The road weary Sixers wrapped up a stretch of nine of their first 13 games away from South Philadelphia, exiting that opening segment with a 8-5 record.
Not bad. Not great.
One of those wins was arguably lucky—an unlikely Furkan Korkmaz game-winning three-pointer at the Blazers.
Every loss was a winnable game—done in by obvious Sixers issues. Ben Simmons came up small against Phoenix. Joel Embiid, following a two-game suspension, was out of shape versus Utah and Denver, the latter a fourth quarter collapse capped off by a bogus call from the refs. Embiid didn't play in Orlando due to load management, and the team responded with a dismal 15-point final frame. Brett Brown's squad fouled their way to a loss in Oklahoma City—giving the Thunder 41 attempts at the foul line, compared to 22 for themselves.
So basically, at least three of the 76ers five losses were a direct result of what Embiid and Simmons did, or didn't, do. Each of those games were winnable, and just one was a difference of double digits.
Even though the sample size is small, it's evident through 13 games that the recipe to this season is simple—Embiid and Simmons need to play like the superstars they are. While the 76ers have much more depth and experience than a season ago, the cornerstones' performances are all that matter. Embiid and Simmons the only necessary ingredients, with every thing else being a cherry on top. One can't do without the other, and if either underperform, the one who steps up won't be able to carry the load all by himself. If both underachieve, forget it.
Embiid can be arguably the best player in the sport because he's a force at the rim, can shoot, dribble and defend. Simply standing on the court makes him better than 90 to 95 percent of the league. His biggest crux remains conditioning. If Embiid ever got in to tremendous shape, and sustained it to go along with excellent health, simply hand him the MVP trophy. No one, and I mean no one, would be able to stop him. Limiting turnovers is something else to improve, but that only comes with more experience, reps and the aforementioned better conditioning.
Simmons is already in tip-top condition and can do everything you'd want a 6-foot-10 point guard to do, except shoot. Despite his transparency about his glaring weakness prior to the season, there's been virtually no indication that he's tried to take shots in games so far. Thus, it's fair to start asking the questions again. The only way to progress is try. He isn't trying, and in some cases, doesn't even look to attempt one. It often seems he's more focused on distributing than making an aggressive decision to score. It's reasonable to wonder why through 13 games he hasn't made much of an effort to pull up often, at least from mid-range.
In the midst of losing five out of seven, there were some alarms going off in the public. They were premature. The annihilation of Cleveland over the weekend proved that. However, it's completely legitimate to expect more from this team's young superstars. Their talent is unlimited, but it's time to take it to the next level and gradually continue that growth.
