There have been a lot of issues for the Philadelphia 76ers in recent games. The defense has not been there and they have not been physical enough and have been pushed around.
While those are relatively new issues that they have to address, the offensive struggles continue to show an ugly face. The Sixers still have no real offensive identity and it is hurting everybody on that end of the floor.
In the past, coach Brett Brown has employed an offense focused on ball movement and sharing the ball. With this new group, everything has been changed and it’s to the point where Joel Embiid is in a different offensive floor spot almost every night to make sure this works.
“Sacrificing,” he said. “When you look at how we played last year, obviously a different structure. The ball movement was better, this year, we’ve got different players. I’ve sacrificed a lot trying to make everybody feel comfortable and that’s normal.”
This has not been an easy year for the team. Between trying to find a way to make Embiid and Al Horford work along with trying to get Ben Simmons to shoot the ball, it has forced a lot of different looks for this team that these guys just aren’t used to.
“We’ve all got to sacrifice,” Embiid continued. “If it means taking less shots just to make sure everybody’s happy and we keep winning, that’s what we’ve got to do, but at the same time we still got to understand what’s going on around us and how we can help each other be better.”
The real focus on their lack of execution at times on offense has been the lack of spacing. There is no real sharpshooter on this roster and it’s hindering the ability of Embiid to operate in the post due to constant double teams and Simmons’s lack of a jumper isn’t helping things.
“It’s whatever he feels comfortable doing that will help,” said Embiid. “Like I keep telling him, whatever he feels comfortable doing, do it. We’re all going to try and keep helping. He’s been doing his thing.”
There is still a lot of work to be done and there isn’t much time left to get it all fixed before the playoffs. The team is 51 games and things just don’t look good right now with the team.
They’ll try again to get it right on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks on the road. [lawrence-related id=24992,24982,24955]