The Philadelphia 76ers live in two worlds. There’s the Ben Simmons world where everything is running at a breakneck speed and he can use his gifts to get to the basket every time and there’s the Joel Embiid world where things are slowed down and he can use his dominance on the low block and either score or get fouled.
So how does coach Brett Brown try and strike this balance? It’s not easy with the pieces surrounding their All-Star duo not exactly fitting nicely into the puzzle. That is the challenge Brown faces with this group as he still looks to find the team’s identity.
“Here to me are the facts,” said Brown on Monday morning. “It’s all about who are we? Like what’s our identity? I think there was a stage where Joel was with us, we were playing pretty well. We played through him a lot and he quarterbacked the gym. I think he’s had his best year passing out of double teams in the post since he’s played in the NBA.”
When Embiid is able to work his way in the post, good things usually happen. He averages 0.764 points per post touch which ranks second in the league behind only Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers. When he is at his healthy best, he is either a bucket or drawing a foul in the post.
When he was out for nine games with the torn ligament in his left hand, the Sixers had to focus more on the Simmons world and work with him and Josh Richardson leading the offense. With Embiid now returning, the challenge to morph their games together and find a cohesive unit.
“He gets injured and we pivot over to this other group that started to find a little bit of a rhythm not with Joel,” Brown added. “Here comes Joel back and you’re trying to morph those two worlds and then J-Rich has been out. During that time when Jo went out, we just started to play at a hyper speed with Ben playing downhill like he’s mad at somebody. We saw jaw-dropping performances, dunks, and collapsing defenses and finding people and everybody just played off him.”
This is another true point. Simmons averaged 21.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 7.9 assists, and 2.3 steals during those nine games as the Sixers played at a more up-tempo style. Philadelphia wants to maintain Simmons’ breakneck speed and style allow him to control things in early offense while also slowing down and playing through Embiid and allowing him to post up.
“We want to maintain that, but there comes with a balance of the other things,” the coach continued. “My belief is it’s sort of delineated in a make or miss world. In early offense, it’s Ben’s gym. Take off, find Ben, and playoff Ben downhill and I think in that environment, he’s had a mentality where he draws fouls and we run with him.”
That can happen when the Sixers force turnovers and get out and run, which they did not do in Monday’s embarrassing loss to the Miami Heat, but what happens when the ball goes in the basket?
“Then all of a sudden of the ball goes in the basket, it’s a little bit slower,” Brown continued. “There’s some reality coming in where Joel can’t come in with six paint touches. That’s what he had against the Celtics, it can’t happen. Prior to his injury, he was averaging 12 with a growth from my end to try and raise it up to 15.”
If the Sixers are to attain their championship when the playoffs roll around, they will need the two worlds to mesh and morph into one unit. They need to find that balance of playing fast with Simmons in the open floor and then allowing Embiid to work when he can. The four shot attempts he had in the second half on Monday can’t happen.
“We know what the playoffs look like,” Brown finished with. “It’s all about that environment that we’re trying to grow and I think Ben’s been unbelievable in open court and I think he’s been great in understanding what’s around the corner of trying to morph those worlds.”
The Sixers still have a few months to get everything right before the playoffs begin. That is where the true test will lie for this team and, most likely, decide Brown’s fate as coach of the Sixers. [lawrence-related id=24942,24935,24922]