How Many Minutes Will Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons see During Scrimmages?

In just a few days, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and the Philadelphia 76ers will take the court to play against another NBA team for the first time since March 11. While we're not quite at the season's restart, the 76ers will have the opportunity to play four ten-minute quarters against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday afternoon.

Being that the game won't count for anything, and is only scheduled to allow players to get back into the swing of the game, Sixers head coach Brett Brown doesn't have any plans to have his star players pick up a ton of minutes during the three scrimmages.

"I'm not going to play our heavyweights extended minutes in our exhibition games," Brown revealed on Monday before practice. "The first exhibition game is only for ten minute periods. The last two exhibition games are twelve -- you know a normal game. I suspect you're going to see somewhere in the 20-minute mark for my heavyweights."

While Brown didn't reveal who the team's heavyweights were exactly -- one can assume that players such as Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, and Al Horford will categorize as "heavyweights" since they are veterans, who will play a significant role for the Sixers come playoff time.

Following the three scrimmage games, Brown plans to ramp up minutes for some of his guys during the regular season and expects those numbers to go up by playoffs. "Once the dust settles and the regular season begins, I'm looking anywhere from 34 [minutes for Joel Embiid] is an easy number to talk about," Brown said. "In the playoffs, I said what I said, and I'll say it again -- I hope I can play Joel Embiid 38 minutes. And Ben [Simmons won't be] that far off either."

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_