The Sixers DON’T need Ben Simmons
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Wednesday night the 76ers finally played their season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. The first half wasn’t all that impressive, but they really picked it up in the fourth quarter. Their big run was led by Furkan Korkmaz scoring 18 points in the quarter. This was a very balanced team win for the Sixers. Four players scored over 20 points, including Tyrese Maxey in his first meaningful NBA start.
While this was a good game for the Sixers, it wasn’t all pretty. The disorganization in the first half was definitely noticeable. If Maxey is going to be a long time starter for the Sixers, they’ll need to change up their playstyle. Without a real play-maker in the line up, the Sixers looked sloppy at times. Hopefully this is just the players shaking off some rust in the first game.
Despite any sloppiness that the Sixers might have shown, it was a great win. Their ball movement was fantastic as always. They also shot efficiently from behind the arch shooting over 50% as a team. Once the team settled in, they looked really good.
Joel Embiid played great last night other than the last couple minutes of the first half. In the third quarter he came out hot, much like he did in the first. He did take a couple tumbles and had his knee worked on when he wasn’t playing. This sight is always rough for Sixers fans as we all know Embiid’s injury history. In his post-game interview Embiid did say that Ben Simmons hasn’t been a distraction to him or the rest of the team this week in practice. This is good to hear but he still needs to go.
Obviously, Ben Simmons would make this team better and it did show in Wednesday nights game. However a 20 point win did seem very promising. The Pelicans didn’t have Zion who is of course a very good player. While they may not have had a real challenge last night, they certainly will on Friday. In their home opener they play the Brooklyn Nets. They will be playing without Kyrie Irving but it is looking more and more likely like that will be the case for the rest of the season. No matter what happens this season with Ben Simmons, every Sixers fan should be prepared to “clap their hands” for many games this season.
