Things went totally pear-shaped for Ben Simmons at the Sixers, but Joel Embiid has spoken about how he thinks Simmons was the “one that got away” for Philly.
Many 76ers fans will never forgive Simmons for his abominable performances in the 2021 second round series against the Hawks.
But, it sounds like Embiid doesn’t hold a grudge against Simmons and recently provided a totally different perspective on his former teammate.
“I’ve always been one of those people that didn’t believe that [Simmons] didn’t actually need a jumper,” Embiid said of Simmons on Maxey on the Mic podcast. “Like he was so good, he’s just a monster like just physically. Like someone is fricking 6’11”, just running up and down the floor faster than whatever… so like I never believed that he actually needed a jumper.”
“I just believed that if he could find a way to get his free throws to 75-80 percent, that would have changed everything. Because if you think about it, if he believed that he could make shots what would he do? He would keep attacking, attacking, attacking, and never stopping. And then what would the defense have to do? He was already such a great playmaker.”
Even though Simmons’ exit from the franchise left a sour taste in many people’s mouths, Embiid still thinks it was a mistake by the Sixers franchise to have let him go.
“….You can talk about this could have happened, the mistakes that have been made during the draft of Mikal Bridges but that’s just one [of the many franchise mistakes]…but I think that’s the perfect match… I think that’s the one that got away,” Embiid said. “I just hate the fact that the way things happened….”
Simmons looked to be off to a fairly positive start in the 2023-24 season with the Nets, but has been sidelined since November 6.
The former number one pick suffered a nerve impingement in his left lower back against the Bucks, though his agent says he’s making positive progress in his rehab.
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