The Philadelphia 76ers received some bad news on Thursday night when they found out that Joel Embiid would require surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left hand and would be out for a couple of weeks. That big news caused coach Brett Brown to make some changes to the way the Sixers run things.
For one, it moved Al Horford over to the center position and it allowed him to shine as well as giving Norvel Pelle a chance to play more. It also allowed Brown to do something a little unconventional which is to have Ben Simmons at the center spot.
The 6-foot-10 point guard has the size and the ability to play that spot and he held his own against Boston Celtics big man Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis. It is something that Brown would like to see more.
“I’ve always been curious of what that could look like and we’ve seen over the past three weeks I’ve put him in a lot of screening action, like as the screener and you can see he’s a dynamic roller,” Brown explained. “He can get lobs, he can catch pocket passers, he can find people in corners and so in that world, if you put shooters around him and you find somebody who can run the pick-and-roll, then let’s call him the 5 and it’s true and in that environment, he was.”
Due to this fact about Simmons, he was able to score 19 points and pull down nine rebounds. Most of his shots were at the rim and due to his talent, size, and athletic ability, he can play the center spot for stretches.
“I don’t really look at positions,” said Simmons. “If you can play, you can play. Just try to make plays every time.”
The Sixers will tinker with a few different lineups in order to survive until Embiid can return. A lineup with Simmons at the center spot surrounded by shooters like Furkan Korkmaz and James Ennis III and a playmaker like Josh Richardson should be a sustainable lineup for them.
“I think overall, result wise, we played well,” Simmons added. “There’s a lot of things that we’re learning with that, and we’re excited to have that opportunity to have a different game style. Obviously, we’re going to miss Joel for however long it is, he’s a huge part of this team, but tonight was a good start.”
Brown liked what he saw as well and he hopes that it will continue as he plans on using Simmons at that spot, along with Horford, Pelle, and Kyle O’Quinn, as a way to hold down the fort.
“I thought he was good,” said Brown. “I don’t know what the numbers bear out, but he was good. It was something we’ve just tried, I have wanted to try Ben at 5, we did, and I suspect you’ll see it again.”
The Sixers will hit the road to face the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday and they will continue to trot out different lineup combinations to find the one that works. Thursday was a good start with that. [lawrence-related id=23177,23169,23161]