The NBA playoffs can be just as much about your supporting cast as it can be about your enigmatic superstars. Just ask Grant Williams and the Boston Celtics last season. In order for a team to be adequately prepared for a deep postseason run, depth and maybe more importantly, reliable depth, is a huge swing factor in any 7-game series.
When teams are countering, scheming out your favorite pet play, icing out your superstar, throwing multiple defensive coverages your way, and being malleable and flexible all comes down to how versatile and adjustable you can be.
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.” – Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was spittin’ man.
Taking that famous quote and applying it to basketball and the conventions that form the beautiful game we watch today, it is crucial that a team in the playoffs “Be like water”. Teams that oftentimes are too reliant one way or another end up handicapping themselves, becoming one-track-minded and inevitably turning into the worst thing you can possibly be in professional sports… predictable. Every supporting cast is going to be important come mid-April. How the Nuggets survive with Nikola Jokic off the floor is going to be indicative of how far Denver can go. How much juice the Warriors can squeeze out of their rotation players and if they can stay healthy will also prove vital to the defending champs’ chances. We know what the Bucks and Celtics’ second units are going to give you.But this piece isn’t about those supporting units. This is about the key role players that could potentially change the complexion of the playoffs. The guys who you may not see coming at first, but could make a name for themselves when the lights are the brightest. Or the guys who have the most boom or bust potential in the playoffs. Whatever way you want to phrase it… these are the supporting casts that can shake up playoff brackets the most. Maxey, Tucker, Melton and the Sixers rotating 5th Starter
Courtesy: Jesse D. Garrabrandt / Getty Images When Tyrese Maxey returned from an injury in late December, Doc Rivers was quoted saying that the Sixers would officially have 3 different starting lineups, presumably talking about a lineup that included Maxey as the 5th starter next to James Harden, Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris and PJ Tucker while also being able to put the more defensive-minded De’Anthony Melton in instead of Maxey or run a 3-guard lineup with Maxey, Melton,and Harden with Tucker coming off the bench. That malleable approach was a surprise to hear from Rivers. But it hasn’t really come to fruition.
For the most part, Doc has stuck to Melton as the starter with Maxey coming off the bench and rarely throwing out the 3-guard lineup to start. Those 3 lineups, however, are the only ones that have played over 100 minutes together for the Sixers this season and have all boasted very positive results. The Sixers are +14.3 with Maxey in with the regular starters. They’re +7.6 with Melton as the 5th guy and they’re +5.4 with the 3-guard lineup. That bodes extremely well for the postseason.
Being able to intrinsically switch your style on any given night is going to be important, especially when it comes to playing the top dogs in the East in Milwaukee and Boston. If Boston or Milwaukee go small? You can throw out the 3-guard lineup and apply pressure at the point of attack with both Maxey and Melton being used as release valves next to Harden and Embiid. Maxey’s potency off the bounce was evident last post-season when he destroyed the Raptors as a movement shooter, attacking closeouts and putting pressure on Toronto’s point-of-attack defense. Whereas against Miami in the 2nd round, Maxey didn’t have the same success exposing the perimeter defense of the Heat and maybe Melton’s 2-way ability would have been more advantageous. Perhaps more importantly the play of the veteran Tucker will determine how the Sixers will do when the Bucks or Celtics decide to go extra big. If Boston throws out Robert Williams and Al Horford or if the Bucks play with Brook Lopez and Giannis, how big Tucker can get will be pivotal. The Sixers have a lot of malleabilities when it comes to playing small, and their roster inevitability gives them an advantage when teams go that direction – but when teams decide to play big, as Milwaukee and Boston tend to do, Tucker is the dam holding the fort together.
How much success Philly has against those 2 Eastern Conference juggernauts ultimately does depend on their respective stars showing up, but Maxey, Tucker, and Melton have the ability to potentially swing any one of those series, with the versatility they provide Doc Rivers and the Sixers.If Doc just so happens to use that to their advantage.
Quickley + Hart & the Knicks point-of-attack defense
Courtesy: Canadian Press 
Courtesy: Rocky Widner / Getty Images If Monk, Huerter, and Murray can all apply pressure on defenses with their 3-point shooting (like they’ve been doing all season) then the Kings’ offense can keep them competitive against the best of them. But as we know, shotmaking, especially from a cast of inexperienced players (23 total playoff games played between the 3, all of them coming from Huerter’s time in Atlanta) is always going to be a question mark going into the postseason.
If the Kings supporting cast knocks down their shots at the same clip they have all season, they’re not going to be the paper tiger people expect them to be. But it’s a lot to ask when the lights are at their brightest.
The Suns 5th Starter:
The same applies to Torrey Craig, who is also an improved shooter this season, knocking down nearly 40% of his threes on low volume, but again… you’re living with that 10 out of 10 times if you’re a playoff team facing the Suns.
Could T.J. Warren be an option? He’s a much better shooter than either Okogie or Craig but not the defender either of them is. It’ll be a trial-n-error situation for Phoenix as they try to figure out who they are on the fly but what they can muster up from a meh supporting cast will be the difference between them being a good playoff team this year versus the sure-fire favorite to come out of the West.Westbrook, Mann And The Clippers Guard Rotation:
Courtesy: Getty Images 
