The Philadelphia 76ers have always been a talented team, but they have not been able to get past Round 2 in the playoffs despite being led by two of the game’s brightest stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
They have had dominant regular seasons, but they have not been able to translate that to the playoffs. The hope is that with the additions they made around Embiid and Simmons in the 2020 offseason, they can move forward in the 2020-21 season.
The additions they brought in centered on three big needs that the team had which are shooting, playmakers, and veteran experience. Danny Green is a guy who fills in two of those needs being a shooter and a veteran player and he’s one guy who Embiid is ready to learn from.
“He’s won three championships now, the last two, so he has a lot of experience,” said the big fella. “He’s seen it. He’s been through that grind of getting to the NBA Finals and fighting for that championship so there’s a lot we can learn from him, especially also being a vet for such a long time in this league. There’s a lot we can learn from him and we’re certainly going to lean on it to get past whatever is in front of us or whatever that’s stopping us during the season.”
Embiid wants to win. He wants to be known as one of the best players to play this game and he understands that he has to win in order to earn that notoriety. Despite being one of the best players in the game, he was not named to an All-NBA or All-Defensive Team and that bothered him.
He understands that he has to win in this league in order to be considered for those spots and Green can be a guy who can help get him there.
“The main thing is winning,” Embiid added. “Like I said in the past when you win, everybody wins. If we win, that means all these awards, I’m up there for those considerations. As a player of my, I guess my talent should always be in MVP conversations or Defensive Player of the Year conversations and all NBA. It should be like that every single year. So, to be able to accomplish that you got to win so I think that’s the man thing. Winning cures everything, it makes everybody happy. It’s going to help me when it comes to awards and stuff so that’s the thing that, we, as a team we really got to focus on.”
The Sixers will begin their title quest on Dec. 23 against the Washington Wizards. [lawrence-related id=40086,40071,40066]