Sixers Feel Comfortable Not Having Permanent Backup Center Every Night

CAMDEN, N.J.–All throughout the 2022-23 season, the Philadelphia 76ers have gone back and forth on who the backup center will be behind Joel Embiid. They have two options in Montrezl Harrell and Paul Reed, as well as a smaller option in PJ Tucker, to turn to.

Recently, coach Doc Rivers has turned to Harrell. There was a stretch where Reed was getting the look behind Embiid, but Rivers made the switch to Harrell in the win over the Charlotte Hornets in the second of a 7-game homestand.

With that being said, one has to wonder if Rivers would like to have a permanent option to turn to every night to nail down a consistent rotation.

“Yeah, but that may not happen and I’m fine with that,” Rivers said on Sunday at practice. “There’s a lot of teams that go through that. We won a title doing that one year. We literally did. Big Baby (Glen Davis) or Leon Powe. Tony Allen or Eddie House. They didn’t play every night, but I thought to our team, it was very healthy because it was a competition.”

As coach of the Boston Celtics who went on to win the title back in 2008, Rivers began the playoffs by switching between Davis and Powe through Round 1 of their playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks.

However, in Round 2 of the playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rivers did settle on Powe. Davis didn’t play much late in that series nor in the Eastern Conference finals or the NBA finals. Powe earned the backup spot and that could happen in Philadelphia between Harrell and Reed.

“It was almost like when one guy starts struggling, the other guy starts tying his shoes up like ‘I’m getting my chance’,” Rivers added. “We would love it to be one guy all the time. Neither guy has proven that.”

The Sixers will continue their homestand on Monday when they take on the Toronto Raptors.