Brett Brown deserves some credit for Philadelphia 76ers success

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Brett Brown has experimented a lot early on, which he should. Not only does he have to figure out what he’s working with, but he actually has things to work with this season. The eighth man is actually playable now; that hasn’t been the case at any point in Brown’s tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The roster is much better than years’ past, but by no means is it perfect. The starting five is blitzing opponents, but that lineup ranks 27th in the league in minutes played. Some of that is by design (more on that later), but it still makes Brown’s job more difficult.

He’s had to fiddle with lineup combinations a lot and has done a nice job doing so. Brown has always staggered Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, making sure one of the franchise pillars is always on the court. This meant that Simmons’ minutes without Embiid last year were with … Mike Muscala and Boban Marjanovic. Now they’re with Al Horford.

Having a true stretch-big has worked wonders for Simmons; that Horford-Simmons duo is killing opponents by 9.0 points per 100 possessions. The most-used quintet without Embiid consists of Simmons, Matisse Thybulle, James Ennis, Tobias Harris and Horford. Their net rating is plus-27.0. Twenty-seven.

This might have been obvious to some (myself included), but Brown actually structuring it this way warrants credit.

As for the Embiid minutes sans Simmons, they always include Josh Richardson and/or a more traditional lead guard. Initially Brown experimented with Richardson in that primary role, which hasn’t gone well but will have to keep happening to prepare him for the playoffs. Trey Burke has gotten some work in spot matchups, but the main backup 1 for now is Raul Neto.

This makes sense for Embiid; Neto’s a traditional table-setter who can shoot when asked to, but doesn’t need to.

The bridge between Simmons and Embiid is Tobias Harris. Brown recognizes this and blends him into lineups with both. As an effective player with or without the ball, Harris has grown into the former role more with Embiid, and doing the latter with Simmons. Brown’s recognition of this — and his application of it — is worth noting.

His most impressive work, though, has to be with Thybulle. The rook made his mark right out of the gate, deceiving opponents with quick hands and otherworldly defensive IQ But like most things, his novelty wore off; the league adapted, baiting him into fouls. He averaged 6.5 fouls per-36 minutes over his first seven games in the league.

Brown saw this as an opportunity. He sat Thybulle in Denver and barely played him against Charlotte, which raised quite a few eyebrows. It was clearly a chance for him to see the game from a different angle and learn some things.

It was the best thing for him. Over his last 14 games, the rookie is averaging 2.5 steals per-36 (2nd among qualifiers), draining 60.0 percent of his 3s (!!!), getting 5.3 deflections per-36 (fourth among players with at least 100 minutes) and has an assist-turnover ratio of 2.6 (21-to-8). He is becoming the model 3-and-D wing Philly has lacked since Robert Covington.

If you thought these things would be obvious and that any coach could figure them out, you’re lying to yourself.