An early look at the Philadelphia 76ers’ rotation

Here’s a quick look at how the Philadelphia 76ers’ rotation may look on opening night.

So far this offseason, the Philadelphia 76ers have lost two key bench contributors: Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova. They are still yet to bring back backup center Amir Johnson. Fear not, the Sixers have brought back sniper J.J. Redick as well as Wilson Chandler, Zhaire Smith, Landry Shamet and Shake Milton.

The roster is more or less set for the season, barring any trade for a superstar, possibly Kawhi Leonard? It does look very unlikely, as the trade talks have stagnated as the San Antonio Spurs want Markelle Fultz to be included in any deal.

Also, with roughly $1.5 million left in cap space, the Sixers can’t afford to bring anybody in via free agency. There is, however, a possibility that Jerryd Bayless‘ contract could be bought-out or stretched, this would free up a nice chunk of money.

If the Sixers were to bring anybody else in, it would have to be a big man. Right now, the Sixers only have Dario Saric, Joel Embiid and Richaun Holmes. Remember the days when we had way too many big men? Yeah, those days are long gone. A couple options to fill the holes are Jonah Bolden, Kyle O’Quinn and Amir Johnson. All three would provide some value off the bench.

Nonetheless, here’s how our rotation could look like if our roster stays as it is at the moment I’m writing this:

Starting Lineup

PG: Ben Simmons — 33 minutes

SG: J.J. Redick — 23 minutes

SF: Robert Covington — 28 minutes

PF: Dario Saric — 31 minutes

C: Joel Embiid — 31 minutes

Bench

6th: Markelle Fultz — 23 minutes

7th: Wilson Chandler — 17 minutes

8th: Richaun Holmes — 17 minutes

9th: T.J. McConnell — 16 minutes

10th: Justin Anderson — 15 minutes

11th: Zhaire Smith — 6 minutes

No Minutes

12th: Landry Shamet

13th: Furkan Korkmaz

14th: Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot

15th: Shake Milton

16th Jerryd Bayless

Ben Simmons is the highest minute-earner, and he’s deserved it. He capped off a historic rookie campaign by winning the Rookie of the Year Award and is a key component to the success of this ball club. Joel Embiid still is not a player I’m comfortable seeing playing 35+ minutes a night. Coach Brown should keep Embiid as fresh as possible for the playoffs.

Markelle Fultz still starts the season off the bench in my opinion. The soon-to-be second-year player is still learning the NBA, as he only played in 14 games last season. His minutes should rise as the season progresses.

16th overall pick Zhiare Smith can only find six minutes. This is mainly due to be still being extremely raw. If he was on our team two or three years ago, he’d get as much playing time possible, but now the team is in a completely different position, with different goals. We want to win.

This roster looks pretty decent so far. It may be just enough to push for an appearance in the NBA Finals. There is still, however, moves to be made. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the offseason plays out.

Next: The risk/reward of adding Kawhi

The Sixer Sense will update/expand upon this breakdown as the offseason progresses.