The Philadelphia 76ers star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have been heavily criticized lately. The two of them get a lot of criticism for not being leaders and not evolving or improving their game.
Yet, they are both All-Stars for the second consecutive season and they have the attention of their peers.
A week or so after Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens heaped praise upon Simmons, it was now Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers’ turn to heap praise upon the young star.
“He’s a hard guy to deal with every night with his speed, his pace, and his vision and his ability to get to the basket,” said Rivers before the Clippers and the Sixers matched up on Tuesday. “He’s just very tough and you have to game plan for him, like he’s the key. When you’re playing them, if you can control him, you have a chance, but if you don’t, he gets everyone involved. He makes everyone on this team better. I think what people miss with him is his defense, I think he’s a terrific defender and you have to give him a lot of credit for it.”
Simmons has been one of the better defenders at his position all season. He has locked up some of the better scorers in the league and has made life miserable for them all season. He does so many unique things on the floor and he showed it off by going for a triple-double in a win over the Clippers. He got to the basket, he attacked the glass, he made an impact defensively, and he had some ridiculous passes.
That type of performance had Rivers thinking and he then turned to Embiid as he compared the two All-Stars to a historically successful championship duo: Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“Embiid is a better scorer obviously, but Simmons has the ball,” Rivers continued. “He’s more like Magic, I guess, Magic and Kareem in some ways. Where Magic had the ball and he was creating and getting everybody involved and then you get the ball to Kareem and he scores. Embiid is tough because he can do both, stretch 5’s are very difficult he’s a post 5 that can stretch 5. Those guys are tough as well.”
Obviously, Simmons and Embiid have a ton of work to do to really make those comparisons come true and that is to bring a championship to Philadelphia, but the talent comparisons are true.
Simmons does so many different things on the floor to get his teammates involved and to help his team be successful. Embiid is one of the more dominant low post players in the NBA and he gets to the free-throw line at a very high rate as well as being able to shoot from deep. He can do so many different things on the floor and that’s why Simmons and Embiid need to stay together rather than trade one of these guys.