Things look grim for the Sixers after Sunday night's demoralizing loss to the Trailblazers.
Joel Embiid went down with an ankle injury and did not return, which left Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, Al Horford and the bench to step up. Coupled with Ben Simmons needing season-ending surgery, the same question is ringing loud: should the Sixers break up the duo of Embiid and Simmons?
"It's time to consider it," said Jalen Rose of ESPN. "This time last year, Damien Lillard in the playoffs shot down the Oklahoma City Thunder and broke their team up to the point where Paul George is now with the Clippers and Russell Westbrook is now with the Rockets. Did you see what the Oklahoma City Thunder got for Paul George when they traded him? They got so many first round picks. Of course, you don't want to give up on young super-star Joel Embiid when healthy and Ben Simmons, an All-NBA preformer. But, those two players are your best value play."
.@JalenRose says now is the time for the Sixers to consider breaking up Simmons and Embiid. pic.twitter.com/rPQuXQmrgP
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN)
August 10, 2020 In that Paul George trade, the Thunder received five total first round picks, Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a massive haul from the Clippers. Rose argues Embiid and Simmons contracts alongside Horford and Harris' have forced the team into a tough spot where the only way to improve the roster is offer up a top asset.
Embiid seems to think differently. When asked about Simmons on The Rights To Ricky Sanchez podcast, the all-star center gave the perfect:
"When you think about it, this is only our third year playing together," Embiid said of him and Simmons. "We've only played for three years. The potential that we have, I love him, I want to be with him for the rest of my career because I think he still has a lot of potential and me too, we can get so much better than we are right now. And like I don't see the point of ever playing with somebody else. That's someone I'd love to be playing with for the rest of my career."
Additionally, the very simple fact is that while Embiid and Simmons are wildly talented, already great players, neither one of them appears to truly be at the superstar level necessary to lead a team to a title. Neither one of them passes the sniff test. I’d be willing to bet money that in time, one of the two will be that player, but it’s pretty clear that neither one is right now. There is no shame at not being there at this point in their careers, but there just seems to be a clear difference between these two players and the elite-MVP level players on title-contenders.
