De’Anthony Melton content with reserve role as Sixers return to full strength: ‘I’ll be good’

Seeing his 76ers teammates back in uniform “puts a smile” on De’Anthony Melton’s face.

Even if that means moving back to a sixth-man role after starting for more than two months.

“I’ll be good, the team will be good,” Melton told The Inquirer on Tuesday, “and that’s all that matters.”

Tuesday’s rout of the Detroit Pistons marked the first time since Oct. 29 — and only the seventh time this season — that the Sixers’ opening-night starting lineup was intact, with All-NBA center Joel Embiid back from foot soreness and dynamic guard Tyrese Maxey running with the first unit after initially coming off the bench in his return from a fractured foot.

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That fact is a bit staggering, given that the Sixers’ regular season reaches its mathematical midpoint following Thursday’s home date with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yet coach Doc Rivers is finally hoping to get a legitimate sample size with a full roster from which to glean, and then tinker with his rotation accordingly.

“We just haven’t seen it a lot,” Rivers said of the original starting five.

When asked if he considered keeping Melton as a starter, Rivers said there could be times the fifth-year guard slides between both roles. But the coach wanted to get a renewed look at the group of Embiid, Maxey, James Harden, Tobias Harris, and P.J. Tucker, which has now played 130 minutes over the seven games together with a plus-12.8 net rating entering Thursday. For comparison, the Sixers’ most-used lineup this season of Harden, Melton, Tucker, Harris, and Embiid has a plus-13 net rating in 201 minutes together over 15 games.

Rivers acknowledges that, while the opening-night starting lineup boasts elite offensive talent, the coaching staff is “still evaluating” its effectiveness on the other end of the floor. The Sixers struggled defensively early in the season, but have evolved into a top-five unit in efficiency (109.8 points allowed per 100 possessions entering Thursday) with Melton largely as a starter.

Although Rivers noted the improvement and effort of Maxey and Harden in the backcourt, neither is the natural disrupter Melton is while guarding the perimeter. Since Maxey returned on Dec. 30, for example, the New Orleans Pelicans’ CJ McCollum and the Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine have both buried 11 three-pointers against the Sixers, though Embiid’s inside presence did not exist against the Bulls.

Melton, who has been a reserve for much of his career, said he does not feel a drastic change in his responsibilities whether he starts or comes off the bench. Those include using his instincts and long arms to aggressively swarm his man, snag loose balls, and jump passing lanes. And knocking down outside shots at a high clip (39.5% on a career-high 6.2 three-point attempts per game entering Thursday), plus being a secondary ballhandler and playmaker.

“I kind of know how to work through it,” Melton said. “Get myself involved, make an impact on the team and still contribute. … Minutes, that’s the only thing that matters.”

Melton was the Sixers’ first sub Tuesday, replacing Maxey about midway through the opening quarter. Forward Georges Niang, wing Matisse Thybulle, center Montrezl Harrell, and guard Shake Milton rolled in after that. The early break also allowed Maxey to run an otherwise all-bench unit late in the first quarter and early in the second, though Rivers said he would like to see Maxey and Milton share the floor even more than they did Tuesday. Milton made an adjustment similar to Melton’s when Harden returned from a foot injury last month, following a terrific stint as a scorer and playmaker in the starting lineup.

Blowing out the Pistons also meant Rivers had no need for a closing lineup. Tucker, however, has been off the floor in such situations recently — even when the roster was not at full strength. For example, the Sixers went with a three-guard lineup at the end of the victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 2, while Harrell directly replaced Tucker down the stretch of the Jan. 4 overtime win against the Indiana Pacers and Harrell and Paul Reed played center in the fourth quarter of Friday’s loss to the Bulls.

The roster availability is likely to hit more snags during the regular season’s second half. After all, the opening-night starting lineup was expected to click back into place about a week ago, before Embiid missed three games with foot soreness that, on Tuesday, he said he was still managing.

And after two months with Melton as a starter, Rivers appreciates the flexibility that he can provide.

“There may be nights where he does [switch from reserve to starter],” Rivers said. “But he’s an elite defender. We have that on our side. We know that. But the other way, you put Tyrese and Tobias and that group out there, they’re elite offensively.”