J-Speaks: An Offseason of Questions For The Philadelphia 76ers

 

Despite not having one half of their All-Star duo, the Philadelphia 76ers entered their First-Round series against their archrival in the Boston Celtics. In the end, their 2020 postseason run was short lived and now enter this offseason with a lot of questions to be answered this offseason and the next three-plus seasons.

On Sunday, the 76ers season concluded with a 110-106 loss versus the Celtics, as they were swept by the team in which they have meet 20 previous times in the NBA Playoffs 4-0. It marked the first time in their playoff tilts that a sweep took place. That had not happened in their previous 13 playoff matchups, with six of those going to a Game 7.

The 76ers entered their series against the Boston Celtics without two-time All-Star Ben Simmons because of a partially dislocated left kneecap sustained in the team’s 107-98 win at the Washington Wizards on Aug. 5 during the seeding games, which required season-ending surgery.

Not only were the 76ers missing a guy who can register a triple-double at the drop of a hat, they lost one of their best defenders, who led the NBA in steals per game during the regular season at 2.1 and registered 7.8 rebounds per game. Ranked No. 6 top scorer per game in terms of points in the paint, scoring 12.9 of his 16.4 points during the regular season. Simmons also finished No. 6 in assists per game at eight.

The absence of Simmons is a huge reason why Celtics first-time All-Star Jayson Tatum went from averaging 19.0 points, 6.5 rebounds on 33.3 percent shooting against the 76ers earlier this season to averaging 27.0 points and 9.8 rebounds on 48.7 percent from the floor and 42.2 percent from three-point range.

Tatum began this series with a bang scoring 32 points (a career playoff high) with 13 boards on 10 for 21 from the field and 10 for 11 from the charity stripe in Game 1. He followed that performance up with a new playoff career-high of 33 points on 12 for 20 shooting, including 8 for 12 from three-point range. In the close out win in Game 4, Tatum had 28 points and a playoff career-high 15 rebounds on 10 for 18 from the field.    

Without Simmons, the responsibility of shouldering not just the scoring but the leadership of the 76ers fell to fellow All-Star Joel Embiid.

By the numbers, Embiid played well averaging 30.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals on 46 percent shooting for the series. That said, he was not up to par in the second half of the four games in this series compared to the first half.

In the first three games of the series, Embiid averaged 19.0 points and 8.7 rebounds on 59 percent from the field (19/36) and went 3 for 7 from three-point range in the first half. In the second half however, the 76ers starting center averaged just 11.0 points and 4.3 boards on 29 percent shooting (7/23) including going 0 for 4 from three-point range. 

Embiid joined the late great Wilt Chamberlin (5), Charles Barkley (4), and the late great Moses Malone, all in the Hall of Fame as player to register 25-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in four or more games in 76ers playoff history. 

Along with his inability to play to the level of his talent against the Celtics, Embiid’s ability to lead was subpar through the four games and it really showed in his Game 4 postgame presser.

When asked by a reporter about what the issue was with the team in the series, Embiid responded by calling the question “very stupid.”

“There’s no issue. We’re good. We just didn’t win,” he added. “ We came out, we couldn't make shots the whole series. It's frustrating. I felt like the focus was not always there, and we got to do better. We got to look ourselves in the mirror and just, you know, do better."  

"A lot of people always want me to be a big man, and they want me to be like Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal]. But this league and this game is completely different. I just got to work on my game, and just fit whatever the team wants me to be.”

Embiid’s inability to be play to a dominant level against the Celtics had a real effect on the rest of his teammates to generate any consistent offense.

Tobias Harris, who had 15 points and eight boards in the Game 4 loss entered the contest having shot just 33 percent from the field the first three games against the Celtics and shot 0 for 10 from three-point range.

He did show some serious grit and character coming back in the fourth quarter after taking a scary fall that led to a bloody left eye as he was trying to contest a shot by Tatum late in the third quarter and inadvertently had his legs taken out from under him that led to Harris falling on the left side of his face and he laid on the court for several minutes as he was being attended to by the 76ers medical staff.

