As the Philadelphia 76ers get set to resume the 2019-20 season inside the bubble in Orlando, they are making some major changes to their rotation. They are moving Shake Milton into the starting lineup and they are having Ben Simmons move over to the power forward position.
All of that means that Simmons and Joel Embiid will be working together in the low and high posts rather than as a point guard and center. That will be a major change to the way the Sixers run things offensively, but that still means the two of them will be on the floor together and that is what excites Embiid who doesn’t see huge changes in their pairing.
“It doesn’t matter,” said the big fella. “If you look at the number since we’ve been playing together, they’ve been great. This year, they’re kinda down, but new roster and we’re getting used to it. When you look at the ratings on and off the last few years, we were great so I think any of it really doesn’t matter.”
Those numbers Embiid is talking about are the net rating for those two as a pairing. Numbers per Cleaning the Glass:
- In 2017-18 the pairing was a plus-16.2 and had an offensive rating of 115.1
- In 2018-19 they were a plus-9.5 and their offensive rating was 115.2
- In 2019-20 they are just a plus-2.0 and the offensive rating is 107.2
The drop off can be attributed to some awkward fits around the two of them such as Al Horford for instance. With Horford moving to the bench in this new configuration, Embiid believes that he and Simmons can still dominate.
“We’re going to be great and we’re going to do what we need to do to accomplish the goal that we set for ourselves and I’m excited,” Embiid finished with. “I don’t see any difference. I think we’re still going to dominate together.”
The Sixers take on the Memphis Grizzlies in their first scrimmage on Friday in Orlando at 3:30 p.m. EST. That will give everybody their first taste of Sixers basketball since March 11 when the season was suspended. [lawrence-related id=35308,35294,35287]