Apr 21 2019
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The Philadelphia 76ers stole Game 4, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead. A sour loss in Game 1 rejuvenated the same questions that everyone had about the Sixers since last season’s disappointing postseason departure: Could Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons thrive together? Are they good enough to lead Philadelphia to a championship? Since that loss, the Sixers have won three straight and seemingly put those questions to bed.

For me, the last three games only raised even more questions. I don’t understand how Simmons can look utterly dominant in Games 2 and 3, but invisible in Game 1. I don’t buy that Jared Dudley motivated him. If he did, that’s a problem because, as Embiid said, “He’s a nobody“. Simmons should be able to dominant a playoff game without being mildly provoked by a career 7.7 points per game player.

Game 3 itself opened a whole other can of worms because Simmons, Tobias Harris (29 points, 16 rebounds) and JJ Redick (26 points) played fantastic… without Embiid in the lineup. Is that a coincidence, a case of players stepping up or a sign of a greater problem?

Obviously, we will learn significantly more about the Sixers’ ceiling in the next round against a much more imposing Toronto Raptors squad. But for now, allow me to think aloud.

Is Simmons better without Embiid?

I am a longtime member of the Ben Simmons is actually really good (even without a jump shot) club. It’s not that Embiid actively makes Simmons worse; they just aren’t a perfect basketball fit. Game 3 demonstrated what I have believed all along: Simmons would be better off without Embiid.

In Game 3, Simmons racked up 31 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. He shot 11-13 from the field and 9-11 from the free throw line. After Brett Brown moronically tried to plug Greg Monroe into the Embiid role, he eventually stumbled into a lineup of Simmons, Redick, Jimmy Butler, Harris and Mike Scott or James Ennis. This lineup spaced the floor, allowing Simmons free reign of the court.

I’ve long wondered how good Simmons would look on a team constructed around his talents, like Giannis Antentokounmpo has now in Milwaukee and LeBron had in 2016-17 with Cleveland. We’ll never see this come to fruition in Philadelphia because Embiid – the league’s most dominant center since Shaq – needs and deserves post touches. Still, would it kill Brown to give Simmons a few minutes of freedom each game? This leads into my next question.

Is coaching the real problem?

Brett Brown deservedly took the bulk of the blame after last season’s debacle against the Celtics. It’s clear he still has not learned the best way to use his uber-talented roster as he started Greg Monroe in Game 3. Greg fucking Monroe. Unsurprisingly, Monroe was the only Sixer who played significant minutes to finish with a negative plus/minus. Brown still hasn’t figured out that surrounding Simmons with shooters leads to peak-Simmons.

Some may fault the Sixers’ collective lack of shooting, especially compared to the other top teams in the league. That’s not entirely incorrect, but ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry discovered statistics to the contrary. Simmons ranked third in the NBA in 3-point assists this season. Through two postseason games, Philadelphia was second among playoff teams in shot quality on 3-point attempts. So while the Sixers may lack the elite shooting of the Warriors, Bucks and Rockets, they get easier looks than those teams.

If the roster isn’t the problem, then the responsibility falls on Brown. I don’t know much about X’s and O’s, but the Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor certainly does so check out his piece on how Philadelphia could maximize Simmons. He believes using Simmons as a screener would enable him to distribute like Draymond Green and Nikola Jokic, while scoring like Blake Griffin and Giannis. The bottom line is this: Brown must start enhancing his players’ best skill sets.

WTF happened against Boston last year?

This doesn’t really matter anymore because both teams look dramatically different, but I still don’t understand what happened. Embiid was by far the best player in that series, which is typically enough for a team to win a series. Due to Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward’s injuries, Simmons was arguably the second-best player – so what the hell happened?

Both teams were young and inexperienced, so that’s not an excuse. There’s only two possible answers: 1) Simmons and Embiid crumpled under the pressure while Boston’s youngsters rose to the occasion or 2) Brad Stevens ran laps around Brett Brown. The answer lies somewhere in the middle, but as I said earlier, I place the heap of the blame on Brown.

