Philadelphia 76ers: How would Damian Lillard fit with Joel Embiid?

At some point in the future, the Philadelphia 76ers are going to move on from Ben Simmons and the ideal player the team and fans want in return for Simmons is Damian Lillard. Lillard doesn’t appear to be on the move at the moment, but it’s never too early to think about what a possible union in Philly would look like.

Not for a team as a whole, but in particular what the two MVP candidates would look like next to each other. There’s no denying that the duo of the two can be something special, but what would it exactly look like hasn’t been discussed in detail on this site.

What would a Philadelphia 76ers dynamic duo of Joel Embiid and Damian Lillard look like on the court?

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Let’s start off on the defensive end because that’s the simple one to explain. As for know bad of a fit  Joel Embiid and Simmons are on offense, they are an elite defensive duo and arguably the best in the NBA. That being written, the same couldn’t be said about a paring on the defensive end. While it’s true that the Embiid is one of the best defensive centers, Lillard is average at best on defense.

However, most fans shouldn’t be worried about the due on the defensive, it’s on offense this pairing could be special. 76ers fans have already been teased with what Embiid could look like with an elite offensive creator when Jimmy Butler was with the franchise for half of a season.

Embiid carried the offense for the first three quarters and Butler took over in the fourth quarter. Expecting something similar if Lillard comes to Philly is a fair assumption. With that in mind, there’s a real chance that Lillard becomes the second leading scorer behind Embiid. That doesn’t mean that Lillard’s scoring will drop off in a major way, but he won’t be asked to do as much with the Sixers as he has been with the Portland Trail Blazers.

In a half court setting, expect head coach Doc Rivers to implement a lot more pick-and-rolls/pick-and-pops for Lillard and Embiid. While rolling to the basket isn’t a strength for Embiid, pulling up from the mid-range or 3-point line is. This would be the first time in his career that Embiid has had a point guard that can actually run a pick play.

When Embiid posts up, it’s more than likely that Lillard will move while off the ball. Whether that being coming off screens or taking back door cuts, don’t expect Lillard just to stand that.

The Philadelphia 76ers will have to make a new playbook if Lillard comes to town, but there’s no denying that the duo of Embiid and Lillard would be special if that were to occur.