Philadelphia 76ers: 3 rotational battles to watch in bubble

1. Joel Embiid vs. Al Horford

The first two slides featured battles for a specific role or workload in the rotation. This is different. Joel Embiid and Al Horford are not going head-to-head for minutes. It’s more a question of how many minutes will they spend together, rather than who will supplant the other.

When Brown discussed the Embiid-Horford conundrum on Tuesday, he put it in simple (yet vague) terms.

"“There is kind of a Team Al and a Team Joel and you figure out what that world is and then there is the integration of the two. When you start taking a deep dive on those three things that I just said and take some analytics into that like ‘what do we do offensively and defensively?’ and you start to get a clearer idea of what you do well. Somewhere with all of that, I’ll be able to give a clearer answer of what I think once we start to play again.”"

In Brown’s mind, there are two versions of the Sixers: when Joel is on the court, and when Al is on the court. His job is to balance both, and figure out how to blend both versions together. Embiid and Horford will eventually need to share the court, but how often, in which lineup configurations, and at which points in the game?

This is the most pressing question facing Brown and the Sixers as the NBA’s re-start looms. Horford will undeniably play a key role in the Sixers’ success or demise, but he has yet to find a comfortable role in Philadelphia’s system. The Sixers are short on time to make it work, at least this season.

Horford is not getting paid over $100 million to play 10 minutes a night as Embiid’s backup. Yet how many minutes can the Sixers afford to play Horford at power forward — and conversely, how many can they afford to play him at center?

There is no clear answer. I’m not sure Horford will ever work out in Philadelphia. At least not while Embiid (and to a lesser degree, Ben Simmons) are on the roster. But for Brown, a decision of some kind must be made. Expect a lot of rumors to come out of the Sixers’ three-week training camp, with most of them addressing the Horford issue.

If anything, this is a battle to make Embiid and Horford work.