Sixers have been struggling to keep the team chemistry right since the “Ben Simmons-Joel Embiid couldn’t work together” narrative started.
Advertisement
After Jimmy Butler’s quick arrival and departure from the Sixers camp, the dressing room atmosphere was pretty much clear to everyone.
Although Jimmy leaving had less to do with the team environment and more with him wanting to be with Heat, he made it clear while leaving that the Sixers wouldn’t work with Ben as their leader.
Now that Ben is almost out of the picture and looking to play for any team not named Philadelphia 76ers, Embiid is trying to gel with the team better.
Embiid is enjoying team time in the absence of Ben Simmons
The 6’11 point guard was thrown out of the practice and suspended later, after which the team had dinner together. And Embiid seems to have enjoyed that Ben-less dinner,
The 7 foot Center said “That’s an evolution for me because when I used to go on the road I liked to stay in my room and play video games.
Anything I can do, I’m gonna be willing to do it. Knowing about each other’s lives, I think that goes a long way.”
It is unclear that whether Embiid is taking an aim towards Ben when he says he liked to play video games more than hanging out with the team.
But surely Embiid is now looking to bond with the team better as he’s now the only leader in the team. The dinner was in New Orleans and Joel wants to use this new bonding approach on every road trip to learn more about each other, build trust.
And the next day Sixers cleaned the house up in New Orleans by defeating Pelicans 117-97 to open their NBA season with a bang.
The 4-time All-Star had this to say after the game, “That’s us. That is how we’ve been this whole summer. That’s the attitude everybody has had. That’s the definition of us… Being together, having fun together, doing stuff with each other. I think it goes a long way.”
Hey Joel!! At least do it twice (team dinner and being together) to say it is your definition. Whatever works for you big guy.
