Ben Simmons saga: Joel Embiid and Philadelphia 76ers need to work together on next move, says BJ Armstrong | NBA News

There has been a lot of noise off-court about Ben Simmons throughout the season, but the main man making noise on court in Philadelphia is Joel Embiid.

The reverberations of that noise has carried him to the top of the latest NBA MVP ladder, released on Friday.

Embiid has continued a rapid ascent in the MVP race, seizing pole position in what we expect to be a neck-and-neck fight between the Sixers big man and Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic – the man who beat him to MVP honours last year – for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.

It’s worth mentioning that Embiid missed a highly anticipated matchup against Memphis on Monday because of a planned rest day after participating in 21 consecutive games (which registers as the second-longest streak of his career).

Embiid averaged 33.1 points over those 21 games, improving his scoring average to 29.1 points, good for second behind Kevin Durant (29.3 points).

There can now be no argument that he is playing consistently at an MVP-calibre level, and his consistent performances have been enough to carry the franchise after Simmons chose to sat the year out at great personal cost.

Most thought it would also be at great cost to the 76ers, but Philly has looked as good if not better with Embiid shouldering the load as the franchise player on his own and sophomore guard Tyrese Maxey has stepped up to great effect in the point guard spot.

With that in mind, Sky Sports Heatcheck pundit BJ Armstrong is adamant that Sixers GM Daryl Morey now has time to plot his next move, rather than feeling rushed as he would if the team were struggling to win games.

He also thinks that it’s now time for the franchise to work with Embiid to ensure that the next move they make is the right one and to maximise the chances of success while keeping the star player happy.

Armstrong said: “You have to get Joel Embiid to sign off on this. Right now, he is your best player. We thought he could be this player someday when he was drafted third there in Philadelphia, suddenly now he is not playing on potential anymore, he is that player now.

“Right now, you need Embiid to take ownership of the team and be able to be invested into whatever ‘we’ are going to do next. That’s a big move for any organisation, when your best player is signing off on what needs to be done.

“I think it’s important for Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers to be on [the same] page because if the organisation makes a trade and it doesn’t work, what if Embiid says ‘You know what, I don’t believe in this move’.

“That to me is the most important thing, you want Joel Embiid to be 100 per cent invested into whatever it is [the organisation is] going to do and then go from there and then you live with the results.

“So the biggest thing is for the Philadelphia 76ers is to do the following: How are we going to partner with Joel Embiid so that he will have just as much input on what he needs to win a championship and what they will need? Because right now Joel Embiid is going to be a top five player for the next however many years provided that he’s healthy.”

“I think the obvious is something needs to happened with Ben Simmons but what we’re seeing with Joel Embiid is the following. Joel Embiid, here, at some point here is going to have to sign off on whoever they get or whatever they do as an organisation, and right now the Philadelphia 76ers, instead of worrying about what they don’t have which is the absence of Ben Simmons, they have to worry about what they do have, which is they have a great player who’s big and could be and should be a dominant player in the next five-to-seven years provided that he is healthy.”

Why trading Simmons can wait until the summer

Embiid was the human embodiment of ‘The Process’, the major rebuilding culture that came in the three years prior to his NBA debut in 2016 (he was drafted in 2014, but sat out his first two years through injury). It saw the team rack up losses and lottery draft picks but arguably the man who took on ‘The Process’ as his nickname, was the only one they nailed – with No 1 picks Simmons and Markelle Fultz now both looking like busts for different reasons.

It’s been a long, old process with plenty of bumps in the road, but Philadelphia has got to the point where they are consistently winning and have a player capable of delivering a championship.

They also have a trade piece who carries good value in Simmons, as a former Rookie of the Year and a nightly triple-double threat.

The next step is turning Simmons into the backup Embiid needs to deliver a title, or multiple titles, for Philadelphia.

Speaking on this week’s Sky Sports Heatcheck, this is something three-time NBA champion Armstrong insists the franchise don’t need to rush to do.

“They’re not just going for one Championship, it’s hopefully a five-year window, so, you say ‘We feel we can get one, maybe two, if you’re lucky, maybe you get three’,” said Armstrong.

“Embiid has shown the ability to carry a franchise all by himself so it’s very important for him to be onboard [with] whatever it is they are going to do.

“I don’t think it’s any time to be running, trying to do something with a quick fix – because you have a special player, he is an MVP-calibre player. Right now, if they get the right piece, they could easily have the best record in the league so I think it’s very important for them to be patient, pump the brakes, figure out what’s needed, and then go from there.

“And I think that should be done over the summer because right now they’re in the they’re in the middle of things. And [they need to consider] is this the brand of basketball that they really want to play?

“There are a lot of questions here other than just getting someone to fill a roster spot or fill in for your roster. So I think it’s way more sophisticated and complicated than just trading Ben, I think they really have to sit down and say, ‘Who are we going to be for the next five years?’ And I think they need to take their time in doing that and making those decisions.”