In an appearance on the beloved Sixers podcast Rights to Ricky Sanchez, cohosts Spike Eskin and Michael Levin got Joel Embiid to open up about his teammate Ben Simmons and the pair’s unconventional fit on and off the court. There has been some buzz in recent days about Simmons’ newfound willingness to take threes when he’s open, and Embiid praised Simmons’ willingness to get out of his comfort zone and do something that will heighten the ceiling of this Sixers squad.
A h/t to Liberty Ballers for the quote:
“I’m so happy that he finally now understands [how to improve spacing] and I think that’s what it takes for us to win a championship,” Embiid said. “And when you think about it, we’ve only played, this is what, our third year together playing? I mean, a lot of people always, you know, they expect [more]. Like, we’ve only played for three years. The potential that we have. I love him, and I wanna be with him for the rest of my career, because I think he still has a lot of potential and me too. Like, we can get so much better than we are right now, and I don’t see the point of ever playing with somebody else. So, that’s someone that I would love to be playing with for the rest of my career.”
Simmons took two triples in the Sixers’ first scrimmage but has not taken any in the two games since. Over the course of his career, Simmons has attempted 23 threes total. It makes the fit difficult with Embiid, a bruising post play-maker who does the most damage inside.
Embiid touched on much more in a wide-ranging interview with the two biggest Sixers fans on the internet, including his memories of finally getting onto the court; Embiid’s connection with Sixers fans; and a game of “Which is weirder?” going through the entire history of the Process Sixers that features a lot of Embiid abstaining from answering questions.
