The Philadelphia 76ers, much like the other 29 teams in the NBA, are currently in limbo as they await the league’s decision on the 2019-20 season on whether they will be able to resume the season or not.
However, if they are able to continue the season, the team appears to have a plan for when that time comes.
One of the biggest questions surrounding the Sixers is the fitness level of Joel Embiid. Everybody wonders if Embiid will be in good shape whenever the season does resume and coach Brett Brown assured everybody that he has had a real desire to make sure he is in good shape for the playoffs.
“If the playoffs started, pick whatever date you want to choose my ideal thing is I want to play him about 38 minutes,” Brown explains. “I really would, in a playoff situation that as the head coach, that’s my ideal number. In the regular season, you know you bring them along and so I think 30 was the number. This year that he ended up, but I feel like Joel is completely in it. This is good. Joel is completely aware that kind of as he goes with his health and his fitness we go.”
Embiid is currently averaging 30.2 minutes per game. If the league does go straight to the playoffs, that number will jump to around the 38 minutes per game that Brown would like to see from him.
Speaking of the playoffs, Brown still believes the team is built for postseason success. He had repeated this sentiment before and he stood by those comments on Friday.
“I stand by this, I feel like a team is built for the playoffs,” he said. “I think if you took a ruler or a measuring stick and you measured our wingspan, we have the tallest team in the NBA. I think that we have the opportunity to guard, because of that length that I think spirit, as well as anybody.”
Philadelphia was sixth in the league in defensive rating at 108.2 at the time fo the league suspension so the defensive ability is there. They also did allow teams to make only an average of 10.2 threes per game on 28.9 per game and both of those numbers led the league according to basketball-reference.
“We were always sort of grounded as a compass ‘like this is good, but you know what? It’s not real. What works in the playoffs?’,” the coach finished with. “I feel like we’ve done a really good job of minimizing our turnovers, we’ve done a really good job of defending the NBA three-point line I believe with the best in the league as far as quantity of threes made and taken.”
Whenever the playoffs do begin–if they begin at all–it’s clear that the team has a plan for their superstar big man and they still have a belief that they can succeed in the postseason. Both of those things are good to have in the current climate they find themselves in. [lawrence-related id=31113,31105,31096]