The Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs this past week despite Joel Embiid’s herculean efforts to will his squad into the Eastern Conference Finals.
While James Harden objectively deserves some of the blame for the 76ers’ woes, he doesn’t deserve all of it.
The team’s roster, as presently constructed, has a very real weakness.
Embiid discussed it at length following Philadelphia’s loss to the Miami Heat.
“I mean, we’ve had a few tough guys since I’ve been here. I can recall, whether it was Mike Scott, he didn’t play a lot of minutes, but when you have size and toughness, that goes a long way,” Embiid said.
Interestingly enough, the 76ers had two guys like that in Jimmy Butler and Al Horford. The 76ers let both of them go in part to appease Ben Simmons, who subsequently needed to be traded this past season.
“You look at someone like P.J. Tucker, great player, but it’s not about him knocking down shots. It’s about what he does. Whether it’s on the defensive or rebounding the ball.
“You look at defensively, he plays with so much energy, believes that you can get from point A to point B, and he believes that no one can beat him and he’s tough, like he’s just physical and he’s tough. And [the Heat] have a few of those guys, whether it’s Bam [Adebayo] and all those guys.”
Which camp will Embiid ultimately fall into when it’s all said and done Time will tell.
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