How Jaylen Brown will help 76ers fix their most glaring issue

Ever since Joel Embiid made his NBA debut in 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers have struggled to perform with their star big man off the court. 

The Sixers have never been good enough outside of Embiid to survive his frequent injury absences, but their decade-long nightmare is finally over with Jaylen Brown now on the roster.

On Wednesday, the Sixers shook the NBA to its core when they traded Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks to the Boston Celtics for Brown. For all the reasons this trade makes sense for Philadelphia, chief among them is its new ability to stay afloat when Embiid misses time. 

Throughout Embiid's NBA career, the 76ers are 319-171 (65.1 percent) with him on the court and 125-186 (40.2 percent) when he doesn't play. In terms of an 82-game NBA season, the Sixers are on a 53-29 pace with Embiid and a 33-49 pace without him. 

This problem was especially evident last season, as Philadelphia went 24-14 in the 38 games Embiid played and 21-23 when he sat out. When Embiid was on the court, the Sixers boasted a +3.7 net rating with a 118.5 offensive rating and a 114.8 defensive rating. In 44 games without the former MVP, they had a -3.6 net rating with a diminished 112.9 offensive rating. 

Philly's inability to stay competitive with Embiid out of the lineup wasn't a glaring issue a few years ago when he was playing 60-plus games in the regular season, but that's a pipe dream at this stage of his career. Over the last three seasons, Embiid has appeared in just 96 of a possible 246 games (39.0 percent). 

Getting 41 games from a healthy Embiid is all the Sixers can hope for at this point, which is why they needed to find a solution for the other 41. That's where Brown comes in.

Jaylen Brown will fix the Sixers' Joel Embiid problem