Philadelphia: Home of the Most Confusing Basketball Team in the NBA
Why are the 76ers so confusing?
As Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid take a flight to Chicago to participate in this year’s All-Star Game, the 76ers have more than just a couple question marks. They are by far the league’s most frustrating and confusing team.
They own the best home record in the NBA at 25-2, 40% of their starting 5 are All-Stars and they currently own the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference. All of this while sporting one of the worst road records (9-19). Why?
There has been no consistency in their starting lineup.
Ben Simmons
I think Ben Simmons best represents this team. There are some games you watch the 6’10 Aussie play, and the only word you can say to yourself is “wow.” He is one of the NBA’s top players without a jump shot; in a shooter’s league, Simmons averages 16.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game.
What happens on those nights where Ben Simmons just seems to disappear? He has a tendency to become passive at times which leads to missed opportunities on offense and turnovers.
Josh Richardson
Richardson has been pretty good when he has been able to suit up. He has started 39 of the teams 55 games. As they say, though, the best ability is availability and Richardson has not necessarily been available very often this season with multiple soft tissue injuries. He has apparently taken on the role of the team’s leader according to Shams Charania, which is something to monitor in the remaining 27 games.
Tobias Harris
Tobias Harris finally got his payday this past off-season after spending time with five different teams over nine NBA seasons. He’s been very… okay, this season. He averages 19 points per game but for some reason, it just doesn’t feel it.
Tobias is the team’s 3rd or 4th option, so it isn’t fair to expect him to have much of an impact even though his contract speaks to someone who should be helping to carry the team.
Al Horford
Speaking of bad contracts, the Sixers signed Al Horford this off-season partially to take him from the division rival Celtics, but also to have him compliment Joel Embiid. Horford has been playing out of position all season so again, it isn’t fair to expect him to be an All-Star, even though he’s making the money of one.
Yes, I know Al Horford is coming off the bench for the Sixers, but he has started every game he has appeared in except the last one, so let’s just call him a starter. The veteran former ‘do it all player’ is now an overpaid 6th man for the league’s most confusing team. Tally another misevaluation to the Sixers record.
Joel Embiid
Don’t make me write another article sharing my frustrations on the best center in the NBA.
Not only are the Sixers wildly inconsistent, but they lack accountability, and that speaks to their disastrous road record.
Game in and game out the Sixers come out flat on the road which leads them to play catch up from tipoff on. Who’s fault is that? That is Brett Brown’s fault. The Sixers don’t have any accountability and that falls back on the coach. It seems like Brown has lost the respect of the locker room, which is a major issue going forward and I do not see it getting any better.
With that being said, the Sixers finished their pre-All-Star game stretch with a 3-game winning streak and are only six games back from the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. A top-3 seed is still very much up for grabs with the Sixers having one of the easiest schedules remaining, but they must figure out how to fix their road woes first.
This team is too talented to be playing the way that they have been for the first 55 games of the season.
During the break, every player and coach must take a long hard look in the mirror and pull it together. Sixer fans will bring the energy the rest of the way.
The real question is, will the Sixers?
Featured Image: @Sixers
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Categorized:Sixers