Philadelphia 76ers: 3 lineups to look forward to next season

2 of 4

(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Big lineup

Ben Simmons – Robert Covington – Dario Saric – Amir Johnson – Joel Embiid

With Covington being the shortest member of the group at 6’9″, this is clearly an alternate lineup. But it also goes to demonstrate just how versatile the Sixers’ roster will be this upcoming season.

As the league witnessed last season, any lineup featuring Embiid is bound to be a success. Just one example is that when Embiid was on the court, the Sixers had a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 99.1, compared to just 108.1 when he was off the floor.

More from Philadelphia 76ers

Not only is this a tall lineup, it’s very flexible. Although unproven, Simmons has the size and agility to cover a number of positions defensively, with Covington having clearly proven the ability to cover at least positions 1-3. Seeing as such a lineup would be used in short spurts, Saric should be able to assist with defending on the perimeter, with Johnson and Embiid handling matters down low.

Offensively, Simmons would of course be in charge of the ball-handling duties, with Saric and Embiid the other two of the quintet capable of creating their own shot. Aside from the unproven Simmons, the remaining four all possess three-point range. with the most accurate return last season surprisingly coming from newcomer Johnson. Over 62 games last season, Johnson converted at a 40.9 percent clip on 0.8 attempts per game.

But ultimately, all things with this lineup would start and end with Embiid, with Sixers fans simply salivating at the prospect of seeing him on the floor for more than his 31 games of last season. Clearly the most versatile scorer of the quintet, the Sixers will be looking forward to seeing a spike in Embiid’s playing time this season.

Last season, Embiid cracked 30 minutes just once in his 31 games. Overall, he averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in just 25.4 minutes per game. Once Embiid is able to get the training wheels off and not play under a minutes restriction, being able to carry units such as this should prove no problem to the 7’0″ Cameroon native.