Philadelphia 76ers roundtable: Projected playoff rotations

Stuart London

Starting five

Tobias Harris

Al Horford

Joel Embiid

Ben Simmons

Josh Richardson

Off the bench:

Furkan Korkkmaz

Shake Milton

Matisse Thybulle

Mike Scott

Ryan Broekhoff

Alec Burks

Glenn Robinson III

Yes, Al Horford should start. Why? Because in a super-scrunched up season we do not need any controversy; the players and coaches need to concentrate at the job at hand. Starting up after four months off is hard enough without distracting questions.

All the people who have said Horford can not start for chemistry reasons will then bombard coach Brett Brown and the players with something like“What! How come Al Horford is not starting? You paid $96 million for him, blah, blah”

They have the cream-puff regular season to play out before they must lockdown to a playoff rotation. If Horford starting does not work against the couldn’t-care-less Wizards or the we-don’t-care either Phoenix Suns, then you consider a change in the starting lineup. But you brought Horford for a reason…and this is the reason.

Off the bench, I think Brown should roll out all the shooters he has. Simmons and Embiid should get, at most, 10 minutes of rest a game in the playoffs. Your two top players either won’t shoot or you do not want them shooting from outside.

Yes, I would even roll out newly acquired Ryan Broekhoff. If you can shoot a three-pointer, you should get on the court. Matisse Thybulle is the exception to the shooting rule. He is not a great shooter but he creates such havoc on the defensive end, you must get him playing time.

A 12-man rotation? Sure, it is a sprint and people get tired sprinting.