fultz
As the regular season approaches — just six days away, folks — it’ll be interesting to see how the full-blown rotation unravels once Fultz and Embiid are up to speed.