There has been no shortage of drama surrounding the Sixers over the last seven years, a marked change for a franchise that was best known for being pedestrian in every way following Allen Iverson's departure. Between a dramatic teardown, a trash-talking star, multiple splashy trades, and an unprecedented GM scandal, there's been an angle for every sort of sports fan, from the film junkies to the gossip hound.
On the eve of the first regular-season game for the team under Doc Rivers, rumors persist about the possibility of a James Harden deal and some coaching-related scuttlebutt we'll get to in a moment. But the man being floated as the potential lynchpin for a Harden deal, Ben Simmons, is doing his best to keep his eyes on the prize for Philadelphia.
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"I come in every day, take it a day at a time, ready to work. I'm with my teammates," Simmons said Tuesday. "Every day I wake up, every time I got a Sixers uniform on, I'm representing the Sixers. So my mentality never changes. I'm here to win a championship. That goal’s never gonna change. I know things are gonna always be said in the media and rumors and things like that, but my goal is to come in every day and get better and help the team that I'm on win a championship.”
"We're not focused on that," Joel Embiid added. "We focus on how we can get better as a team. We got a good opportunity to go out and you know compete for the whole thing and not solely focus on, you know all the outside noise. We can't control it. You got to control whatever you can...we want to win the whole thing and that's what we intend to, you know, pushing ourselves to do so."
It's the right thing to say from the right pair of people to say it. Whether the rumors are plants from other organizations, completely fabricated, or 100 percent on the nose, these sort of reports can derail seasons if they are received the wrong way. After nearly two years off from basketball due to injury, John Wall's name was floated in trade talks this offseason. Apparently, that was all it took to burn whatever goodwill there was between Wall and the Wizards, with Wall asking out and the rumored deal for Russell Westbrook materializing not too long after.
The Sixers seem to be in a position of strength with their stars right now, with both guys locked into big deals for years to come, and verbal commitments from each guy to the city they suit up for. That comes with a caveat — that fact has not been enough to prevent upheavals in markets around the league, in franchises that have achieved more in recent memory than the Sixers.
There are more rumors, mind you, about the process of putting this new group around them. On Tuesday morning, a report from Bill Oram and Joe Vardon in The Athletic detailed Ty Lue's road to becoming the head coach of the Clippers. Lue, once considered a frontrunner for the Sixers' job, was supposedly turned away as a result of influence wielded by the big fella.
Lue had an ally in the Sixers’ search — super agent Rich Paul, who represents James (hence his ties to Lue) and Philadelphia star Ben Simmons. But sources across the NBA said the Sixers’ other star, Joel Embiid, ultimately opposed Lue as coach for X’s and O’s reasons and for the optics of Simmons’ “guy” getting the job. [The Athletic]
Asked about this new report Tuesday, Embiid gave a long answer that neither confirmed or outright denied the detail:
I mean, that's a good question. You know, when you can't like I said earlier, you got to control what you can at times. I don't really know, I just try to come in every single day and do my job. And these guys have, you know, put a lot of trust in me to make it happen, so those type of decisions, I'm not a GM, I'm not in the front office so that has nothing to do with me. And I've always, you know, told them that they got to do whatever is best for the team, so if that thought Doc was the right coach for us then I trust them.
If they didn’t think any of the other candidates were not the right choice for us, then I trust them also. I'm sure they did the background check. So that's not something I can control, I’m not in the front office, I'm just a player. You know, I just try to come in every single day and do the best job that I can with whatever I have and obviously this summer we made a lot of changes and all I say is that, you know, we had a lot of great candidates.
All of them are great, Ty, you know he's won a championship. I think we were looking at, looking at the reports, Mike D’Antoni was assistant coach with us, and then Doc came in the picture, so I thought the choice they made you could have gone either way. You know, either of them would have been great for the team and, you know, the owners and EB. And Daryl, well Daryl wasn’t here yet, but EB, they went with Doc, and I thought he’s a great choice. So that’s all I’ll say, but you know, reports are going to be reports, so I can only control what I can.
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There's a delicate balance to walk when discussing Embiid and Simmons' relationship. Fans do not want to hear anything that goes against what they believe. All it takes to convince some this will all work out are a few well-timed photos from Sixers photographers of the two smiling at practice. Others believe they are doomed to fail and will hear nothing to the contrary, no matter what this duo says themselves.
Truth is somewhere in the middle. They are not a perfect match, and they will fight for power on and off the court as most talented young men in their position would, but they are allies. It's uneasy in the way most partnerships would be when combining two totally different styles and playing through two relatively young men. This is not a master and his apprentice, but a pair of similarly-talented, similarly-aged men who could each reasonably claim they'd be better suited with someone (or somewhere) else as a co-star.
The nature of their truce adds to the importance of this season for Philadelphia. The Sixers changed just about everything they could during the offseason — the coaching staff, the front office, and the roster around the stars — heightening focus on what Simmons and Embiid bring to the table, and how close they can bring this team to contending. A lot of the excuses trotted out in previous seasons are fading into the rearview. They have a championship-winning coach with great offensive credentials, one of the most respected executives in the league, and an abundance of shooting to open the floor up for them.
If they flame out early this year, the questions about the viability of this partnership will continue. Reports like the one about Embiid interjecting in the coaching search will become more frequent. Swaps for bigger or better-fitting stars will be floated.
But with that backdrop, the stars are not running away from expectations or looking for excuses. Perhaps this will fall flat, as it did last season, but Embiid is still comfortable proclaiming they have the talent to impose their will on the floor.
"We want to get stops," Embiid said. "Because with Ben guarding the ball, and then me being at the rim and protecting the rim and making sure no one gets there, or no one scores in there...we've got the potential to be the best defensive team in the league. And then offensively, just keep pushing the ball and, you know, when we get to the halfcourt side of the offense, you know, you know, I do what I do best, you know, score, draw fouls or when I'm doubled, making sure I kick it out to my shooters."
They get their first chance to back up those words on Wednesday night.
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