Doc Rivers Has a 'Good Sense' of Sixers' Bench Rotation
Typically, the Philadelphia 76ers would have a handful of opportunities to compete in preseason games and figure out which players are deserving of cracking the regular-season rotation. This year, the Sixers only have two competitive matchups against outside competition, making life harder for head coach Doc Rivers.
Although time has been limited lately, Rivers revealed on Thursday that he has a good idea of who might be involved in his desired ten-man rotation. Based on Tuesday's starting lineup, it's apparent that Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, and Danny Green have absolutely nothing to worry about (obviously).
Then, several veterans on the team will clearly earn minutes off the bench. Those players being Dwight Howard and Shake Milton. Other than those two, there aren't any clear-cut winners for bench minutes when the regular season begins, but Rivers did say he has a good idea of who might earn playing time.
"I have a good sense -- I don't know if I have a clear sense, though," Rivers said on Thursday in regards to the bench rotation. "I'm just looking for them to play well and play together and play their own way when there are all five on the floor. They are not going to be able to play the way Joel [Embiid] and Ben [Simmons] and that group plays because they don't have a Joel and Ben on their team. So, they have to play a little different, and they have to figure out what that identity looks like."
Of course, with one preseason game left to go, Rivers isn't ready to make the final call on who will be included in the ten-man rotation. However, he did reveal exactly what he's looking for in Friday night's preseason matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
"Shooting is really important," Rivers said. "Defense is important. Who can get the team and run the stuff the best? There's a lot of little things. We may need more size, we'll see. We run out a lot of groups in practice, and we get a judge from that. Tomorrow, we'll try to run a lot of different groups out with that group."
Based on what we've seen and heard over the last couple of weeks, it's easy to assume Milton and Howard are locked in the rotation. Then, right behind them is Furkan Korkmaz and Mike Scott. That leaves the final spot down to one person, which will likely be a battle between Matisse Thybulle and Tyrese Maxey.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
