Training camp is fast approaching, and soon enough, everyone will finally get to see the new-look Philadelphia 76ers. After an offseason marked by abundant and unabashed spending, the franchise will be truly starting off with a cleaner slate in what should be a very eventful campaign.
Before the regular season officially begins, though, the coaching staff will exhaust every bit of the preseason to determine what the rotation will look like to start the campaign off. One crucial thing to address is how will Nick Nurse and the bench figure out the minutes allocation for everyone.
In the spirit of forecasts, let’s project an ideal distribution of court time for the team, at least to begin the season.
How should the 76ers allocate minutes next season?
PG: Tyrese Maxey (30), Kyle Lowry (18)
SG: Eric Gordon (25), Maxey (5), RIcky Council IV (18)
SF: Paul George (20), Kelly Oubre Jr. (24), Caleb Martin (4)
PF: Caleb Martin (23), George (13), Guerschon Yabusele (12)
C: Joel Embiid (31), Andre Drummond (17)
At point guard, Maxey would obviously start, but the veteran Lowry will still likely command a considerable serving of minutes off the bench. There could also be configurations with both of them sharing the court and Maxey playing as the off-guard.
Meanwhile, Gordon has a strong chance of being the starter to begin the campaign with Council IV spelling him as the resident glue guy on the second unit. But depending on matchups, the latter could play mroe minutes, especially if the team needs a stopper and more pressure at the rim.
George should split minutes at both forward positions with Oubre and Martin playing significant minutes on a nightly basis. Really, both of them are interchangeable at this point and it’s difficult to predict who will start. Yabusele could also get sparse minutes, especially against bigger frontcourts.
At center, Embiid’s minutes should be tempered whenever possible. Limiting him to an average of 31 minutes per game is probably a workable figure, especially given that Drummond is now the one backing him up.
All of these are raw projections at this point, but the good thing about the Philadelphia 76ers this time around is they now have more interchangeable pieces than before thanks to their depth. Nick Nurse and company will definitely have their work cut out for them as they weigh all of their options.