A lot has been made of the fact that Ben Simmons likes to push the ball while Joel Embiid is more comfortable in a slow, halfcourt offense. Can the two co-exist successfully, or will one of them have to leave the Philadelphia 76ers? Here is a look at a history of similar pairings.
It is no secret that Ben Simmons is not as effective playing at a slow pace. When the fast break is not available, he does not have many other offensive quivers in his bow. We know shooting more than five-feet from the basket is simply not going to happen.
Leading the fast break is not Joel Embiid‘s specialty. As he showed in the All-Star Game (in which coach Nick Nurse had him play the whole fourth quarter), even the top players in the game cannot stop him when he posts up and goes hard to the hoop.
The 7-foot-2 Cameroonian has an OK shot from three-point land (33.6 percent, a shade under the league average of 35 percent) and is the best free throw shooter on the team.
So Simmons is best running a fast-paced offense while Embiid shines in ‘bully bull’ and in the halfcourt.
That has caused some people to think that the pair, who are in their third season together, cannot coexist with such a divergent styles of play, that one of them is going to be given eventually the heave-ho.
Considering Embiid is older, has a long injury history and his contract is up earlier, he would be the prime candidate for a trade, if the Sixers had to choose.
But Embiid at the all-star game media day was emphatic when asked about whether he might be unable to play with Simmons: “That’s BS”.
The best way to see if the Philadelphia 76ers‘ future of Embiid/Simmons will be bright might be to look at the NBA past. This is not the first time a dominant post player has been paired with a point guard who shines best in the open court.
Here are some examples when a twosome like Simmons/Embiid led to a team far in the playoffs:
Showtime: Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Has there ever been a more famous fastbreak than the ‘Showtime’ offense of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.
Ben Simmons is not the first really tall super-athletic point guard who loved to push the ball.
First, there was Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson.
He was listed at 6-foot-9, 215 pounds and he was almost unstoppable on the fast break. The Lakers surrounded him with gazelles who could run with him on the break like James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, Michael Cooper and Byron Scott.
Before his career was cut short in 1991 by a diagnosis of HIV, Johnson was a 12-time All-Star and led the Lakers to five NBA championships (including twice over the Sixers in the finals).
Like Simmons, Johnson could move from the point to center. He famously did it in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA finals, leading the Lakers to a series-clinching win over the 76ers at the Spectrum.
Also like Simmons, Magic was not much for shooting outside. For his career, he only averaged 1.2 three-point attempts a game and, in his first nine seasons, shot below 22 percent. If there is a positive note for those people hoping Simmons will eventually learn to hit a jumper, Johnson shot over 30 percent and attempted a lot more threes in his final three years.
Although it was exciting, the Lakers did not rely entirely on ‘Showtime’ to produce points. They had a really, REALLY good Plan B when opposing defenses were able to stop it:
Unquestionably one of the top centers of all-time, the 7-foot-2, 225-pounder made the All-Star Game an amazing 19 times and All-NBA 15 times.
Abdul-Jabbar featured one of the greatest post-up moves in history, the skyhook.
It was virtually a unblockable shot and Kareem had plenty of other ways to score when he got the ball inside. And he was pure post presence. The three-point shot was instituted for the final 10 years of his career but Abdul-Jabbar attempted just 18 three-pointers (making one).
The Lakers offense was pretty simple during the Johnson/Abdul-Jabbar era. After a missed shot or turnover, Magic would push the ball. If he was stopped, he would bring it back out and you would see the large frame of Abdul-Jabbar loping into the picture. Kareem would take his place in the low post and await the entry pass, or be used as a decoy as, in the halfcourt, he would be the focus of the defense.
So the Lakers were able to quite successfully have a non-shooting fast break-oriented point guard paired with a center who was most comfortable in the halfcourt.
Mo & Mo: Moses Malone and Maurice Cheeks
The Philadelphia 76ers had a great fastbreak in the late 70s/early 80s, but it was not producing any championship banners to get hoisted in the Spectrum rafters.
The Sixers featured one of the greatest finishers in NBA history with Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving. Besides being recognized as one of the top defensive players in the league, for a 6-foot-9 guy, Bobby Jones was deceptively fast and usually had a couple slam dunks during the course of a game.
