Getty Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers is guarded by Pascal Siakam #43 of the Toronto Raptors.
It is still extremely early and the Philadelphia 76ers have yet to test their talents against an opposing team. However, there has been a growing concern throughout training camp about the team’s struggles to get their best player, Joel Embiid, the ball. Part of this discussion was captured during the mic’d-up moment between Doc Rivers and James Harden, but this has been an unfortunate early theme of training camp.
“I’m just gonna stay on you because I get what you’re saying… You gotta have the right spirit about it and you gotta be a leader. When it clicks, we’re going to be unbeatable.”
Doc Rivers and James Harden have a chat after Sixers practice 💯
Kyle Neubeck of The Philly Voice went into more detail on this concept in his latest training camp notes. As he put it:
“The most animated moments of this practice came as the top unit — Embiid/Tucker/Harris/Maxey/Harden — struggled to find ways to get Embiid the ball with four-out basketball. And Rivers drove this point home for what felt like most of an hour of Thursday’s practice, the head coach having numerous conversations about the problem with individual players and the team as a whole,” per Kyle Neubeck.
Embiid’s Need for Touches
One of the struggles of building around a post-centered player like Embiid is combatting the defensive strategies that are possible to prevent him from getting the ball. Teams oftentimes shade towards Embiid before he is even able to touch the ball which limits the Sixers’ offensive sets.
This appears to be the issue occurring early on in training camp with Rivers making a strong effort to put a stop to it. Per Neubeck, the head coach was unhappy with the effort level that was occurring when swinging the ball around the perimeter. He also compared the team to the Nuggets and how much effort Nikola Jokic’s teammates make off the ball in order to make life easier for their superstar.
In #NBABreakdown, @BeMore27 ➡️ Jokic ➡️ @thats_G_ for the @nuggets offense! #MileHighBasketball
🏀: (2) DEN 3-2 (3) POR, Game 6
⏰: 10:30pm/et 📺: @ESPNNBA
How to Fix the Issue?
The most obvious issue that must be addressed is the Sixers’ ability to pass the ball into the post for Embiid to handle. Making high-level entry pass has been a consistent problem for the team which Rivers called into question when talking with Harden. The head coach asked the team’s point guard, “We were a horrible, would you agree, horrible post-passing team last year?” to which Harden agreed without hesitation.
This is an issue that dates back far prior to Harden’s arrival. While Embiid oftentimes makes life easy on his teammates with the gravity of attention he demands and ability to produce when he has the ball, it is not the simplest task to provide him the ball when he is battling for position down low. Harden’s impressive passing ability has helped these possibilities open up in a major way. This also has been one of the driving forces of Embiid becoming more perimeter-oriented in his play.
There are several reasons why the Sixers have played so poorly over the last 3 games, but I just wanted to take a quick look at this play and highlight an example of one offensive issue:
How they struggle with entry passes and spacing around Joel Embiid (🔊 sound on)
It was also admitted in the article that Embiid was not doing his best job fighting to get open during the practice session. Whether it be through Embiid’s effort, the ability to move the ball around or the Sixers’ ability to make high-level entry passes- a change must be made.
Rivers noted that it “Ain’t a Democracy,” earlier this week with the offensive pecking order a major reason for discussion on this. The Sixers’ offense is at its best when effectively running through their best player as Embiid’s dominance opens things up for everyone else.
It is far too early to be panicking, but these are details the Sixers must begin to iron out. These issues will continue to be worked out the more the team plays together, but the failure to optimize their best player would certainly be a concern for Philadelphia if it is not fixed ahead of the regular season.