The Philadelphia 76ers are a relatively new team heading into the 2020-21 season. The main pieces remain the same, but there has been a lot of change surrounding those main pieces.
Led by the star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the Sixers brought in shooters such as Seth Curry and Danny Green while also drafting rookie Tyrese Maxey.
Doc Rivers is the new head coach, and he has been implementing a faster offense, which is based on pushing the pace and being able to run the pick-and-roll in the half-court offense.
Rivers liked what he saw in Tuesday’s 108-99 preseason win over the Boston Celtics.
“I thought we established our pace overall,” said the coach. “I thought the first quarter, at times, I think Ben one time was walking a ball up the court, and I jumped up and just the pace alone puts pressure on the other teams. What I’m trying to get our guys to understand, we have size and pace that creates force and that makes us really tough to guard on the floor. I guess watching the game, I’m very happy with our open floor game. I wasn’t thrilled with our executions, but first game, you can’t expect everything.”
Simmons had not played a game since mid-August in the bubble before he suffered a knee injury and missed the rest of the 2019-20 season. He can be forgiven for getting off to a slow start and needing a little push from Rivers to get the job done.
“I love that,” Simmons explained. “I was just trying to get my legs under me so that first quarter was tough, but once we got into a flow, I think we got into a stretch where we got like five defensive stops in a row and pushed that lead early. Overall, I love that. I love that Doc is making me be aggressive and telling me to push the ball.”
So far, it appears to be easy for Simmons to relate to Rivers. He has mentioned in the past there has been more focus within the practice facility and among the team. It helps that Rivers played in the NBA, and he had success as a player before becoming a coach and having the same success.
“He’s played the game, so it’s easy to relate to him and for him to tell us certain things and us to really understand it on the floor,” Simmons added. “He’s going to be honest and keep it real with us, which is what I love about him. For me, it gives me confidence to play my game.”
In Tuesday’s win, Philadelphia shot 7-for-29 from deep, but it shot 47.1% from the floor, got to the foul line 28 times and recorded 23 assists. Simmons contributing six of those assists while the team put up 108 points.
For such a new team, it was a pretty good performance.
“For not really having any plays put in or calling any plays, I think we did pretty well just moving the ball,” the two-time All-Star added. “Doc’s been a great coach in terms of just letting us play. It’s like giving us instructions on how you want to play, moving the ball, cutting, making guys guard you and finding the open man.”
Philadelphia will finish the preseason on Friday against the Indiana Pacers on the road.
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