Brett Brown is faced with an unusual challenge at this point in this season: he has more healthy players than minutes available.
Injuries were commonplace in the earlier parts of the season. Now he has a near-healthy roster and only so much playing time to go around.
“There’s just not enough positions,” Brown said. “I’m in a situation that we’ve never been in here where you have healthy people and you really have a legitimate bench given where we’re at.”
Upon Jerami Grant’s return Monday, only Nik Stauskas (shoulder) and Joel Embiid (out for the season, foot) were unable to play because of injury against the Knicks. Veteran Elton Brand remains on the inactive list since signing with the team on Jan. 7. As players return to the active list, Stauskas is probable to play Wednesday, per reports, Brown will have to rearrange playing time.
He doesn’t like his players to sit for too many games. DNPs are usually temporary, and Brown will circle players in and out of rotations to keep them fresh. Take the case of Richaun Holmes as an example. Holmes had averaged over 16 minutes in a three-game stretch. Then other players, including Carl Landry, began clicking. As a result, Holmes sat, but Brown wouldn’t keep that situation for long. Following two DNPs and just three minutes against the Bulls, Holmes played 27 minutes against the Trail Blazers.
Situations throughout the game can provide opportunities for playing time. Brown pointed to foul trouble and large point differentials as times for possible scenarios. Kendall Marshall is averaging the fewest number of minutes (12.0) on the team in January. However, he has not gone more than three games without playing.
“The thing I do know is as a coach you want to keep guys warm,” Brown said. “You never want them dying. You’ve got to find ways to keep them alive.”
The active players can change any game now that there are so many for Brown to choose from. He bases them on matchups and who best lines up against the opponent. In Saturday’s game, he started Ish Smith and Isaiah Canaan (in place of the injured Stauskas) to counter the Trail Blazers’ backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Against the Cavaliers, he started Grant to combat their length. He also adjusts the lineups to adapt to small ball.
“You can’t play 15, and so something’s got to give,” Brown said. “As you play it out, the depth of your bench is born out of matchups.”
The more rotations change, the more the Sixers have to stay ready. They have had 23 different starting lineups this season, and every player currently on the roster has started at least one game. The lineups have changed so frequently that the only player to start every game in which he has played is Smith, who joined the team in late December.
There are also in-game changes. Against the Knicks, Jahlil Okafor had 20 points and seven rebounds through three quarters. Brown, however, liked how the unit of Smith, Canaan, Hollis Thompson, Robert Covington and Nerlens Noel were playing together, and he rode that group for the fourth quarter and double overtime.
Given the changes, the players know to stay ready. Four players logged over 40 minutes in the double-overtime game.
“I would say we all work hard and we all understand what we’re trying to get to and what we’re trying to become,” Thompson said. “So we all stay ready. No matter if you get 10 minutes a game or 30, people understand we’re just trying to find something that works for all of us. Everybody is buying in.”
After dealing with injury after injury, having an abundance of healthy players is not a bad challenge for Brown to have.