What Happens if Philadelphia gets Embarrassed by Toronto?

The difference between Toronto and Boston last year is that Toronto is healthy and a true title contender. Regardless, another second-round playoff exit may put pressure on the front office to do something. Most likely, they will replace Brown with a new head coach. Barring a catastrophic disaster, expect Philadelphia to run it back with Embiid and Simmons.

Does Philadelphia need to trade Simmons or Embiid?

As I said before, trading Simmons or Embiid after the season would be premature. It could lead to a Oklahoma City/James Harden situation. The simple answer here is no. Philadelphia will always be a threat to make the Finals with two top 25 players on their roster (and one who is borderline top 5). Embiid is 25 years old and Simmons is only 22. There should be no rush to move on after two seasons together.

Which one would Philadelphia trade?

Hypothetically, if Philadelphia decided they wanted to break up the duo, Simmons is probably the odd man out. Embiid is the better player and the face of the franchise. He’s on the short list of beloved Philadelphia sports figures with Allen Iverson, Chase Utley and Nick Foles. Trading Embiid would be a PR nightmare, destroy the locker room and

Which one should Philadelphia trade?

This might be a Skip-level take, but Simmons is the guy I’d keep. Embiid might have “best player in the league” potential (and even play like it some nights), but he’s extremely injury prone. He fell to the Sixers at #3 in the 2014 draft because of a foot injury – that same injury ultimately cost him his first two professional seasons. In his third season, a knee injury limited him to just 31 games. Now, he’s got knee tendinitis that cost him a critical playoff game.

As great as Embiid is, are we sure that a center can be the centerpiece of a title contender in the modern NBA? Probably, but we haven’t seen it yet. We’ve seen four years of the Warriors and the Cavaliers – the greatest shooting team in league history and one of the two greatest players in league history. Before that, it was LeBron versus arguably the greatest coach in league history in Gregg Popovich.

Simmons is over two years younger, has never been injured and has proven to excel without Embiid in the lineup. During the Anthony Davis trade fiasco, I was hoping for a Davis-Simmons swap for Simmons’ sake. I fully believe that Simmons on his own team could be a first team All-NBA caliber player and I thought New Orleans would be a perfect fit for him. Boston’s trade of Isaiah Thomas was absolutely cold-blooded, but it netted them Kyrie Irving for essentially nothing more than bad press in hindsight. Trading Embiid would not be the popular choice by any means, but selling high might be the best course of action.

What if Markelle Fultz stayed healthy?

I think people have sort of forgotten that Fultz was supposed to be the last piece of “The Process”. He was a number one overall pick for a reason – the dude was fucking good at basketball.

If whatever the hell happened to Fultz never happened, Philadelphia would arguably be the league’s most promising team (not Boston or Milwaukee). Fultz would have given the Sixers the other shot-creating ball handler that they desperately needed. This means the Butler trade never happens and the Sixers would have kept Robert Covington and Dario Saric. The subsequent Harris trade likely never develops, which means the Sixers still have Landry Shamet and the draft picks they gave up in that deal.

Essentially, the Sixers would replace Butler with Fultz (younger and cheaper), add depth, floor spacing, defensive flexibility and still hold their most valuable draft picks. If you thought Philadelphia was good now, that team would have been extraordinary. I really hope Fultz gets healthy and figures it out in Orlando. Fultz will go down as one of the greatest “what if” questions of the last twenty years if the Sixers don’t win a title in this era. Speaking of…

The only question that really matters: Will Embiid and Simmons win a title together in Philadelphia?

My gut says no. The NBA is a 3-point shooting league. You can only have one non-shooter on the court – not two – and you definitely can’t have non-shooters as your two best players. If Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook couldn’t win a title together, how the hell are Embiid and Simmons supposed to? At some point, the front office is going to grow tired of the inevitable playoff disappointments or Simmons is going to go full Klutch Sports and want his own team.

Posted inBasketball NBA
Tagsben simmons brett brown greg fucking monroe joel embiid markelle fultz philadelphia 76ers

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