The Philadelphia 76ers are a talented team led by the star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, but they have come up short in the past. They fell in Round 2 in 2018 and 2019 and then they were swept in 2020.
Granted, Simmons was not around for the 2020 playoffs due to a knee injury, but a sweep is a sweep.
That brought in sweeping changes with a major front-office overhaul, a new head coach for the first time in seven seasons, and a new supporting cast around the two stars. With a new regime, that means new strategies on the court and that excites people.
One of those changes will be playing up more on the ball-handler in pick-and-roll defense. In the playoffs against the Boston Celtics, the big man would drop back in coverage and allow Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown to walk into jumpers.
Under Rivers, the team has been working on changing that defense to a more aggressive style and it’s something that Embiid is ready for after he was asking for changes in the playoffs.
“That’s been an emphasis. I feel like you got to mix it up and being 7-feet, you can also have limitations as far as the way you move and the way you react,” the big man said. “The times that we have been running it in practice at times is a little bit hard because he puts me in a bad spot so I think it’s about just getting comfortable every single day. Of course, I’ve always done what the coaches asked me to do. Hopefully, it does work, but if it doesn’t, we also as a team, we got to make adjustments.”
The other adjustment the team is making under Rivers is on the offensive end where the team will run more pick-and-roll. That allows Embiid and Simmons to be able to work more smoothly and makes the defense react which leaves shooters wide open.
“When you think about the game, especially the regular season, especially the first three quarters, you got to get stops and you got to run, and then when you get to the fourth quarter, and the defense toughens up and it’s harder to get those type of opportunities,” he said about the offense. “Now you get to half-court and the game slows down and that’s when I come in. My ability to score the ball in 1-on-1 situations or draw fouls I think is up there with the best in the league, or probably the best in those types of situations.”
Philadelphia struggled to score in the playoffs due to the fact that they were not able to create space and they had a lack of shooters as well. Now that the team has added players such as Seth Curry and Danny Green as well as still having Shake Milton in the fold, it means the team can continue to open up the floor and allow Embiid to go to work.
“With the added shooters, I think it’s going to help us just now just open up the floor,” he finished. “That’s why my emphasis has been really on half-court too. We got to be great at that because I’ve played in the playoffs, a few times now, and the main thing is if your half-court offense isn’t great, you’re not going anywhere.”
The Sixers still have a lot to work out, but when opening night rolls around on Dec. 23, that will be their first opportunity to work it all out in an actual game. [lawrence-related id=40095,40092,40089]