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Joel Embiid has had enough of the pleasantries. With the way things have gone in the Ben Simmons trade saga, any remaining morsel of hope that he'd willingly stay has been eradicated. And with that, so has his co-star's patience with him.
The Sixers center let it all out in front of reporters on Thursday, putting Ben Simmons on blast unlike how he's approached matters in the weeks prior.
Via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia:
“The situation is weird, disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives,” said the Sixers center. “Some guys rely on the team to be successful, to stay in the league and make money somehow. Because, if you’re on a winning team, you’re always going to have a spot in the league, just because you’re on a winning team and you contributed. Obviously we’re a better team with him. We’re not a better team without him, that’s for sure. We are a better team with him but, like I said, it is surprising. But I’m focused on the guys that are here.”
Embiid is obviously frustrated and speaks a lot of truth in his words. Ben Simmons has undoubtedly taken matters into the extremes in order to force the trade he so badly seeks. Simmons has alienated his own team because he felt them do the same to him after their brutal ouster against the Atlanta Hawks. Joel Embiid has every right to be upset and feel disrespected that his former ally has gone rogue with seemingly little consideration for the players he used to go to war with. That's all facts, baby.
What Joel Embiid gets wrong in Ben Simmons rant
But one aspect stood out in Joel Embiid's lengthy critique of the Ben Simmons holdout. The Sixers superstar tried to discredit Simmons for believing he needs to be away from Embiid to maximize his potential.
Like I said, it is disappointing, but I feel like over the years the way our team has been built around — like you look at last year, I was the worst three-point shooter of the starting lineup and I shot 38 percent from three.
Article Continues Below“We’ve always had shooters, and I feel like I can really play with anybody and I can make anybody be better on the court. I don’t necessarily need shooters. But I feel like over the years — like you look at when we got Al (Horford), it’s because we needed a stretch five, just to make sure that was for him. And most of my career I’ve had to kind of step out to the three-point line quite a bit — which I don’t mind. I like to be a basketball player; I like to do everything on the basketball court. But I feel like our teams have been built — whether it’s the shooting, the stretch five and all that stuff — I feel like he’s always had it here.”
There's a huge difference between being a legitimate floor-spacer and just shooting a good percentage from the three-point line. Joel Embiid falls very much into the latter. Yes, he did shoot a solid 37.7% from the three-point line last season, a career high mark for him. But he only takes three of them per game.
In comparison, Joel Embiid posts up more than three times that at 9.3 post-ups per contest, which leads the league by an extremely wide margin. The difference between Embiid's league-leading mark and Nikola Jokic's second-place 5.8 post-ups per game is the same gap between Jokic and 27th place John Collins.
Embiid has single-handedly propelled the Sixers to become the number one post-up team in the NBA for the last two seasons. The second place Los Angeles Lakers as a team post up just as much as Joel Embiid by himself.
When your team's superstar and clear first-option makes his living in the painted area, a non-shooter like Ben Simmons has much less room to operate.
This isn't to say that Simmons isn't at fault for his own short-comings. NNobody can excuse him for his lack of interest in even attempting jumpers, nor for his refusal to even take any shot during pressure situations against the Hawks in the postseason. Nor does this mean to say Joel Embiid shouldn't be doing what he's been doing. After a near-MVP season, that's utterly false.But what Ben Simmons does get right is the need for him to separate from Joel Embiid in order to move forward.
Despite not being an outside threat at all, Ben Simmons has statistically been one of the best in the NBA at creating three-point shots for his teammates. He was first in the entire league in three-point assists per game two seasons ago despite playing Embiid and his post-up heavy diet. Both he and Embiid could use more three-point heavy teammates around them.
Joel Embiid was right about many things in his rant against Ben Simmons. But he needs to understand that a divorce between the two sides is clearly better for both of them.
