Philadelphia 76ers can afford to rest Joel Embiid this season

The Philadelphia 76ers have done a great job this offseason structuring their roster, so that their star big man can rest more this upcoming season.

Besides agreeing to a long-term deal with Tobias Harris, the second most important goal Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand was able to accomplish was finding quality center depth in free agency. It was clear last season that Joel Embiid needed legit depth behind him and Brand was able to accomplish that so far in free agency.

In the past, I wrote about how Embiid’s health would negatively affect the Sixers chances at a NBA title run. In the quote below, I provided a brief solution to how to keep Embiid healthy for the playoffs.

"“The Philadelphia 76ers should look into managing Embiid’s health in future seasons by not having him play one of a back-to-back games and finding particular games to rest him in, so that he can be fresh and healthy for the postseason.”"

The way that Brand provided the needed depth behind Embiid was invented. Brand failed to bring back Jimmy Butler in free agency. However, Brand executed a sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat, so that the team received something back in return for Butler. Josh Richardson will be on the Sixers as a result of that deal, which has allowed Philly to agree to a deal to sign Al Horford.

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Horford is slated to start next to Embiid, but Horford has played center for the majority of his career. Head coach Brett Brown can stagger Embiid’s and Horford’s minutes throughout the game so that most of the time either big man will be on the court for the 76ers, as Co-Site Expert Christopher Kline of The Sixer Sense wrote about in the past. That will allow Embiid to rest more in the course of a game.

Last season, Embiid averaged a career high 33.7 minutes per game. Not ideal for a big man who has a lengthy injury history and it’s clear that the Sixers need to manage Embiid’s load during the regular season. They found a player in Horford that will allow Embiid to decrease his minutes and have strategic periods of rest that will allow him to take some games off.

Brand didn’t stop with adding Horford, he also agreed with a deal with veteran center Kyle O’Quinn. O’Quinn was on my list of free agents at the center positions that the Sixers should target in free agency. When Brown doesn’t have both Embiid and Horford on the floor, O’Quinn’s a good defensive center that can anchor the team in their absence.

Essentially O’Quinn is a third string center on this roster, but with Horford being older and Embiid’s injury history, most of the time he will operate as a second string center in the regular season. He may not get a lot of minutes, especially if Brown staggers Embiid’s and Horford’s minutes, but he should get on the court most games this season.

Then there’s second year big man Jonah Bolden. He had a promising rookie season, but he’s more likely to see time at the power forward position based on current depth charts. However, if injuries occur, he should be able to step into the role no problem.

That doesn’t even include Norvel Pelle who the Sixers recently signed to a two-way contract. Pelle proved to be a very good defensive player for Philly’s G-League affiliate the Delaware Blue Coats last season. He was named to the G-League All-Defense team this past season. He’s an emergency center if injuries become a problem for the 76ers this upcoming season.

At the end of last season, the Sixers center depth chart had the following players: Embiid, Boban Marjanović, Greg Monroe, Bolden and Amir Johnson. Thus far this offseason Brand’s built the big man depth chart to look like the following: Embiid, Horford, O’Quinn, Bolden and Pelle. A much improved center rotation to be sure.

Brand should be commended for building the center depth for the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason. This will allow the Sixers to help Embiid to stay fresh and healthy for a title run next season.