Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are more than just All-Stars

The Philadelphia 76ers haven’t been the team that we expected this season, but they still have two All-Stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

This season the Philadelphia 76ers are not the title contender that we expected. They were supposed to be one of the best teams in the East.

While they have key wins against the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, this loss to the Atlanta Hawks compounds the other head-scratching defeats this season.

They’ve lost games to the Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and Phoenix Suns. Even though they have been able to get great unexpected performances like the 24-point effort from Shake Milton against the Hawks, it’s been hard for the Sixers to win games.

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Philadelphia has talented players on both sides of the ball, that can’t be debated, but they are 20th in offensive rating. While there are definitely changes to be made, two players remain consistent: Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

Both players have been selected to the All-Star Game for the second year in a row. Embiid will be a starter like last year, and Simmons will be a reserve just like last year. It looks like this will be a year in and year out thing as long as these two players are in the league.

They were acquired during The Process when the 76ers were losing games on purpose to get better players through the draft. It is hard to get All-Star quality players, and the Sixers have two of them through the draft.

Embiid is one of the best scorers in the league and has year-in year-out been the leading scorer on this team. Allen Iverson was the last Sixer player that was putting up the type of scoring numbers that Embiid has put up in these recent years.

Philly has an MVP caliber player in Embiid. Offensively, he is the best big man the Sixers have had since Moses Malone. Malone won three MVPs in his professional basketball career. Will Embiid win one? It has yet to be seen.

Simmons has to develop his jump shot, but it has been amazing to see what he has been able to do without one. What he brings to this team is invaluable. He is a do it all type of player that averages LeBron-like numbers all around.

Per game Simmons averages 16.3 points, 8.4 assists, and 7.8 rebounds. He also does it on the defensive side by leading the league in steals per game with 2.2 per contest.

Both of these players are still developing. That is the scary part. They are both great on offense and defense, and what they do on the court would be hard to recreate if the Sixers were looking for other players just like them.

Their size and abilities create matchup problems for other teams. Shooting around those two players would be a benefit for the team as that has been proven to work before. A closer from the bench wouldn’t hurt either.

While the Philadelphia 76ers certainly need some help to get over the top, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are perennial All-Stars and deserve to be mainstays of the event for years to come.