Fueling the fast break was future Hall of Fame point guard Maurice Cheeks.
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One of the biggest steals in 76ers draft history (OK, I know that is not saying much), the second-round pick out of West Texas State ran the point for the Sixers from 1978-89 (and them famously was told by a TV reporter he got traded).
Cheeks finished his time with the Sixers posting an incredible 7.2 assists to 2.3 turnovers.
But while they were an entertaining team, the 76ers of that era could not take that final step of winning the NBA title that Dr. J had promised. They were basically a doughnut team, as centers Caldwell Jones and Darryl Dawkins were not the kind of scorers that scared any team.
In the NBA finals, the Sixers fell once to the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers and twice to the Lakers with Abdul-Jabbar. They also blew a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics, who started a frontcourt of all bigs in Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish.
The doughnut was filled for the 1982-83 season when the 76ers traded for veteran center Moses Malone.
The 6-foot-10 Malone was already established as one of the top post players in the league.
Like Abdul-Jabbar, Malone was not much for the three-pointer. In 22 seasons (three of which there was no three-point shot) he attempted just 83 total three-pointers, making just eight (for a 9.6 percent career shooting percentage).
Malone loved to bang inside. When he missed a shot, he grabbed the miss more often than not, and put in the offensive rebound.
Filling a lane on the fast break with Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Dr. J and Andrew Toney was not something Moses did much. He was quite happy to let them run and, eventually, made his way upcourt and plant himself down low (although Malone, much like Embiid, did not have a bad shooting touch from mid-range and could score on open jumpers).
So, how did the 76ers do by adding a center who excelled in the low post but would not be much of a factor in a fast-paced offense?
The 76ers rolled to the 1983 NBA championship. Their only loss in the playoffs was one game to Milwaukee in the Eastern finals. The Lakers got swept in the finals by this juggernaut as Malone outplayed Abdul-Jabbar.
Having a halfcourt oriented center certainly did not slow down the 1983 76ers, particularly Dr. J.
It’s Magic: Penny & Shaq
For those who think Simmons and Embiid are too young to lead a team far in the NBA playoffs, the performance of the 1994-95 Orlando Magic would say otherwise.
The stars of the Magic were a second-year point guard in 6-foot-7 Anfernee ‘Penny’ Hardaway and a center in his third season, Shaquille O’Neal.
Even if you are too young to have watched ‘Shaq’ in his prime, just seeing him on those TNT broadcasts you can tell he looks like he would be an overpowering force inside — and he was.
Like Malone and Abdul-Jabbar, O’Neal had no love for the three-ball. In 20 years he took a total of 22 threes, making one (for a 4.5 percent shooting percentage). At 7-foot-2, 315 pounds, he used brute force to score inside.
If the 15-time all-star could have made foul shots (career 52.7 percent on free throws) he would have been an even more incredible scorer.
Hardaway was an extraordinary player but injuries robbed him of making his mark on the league. He was a four-time all-star and three-time All-NBA performer but, after the 1995 season, he would only play more than 75 games in a year three times in the next 12 seasons before he retired in 2008.
The Magic did not stand around waiting for Shaq, they led the NBA in scoring that season with a 110.9 points average.
Despite their inexperience, Orlando had the top record in the East and defeated the Reggie Miller-led Indiana Pacers in a seven-game series in the Eastern Conference finals, winning Game 7 by a 105-81 margin.
Their youth and inexperience caught up with Orlando in the finals, as the defending champion Houston Rockets swept them in four straight. Hardaway still finished as the playoff leader in assists and O’Neal was tops in rebounds.
It looked like the Magic were a dynasty in the making. They were not (which became the subject of an ESPN documentary), as the return of Michael Jordan from playing baseball blocked them for the next few years.
But the Magic that season showed a talented point guard and a strictly low-post scoring center can overcome youth and take their team far.
Conclusion
History has shown there is no reason Embiid and Simmons cannot play together and compete seriously for a championship. Coaching and surrounding talent might be impediments, but it will not be due to their respective style of play.