If there’s one story at the forefront of everyone’s minds surrounding Philadelphia 76ers training camp, it’s the long-awaited arrival of Joel Embiid, Actual Basketball Player, to replace Joel Embiid, Theoretical Basketball Player. He’s healthy, earning glowing reviews for his skills, and expected to help lead Philly back to relevance. Because people have been waiting so long for him, it’s understandable that Embiid would overshadow other players in the excitement over the young Sixers, but is it too much?
Nerlens Noel has been the starting center for the last two years when healthy, and he knows it’s “just silly” to expect he, Jahlil Okafor and Embiid will all get enough minutes to sustain a rhythm over the course of a season, even if Embiid doesn’t play back-to-backs. He’s clearly dissatisfied with the situation, and Okafor had maturity issues even when he was getting enough playing time. Embiid, for his part, has immediately and publicly staked his claim as the alpha of the trio, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I feel like I’m the best player on the floor.”
There’s nothing especially controversial about a star player having confidence in himself, but the Inquirer‘s Keith Pompey also noted, “The 76ers have been throwing around the words ‘blood bath’ when describing the post-player competitions at training camp.” It seems as if everyone knows the stakes are high when it comes to earning playing time.
Of course, complicating the situation further is the power forward situation. The presence of heralded rookies Ben Simmons and (to a lesser extent) Dario Saric means that it’s not as easy as sliding one of the center trio over to be an oversized four. We’ve discussed this before as a quirk that the team needs to figure out in order to ensure everyone can develop properly, but we have to allow for the possibility that such congestion could have real, damaging effects on the locker room.
If it turns out, like many suspect, that Noel and Okafor wind up being the worst of the five young big men and losing out in the minutes distribution over time, they could feel usurped. Nerlens is preparing for that situation already. The Sixers are young, and everyone knows that this year is their chance to establish themselves as the Sixers’ signature star into the future. If some are overshadowed and don’t take kindly to it, any prolonged sulk or discontent can turn out like the precocious Suns did — as a talented team playing below its capabilities.
It doesn’t help matters when the official Twitter account busts out stuff like this Embiid finish over Nerlens Noel in training camp:
J😳J😳 pic.twitter.com/WHVh2DRAf3
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) September 28, 2016
“Blood bath,” indeed.
Now that Sam Hinkie is gone, the Sixers need to remember that their players are humans (and young ones at that), not assets, and it’s not good enough to just put them on a team together. Brett Brown has a hell of a coaching job ahead of him, but the Colangelos need to clear some space lest they risk poisoning the well.
(Via Philadelphia Inquirer)
