As the 2020-21 NBA season continues to inch a bit closer, now is the time to rank the best players in the league heading into a new season. There is a ton of talent in the game right now and ESPN has taken on the challenge of ranking the top 100 in the league right now.
A few members of the Philadelphia 76ers were ranked in the first portion of the list and as it continues on, the team’s two stars are near the front of the list.
ESPN has ranked Ben Simmons as the 16th best player in the game saying:
Toward the end of last season, Simmons saw much of his time on the floor as functionally a power forward in Philadelphia’s half-court possessions, while still igniting the team as its primary ball handler in transition. Will Doc Rivers deploy Simmons similarly, moving the All-Star around the chessboard situationally, taking advantage of his versatility on both ends, and mitigating his shortcomings as a long-range shooter?
Simmons is undoubtedly one of the game’s best players. He is a threat for a triple-double every night due to his versatile skill set and he is one of the league’s top defenders as well. He has been working on a 3-point shot with new assistant coach Sam Cassell and if he can come up with a consistent jumper, then that is going to be a huge difference for his career going forward.
As for Joel Embiid, ESPN ranked him two spots ahead of Simmons at 14:
Philly’s dominant big man gets a fresh start in Philly with Doc Rivers, but still this is a make-or-break campaign for the Embiid-Simmons combo. And from Embiid’s perspective, the causes for concern are clear: health and compatibility. He needs to both stay healthy and prove once and for all that he can mesh with Simmons on offense, or else one of them might be gone soon.
Embiid still had a dominant campaign in the 2019-20 season averaging 23 points and 11.6 rebounds, but he has yet to really become that dominant force that the team envisioned. He has heard questions about his conditioning and his desire to be the best in the league and he is looking to quiet those concerns in the upcoming season. [lawrence-related id=40013,40000,39997]