Early trends in Brett Brown’s rotations for Philadelphia 76ers

Point

Let’s start with the backup point guard situation. It was really the only rotational question heading into the season and we might have an answer earlier than expected.

Josh Richardson soaked up all the backup 1 minutes behind Ben Simmons for the Philadelphia 76ers on opening night against Boston. On Saturday against the Pistons, those minutes went to Raul Neto. Richardson got the nod once again in Atlanta, likely because Trae Young is off to such a hot start.

Richardson’s deployment at the 1 is not surprising on its face, but the timing sure is. That seemed like a tool to save for the playoffs; Brown is clearly taking the regular season seriously. Facing two highly skilled guards early on has played a part, though plenty of them are scattered across the league, so maybe this will happen more than originally thought.

As for the battle between Neto and Trey Burke, the former clearly has the upper hand so far. This comes as no shock to most pundits. Though Burke is a shot creator and can get the offense out of a rut, he’s just as prone to record-scratch the flow. Neto is more of a game manager who knows his role on both ends.

The important opponents seem to favor Richardson as the backup 1, while the “filler” contests look like Neto’s minutes to lose. Brown is playing the matchup game, which he hasn’t had the ability to do in past years.