Doc Rivers opens up on relationship between Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons
The big storyline when it came to the Philadelphia 76ers is that their superstar duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons can’t win together. There was always this stigma that the two of them did not get along and that they cannot play together.
There was some reason to believe this as they had come up short in their past playoff runs, but under a new coach in Doc Rivers, he has come in and helped the two stars flourish on their way to a very successful season. The two of them are in the running for top individual awards such as the MVP award and the coveted Defensive Player of the Year award for both of them.
There has been a difference in terms of how they have led the Sixers this season and Rivers has noticed that there really is no issue between the two of them.
“I think it’s been great,” said Rivers. “The first thing that I found is whatever the portrayal was, I didn’t put a lot into it, because I wanted to see what the relationship was and I would say the more pleasant surprise when I first got in here, I realized that there was no problem at all.”
The good thing is, the duo is beginning to believe they can win this season. They are believing that they can get the job done and be able to get the Sixers to a deep playoff run. They will go as far as both Embiid and Simmons will take them and combine the belief with some very talented guys around them and they have a chance to make that run this season.
“Their biggest issue, not just with them two, as a team, it’s good they win and obviously, now they believe they can,” Rivers added. “To me, that’s always usually the issue with most teams. When guys have a bunch of talented guys and if they can win together. That was, I guess, a bit of a pleasant surprise, there’s no personnel issues or anything like that. That’s an awful nice thing to not have.”
The Sixers have eight games left in the 2020-21 season to work everything out before the postseason begins on May 22 in the NBA.
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