The Philadelphia 76ers are set to begin the 2020-21 season. Their final roster is ready to go after they waived Justin Anderson and Frank Mason III on Saturday to reach the final 17 players for opening night.
The Sixers will bring a versatile roster into the 2020-21 season as they prepare for the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. They are led by Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, but the difference with this team is they have a couple of legitimate shooters on the roster. They also have players who can do plenty of different things.
“This is our roster,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I like our versatility. A lot of shooting on the floor. A lot of guys that can put the ball on the floor. A lot of length defensively. So we have a lot of good parts.”
As far as any minutes restrictions are concerned, Rivers added that there will not be any. There was some concern that Embiid might have a restriction considering he missed the preseason finale on Friday due to an illness. He practiced on Sunday with the team, and it appears that he will be ready to go.
“I don’t think so,” Rivers added. “It’s probably, honestly, a minutes restriction for everybody, but it’s called a lung restriction. For the most part, there’s no restrictions on anyone right now, which is actually really nice going into the season.”
One thing interesting about this roster is Philadelphia will carry four centers into the season. In addition to Embiid and Dwight Howard, the team is keeping Tony Bradley and Vincent Poirier.
“My guess is Joel is going to play the most of the four,” Rivers laughed. “I can tell you another thing; all four will never be on the floor together. It is what we have with our roster right now [and] we’re going to keep it that way. Dwight will be the backup of Joel and then after that, we’ll see what happens.”
Bradley played well on Friday against the Indiana Pacers, and he will be given a look during games when Embiid can’t go. Howard would slide into the starting lineup with Bradley backing him up followed by Poirier.
This is a solid roster on paper and there are some combinations the team can really look forward to as it gets set to begin the season on Wednesday.
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