The Philadelphia 76ers have already established the basis for one of the NBA’s more elite defensive units.
The ambiguity coming into last season was nothing new for this Philadelphia 76ers squad. After Joel Embiid had missed his first two years with a foot injury, he added yet another unknown to a team in the midst of an asset-driven rebuild. The Process was predicated on building for the future, and with that came an abnormal amount of uncertainty in regards to the team’s status year–in and year-out. We saw Nerlens Noel struggle with injuries, as did Jahlil Okafor. It was a consistent, cyclical purgatory of undesired variability — and that took a toll on the team.
Philadelphia 76ers
This season, though, provided some much-needed relief from that looming unease. Even with Joel Embiid only playing for 31 games and Ben Simmons missing the entirety of his first campaign, the team — for the first time since The Process era began — seemed to establish a sense of direction. Not only has Embiid’s excellence given them a cornerstone to build around, but Simmons’ role, albeit fluid, appears to be one Brett Brown is ready to work into the fold. The role players worth keeping have also separated themselves from the proverbial pack a bit, allowing the front office to head into next season with a real understanding of where the team stands.
And from that sense of direction, comes an identity. Brown has always stressed the importance of excelling on the defensive end, utilizing hustle over skill level to produce what little results he could in years past. Now the team has the personnel to uphold that identity, though — and the Sixers are trending towards a top flight defensive unit as a result.
That all starts with The Process himself.
Embiid’s counting stats alone were impressive that side of the ball. He averaged 2.5 blocks per game in 25.4 minutes of action on average, which measures as the third best total in the NBA behind Hassan Whiteside and Anthony Davis. Those two combined for an average of 34.4 minutes per game this season.
His physical tools are as unorthodox as they are unfathomable. His range of motion, coming off of two foot surgeries and a two-year hiatus from competitive basketball, shouldn’t be within the realm of physical possibility, especially for somebody who measures out at 7-2. He stayed with guards off the dribble, excelled in help side rotations and was among the more physically imposing forces in the league underneath the basket.
That type of athletic versatility in a frame of that magnitude is a weapon that, even in the age of NBA unicorns, doesn’t present itself all that often. He still had moments where his legs didn’t appear to keep pace with his body, yet Brett Brown’s entire defensive scheme was to — essentially — channel all drives towards Embiid inside. As Embiid continues to polish off his physical tools and already-elite awareness on the floor, his ceiling could very well be the best defensive center in the NBA.
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What the Sixers have put around Embiid, however, could be what takes them from a top 10 defense to a top 3.
Robert Covington already proved his worth as one of the league’s more dynamic perimeter defenders, switching with ease while playing passing lanes and forcing deflections at an impressive rate. He gives Philadelphia somebody who can hold his own accross the positional spectrum, guarding one through four with success.
Throwing Covington and Simmons into switches allows the Sixers to give the opposing offense different looks, all while allotting Embiid the freedom to roam the interior and neutralize lanes to the hoop. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot also has a chance to pull out the starting two-guard spot come next season, giving them another top flight athlete with the length needed to cover multiple positions successfully.
In a mold similar to the Milwaukee Bucks — only with a more established interior presence — the Sixers are already en route to constructing one of the league’s more malleable defensive setups. They’ll be able to jump out to the perimeter and trap without the same concerns over the opposition gashing them elsewhere, while their size alone could be enough to close off driving lanes and passing windows.
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The Sixers will head into free agency and the draft with general improvement in mind, but that doesn’t mean they should stray far from building around what is quickly becoming their most important attribute. Philadelphia won games on the merits of their defense alone last season and should continue to make strides in the coming years. That’s something they need to consider when shuffling the roster moving forward.