Will the Philadelphia 76ers use Markelle Fultz-T.J. McConnell lineups early on?

Following the Zhaire Smith injury, the Philadelphia 76ers might get crafty with their lineup combinations early in the season.

It’s difficult to get a read on just how good the Philadelphia 76ers will be next season. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will improve, but the bench lost a great deal of offensive firepower in Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova. Nobody really knows what to expect from Markelle Fultz.

Their new-look bench will be the determining factor, and could make the difference between a run at the No. 1 seed and marginal regression. As things currently sit, Brett Brown will need to get crafty with his lineup combinations.

Zhaire Smith went down with a Jones fracture earlier this week, the same injury that sidelined Ben Simmons for the entire 2016-17 season. There is massive variability in the projected timelines for that injury, but there is a reasonable chance that Smith misses significant time.

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That hurts the Sixers’ already-questionable wing depth, meaning Brown will have to find other ways to replace Smith‘s perceived value on the perimeter. That could mean putting a heavy emphasis on playmaking.

One of the Sixers’ biggest weaknesses last season was their lack of playmaking in the halfcourt. Brown does an excellent job of staggering rotations, but there simply wasn’t enough ball-handling next to Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

That caused the offense to stagnate at times, with the ball sticking on the perimeter and not enough players capable of creating their own shot. That’s what killed the Sixers against Boston in the playoffs — that is, until McConnell moved into the starting lineup.

Adding another three-level scorer who can run the pick-and-roll and take pressure off Simmons is ideal. It’s also what the Sixers hope Markelle Fultz provides, whether it be off the bench or (eventually) in the starting five.

So, if the Sixers are short on wing depth, staggering their lineups in a way that keeps more playmaking on the floor makes sense. Spacing will be exceedingly important, but there’s a chance Fultz improves his shot in a big way next season.

If Fultz and McConnell aren’t total zeroes from three-point range — even if that means the occasional spot-up three from T.J., like we saw early last season — the Sixers might have success in lineup combinations that pair the two.

Those lineups would obviously come in brief spurts, ideally when Simmons sits. Pairing Simmons with either T.J. or Fultz will happen at some point as well.

Now that Belinelli and Ilyasova have walked, the Sixers need to find other ways to replicate that spacing. Trying to overcome that loss with more dribble penetration and multiple playmakers could be the best, at least temporary, solution.

Once Smith returns, it’s difficult to see McConnell been phased out of the rotation entirely. That’s especially true if the Sixers find success with two-playmaker lineups, which they didn’t have the opportunity to experiment with last season.

Fultz is key to unlocking those possibilities. Where his jumper stands will play a significant role in determining how Brett Brown orchestrates his rotations and how the offense functions on a regular basis.

Here’s a McConnell-Fultz combination that piqued my interest. The lineup predictor is courtesy of BBall Index’s Jacob Goldstein. You can use it here.

There are obviously several different possibilities here, though most of them would come a) without Simmons and b) with Embiid. Brown kept at least one on the floor as much as possible last season, and Embiid’s minutes will only go up after his first healthy offseason.

We’ll see how things shake out on opening night.