Pros and Cons: Sixers vs. Rockets
The good and bad from Sixers-Rockets.
Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
After a long layoff, the Sixers returned to their home floor tonight to take on a young and rebuilding Houston Rockets squad missing multiple key contributors. Here’s what jumped out to me tonight:
Pro: Danny Green returns from COVID-19 health and safety protocols
Green missed four games in the health and safety protocols. While his early-season performance was inconsistent, it was clear that the Sixers missed their veteran wing.
As I’ve written about extensively in recaps and columns, Green is this team’s most willing shooter. Truly, there are only two other players on the team -- Georges Niang and Isaiah Joe -- who even come close to having a trigger as quick as Green’s. On a team built around a post-up center, that quick trigger is immensely valuable.
And while Green is no longer the elite perimeter defender he was in his prime, he still is reliable on that end in most matchups. Green’s absence barely received any attention, but it was more significant than you’d think.
Con: More Tobias Harris struggles
Harris had another stinker tonight, particularly in the first half when he shot 3-10 from the field and was brutal defensively. Harris has had his ups and downs as a scorer, but his defensive output is typically pretty steady -- he’s never going to lock someone down, but he isn’t a disaster. Tonight, however, he was.
Harris received boos from the Philadelphia crowd on multiple occasions, including one instance in which he motioned with his arms for the crowd to get louder following a missed shot at the rim.
Against a very small Rockets team lacking wing defense and rim protection, Harris had a matchup he could easily exploit and dominate. Instead, he settled for bad looks most of the time -- and also missed some of the good looks.
I feel as if we have this discussion constantly these days, but it’s worth reiterating: Harris is a good player -- but given the resources the Sixers invested in him and the way this roster is constructed, the Sixers need him to be much, much more than that.
Of course, Harris’ $180 million contract is massive, and that alone makes it imperative that he plays like a star. But it’s not just that the Sixers are paying him a lot of money: they built this roster in part around Harris, who they decided would be their lead perimeter scoring option. Take a look at nearly every championship team in NBA history, and you’ll find teams that had much more reliable perimeter creation. Harris gets his fair share of criticism here, but the fact of the matter is that the Sixers are asking far too much of him.
Pro: Joel Embiid, transition wrecking ball
When he entered the league, Embiid was raw, and he was also a bit erratic. This showed itself often in the early years of his career. Embiid has steadily improved his composure in the half-court, but this season he has made a massive leap in transition.
Once a player you couldn’t necessarily trust to handle the ball and go coast to coast, Embiid has not only become more comfortable on the break, he’s become excellent in that setting.
Brett Brown used to call Embiid “Shaq with soccer feet,” and Embiid uses that elite footwork to maneuver around defenders, maintain control of the ball and score at the rim. Additionally, as he’s grown his passing ability exponentially, he’s become an adept table-setter in transition as well.
Embiid’s development over his career has been marvelous. Amid the dominant stretch of basketball he is playing right now, he’s flashing even more moves and skills he can add to his arsenal.
While we’re discussing Embiid: the big fella’s performance tonight was remarkable, one of the best games of his career. Embiid totaled 31 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out 11 assists, all in just 30 minutes. Embiid continues to look like the MVP candidate we saw last season.