As if putting together a roster to start the regular season wasn’t difficult enough, Sixers coach Brett Brown and general manager Sam Hinkie also have a veritable MASH unit worth of injuries to deal with.
With 20 players in camp, the Sixers have to get the roster down to 15 before Tuesday. Only 12 players can suit up, though the Sixers can petition the league for a 16th roster spot, but not until after the third game of the season.
“Hard decisions will have to be made,” Brown said.
Among those decisions is whether to start the season with as many injured players as healthy bodies able to suit up.
It seems like a strong possibility.
Though Joel Embiid, Tony Wroten, Robert Covington and Kendall Marshall are injured and won’t play when the season opens, they have secure roster spots. So too does Nik Stauskas, who returned to practice on Sunday though only partially. Meanwhile, forward Furkan Aldemir and guard Scottie Wilbekin were only partial participants on Sunday and veteran forward Carl Landry has yet to practice as he recovers from a wrist injury.
That leaves Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Isaiah Canaan, Jerami Grant, Hollis Thompson and Sampson assured of roster spots while Richaun Holmes, Christian Wood, Pierre Jackson, T.J. McConnell, Jordan McRae, J.P. Tokoto and Wilbekin fighting for spots.
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Of that bunch, Holmes, Wood, McConnell and Wilbekin have performed the best during the preseason, but that doesn’t mean they have spots on the team.
Nevertheless, the injuries have made the puzzle of putting the team together a royal mess.
“You’d have to say that factors into it,” Brown said of the injuries. “I met with Sam at 6:30 this morning and we talked for a few hours. This weighs on all of us. It’s Sam’s job and this is why we have Sam.”
Brown says he has some input into piecing together the roster, but his focus is on playing the games. Hinkie looks into the crystal ball, which can be murky given the injuries.
Either way, putting together the team for Wednesday’s opener is going to take a lot of work.
“I respect the fact that [Hinkie] sees this with a very large picture and its ripple effects are significant,” Brown said. “At first glance you have to be careful that the injuries don’t effect long-term goals. Maybe someone gets healthy in a few weeks.”
Stauskas has not been ruled out for the opener, though he has practiced all out since the first few days of training camp. Plus, the Sixers can pick up a player waived from another team before the opener. Last season the Sixers picked up Covington after the Rockets cut him just before opening day.
Either way, Brown and Hinkie will have their work cut out for them in a less than ideal situation.