Before the 2019-20 season went on hiatus, the Philadelphia 76ers were in the midst of arguably the most puzzling season of any team in the league. For all the presumed contenders, the Sixers possibly had more questions than any other playoff team heading into the home stretch, and (some of) these questions remain four months later.
Philadelphia (39-26) will head to Orlando in a virtual tie with the Miami Heat for the fifth-best record in the Eastern Conference, and the 12th-best overall, certainly below the 76ers' preseason expectations.
One major, now-unanswerable question worth nothing: Can this team win big games in another team's arena? Inexplicably, the Sixers won just 10 of 34 road games during the season, yet boasted the NBA’s best home record (29-2). Obviously, they won’t get any home playoff games — a major blow — but neither will anyone else.
Considering the unique upcoming circumstances in Walt Disney World, let’s put the home/road question aside for now and examine three other pressing queries for Philadelphia.
3. What will Al Horford’s Role Look Like?
On Feb. 11, 76ers head coach Brett Brown relegated Al Horford to a reserve role, a bold demotion for the five-time All Star in the first year of a four-year, $109 million contract. But despite Horford's elite IQ and sense of positioning, general manager Elton Brand's “Jumbo Lineup” dream — Embiid, Horford, Simmons, Josh Richardson and Tobias Harris — never gelled. Instead, Brown opted to replace Horford with the spacing and shooting of Furkan Korkmaz.
However, after three games coming off the bench with little impact, Horford was forced back into the starting lineup after Simmons suffered a back injury. The veteran big man played his best ball of the season just prior to the hiatus: 5.8 points (50 percent FG), nine rebounds and 6.2 assists per game in the team's last six contests, including shooting 48.1 percent from downtown. How Brown utilizes Horford in Orlando will be key.
2. How is Ben Simmons' Back?
One silver lining of the extended layoff for Philadelphia was expected to be a full recovery for Simmons from the self-described nauseating back injury he suffered on Feb. 22. In March, Simmons said his back was causing him “no pain,” but Brown told Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Mannix that the 76ers star will likely not be at 100 percent when the season restarts. Before going down, Simmons was averaging 16.7 points, 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds and a league-leading 2.1 steals per game.
1. Will Joel Embiid Be in Shape?
Embiid’s conditioning will always be a concern, and Sixers fans would love nothing more than to see him show up in Florida looking like post-quarantine Nikola Jokic. But coming off a four-plus month layoff (with much of that time spent indoors without team trainers), the state of Embiid's conditioning remains a fair worry.
For his part, the star 76ers center pledged a different mentality for the playoff push pre-COVID, and whether he can ramp it back up before he heads to Orlando will be essential to the team's chances at making a deep run. In this case, the Sixers coach doesn't seem too concerned. “I've had many conversations with Jo … and he's got a real desire to be at a playing weight that equals his best since he's been in the league,” Brown said in May.
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