Last night the Philadelphia 76ers lost to The Cleveland Cavaliers 118-94 playing without Joel Embiid (Back Stiffness) and the results were frightening, This shouldn’t have been close considering what just happened against the New York Knicks. So why all of a sudden with one player out, arguably the star player, can the Sixers find no one to step up and fill the void?
It was my understanding under new coach doc Rivers and with the addition of Danny Green, Seth Curry, and with the upgrade of Shake Milton…The Sixers would have enough firepower to pick up the pieces of a load management situation. That wasn’t the case.
Oh yeah, I left out one more name… Tobias Harris. After signing a multi-year contract and having been in the league 10 years now, isn’t Tobias Harris supposed to be the player to put the team on his back in the event Joel Embiid goes down? At least I thought that was what he was brought here for.
Notice I have yet to mention Ben Simmons. Why? Because it’s the obvious thing to mention. The all-star and 6’10” Point forward and Sixer facilitator clearly isn’t the guy. No one is even criticizing him for not being the guy. So the question lingers… Who is the go-to guy when the Sixers need a replacement on the nights Embiid can’t go, and who is the go-to guy when Embiids not in the game? What player steps up to make the much-needed offense if the big fella’s not around? Dwight Howard?
Well, he’s a backup center and not a starter although he clearly can put up numbers from the paint if asked to. But the days of “Superman“ and the former slam dunk champion putting a team on his back or over. So we’re back to Tobias Harris again.
Tobias Harris signed a 5 year / $180,000,000 contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, including $180,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $36,000,000. Next year Harris will earn a base salary of $34,358,850, while carrying a cap hit of $34,358,850 and a dead cap value of $34,358,850.
So you would expect a guy making that type of money to put up more than 16 points on a night when Joel Embiid is out, right?
And let’s get back to Ben Simmons shall we? 15 points, six rebounds, 4 assists, and two steals. Decent night for an average player. But Ben Simmons is supposed to be an all-star and superstar player, right? Or wrong?
Mike Scott came off the bench for 12 points to try to pick up the pace, but it wasn’t enough.
Simmons chose to focus on defense when asked about the blowout: “There were so many stretches where we weren’t locked in, offensively and defensively, but it started on the defensive end,” said Ben Simmons. “We didn’t really change too much up for them to give them different looks. Too many easy buckets. We weren’t physical enough and that’s how they played. They hit us first.”
The Sixers allowed Cleveland to shoot 52.7% from the floor and… Cavaliers scored 35 points off turnovers. That’s unacceptable!
The season is young and it’s still early. But not too late for the James Harden questions and rumors to continue. When I spoke to Sixers beat writer Keith Pompeii over the weekend he told me that is still an option. – – Well after watching last night’s game I think it’s an option we need to consider a little harder. But keep in mind, the window for that option won’t stay open forever. The Sixers have some work to do.