He returned to the game in the middle part of the fourth quarter with a bandage over his eye after he was diagnosed with a left eye laceration and was cleared of a possible concussion.

With Harris out, the Celtics went on a 16-2 run bridging the third and fourth periods, which included the final nine points of the third quarter, growing the 76ers deficit to 96-79 in the opening minute of the final period.  

Perennial All-Star big man Al Horford, who the 76ers were really counting on to be that missing piece to that championship puzzle averaged just 5.3 points through the first three games of the series on a woeful 40 percent from the field. While he finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards, his inability to guard any of the Celtics versatile wings like Tatum or Jaylen Brown. Offensively was also a struggle for the former Atlanta Hawk and Celtic averaging just 7.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in the series.  

Not only did he struggle offensively, Horford really did not provide that veteran presence that he consistently brought when he was with the Celtics and that was lost last summer when the 76ers traded five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler to the Heat and they did not re-sign JJ Redick, who joined the New Orleans Pelicans in free agency. That was not only perimeter shooting, especially from three-point range in the case of Redick but that ability to really be that presence that will call players out when they are not performing at a high level was not present.

While Josh Richardson, Shake Milton, and Alec Burks put up solid scoring averages in the series at 16.8, 14.5, and 10.5 respectably, aside from Milton, who shot 47.7 percent overall from the field and 40.0 percent from three-point range, Richardson and Burks struggled shooting overall 35.7 and 32.7 percent respectably as well as 35.7 and 18.8 percent from three-point range.

For this entire season, the 76ers never played at a consistently level, and that really showed in their home record versus their road record. Pre-restart, the boys from the city of “Brotherly Love” were an NBA-best 29-2 at home and counting the seeding games when they were the home team went 31-4. That is compared to their 12-26 mark on the road (10-24 before the hiatus), losing 18 of their final 23 games away from home. While they went 10-8 against teams below .500 on the road, the 76ers were just 2-18 against teams above .500 on the road during the season.  

A big part of the 76ers struggles aside from the surrounding pieces really not meshing together around Embiid and Simmons, their inability to really work on their flaws is why the 76ers have not advanced further than the East Semifinals the past three postseasons, including this one, where they were swept for the first time since 1999 when the Indiana Pacers led by Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT color analyst Reggie Miller and ESPN studio analyst and host of “Jalen & Jacoby” Jalen Rose took out the Allen Iverson led 76ers in the Semifinals 4-0.

Those struggles of the 76ers being able to mesh together falls on the shoulders of head coach Brett Brown, who helped to guide this team through three rough seasons of the so-called “Process,” where the win percentage was an abysmal .229 (75-223 mark) and zero playoff appearances to a .616 win percentage (146-91 mark) and three straight playoff appearances, where they have produced a 12-14 mark under the former longtime assistant of the San Antonio Spurs.

“I mean it was difficult but that is my job. That’s the job of an NBA head coach,” Brown said postgame about trying to mesh the talented team he had this season. “You got to take the team that you have, and try to maximize it, and I did not do that.”

When asked by a reporter during that postgame presser about if the viewing public got a chance to see Coach Brown's squad at their best with all the injuries and all the other things that came with that? Coach Brown said in a very annoyed way, "No. Thank you for the question." 

One of the big reasons the 76ers did not reach their full potential this season was the fact that Coach Brown did not hold the team “accountable,” and they could not talk to each other in a way where they can take constructive criticism. That was something Richardson pointed out in his postgame presser.

“I just think going forward, we just got to have some more accountability,” he said. “We got to be able to talk to each other and listen, you know. Not just listen to say something back but actually hear it.”

The job of holding the players accountable will fall on a new head coach as the 76ers relieved of his head coaching duties on Tuesday after seven seasons compiling a 221-334 record.

Whoever GM Elton Brand and the 76ers front office hires next, the main objective will be to keep their lynchpins in Simmons and Embiid healthy.

Since 2016-17, the two All-Stars have played 184 out of a possible 345 games together. This season the 76ers went 35-22 with Simmons in the lineup, and just including the playoffs 8-12 without him.

