The NBA Power Rankings BASKETBALL IRON ONS fifth-place Philadelphia 76ers are underperforming, and WNBA
IRON ONS the spiciest take surrounding the team right now is that its two
young superstars can't play together. But is that true?
--------------------------------------------------------------- The fifth-place
Philadelphia 76ers are underperforming, and the spiciest take surrounding the
team right now is that its two young superstars can't play together. But is that
true? A quick look at recent Sixers history reveals that Ben Simmons and Joel
Embiid can be an awesome duo. During 1,306 minutes with both on the floor in
2017-18, here's how Philly performed: Offensive rating: 113.3 Defensive rating:
97.8 Net rating: 15.5 That's a better net rating than this season's league-best
Milwaukee Bucks, who host Philly on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC and the ESPN
App). And of the 142 duos that played more than 1,000 moments, no pairing posted
a higher net rating. Not bad, right? Now consider Dallas
Mavericks Custom Iron on Transfers last season: Offensive rating: 112.8
Defensive rating: MILWAUKEE
BUCKS IRON ONS 104.9 Net rating: 7.9 Not as dominant, but still pretty good.
Now for this season: Offensive rating: 104.7 Defensive rating: 103.3 Net rating:
1.4 What happened? Embiid is 25. Simmons is usually 23. They're still getting
better. Yet just when we would expect them to be jelling into a sustainable
juggernaut, they're sputtering, especially on offense. But the biggest question
in Philadelphia shouldn't be if these two fit. It should be: Why were their
offensive numbers so much better two years ago? Here's the thing: Ever since
general manager Sam Hinkie left town four years ago, the Sixers have been in a
perpetual state of renovation. Front-office executives Bryan Colangelo and Elton
Brand both tinkered with the roster so much that Simmons, Embiid and Furkan
Korkmaz are literally the only dudes left who suited up for Custom Iron On
Appliques the team in 2017-18. And some of these new ingredients aren't
meshing that well.