National Basketball Association

Philadelphia 76ers 2016 Will Start With Experimentation

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Philadelphia 76ers season, although better than last year, will begin with some experimentation of lineups from Brett Brown.

The Philadelphia 76ers are entering 2016 in a much better position than they were in for the beginning of the previous season. The team, although certainly not lacking in holes of the roster, is much more of a cohesive unit than the team was last year.

The team is adding on Ben Simmons, whom they selected with the top overall pick of this year’s draft. Simmons alone is an addition that takes the team to another level, but they also added on Dario Saric, and will be debuting Joel Embiid for the first time since he was drafted in 2014. The team looks like they are a new breed, and they are. They have several players who are very versatile, which will work well in their favor.

While some fans may expect to see the Sixers roll out a flawless lineup that does its job on day one, that simply won’t be the case. The Sixers are going to see a lot of trial and error throughout the season, something that will be highly reminiscent of last season.

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Yes, the team did add some new, important pieces. Simmons will be a stud, Saric will do well, and Embiid will be a dominant key presence on both sides of the floor.

But among that is one thing we may be overlooking — they are all new pieces, coming onto a roster with some pieces that were previously here, and some that are also fresh to the Sixers roster.

Take the free agency signings for example, on top of the four rookies the Sixers will debut (Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot was not mentioned) they also are bringing on Gerald Henderson, Jerryd Bayless, and Sergio Rodriguez as first time Sixers that have not been teammates with anyone on this team yet.

When you have that many new pieces (if the Sixers don’t pull a fast one and give a roster spot to someone lesser known, that’s seven new pieces by my count) there’s bound to be some misfires when judging who works best with who.

When the first game comes out, Brett Brown will have to decide on a starting five, and over the first few weeks, I expect that starting five to morph a little bit. I also expect the second and third units to be altered as a result of that.

Who will work best alongside Simmons, who is almost certainly a lock as a starter? Who will work with Dario Saric if he is a main facilitator of the second unit? These questions seem like they should be easy to answer with some scrimmages at training camp, and some of them may be. Other ones, however, are a bit more difficult, and will take real game situations before they are actually figured out and deciphered by the coaching staff.

This may result in some losses at the beginning of the season. Fans need to realize that the wins will come in due time, but for now, the team needs to be more focused on finding lineups that work, rather than sprinting to the finish line that is won games.

Experimentation can be bad, if you do it too much. But if you keep it light, and keep it smart, it can be the difference between making the playoffs and missing them down the road.

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