The Philadelphia 76ers have a ton of talent on their roster even without Ben Simmons who is out after undergoing knee surgery. They are led by one of the best big men in the game in Joel Embiid and they have a lot of other pieces on their roster who are capable such as Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson.
However, the same issues reared their ugly head on Monday in their Game 1 loss to the Boston Celtics. They committed a slew of bad turnovers and they had trouble setting Embiid up on the low block. These issues have plagued the team a lot under coach Brett Brown and one TV talking head has had enough.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith went off on Brown on Tuesday morning’s edition of First Take placing a lot of their issues on Brown’s shoulders:
The biggest problem is their coach Brett Brown who I predict will be looking for a new job. I don’t believe he’ll be the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers when this bubble is over…what transpired yesterday again was inexcusable. You are Joel Embiid. Ben Simmons is out. You’re the star for the Philadelphia 76ers. Jimmy Butler’s wearing a Miami Heat uniform, JJ Reddick was wearing the Pelicans uniform, they’re not there any longer like they were last year. Joel Embiid has to take the bull by the horns. He’s got to be a man amongst boys, you got to give that boy the ball in low post, and he’s got to be a man amongst boys. He starts off the game, hitting all five of his shots and scoring 11 points in the first quarter. The rest of the game, he takes 10 shots. In the second quarter alone he played nine minutes and found the ball twice. With all due respect, Brett Brown. What the hell are you doing!? What the hell are you doing!?
After the game was over, Embiid did express frustrations for not getting the ball enough, but he put it on himself and said he needs to be more aggressive and assertive. However, Smith says it’s more on Brown than Embiid.
Smith added:
I’m going off because I like Brett Brown, and I want him to remain employed and I want him to stay the head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers. What the hell are you doing!? You give this man the damn ball you find him. Get him the ball, no matter what period. You can’t have a 7-foot-1, 265 pound dude with his agility his shot making ability, this footwork is talent, you know, Ben Simmons is gone. You cannot have him on the court for nine minutes in the second quarter, when he’s hit all five of his shots in the first quarter, and he only takes two shots. How is that possible. How? Over the next three quarters, a grand total of 10 shots that averages, like, three and a third shots over the last three quarters. How?
The Sixers will look to fix this issue when they move on to Game 2 on Wednesday. [lawrence-related id=36937,36933,36928]