Brett Brown said the Philadelphia 76ers have been preparing NBA All-Star center Joel Embiid for double-team defence in the playoffs as the team eye a deep postseason run.

The 76ers will renew their season and championship bid against Eastern Conference rivals the Indiana Pacers on August 1 following the coronavirus-enforced break, which suspended the NBA in March.

Philadelphia have failed to progress beyond the second round of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons – heartbreakingly eliminated by eventual champions the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals last year following Kawhi Leonard's stunning buzzer-beater.

The 76ers have struggled offensively in the postseason with all eyes on Embiid, but head coach Brown said the franchise have been working on the three-time All-Star's ability to deal with the extra attention.

"He's going to be double-teamed more than he isn't," Brown told reporters following Thursday's practice. "You can book it – he spins baseline, the whole gym is coming, I don't care who we are playing.

"What is happening [on his post-ups] in the playoffs, it's because they go at him more repetitively in a seven-game series. It's that heightened awareness for an NBA First Team All-Star.

"And, so I think this camp one of the things I have been doing is damn near every time he catches it, we're coming [with a double team] ... He's done a really good job passing out of it.

"So whether they come at him, whether he's going to be able to architect a quarterback mentality out of that post up or whether he's just going to play bully ball and go dunk and score, I think that we're moving toward the reads that are coming."

Embiid was averaging 23.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game this season prior to the postponement.

The 76ers (39-26) are sixth in the Eastern Conference, sharing the same record as the fifth-placed Pacers ahead of the league's resumption.

The NBA will restart via a 22-team format at Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida.