Maxey, Embiid and Harris After 13 Games
The number one development to follow is how Embiid looks on defense.
Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
We are officially in full swing with the Sixers, even if optimism surrounding the team is currently nonexistent. For those who chose to ignore the beginning of the season in favor of the Phillies… welcome! A whole lot of things are happening at the Wells Fargo Center, and many of them aren’t exactly thrilling.
With that being said, it seems like a good time to check in with a few Sixers whose performances will be pivotal moving forward. Let’s get to it!
Joel Embiid
To me, the number one development to follow is how Embiid looks on defense. Because if he can fully lock in on that end of the floor -- like the way he did against the Suns last week -- this team can put out a tremendous defense that raises its overall ceiling quite a bit.
Embiid has been much more active defensively during the playoffs than in the regular season for most of his career, likely to conserve energy given his offensive workload. And that makes sense! Embiid has one of the highest usage rates in the NBA every year -- he was second last year, only behind Dallas’ Luka Doncic -- and over a long and grueling regular season, it’s hard to be your absolute best on a consistent basis.
It’s important to remember that playoff seeding does matter a lot -- and in turn, regular season games should be treated with urgency. And for a Sixers team that is clearly a tier or two below powerhouses like Boston and Milwaukee, the “flip the switch” approach simply isn’t viable.
Back to the main point: outside of health, Embiid’s engagement on the defensive end could end up being the most important factor that determines this team’s fate.
Tyrese Maxey
Maxey’s talent and work ethic are just too impressive to doubt him — and that’s why, despite the brutal shooting slump he is working his way out of, I have few concerns about him.
In his pregame media availability on Saturday night, Doc Rivers expressed a similar sentiment.
“He won’t forget how to shoot,” Rivers said.
Nobody tell him about Markelle Fultz.
Maxey got back on track in Saturday night’s win over the Atlanta Hawks, both as a scorer and distributor.
Will his life be more difficult playing without James Harden? Of course. There will be speedbumps over the next month or so. But based on Maxey’s performance predating the Harden trade last season, I don’t think this is a moment he can’t rise to.
Tobias Harris
Harris’ career arc has been fascinating -- and it culminated last season as he finally was able to play with more decisiveness, particularly as a spot-up shooter from beyond the arc.
Harris is a methodical player by nature. He likes to use an array of fakes and post-ups to generate good looks in the mid-range. The effort he has put into fitting better alongside Embiid and James Harden is commendable, and it’s made a significant impact.
But here we are now, with Harden missing around a month of the season. And because of Harden’s injury, after finally getting comfortable as an off-ball player, Harris has to go back to his old ways.
This isn’t the end of the world. But to spend as much time as the Sixers have to mold Harris into a different kind of player, only for him to be forced to revert back to his original form, is certainly suboptimal.
The most important piece of this discussion is that when the lights are brightest, Harris knows exactly what role he needs to be playing -- being a spot-up shooter who can attack closeouts when playing with both Harden and Embiid, and a secondary ball-handler with a decent offensive load when only playing with one of them.
Again, I understand that we are early in the season, but it’s important to take note that there are some warning signs showing right now. None of us know how this team will look in five months from now. But with the team still yet to have their winning percentage surpass .500 at any point in the season, being concerned about this group is entirely valid.