Everyone knows that the Philadelphia 76ers are facing a tall order next season to get back into the thick of things for the elusive championship after just a year of failing to meet expectations and missing the postseason for the first time in eight years.
People are not really high on their chances of even making a return to the cicle of championship contenders for next season. While the 76ers definitely have a robust collection of talent, which got even richer this year after drafting VJ Edgecombe, this team is simply not built to brave through an 82-game season. That has been proven and transposed into an annual trend.
Injuries are this team’s biggest downfall. While that is true for any other professional sports team, the 76ers have had it much worse. Heck, their best player may not even see the hardwood much next season given that his status right now is still shrouded in near-complete mystery.
But having said that, there is another reason that will only augment the team’s suffering if they incur another injury, especially when it comes to Joel Embiid.
76ers are not built to lose Joel Embiid and their big men to injuries
Aside from Embiid, not a single soul on the current 76ers roster is even above 7’0”. Andre Drummond comes close, but we all know the latter is not turning back the hands of the clock anytime soon.
Philadelphia’s roster has an evident dearth of size. In most nights, they will be undersized in comparison to their opponents, which will only exacerbate their pressing issues in relation to rebounding and interior defense.
Players will get forced once more into playing a position or two up. The coaching staff would be left with no choice but to implement guard-heavy lineups, especially when Embiid is absent. And we all know how that looked like and turned out last season, right?
That is precisely what makes the prospect of Embiid reprising what happened last season even more of a complete nightmare. The team does not have the kind of personnel that can handle the absence of a dominant big man, and even losing one of their centers would sting a lot.
Hopefully, this grim detail and possibility will dawn upon the Philadelphia 76ers next season. They are not built to lose their best player, especially since they literally have no one who can even remotely resemble what he does from a stylistic standpoint.