Joel Embiid says he and Ben Simmons are ‘way closer’ than before

Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid says he and Ben Simmons are way closer than before.

The notion around the Philadelphia 76ers recently has been that star players Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can’t co-exist. There have been reports and stories and accusations that the two of them just don’t like each other and they don’t get along.

On Friday, Simmons made a joke out of it saying that he was going to move in with Embiid to get closer to him. He laughed a bit at the accusations and then the big fella chimed in as well.

“I think our relationship is great. We’ve been definitely way closer,” Embiid said of him and Simmons. “If we got to work out, we’re working out together. As a group, if we got to play 2-on-2, I want him on my team and working together and going from there. I think the notion of the relationship, I think the national media always trying to create stories because they don’t have anything to talk about, you know those guys.”

A lot of people will point to the 2019-20 season and say that they can’t play together, but when one considers the circumstances, it is easy to see why. The duo succeeded on the floor in the 2017-18 and the 2018-19 seasons due to the fact that they had shooters and playmakers like JJ Redick, Robert Covington, Jimmy Butler, and others around them.

Their offensive rating dropped in 2019-20 due to no shooting around them and the paint was too clogged for them to do anything.

“The notion of what people have been saying in the past, I just don’t think it’s true,” Embiid added. “On the court, if you’re looking at two years ago, when we had a lot of spacing and we were able to dominate together, that was just the way to go. Last year was just different because that wasn’t the same as we’ve always had to be able to do the same things that we’ve been doing for the past couple of years.”

He is right. Simmons and Embiid need to be able to have the space to do what is necessary for them to operate on offense. That is why the expectation is that they will be better in 2020-21 because the team went out and brought in the shooting the team needed.

“We’re fine,” the big man added. “We know where we are, we know what our goals are and we know what it takes to accomplish it. We’ve been through a lot and we’re just going to keep working hard and stay together and trying to make it happen.”

They will get their chance to redeem themselves from the previous season on Dec. 23 when the team takes on Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards. [lawrence-related id=39871,39850,39847]