PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers are faced with the challenge of having to replace what Joel Embiid brings to the table. The big fella is set to miss some time after deciding to undergo a procedure to fix the meniscus injury in his left knee.
One just doesn’t replace 35.3 points per game. That is the challenge coach Nick Nurse and the Sixers are faced with. Embiid cleaned up a lot of mistakes Philadelphia made on a nightly basis and his ability to dominate games will be missed.
With Embiid out, the challenge is now on the shoulders of All-Star Tyrese Maxey and the reliable Tobias Harris.
“Well, very difficult because his numbers have been really historical,” Nurse said of replacing Embiid. “I think that it’s certainly—I don’t think there’s a guy or two that we can say ‘OK, he’s gonna take all those minutes and he’s gonna take all those shots’ I think all that stuff’s gotta be re-distributed. Obviously, Tyrese’s numbers—he’s gotta shoot more. He’s gotta take more of Joel’s chances. Tobias has to. Those guys are our two main guns and the rest of it has to be filtered around to some other guys.”
Maxey is averaging 26.2 points and taking 19.9 shots per game on the season. Harris is averaging 17.9 points on 13.3 shots per game. Those shot attempts are going to have to go way up with Embiid now out. The rest of the shots can be given to the other guys on the floor.
For example, guys like Kelly Oubre Jr., Danuel House Jr., Marcus Morris Sr., and others can step up and take more shots to produce on the offensive end.
“We need some guys who aren’t scoring as much, but are capable with more chances to do that,” Nurse finished. “We’re just not sure who that’s gonna be, I think, on a night-to-night basis. I don’t think that matters. It just matters that those two guys are firing pretty good—Tyrese and Tobias—and then a couple other guys among that group can get us in the 15, 16, 18 point range.”
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