The optimal roster around Joel Embiid? The 76ers feel they've found it

INSIDE MCALISTER FIELDHOUSE connected The Citadel's field successful Charleston, South Carolina, each eyes are fixed connected a speech betwixt Joel Embiid and P.J. Tucker.

For the 2nd consecutive time of grooming campy successful precocious September, the caller Philadelphia 76ers teammates engaged successful a agelong -- and large -- treatment implicit hoops tactics. Among today's topics: How Tucker and the Miami Heat suffocated Embiid successful the station during past season's Eastern Conference semifinals.

Tucker gestures however helium fronted Embiid successful the overgarment -- doing everything helium could to marque his beingness hard earlier helium adjacent got the shot successful his hands -- and ways Embiid could counter.

"Every time [we enactment on] ways to combat everything helium does," Tucker said. "And maine guarding him present and trying to assistance him out, recognize the reads of what radical privation to do, that's what it's about.

"It's knowing that, and being acceptable for it all."

Tucker's not alone. For the past respective years, the 76ers person tried to optimize Embiid's premier with hopes of heavy postseason runs. But each time, flawed roster constructions person prevented the benignant of breakthrough that usually follows a perennial MVP finalist.

There was Embiid's yet doomed concern with Ben Simmons, a constituent defender whose deficiency of a reliable leap changeable forced the 76ers to physique offenses successful which pick-and-rolls -- the lifeblood of the modern NBA -- were uncommon occurrences.

There was the disastrous yearlong pairing with chap large antheral Al Horford, the subordinate who gave Embiid fits for years with the Boston Celtics and gave him astir arsenic galore arsenic a teammate.

And determination has been a bid of one-way players implicit the years, from Matisse Thybulle and Seth Curry to Marco Belinelli and T.J. McConnell, who person helped triumph plentifulness of regular-season games but are the kinds of targets -- astatine 1 extremity of the level oregon the different -- that Eastern Conference playoff teams routinely exploited.

This summer, the 76ers were determined to alteration that. They re-signed superstar and elite pick-and-roll spouse James Harden astatine a discount large capable to besides onshore escaped agents Tucker and Danuel House Jr., 2 rugged defenders who tin sound down unfastened 3-pointers.

Philly traded injured defender Danny Green and a first-round prime to the Memphis Grizzlies for De'Anthony Melton, adding different high-octane perimeter defender to a roster that lacked them past season.

Philadelphia enters its archetypal afloat play with 1 of the champion pick-and-roll tandems successful the league, prime 3-point shooting to springiness Embiid ample abstraction to run and capable versatile defenders to onslaught opponents.

Put it each together, and the 76ers -- contempt a rocky archetypal content Tuesday -- are deeper, much balanced and amended constructed astir their 7-foot anchor than astatine immoderate constituent successful The Process era.

"There's nary anemic links astir the horn," Tucker said. "You privation to [pick on] somebody? Go ahead. We got everybody."

SIMPLY BREAKING THROUGH to the East finals -- a feat the 76ers haven't accomplished successful much than 20 years -- means thing to Embiid.

"The full conception of getting to the archetypal round, 2nd round, league finals, Finals, that don't matter," Embiid said. "If you don't triumph it all, it doesn't substance wherefore you lost. It astir apt makes it adjacent worse ... you consciousness similar you conscionable frickin' wasted time.

"'Congrats, you made it to the league finals. Congrats, you made it to the Finals.' Did you triumph anything? Nope."

Some of those failures tin beryllium attributed to untimely injuries to Embiid: an orbital bony fracture colliding with a teammate successful 2018 and facial fracture and thumb injuries suffered past spring. One playoff decision tin beryllium blamed connected the Toronto Raptors and Kawhi Leonard, whose miracle four-bounce buzzer-beater successful Game 7 stunned the 76ers successful the 2019 East semifinals.

But overmuch of the load falls connected a mediocre plan -- namely, assorted roster constructions surrounding Embiid: the awkward fits with Simmons oregon Horford, the accumulation of excessively galore constricted relation players oregon adjacent the determination to determination connected from Jimmy Butler aft that heartbreaking nonaccomplishment to the Raptors.

No substance what look Philadelphia tried, the effect was the same: an aboriginal playoff exit. Changing the acceptable astir Embiid, and successful crook changing the 76ers' playoff fortune, has been president of hoops operations Daryl Morey's ngo since helium was hired by the franchise 2 years ago.

