The path to superstardom in the NBA is never an easy one.
There’s always some trial or tribulation a young, budding player has to go through before taking that step to the next level. For Stephen Curry it was his ankles. For LeBron James it was the Celtics.
Every star has something. Sometimes, they’re able to conquer it. Sometimes they aren’t. We’re about to figure out if Ben Simmons can conquer that something now.
Adversity is here. The nightmare season for the 76ers continues with a torn ligament in Joel Embiid’s left hand. They were a trendy pick for the Finals this summer. Now they’re the 5th seed in the East and they have no idea when Emiid’s coming back. The team is evaluating his treatment options now.
The 76ers are not a better team without Embiid — he’s one of the league’s best players for a reason. But they are still capable if Simmons can flourish.
The Sixers’ second-most played lineup with 99 minutes is Ben Simmons, Al Horford, Tobias Harris, James Ennis and Furkan Korkmaz. That group has a 22.5 net rating, per NBA.com‘s stats tool. Simmons can lead them when he’s put in a position to do so.
For so long, the Sixers’ 6’10 point guard has been a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Now, things might start to make a bit more sense when he’s on the court without a ball dominant center.
It seems like everything is crashing down on them. They’re 5th in the Eastern Conference right now, just behind the Toronto Raptors and just ahead of the Indiana Pacers.
They’re 4-6 in their last 10 games and just broke a four-game losing streak a few nights ago with a win against Oklahoma City.
As I said before, they just lost Embiid, easily their best player, to a torn ligament in his left hand in that win against the Thunder. And, to literally add insult to injury, they have no idea when he’ll be back.
Sorry, Sixers fans. All this is real — it’s not just some demented nightmare that you’ll wake up from tomorrow. The Sixers have gone from trendy Finals pick this summer to “will they even have homecourt when the playoffs start?” It’s been a wild ride.
And it hasn’t just been the on-court product that has soured. It feels like the team hates each other. Just last week, Embiid called out his teammates after a loss to the Rockets saying everyone “cries and panics” when things go haywire for them.
This is not what a champion looks like in January. It’s just not.
They can still turn it around, but it’s in Simmons’ hands to do so right now with Embiid down. Hopefully, for the sake of Sixers’ fans, he’ll prove he can.
