Injuries and load management: two words that all Philadelphia 76ers fans have become highly accustomed to over recent seasons -- and this year is no exception. Despite only being 14 games into the NBA calendar, the Sixers will feature in their fourth back-to-back game of the campaign when they travel to the Milwaukee Bucks on November 20.
After falling to a 121-112 defeat to the Toronto Raptors, the team will have to make a trip of around 850 miles to Wisconsin in an attempt to climb back into playoff contention. However, as the fixtures continue to pile up so early in the season, so do issues in the rotation. The Sixers are carrying a concerning blend of injury-prone players and those restricted by a minutes restriction.
The main concern for Philadelphia is that this problem is only going to worsen as the year progresses.
Philadelphia must get creative with rotations
Head coach Nick Nurse has come under scrutiny during the early stages of the campaign due to the manner he has exhausted the backcourt pairing of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. The explosive duo has combined for around 77 minutes per game, even with veteran options such as Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon struggling to occupy a prominent role in the rotation.
Philadelphia is scheduled to feature in a total of 16 back-to-back games unless some form of higher power decides to shake up the regular-season schedule to accommodate broadcasting demands. With this being the case, Nurse has a responsibility to be more innovative with his rotations and not rely too heavily on particular players so early in the season.
To make the scenario more difficult for the franchise, after struggling with a litany of fitness issues, Joel Embiid has stated that he is unlikely to feature in games of this nature in the future. In the long term, this will be beneficial to the 76ers if they can clinch a postseason spot. Nevertheless, this declaration would rule the 31-year-old out of at least 16 fixtures, and this is before his body succumbs to any other issues -- which history suggests could happen.
In addition, due to recovering from their own injury problems, both Paul George and Jared McCain may follow a similar plan of action over the coming months. George has only featured in one game so far this season for the Sixers, while McCain has averaged 10 minutes on the court over five appearances.
Every team in the league is going to suffer from the exhausting consequences of a hectic NBA schedule, and due to the ever-growing salary demands in the world of basketball, this is unlikely to change anytime soon. But given the state of the Philadelphia 76ers' current roster, this could be an issue that has the potential to derail a campaign that has started so positively.