Hoops Habit
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Are Philadelphia 76ers having an identity crisis?

By Alec Liebsch

Philadelphia 76ers. Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Philadelphia 76ers. Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images /
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Philadelphia 76ers Brett Brown
Philadelphia 76ers Brett Brown. Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images /

Coaching

Those of you who have read my previous articles know I’m mostly pro-Brett Brown. His overall work as a coach can be discussed here, but this is a more specific issue for Brown.

Brown is mostly regarded as a players’ coach. This moniker is sometimes attached to a loose, hands-off approach, but really it means that person can adapt his style to fit the roster, which Brown has done a lot of this season.

The last few seasons saw him refuse to play youngsters (Jonah Bolden, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot among them) in favor of mediocre veterans (Amir Johnson, Mike Muscala), with last season’s rotation being notoriously constant.

This season has seen a bit of flux. The backup point guard spot seems to shift every two weeks between Raul Neto and Trey Burke. Al Horford, Kyle O’Quinn and Norvel Pelle have all gotten cracks at the backup 5 spot.

Brown is experimenting a bit. Sometimes he plays to a matchup (starting O’Quinn against the Pacers, who start two bigs), sometimes he just wants to try something (giving Furkan Korkmaz a loose leash) and sometimes he’s forced to make a decision (playing another point guard with Ben Simmons).

It’s valuable to try stuff out early on. It gives him a clearer picture of what he can do once the playoffs start. But there comes a time where that starts to hurt the team, and that time has come.

The season is nearly halfway over. Some teams’ trump cards can be saved for the postseason (such as the Bucks using Giannis Antentokoumnpo at the 5), but the Philadelphia 76ers aren’t exactly built for that. The roster was constructed to be big and physical and their play style caters to that, for better or worse.

Play time is over. This team knows what it is, probably won’t shake things up much at the deadline and is going for a championship. In a crowded Eastern Conference, every win will count for seeding, something of utmost importance to the team with the third-best home record in the league (17-2). Brown needs to treat the second half of the season as such.