When Embiid was in the lineup this season, the 76ers went including the playoffs 32-12 with him and just 11-12 without him.

To bring this point into clearer context, the 76ers when Simmons and Embiid were in the lineup together had a 25-15 mark. When Embiid played and Simmons did not, the 76ers went (including the playoffs) 6-7. When Simmons was in the lineup and Embiid was not, the 76ers went 9-7. When neither were available, the 76ers were just 2-5.

One thing that Brand made crystal clear in his virtual news conference on Tuesday that will not happen this summer that Simmons nor Embiid will be dealt this summer.

“I’m not looking to trade Ben or Joel,” he said. “I’m looking to complement them better. They are 24 and 26 years old, respectively. You try to make that fit as long as you can. They want to be here, they want to be with our organization, and I see them here for a long, long time.”

Along with staying healthy, Simmons and Embiid have to improve the weaknesses in their game.

For all the things that Simmons can do as mentioned earlier, if he ever wants to be the superstar that many feel he can be, he must while rehabbing his left knee this offseason develop a knack of taking perimeter shots consistently, while also working on his free throw stroke.

“To be a great player, you got to shoot the ball,” Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said on the Sunday night edition of “Inside the NBA” on TNT.

Barkley’s TNT colleague Kenny Smith added, “When Ben Simmons shoots the ball, he will open up the flood gates for everybody. If he just takes it, not even make it, take it. It will open the flood gates so much for him that he would be-Oh my gosh.”

Along with getting in better shape so he can stay healthy, Embiid has to realize that the 76ers’ chances of being the type of a team that can be dominant in the Eastern Conference when he decides to be a dominant offensive presence in the paint on both ends.

Far too often he will float on the perimeter and shoot jumpers instead of making it his business to be a dominant presence on the block offensively at a consistent rate.  

“The discrepancy between the first half and second half is all to me about conditioning,” Barkley said about Embiid’s production against the Celtics.

Fellow Hall of Famer and colleague at TNT in O’Neal added that Embiid making his offensive mark in the paint is about knowing that you have player that cannot guard you down low and taking the responsibility to dominant the person that is guarding you that you are better than talent wise and the size wise.

The Philadelphia 76ers came into this season with expectations of winning a championship. For the second straight postseason, they did not perform to that level. Now they are in search of a new head coach to get them to that point. No matter who the 76ers choose to be their head man on the sidelines this offseason, they are going to need Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to live up to their individual potential and fuse that within the team that will allow their teammates to thrive.

It will be important for that to happen because Tobias Harris ($34.4 million), Embiid ($29.5 million), Ben Simmons ($28.8 million) and Al Horford ($27.5 million) all signed long term contracts that will keep them together for the next three-plus seasons, making big time money. So, the hopes of the 76ers winning a title will be with this group plus Josh Richardson ($10.9 million).

“It’s time for Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid to grow up,” Barkley said. “You can only be talented for so long. At some point you got to into a great player night in and night out. You can’t be an All-Star. You need to be a superstar.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 7/9/2020 9 p.m. NBATV’s “76ers Restart,” brought to you by Burger King with Casey Stern, Dennis Scott, and Stan Van Gundy; 6/5/2020 www.nba.com’s “2019-20 Season Restart: A Team-By-Team Look,” by Sekou Smith, Steve Aschburner, Shaun Powell, John Schuhmann, and Michael C. Wright; 8/23/2020 12:30 p.m. “NBA Countdown” on ABC, presented by Draft Kings with Maria Taylor, Jay Williams, Jalen Rose, and Paul Pierce; 8/23/2020 1 p.m. “Boston Celtics versus Philadelphia 76ers,” Game 4 on ABC, presented by Mountain Dew with Mark Jones, Doris Burke, and Malika Andrews; 8/23/2020 and 8/24/2020 11:30 p.m. edition of “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 8/25/2020 www.espn.com story, “Sixers GM Elton Brand Eyes Changes, But ‘Not Looking To Trade’ Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid,” by Tim Bontemps; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/phi/seasontype/2; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/phi; https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/player_/_season/2020/seasontype/2/table; https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameid=401236271; and https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/4065648/jayson-tatum.