Getty Images Joel Embiid and James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers.
James Harden ended up only suiting up for 21 games last season for the Philadelphia 76ers. He came over at the trade deadline and needed to ramp up from a nagging hamstring injury. Harden’s integration was an on-the-fly chemistry experiment.
Sometimes it went well, other times it exploded. But no one can debate that the Sixers’ offense looked volatile at times with Harden on the floor. Now the 10-time All-Star gets a full training camp to better learn Doc Rivers’ system while building up much-needed chemistry with Joel Embiid. Everyone has championship goals.
Tyrese Maxey on playing with James Harden and Joel Embiid together:
“It’s 2 MVP-caliber players, on top of what we have here already. I think one thing that’s really going to help us – the chemistry, and the brotherhood that we have here… It’s going to be great. I can’t wait.”
Embiid recently appeared on “The Old Man and the Three” podcast with JJ Redick. The MVP runner-up told his former teammate how hard it was to get on the same page during their 21-game trial run. Embiid also discussed how he had to evolve his own game to fit Harden’s strengths. Here is a portion of that conversation:
When he first came in I don’t think we talked much about basketball. I just knew that he was going to make me better, and I was going to make him better, and I already knew that. My game had to like sacrifice a little bit. I was obviously post up heavy and since we got him I barely post up these days. I’m either setting screens or rolling to the basket or trying to make plays for my teammates and post up here and there.
But I just felt like that was the best way for us to get better, and we only had, and we only played, what? 20 games together? Like, that’s not a lot. And, you know, to be able to win a championship, to build a team and only play 20 games together, like it’s hard. It’s going to take a while, and it’s not just about me and him. It’s also about finding the chemistry with everybody else and putting it all together. It’s hard. That’s why some games we look great, some games we don’t look as good.
On Episode 107 of the show, Joel Embiid opened up about finding chemistry with Sixers teammate James Harden.
Watch the full conversation: t.co/8IMbU9UhGH
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Didn’t Know Harden Trade Happened Until It Happened
Some people thought Embiid had been lobbying for the Sixers to trade for Harden. No, he wasn’t. The All-Star center said he didn’t know about it until his phone started blowing up on the day it happened: February 10, 2022.
“I believed that, in the summertime it was likely to happen, just because of everything that was out there,” Embiid said. “And because of Daryl’s relationship from their Houston days, so I believed that that was something to monitor. But until it happened, I was like there’s just no way. That’s just not going to happen. And when it happened, I remember we had practiced, and I was going back home and my phone just started blowing up. I was like, ‘Wow, Daryl got what he wanted.'”
“It’s not going to be hard. We’re not talking about non-shooters or guys that are limited offensively. We’re talking about James Harden. It’s not going to be hard at all. I think he’s really going to help the whole team, so I’m excited”
-Joel Embiid on James Harden chemistry
Did Sixers Fans Really Hate Ben Simmons?
The messy divorce between diva point guard Ben Simmons and the Sixers doesn’t need to be rehashed. Everyone, from the United States to Australia, knows how that went down.
But Embiid did shed some light on the way Simmons was perceived by the Philly faithful. He thinks Simmons’ inability to grow as a shooter – and listen to what Sixers fans were telling him – is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“I think he did [embrace the fans]. I think it was moreso that they didn’t feel like they were heard. How much they wanted him to shoot the ball,” Embiid said. “So, I think they just felt like he had been here so long and there were no changes. That started the whole thing about everybody being mad. I think he embraced them. I do feel like he embraced them.”