Philadelphia 76ers: Who on the Brooklyn Nets can guard Joel Embiid?

Following the blockbuster trade that sent James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets, it is worth looking at potential matchups as these teams could meet in the NBA playoffs. One matchup I am very interested in is who the Brooklyn Nets will use to defend Joel Embiid.

Can anyone on the Nets stop the Philadelphia 76ers’ big man Joel Embiid.

There are two centers on the Brooklyn Nets roster that will most likely see the majority of playing time in the playoffs, LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Drummond, the latter of who was part of the Simmons trade. Neither of these players has any chance against Embiid.

For starters, Aldridge is 36-years-old and retired at one point last year due to health concerns. He is a seven-time NBA All-Star with the last selection coming in 2019, however, he is a shadow of the player he was in Portland at the beginning of his career. Aldridge is too slow and cannot take the physical beating that Embiid has in his offensive repertoire.

Then there is Drummond, who is widely known for having lost the majority of his mental real estate to Embiid over the years. Embiid and the Sixers have won six of the seven matchups against Drummond and his former team the Detroit Pistons. In those games, Embiid averaged 28 points per game and 10 rebounds per game. Embiid dominates Drummond and would do so again if they meet in the playoffs.

Now here is where it gets a little interesting with a dark horse player on the Nets. I brought this thought up on a recent episode of The Sixer Sense podcast, suggesting due to the liabilities of Aldridge and Drummond, that Ben Simmons might be the Nets best defensive option on Embiid.

Don’t get me wrong I think Embiid would win that matchup handedly, but when you think about it from the Nets perspective it makes some sense. Embiid dominates the two centers on the roster that play and Simmons has been heralded as having the ability to guard every position on the floor.

As a step further, let’s take a look at the player measurables.

• Joel Embiid: 7-foot, 280 pounds
• Ben Simmons: 6-foot-11, 240 pounds
• LaMarcus Aldridge: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds
• Andre Drummond: 6-foot-10, 280 pounds

Even though Ben is a point guard, he surprisingly only gives up an inch to Embiid. His smaller 240-pound frame also gives Simmons the speed to keep up with a freak of nature like Embiid, where Aldridge and Drummond are too slow.

Naturally, putting Simmons on Embiid would free up James Harden to have a lesser defender on him, but the alternative is putting Simmons on Harden and letting Embiid go for 50 points every night. Maybe that is a better option in the eyes of head coach Steve Nash and the Brooklyn Nets.

Who knows? What we do know though, is we will get our first glimpse of what that could look like, assuming Simmons plays, when Brooklyn visits Philadelphia on March 10th.