The Philadelphia 76ers are currently dealing with the aftershocks of the news that Ben Simmons will be out for a little while with a subluxation in his left knee. The news leaves the Sixers having to make another change after making such a drastic change to their lineup and rotation.
So, that leaves coach Brett Brown with a decision to make. Does he continue to try and push forward with a smaller lineup? Or does he go back to the Joel Embiid and Al Horford pairing?
“If I had to tile one way or the other, I would pair them,” said Brown. “We have, sort of, game planned and spitballed what this actually looks like now. If you made me weigh one area or the other, I would pair them. I’d feel like there are ways I’m going to be able [to do] what I did previously where the alternative is to split them up. If you want a concrete answer, I’d listen to pair them.”
The idea of moving Horford to the bench was to avoid having him play a lot of minutes with Embiid. The two have been a mess on the offensive end so far as they have a 103.1 offensive rating as a duo per Cleaning the Glass which is good for just the eighth percentile in the league. Although, Embiid has been terrific inside the bubble so far and the team does expect that to keep going.
In a time such as this one, this does mean that Horford would be the logical choice to move back into the starting lineup. This also means that the Sixers will have to lean more on Shake Milton to play like he did before the league suspension.
“I’m going to continue to play the right way and play the way I’ve always known how to play,” said Milton. “Be aggressive and shoot when I’m open and look for my teammates whenever I’m not. The team and coaches give me confidence and I’m going to continue to go out there and play the way I know how to play.”
The Horford-Embiid pairing could work with Simmons off the floor. Their offensive rating is actually 115.3 when Simmons is off the floor per Cleaning the Glass so that is something encouraging for the Sixers. It will be up to Brown and the rest of the Sixers to really figure out what the next move will be in order to be successful on the floor. [lawrence-related id=36333,36297,36290]