Philadelphia 76ers: Team Joel Embiid vs. Team Al Horford
Team Joel
If it hasn’t been obvious for most of the season, Embiid is a much different big man than Horford. Embiid is a bruiser inside of the paint that has a nice jumper. He’s not the passer that Horford is either. With the fact that Brown hopes to play Embiid around 38 minutes per night, there’s a good chance that he sees several different lineups around him.
The projected starting five should be Simmons, Milton, Richardson, Harris, and Embiid, however, that lineup doesn’t necessarily maximize Embiid’s offensive skills. The lineup below I believe maximizes Embiid’s strength’s as a post-up player.
- Milton
- Richardson
- Furkan Korkmaz
- Harris
- Embiid
Switching out Korkmaz for Simmons is purely because Simmons clogs up the paint, whereas Korkmaz is arguably the team’s biggest threat from deep which opens up the floor for Embiid. While Korkmaz is a liability on defense, Embiid’s rim protection can help cover up Korkmaz’s weak defense.
It was tempting to put Mike Scott in place of Harris due to Scott’s sole purpose on offense is to make 3-pointers. However, I already wrote in the past that I don’t believe Scott will make the playoff rotation and I hold that to still be true. It should also be noted that Harris isn’t a scrub when it comes to hitting 3-pointers either.
“Team Joel” is full of 3-point shooters that should help space the floor for Embiid to do work in the post. Outside of Josh Richardson, who’s struggled from the 3-point line this season but is solid from the arc for his career, Harris, Milton and Korkmaz has shot over 36.0 percent from deep this year.