Getty Ben Simmons #25 and Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers.
If it wasn’t clear before the weekend, Sunday night proved the Philadelphia 76ers absolutely won the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade. The basis for that opinion has nothing to do with James Harden, nothing to do with the borderline-Shakespearean saga in Brooklyn. Rather, it has everything to do with Simmons and his former Sixers teammate Joel Embiid.
On Sunday night, Embiid exploded for one of the greatest individual regular season performances in NBA history, earning praise from across professional basketball. Against the Jazz, Embiid became the first player in NBA history to score more than 55 points and tally over five blocks.
And that 59 points should stand out to many Nets fans, and not for any good reason. No, in just one game, Embiid scored more points than Simmons has managed all season.
Points:
59 — Joel Embiid tonight
47 — Ben Simmons this season
Simmons Dishes on Relationship With Embiid
Back in October, Simmons opened up to ESPN’s Nick Friedell about his relationship (or lack thereof) with Embiid. And Simmons seemed to confirm what most already knew: no relationship exists.
Friedell: While we’re on this topic — have you talked to Joel [Embiid] yet?
Simmons: I don’t talk to Jo. We never really spoke.
Simmons: I don’t think there was really a relationship there. Like in terms of a friendship? You can try as hard as you want to try to be close to somebody, be their friend, whatever it is, but everyone is different as people, so for me, it’s never personal. I don’t have any anger or hate towards him. He is who he is and I am who I am. And we’ve got our personal lives. And work is basketball, so in that moment, my goal is to win and I got to win with Jo. He’s a great player, we just didn’t get it done.
During their time together in the City of Brotherly Love, Simmons and Embiid meshed like oil and water. On one hand has the lighthearted, committed-to-winning Embiid. On the other was the enormously talented, thin-skinned Simmons who largely failed to reach his true potential.
But according to some, it isn’t Simmons’ fault he ultimately flamed out of Philadelphia.
Jalen Rose Blames Philadelphia for Simmons’ Struggles
Over the summer, ESPN analyst Jalen Rose put the Sixers on blast over their handling of Simmons’ tenure in Philadelphia. According to Rose, the Sixers didn’t properly utilize Simmons while he was still in the red, white, and blue.
“Philadelphia,” explained Rose last week on ESPN’s NBA Today, “made a mistake in developing Ben Simmons as a point guard and here’s why. When you’re not attempting shots outside of the paint, it’s hard to have you at the top of the floor. So now that they have KD (Kevin Durant), he’s going to play quality minutes at the 4.”
Is it all Simmons’ fault? No. But one thing is abundantly clear: Simmons is a shell of himself in Brooklyn. He’s averaging career lows in assists, points, and rebounds this year.