‘Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can’t win the title together?’: Sixers’ Daryl Morey addresses concerns on duo’s chemistry

Amulya Shekhar | 03/11/2020
Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can't win the title together?': Sixers' Daryl Morey

The 76ers’ newly appointed President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and head coach Doc Rivers believe Embiid and Simmons can gel together.

The Sixers have faced a ton of flak for getting swept in the first round of the playoffs. Ben Simmons was ruled out for nearly the entire bubble with injury. Embiid put up some monster numbers in his absence, but he couldn’t stave off defeat even once.

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The 2019-20 season seemed to be a regression for the team. Having made it to the second round for 2 straight years, this was an unexpected setback. Embiid and Simmons would be licking their wounds and waiting for an opportunity to bounce back at the earliest.

Daryl Morey and Doc Rivers throw weight behind Embiid-Simmons combo

Morey is a strong believer in an analytics approach to winning basketball. Many expected him to try and force a trade for Rockets star James Harden in exchange for Simmons. But the executive has made it clear that the Australian enjoys his full support for now. He feels that fans are underestimating their ability to generate postseason results:

“With a healthy Joel and Ben Simmons and the way Doc Rivers will coach them, I feel people out there are underestimating the Sixers”

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Doc chimed in with:

“I have no doubt they can as well…there are many combinations of players around the league that haven’t won yet either.”

Embiid and Simmons are still relatively young and have their basketball primes ahead of them. They will need some good shooters around them to prosper, but they do seem to have tons of on-court chemistry. It may only be a matter of time before they become a dominant team in the East.

Post Edited By: Utkarsh Bhatla
Ben Simmons Daryl Morey Doc Rivers Joel Embiid

About the author

Amulya Shekhar

Amulya Shekhar is a sports junkie who thrives on the thrills and frills of live sports action across basketball, football (the American variant works too), parkour, adventure sports. He believes sports connect us to our best selves, and he hopes to help people experience sports more holistically.

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