In defense of Sixers’ Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons | David Murphy

So, let me get this straight. Joel Embiid is immature, and undisciplined, and a shadow of the player he should be in his fourth season in the league. And Ben Simmons is a stubborn diva who refuses to listen to his coach, or work on his game, or do the one thing he needs to do to be a championship-caliber centerpiece. And together, Simmons and Embiid are supposed to represent some sort of cataclysmic failure of the rebuilding process that landed them in Philadelphia, where all they have to show for their partnership is — let’s check our notes, here — the first back-to-back 50-win seasons in 35 years, a couple of playoff-series victories, five All-Star Game appearances, and what could still easily wind up as one of the most successful campaigns in franchise history.

Did I get all of that right?

If you are shaking your head, good. I’d like to think you are in the majority. As for everybody else, I’m going to need some help here. Because the numbers I am looking at say that the Sixers are 137-82 over the last three seasons. They say that those 137 wins are the sixth most in the NBA during that stretch. And they say that only two players have suited up for at least 80% of them. Yet those two players are also the same ones who are being held up by a disaffected segment of the public, as evidence that the Sixers are halfway down a road to nowhere with no time to double back.

Less than three full seasons into the Embiid/Simmons partnership, where were you expecting the Sixers to be? I suspect this is where the disconnect lies. The expectations. Here in Philadelphia, we have a tendency to focus so intensely on our local sports teams that we lose sight of how things operate in the rest of the real world. So here’s a little refresher:

It took Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton six years of playing together before they won more than 44 games. In Kevin Durant’s first two years in the league, his team won 43 games. Combined. He didn’t win his first playoff series until Year 4.

The Warriors won 23 games in Steph Curry’s third season in the league. Three seasons into James Harden’s career, the Thunder decided it would be wise to trade him. Carmelo Anthony was in his sixth season before he won a playoff series.

Blake Griffin has never appeared in the conference finals. Neither has Anthony Davis. Chris Paul didn’t get there until he was 32. LaMarcus Aldridge was 31. Al Horford was 28. Kevin Love was 27, and he needed LeBron.

» READ MORE: Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid say they will dominate the NBA if they can ‘figure it out’

Scroll through those All-Star rosters from the weekend and try to find one player besides LeBron who has led his team to where Embiid and Simmons have led the Sixers over their first three seasons.

Is either player a finished product? No. Are there some frustrating imperfections in their game? Sure. Can they be maddening to watch? Of course. Welcome to the early stages of the typical NBA career. But all the Sixers have done since Embiid and Simmons teamed up is win games at a 60% clip.

Who, exactly, was responsible for winning all of those games? T.J. McConnell? Years from now, will we look back and realize that Brett Brown was actually Pat Riley?

Who would we rather these two be? Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins? Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram? Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja? Alex Len and Dragan Bender? Bradley Beal and John Wall? Wesley Johnson and Derrick Williams?

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid turn attention to final third of season after memorable All-Star Game

I’m not suggesting that either Embiid or Simmons is above reproach. From a development standpoint, the last two seasons have been disappointments for Embiid. He has the tools to be a singularly dominant force on the offensive end of the court, but he has yet to take another step in that direction. That’s partially due to the difficulty he’s had in staying on the court, which is a concern all its own.

Simmons? The improvement is there when you look beyond his outside shot. He’s rapidly becoming one of the most-effective 1-on-1 defenders in the game. He’s a better finisher, a more aggressive ball handler, a more-intuitive slasher in the half-court. Until he is willing and able to knock down an open three-point shot, there will be legitimate questions about his long-term fit with Embiid.

But let’s at least be honest with our assessment about how things have gone in the short-term. In his first two seasons as a pro, Simmons won 101 games, He played in 3,358 minutes in those victories, which is more winning minutes than all but one NBA player has logged in his first two seasons in the league in the last 20 years. That player was Tony Parker, who happened to play for the Spurs.

By the end of this season, Simmons will have won more games over his first three seasons than any player since Parker, with the possible exception of the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, who is also in the midst of his third season. Tatum is one of two players in the last 20 years who was drafted in the Top 5 and started more playoff games in his first two seasons than Simmons. The other is Dwyane Wade.

» READ MORE: Brett Brown on Joel Embiid’s mindset: ‘I think he is in a really good space’

Isn’t that what this discussion is all about? Winning? Over the last two-plus seasons, that’s all the Sixers have done with Embiid and Simmons, regardless of their supporting cast. The last time they took the court together, they both scored 26 in what their coach said might have been the best game they have ever played together.

“Their games are different,” Tobias Harris said after practice on Wednesday. “Their games are different styles. But in a way, they both do complement each other. I’ve said that since the day that I got here, and I truly believe it. When they are out there and they are both dominant, like the Clipper game, you can just see it’s like they’ve played together since they were young kids.”

There are lots of legitimate questions about the composition of this Sixers roster. If the current season ends like the two previous have, there will be cause to consider various alternate paths forward. But three straight 50-win seasons is not something to take for granted. The Sixers have come a long way against a relatively short horizon. With another third- and fourth-year player as the constants, things could look much different. Don’t mistake the nits for the dominant pixels in the picture.