It should come as no surprise that the Philadelphia 76ers are very dependent on superstar center Joel Embiid when it comes to success. When Embiid is hurt or limited in play, Philadelphia is nowhere near as fierce as they are when he’s his usually, dominant self. Head coach Brett Brown is very aware of this, and knows how different the team is without him.
Speaking to The Ringer about just how effective Embiid is when it comes to keeping the Sixers afloat in the playoffs, Brown was pretty candid in his answer, saying that the team is vastly different when he isn’t around.
When Brown was asked a few days ago about how it’s different when Embiid is available as opposed to when he’s not, the head coach looked at his left hand and said, “There’s night,” and then looked over at his right hand and reached it way far away and said, “And there’s day.”
While that may seem a bit hyperbolic, as the Sixers still have great players like Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons to anchor the team, it isn’t exactly untrue. Embiid’s dominating presence on both offense and defense is huge for Philadelphia, and Brown knows it. “You go to both sides of the ball, it’s completely different,” Brown said. “Let’s call that for what it is.”
While the Sixers will likely take down the Brooklyn Nets in their first round playoff series, the future matchups that they’ll face will be even tougher. It’s something that the entire team knows, and Brown himself seems to know that they’ll only go as far as Embiid will take them. “There is zero doubt,” Brown admitted, “that [Joel] is our crown jewel.”
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