ExplosionsInDaSky wrote:Bum Adebayo wrote:We won't fix this mess of being around so many career losers (Doc, Embiid, Harden, Harris) in just one year, we just need to rebuild, Embiid is the first one that has to go because he is the player that can fetch the best return with a considerable margin. Enough of retooling, there is no quick fix, with Embiid you just need a better player around him because he is just not that guy, and he has to be willing to be a 30-32 MPG guy that focuses on defense and makes catch and shoot midrange and the occasional 3pt shot to provide some spacing, the offense can't run through him, unless there is an easy matchup ready to be exploited.
Ugh, it's all the trolls responding, but hey...I'll actually take this one because it's thought out.
My question for you is this...Who exactly are we supposed to run the offense through on this roster? Tyrese Maxey for all the good that he does can not be counted on to do that. James Harden has no lift or quickness anymore and is simply too inconsistent to take on that role at his age. I guess you hope that Maxey evolves into that type of player? It's puzzling to me that your solution to this is to simply trade Embiid and rebuild. You have Harden who is putting on a good poker face, but is clearly going to opt in because NOBODY is going to pay him 30 million dollars much less a max deal. You have Tucker under contract and it's an impossible one to move should we decide to pull a youth movement. Tobias is still on the books and is probably more of a deadline deal type of move if at all.
I just disagree that trading Embiid is a logical option, but at least you added an opinion to this and gave reasons why. I don't see Embiid as the issue here. I think who we've put around him has been the problem. I think paying Tobias Harris 180 million dollars over keeping Jimmy Butler because Ben Simmons wanted the ball has been the problem. I think paying Al Horford a ridiculous amount of money to be a backup to Embiid has been the problem. I think we made the wrong trade when we finally did move Ben Simmons. Getting James Harden was a decent consolation prize to an otherwise disastrous situation, but Harden looked past his prime prior to even coming here. It was expect the worst and hope for the best with him. I think trading Embiid is the final nail in the coffin of what once was The Process. That's cool if you're ready to do that, but some of us see it differently.
Our offense is built to run through Joel Embiid, and he is in incapable of shouldering that load in the playoffs. As long as Embiid is on this team, and as long as he wants to be "the guy" offensively, we will get bounced early, because Embiid is not good enough to shoulder the offense in the playoffs. If he wants to step back and focus on defense and rebounding, then sure. We can design an offense around that.
Add in the fact that he's moody, disappears in big moments, and plays soft, well. It's an issue.
If Joel wants to get treated like a superstar and get paid like a superstar, he has to actually play like one when it matters.
Contrast him to Jalen Hurts, who last we watched made one crucial error, and proceeded to put the team on his back and willed them to a near win. Nobody is calling for him to be traded because he stepped up on the biggest stage. Meanwhile, Joel can't even get out of the 2nd round.
