The Philadelphia 76ers are having a solid season thus far sitting at 32-22 with four games left before the All-Star break. Considering everything that has gone on with this team over the past couple of months with the ongoing Ben Simmons saga, the success could be surprising to some.
However, when a team has a talent like Joel Embiid on it, one can see why the Sixers are having the success they are having.
Embiid has stepped his game up in every way possible. He is leading the league in scoring at 29.4 points while also averaging 10.9 rebounds and a career-high 4.3 assists. He is also shooting 49.8% from the floor while facing constant double teams and he has taken on more ball-handling and distributing responsibilities out on the floor as he has to do more without Simmons.
Embiid is happy about having to do more for Philadelphia, though. He is not running away from the challenge.
“For sure,” said Embiid. “Obviously, we have big holes that we’ve had since the summertime, but that’s also forced me to use some part of my game that wasn’t needed in the past which I’m enjoying. I’m having fun going out and just being a complete basketball player and doing everything offensively and defensively. At the end of the day, it is all about results and like I said, I think we have a chance, but I definitely do need to take another step.”
On the flip side, it is apparent that Embiid needs some help on the floor. In order to really compete for a title, the Sixers need to bring in another guy to help him out on the floor. That is why Philadelphia is in deep discussions with the Brooklyn Nets to acquire star guard James Harden for Simmons.
However, Embiid is mostly staying out of it as he is just worried about going out on the floor and being the leader of this team on a regular basis. Even after the Sixers fell to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, he is not concerned with what he thinks the team should add before the deadline while coach Doc Rivers said the team has to add another guard.
“I don’t know,” Embiid explained. “I’m not the GM, I’m not a coach, I don’t know what they think we need, but all I know as I’m on the court, we just play basketball. We’ve been playing well. Obviously, tonight was a tough loss. We had a chance to win that game, but we’ve been playing well and everybody has been doing their job on most nights. I like the challenge. I want to go out there every single night and see how much better I can get and what I can do to help us win games.”
What the Sixers do over the next 24 hours or so remains to be seen, but Embiid has been relishing the chance to do more with Simmons off the floor and the Sixers have been benefitting from his strong play.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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