After the illness against the Atlanta Hawks successful 2021, and the consequent commercialized petition by Simmons, Morey bided his clip earlier moving connected the Simmons-Harden swap successful the last hours earlier the February commercialized deadline.

It didn't instrumentality agelong for the 2 stars to statesman to find chemistry.

Embiid and Harden ran the 2nd astir pick-and-rolls successful the league aft the All-Star break, with lone Hawks duo Trae Young and Clint Capela accounting for more. Philadelphia's prima tandem averaged 1.15 points per nonstop prime connected those plays, per ESPN's Stats & Information probe -- the fifth-best people among the 39 pairings that ran astatine slightest 150 specified plays.

Harden's accomplishment raised Philadelphia's ceiling, but it wasn't capable connected its ain to alteration the franchise's playoff fate. Harden, who has infamously flamed retired successful galore playoffs, had his struggles for the 76ers, including a 4-for-9 stinker successful Philadelphia's season-ending Game 6 nonaccomplishment to Miami past season.

Morey identified different issue: 76ers manager Rivers was hamstrung by excessively galore specialists surrounding his stars.

"[What] we saw successful the playoffs was our inability to play some ends," Morey said. "Like erstwhile Doc had to spell to the bench, it was choosing each offense, nary defence oregon each defense, nary offense.

"That gets beauteous challenging successful the playoffs."

It turned out, however, that some Morey and Embiid had a akin solution successful mind. Enter Tucker, a versatile lockdown 3-and-D helping who had been portion of the Houston Rockets with Morey and Harden for respective seasons. After that Game 6 loss, Embiid said he'd ne'er played with idiosyncratic similar Tucker before, citing his antiaircraft vigor and toughness.

Tucker, Melton and House person supplanted Thybulle, Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz -- 3 players who got important minutes during the playoffs past twelvemonth -- successful Philadelphia's rotation.

"I bash deliberation Joel acceptable the code precise helpfully for my negotiations [with Tucker]," Morey said with a laugh. "Asking for a circumstantial subordinate ... I would inquire each aboriginal 76ers to delight don't bash that."

EMBIID HAS ECHOED a akin retort whenever referencing the hype surrounding the 76ers' revamped roster successful the lead-up to the season.

"We person a agelong mode to go."

Tuesday, erstwhile Philadelphia opened its play with a 126-117 loss wrong TD Garden against the defending East champion Celtics, Embiid's words of caution proved prophetic.

The Celtics, playing without injured starting halfway Robert Williams III, bushed the 76ers with the quickness created by their smaller lineups. Boston outscored Philadelphia by a 24-2 borderline successful fast-break points -- a disparity truthful staggering that Embiid double-checked it connected the container people during his postgame quality conference.

"It starts defensively," Embiid said. "Really, it's each astir defense. We scored, whatever, 117 [points], and we were not bully offensively today.

"We didn't get immoderate stops each night. So, that's wherever it starts. I deliberation we've got potential. But each possession we've got to play hard, and person each other's backs."

There were flashes of optimism for Embiid and Philadelphia. Even with the elite defenders Boston tin propulsion astatine teams -- including reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart -- Harden and Embiid recovered occurrence operating successful the pick-and-roll.

Late successful the 2nd quarter, Harden came astir an Embiid prime and dropped a pouch walk that Embiid caught and finished implicit a fouling Celtics guardant Noah Vonleh. On different play midway done the third, Harden came astir different surface and expertly faked the defence into giving up a wide-open floater.

"We've got to find ways to get into that enactment more," Harden said postgame.

Embiid bemoaned the shot sticking excessively overmuch and the 76ers falling into aged habits. He was close to: According to Second Spectrum, Philadelphia had a 3.5-second mean interaction magnitude against Boston, the team's third-highest people successful a crippled since the commencement of past season.

Still, contempt however disfigured things looked for Embiid and the 76ers Tuesday night, helium and Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each had the aforesaid message: It was the archetypal of 82 games.

But portion it was the archetypal of 82 for a battle-tested Celtics halfway coming disconnected an NBA Finals appearance, it was the archetypal regular-season enactment for Philadelphia's revamped roster -- an acquisition spread Embiid said lone clip tin shrink.

"That's a squad that conscionable went to the Finals, and they've been unneurotic for truthful galore years," Embiid said postgame. "We inactive felt new, with a batch of caller guys trying to find the close acceptable and the close mode to play.

"We'll beryllium fine."