So I have seen many people claim that the Sixers play with pace, particularly when not being slowed by Embiid. This usually is a foundational argument as to why Embiid is hurting the team.
This is false.
The Sixers have not, at any time, been a high pace team this year.
The Sixers are currently 19th in pace. At no point have they been in the top half in pace in the league.
The Sixers have a higher pace with Embiid than they do without. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/76ers-pace-with-and-without-embiid-this-season. This shouldn’t surprise anyone because Andre Drummond our primary starter in Embiid’s absence and back up with Embiid is slower up and down the court than Embiid.
It is true our net rating is lower with Embiid by about 1. But we score more, rebound more, and block more when Embiid is on the court. His net rating has been dragged a bit by the poor defensive showings in early season. But overall Embiid helps the team and if he makes them worse at all it is not substantial.
Please stop calling the Sixers a pace team and please stop using that as an argument for why Embiid is a problem/bad.
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Unfortunately basketball discourse is probably the worst of all sports. Its 90% casuals who think they know some shit based on whatever the social media narrative is.
Good hoop minds like Tim Legler are exceedingly rare. In most fans and analysts minds, Maxey & VJ = fast, Embiid = slow, therefore Embiid is “slowing us down”
Thats about where their thought process begins and ends.
I feel like this is only because other teams play at a higher pace when they play us with embiid, and it’s out of our control. This team still needs games of embiid and George together with then being 1-5.
A team’s pace is a non-factor when it comes to winning games tbh. The thunders are 17th for example.
I find that our main problem when Embiid is playing is simply that it’s unclear who is no1 between him and Maxey. And it seems to be unclear for the team as well.
That’s a coaching issue. You should run plays through your no1, make sure that they have the most amount of touch and make sure that he’s the one that everyone defers to. But right now it looks like Maxey’s our guy, but not when Embiid is playing.
That’s not either players fault, it’s 100% on Nurse for not adjusting when we’re derailing. Yes Embiid should have good games, but it’s not worth having a great game if it means throwing the whole system upside down.
The most alarming number tonight, for example, was Maxey’s assist. It’s one thing that your shots aren’t falling, it’s another if you’re not properly playmaking as our point guard.
I think people conflate pace with transition points, which is part of pace, but only a part of it. We are slow in the half court no matter who is on the floor. Embiid doesn’t change how many runouts we get because the guards are the guys that score on the break anyways.
There are times when Joel stops the ball in the half court, but that’s because he was an MVP level player that the offense should run through and was uber efficient carrying the offense. I think it’s fair to talk about that piece of the equation when Embiid elbow touches aren’t the best offense we can generate in a lot of games. It’s a good option to have, but on nights that he doesn’t have it, there is no reason we should single handedly let him decide games.