The Philadelphia 76'ers seem to be constantly attempting to surround center, Joel Embiid, with pieces to complete their puzzle and raise a Championship banner. They may be on the wrong track. The following from ESPN's Tim Bontemps:
"For the past several years, the 76ers have tried to optimize Embiid's prime with hopes of deep postseason runs. But each time, flawed roster constructions have prevented the kind of breakthrough that normally follows a perennial MVP finalist.
There was Embiid's ultimately doomed partnership with Ben Simmons, a point guard whose lack of a reliable jump shot forced the 76ers to build offenses in which pick-and-rolls -- the lifeblood of the modern NBA -- were rare occurrences.
There was the disastrous yearlong pairing with fellow big man Al Horford, the player who gave Embiid fits for years with the Boston Celtics and gave him almost as many as a teammate."
Philly had signed Horford in free agency, in part, to ensure he wouldn't give "Embiid fits", and now another Joel-nemesis, P. J. Tucker, has been added to the 76'ers roster. More from ESPN,s Tim Bontemps:
Put it all together, and the 76ers -- despite a rocky first impression Tuesday -- are deeper, more balanced and better constructed around their 7-foot anchor than at any point in The Process era.
"There's no weak links around the horn," (P. J.) Tucker said. "You want to [pick on] somebody? Go ahead. We got everybody."
Readers may notice that the "rocky first impression Tuesday" mentioned above just happened to refer to the Celtics convincing win over Philadelphia in Boston's season opener. It just may be that the 76'ers are blaming the various pieces placed around their star center, when they should be taking a closer look at the "7-foot anchor" himself!
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