Lucas Johnson
I find myself struggling with who should be in the starting five. I’ve talked myself into several different scenarios. I could see Brown keeping with the starting five he began the season with. Simmons, Richardson, Harris, Horford, and Embiid is a lineup he’s comfortable with and it would show faith in that core during a playoff setting.
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There’s also a chance Brown could really change things up and take both Richardson and Horford out of the starting five in favor of Robinson and Milton. A starting five of Simmons, Milton, Robinson, Harris, and Embiid could really improve the bench. Horford and Richardson would star as reserves. Robinson is a low usage player that would be nice to have in the starting five with high usage players like Embiid and Simmons.
I could also see Brown just switching out Horford for Milton and have a starting five of Simmons, Milton, Richardson, Harris, and Embiid. This lineup would help spread the floor for both Simmons and Embiid. It would also allow Brown to see if Milton is the real deal after his mini breakout post-All-Star break. This one seems like the most likely to me just based on the fact that Brown needs to change things up but not in a major way.
Based on the starting five in the previous paragraph, I have formulated a reserve unit Brown would use in the postseason. Considering that Brown used seven/eight man rotation in the playoffs last year, don’t be surprised if he goes with something similar. I suspect it will be an eight-man rotation with the club’s improved depth over last season.
With that in mind, I believe it will be Horford, Robinson, and Burks. Horford will sub in for both big man spots, Robinson and Burks can come in on the perimeter with Burks getting some burn as a backup point guard as well. Both are veterans and have more experience than Korkmaz and Thybulle which makes them better candidates for playoff minutes at the moment.
Obviously things have come to light since these writers wrote about a potential Philadelphia 76ers rotation. However, considering that they wrote on this prior information about the rotation coming up, they weren’t too far off which is impressive.