Things went completely pear-shaped for Ben Simmons at the Sixers, however Joel Embiid has spoken about how he thinks Simmons was the “one that got away” for Philly.
Many 76ers followers won’t ever forgive Simmons for his abominable performances in the 2021 second spherical sequence in opposition to the Hawks.
But, it appears like Embiid doesn’t maintain a grudge in opposition to Simmons and just lately offered a very completely different perspective on his former teammate.
“I’ve always been one of those people that didn’t believe that [Simmons] didn’t actually need a jumper,” Embiid mentioned of Simmons on Maxey on the Mic podcast. “Like he was so good, he’s just a monster like just physically. Like someone is fricking 6’11”, simply working up and down the ground sooner than no matter… so like I by no means believed that he really wanted a jumper.”
“I just believed that if he could find a way to get his free throws to 75-80 percent, that would have changed everything. Because if you think about it, if he believed that he could make shots what would he do? He would keep attacking, attacking, attacking, and never stopping. And then what would the defense have to do? He was already such a great playmaker.”
Even although Simmons’ exit from the franchise left a bitter style in many individuals’s mouths, Embiid nonetheless thinks it was a mistake by the Sixers franchise to have let him go.
“….You can talk about this could have happened, the mistakes that have been made during the draft of Mikal Bridges but that’s just one [of the many franchise mistakes]…but I think that’s the perfect match… I think that’s the one that got away,” Embiid mentioned. “I just hate the fact that the way things happened….”
Simmons appeared to be off to a reasonably constructive begin in the 2023-24 season with the Nets, however has been sidelined since November 6.
The former primary choose suffered a nerve impingement in his left decrease again in opposition to the Bucks, although his agent says he’s making constructive progress in his rehab.
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