The Philadelphia 76ers are roughly a week and a half away from the NBA Playoffs beginning inside the bubble in Orlando and they will have to prepare for those games without Ben Simmons. The bright young star is out indefinitely after suffering a subluxation in his left knee.
That means Philadelphia will have to turn to other players to step up and lead the charge. Josh Richardson is the most logical choice after he was the one who led a players-only meeting earlier in the season and is one of the more vocal guys on the team.
However, there are so many other choices on this team as well in the form of Joel Embiid, Al Horford, and Tobias Harris who have leadership qualities as well so it will come down to a committee of some sorts.
“Everybody has to step up by committee,” said Richardson. “I think we have a few guys who can step up as leaders, who can step up and have big games for us, so we don’t like to put too much pressure on one or a few guys so everybody’s got to step up in his absence.”
Without Simmons–who is one of the game’s top defenders–the Sixers will need to find a way to get it done on that end of the floor without him. There have been stretches so far in the bubble where Philadelphia looks good on that end, but then there have been stretches where they look like they have no interest in playing any defense. That is where the frustrating part with this team comes in.
“I’d probably give it a ‘B/B-‘,” Richardson added. “I think we’ve shown stretches of good defense, but we’ve also shown stretches of very not good defense. We’ve given up way too many points in these fourth quarters, but we’ve also had quarters where we’ve held teams to 20 or less points. It’s a little inconsistent, but I think once we start locking down and keeping our focus for a full 48 minutes, hopefully, that starts happening in the next game, but when that does happen, I think we’ll give ourselves an even better chance to get wins.”
For Philadelphia to even have a chance in these games and in the playoffs without Simmons, they have to get serious on that end of the floor. They will get their first chance on Friday when they take on the Orlando Magic. [lawrence-related id=36370,36364,36350]