Something big was happening in the Sixers wins over the Spurs and the Rockets.
Well, besides Corey Brewer.
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Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons looked more comfortable and cohesive on the court together than I've ever seen them in their season and a half of playing together.
If this trend continues, it is by far the most important development of anything that's happened this season in regard to putting the team closer to a championship. Jimmy Butler or no Jimmy Butler, the Sixers will only win a championship on the backs of their two young stars working to become the best version of themselves.
Simmons and Embiid have often been great at the same time, but the moments when they've been great together have been far more scattered. It's understandable, as their games are not naturally complementary the way say, James Harden and Clint Capela's are. Maybe it's just one of those things where they finally clicked, but it felt like something more.
My guess is that if you had asked both Embiid and Simmons eight weeks ago whether each of them would be better off without the other, and instead taking the court with players that specifically complement their skill sets, they both would have said yes. I'm not so sure that's the case anymore.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was a case of two great players, playing great at the same time. When it comes down to it, the odds that approach will actually work is a lot lower than finding a way to do it together. It's one of the reasons Durant decided he could be better somewhere else.
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As the guy who doesn't want the Sixers to sign Jimmy Butler, I know this will sound like I'm projecting how I feel on the team, but I'm going to do it anyway. You have to wonder whether the arrival of Butler has galvanized Embiid and Simmons. Butler, the guy who spent his final practice with the Timberwolves screaming at the team's GM and young stars ("you need me!") and has already insisted more of the offense run through him, has missed the last two games with a sore wrist. Maybe the message from Embiid and Simmons is, "We don't need you. We'd love to have you, but this is our team. We are not Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins"
I don't have any numbers to prove it (only the dreaded eye test), but the offense and action between the two in this week's games has been different. It's been more free-flowing, more deferential (in a good way), and they've looked to make the other player better.
It was never important for Embiid and Simmons to be best friends. What is important, is that for each of them to know that they are the best teammate the other guy is probably ever going to play with. It's important they buy in to the fact that while making this partnership may take more work and resistance then being "surrounded by shooters," working together is certainly the highest upside they've got from a winning perspective.
The Sixers aren't a championship level team this year, but from the looks of what's happened this week, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have taken another step closer to it.
