1. The Lineup
One of the reasons for the 76ers late success last season was everyone knew their roles once Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilaysova were added to the roster.
This season, outside of the starting five and J.J. Redick coming off the bench as sixth man, who knows who Brett Brown will put in? And in the second half, when Redick starts over Markelle Fultz, the substitution rotation is even murkier.
Yes, injuries have played a factor. The rotation might be a bit more solid if Chandler, Musacala and Zhaire Smith had been available from the beginning.
But they were not, which has left Brown with a funky guard-heavy roster (we do not count forward Jonah Bolden as Brown has shown no inclination to play him).
Brown has been ripped for his substitution rotation (desevedly in some instances) but look what he is working with:
Of his four top guards, only one (Redick) can consistently make a jump shot, the rest are best as pass-first point guards.
Without Muscala, the only true post player Brown had to sub at the start was Amir Johnson. That is rather sad, even though Johnson has played well.
Roster construction is sometimes just as important as talent. With a roster of poor shooting point guards and almost no bigs to bring off the bench, Brown has pretty much thrown everyone on the roster out there at some point to find an effective combination.
Sometimes you see rookie Landry Shamet, other times it’s Furkan Korkmaz as Brown searches for another outside threat. McConnell is paired frequently in the backcourt with Simmons or Fultz, leaving defenses no reason to go past the foul line.
It is a mess.
By early November, Musacla and Chandler should be back with Smith the following month. When he has a full roster, hopefully Brown will be able to put in a stable rotation.
Until Fultz starts being an outside threat (he had his third three-pointer of the season vs. the Bucks, good news) the whole starting him over Redick and what to do with McConnell situation will hang over Brown until a final decision is made (like trade T.J.? ).
Last year Brown benched Fultz and played McConnell. This year? Who knows.
But a set substitution rotation is essential if the 76ers are going to improve over last season.