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Sixers' Joel Embiid Emphasizes That Team Needs ‘Willing Shooters'

Embiid wants 'willing shooters,' bench competition, more on Sixers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When Joel Embiid and James Harden talk, folks listen.

However, extended conversation after Saturday’s practice in Camden, New Jersey wasn’t at all one-sided. Sixers assistant coach Sam Cassell never minds voicing his views, too.

Embiid explained that the discussion was about a problem he noticed upon reviewing the Sixers’ blowout loss Thursday to the Nets.

“Well, he’s kind of old school, so he doesn’t really understand what we’re saying,” Embiid joked about Cassell. “We were having an argument about the pick-and-roll. I watched the Brooklyn game again. Every single time me and James were running the pick-and-roll, Seth (Curry), he was guarding Matisse (Thybulle), and he just wasn’t guarding him at all. So we’re trying to find ways how to really use Matisse and make sure that he has to be guarded in those situations. 

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“That was just one game but going back to the New York games, we used him a lot. (Evan) Fournier was guarding him, and he kept helping off of him and making sure that I didn’t get the ball or James didn’t have any driving lanes. And James kept finding him. So that’s what we were talking about: Just trying to find ways to really utilize him and make him better.”

Thybulle totaled 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting in the Sixers’ two recent wins over the Knicks. He went 1 for 5 from the floor against Brooklyn. The one make was a third-quarter dunk that cut the Sixers’ deficit from 29 points to 27. 

On the season, Thybulle is 28.6 percent from three-point range. Per NBA.com/Stats, 1.9 of his 2.4 long-distance attempts per game are “wide open,” meaning the closest defender was six or more feet away. He’s at 24.5 percent on those attempts. 

Embiid’s stance hasn’t changed: He wants the 25-year-old accepting good looks. 

“Every time he’s open, I want him to shoot it,” Embiid said. “I see him work on his game every single day. He works on those threes. If they’re going to disrespect you, you’ve got to take it. And I believe that he’s going to make some of them. So that’s what I want him to do. He’s done a great job as far as cutting. And he still can be way better, but he just needs to keep on doing that and we’re going to find him.”

In general, Embiid’s strong preference throughout this season has been for his teammates to fire open jumpers. 

“Whether it’s my post-ups or the pick-and-roll, we’ve got to have willing shooters,” he said. “All the attention is going to be on me and James so when you create double teams, guys like Tyrese, obviously Georges (Niang), Tobias (Harris), they’ve got to be able to just let it fly. And it’s going to open up everything. I think it all goes back to spacing.”

Embiid now has an ally in Harden. The Sixers rank 25th in three-point frequency according to Cleaning the Glass, though they’re ninth in that category since Harden’s debut. 

“Honestly, the first thing I told him when he got here,” Embiid said, “I was like, ‘You’ve got to help me.’ We’ve got to get everyone to just shoot the ball — it doesn’t matter who you are — to just shoot the ball if you’re open. Teams come into the game obviously doubling and triple teaming me. Once we start making shots, then you’ve got decisions to make. Are you going to keep doing that; are you going to give up a bunch of wide-open threes? 

“So that was the first thing that I told him. I was like, ‘You’ve got to help me,’ and he’s been doing a great job of just trying to push everybody to do the same, because we need all the spacing we can get. If people make a bunch of shots, it’ll open up that space.”

Harsh film review for Maxey

Tyrese Maxey posted four points Thursday on 2-for-7 shooting, his lowest-scoring performance this season and first single-digit output of the calendar year. 

He didn’t need anyone to tell him it was an off night, but Embiid and Harden had a specific message after the game. 

“I don’t put that on anybody but myself,” Maxey said. “I don’t point fingers. I always look in the mirror first. Joel came up to me, James even came up to me and said, ‘There should never be a game where you go through and I don’t feel you out there — feel your presence.’ He was saying, ‘I know you only took four or five shots, but you’ve got to be able to go get the ball and make your presence known.’ 

“That comes with maturity. And I think the leaders of our team telling me that and everybody believing in me, I don’t think it’ll happen again.”

Maxey is also well aware of his defensive shortcomings.

“On the ball, he’s got to be better,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said. “Off the ball, he’s got to be better. That’s the thing with Tyrese. Offensively, he has graduated — he’s ready. Defensively, he’s not. And he knows that. He has to take that on himself — he will — and we will help him. And he wants to.

“He looked at the film. We showed him a clip today and we had to ask, ‘Who’s guarding Seth?’ You should never have to ask that question where you don’t see a guy near him but the guy’s actually guarding him. Those are things that can never happen.”

The heaps of criticism haven’t bothered Maxey yet, but it sure sounds difficult for a 21-year-old to balance his desire to avoid mistakes with the constant prodding to play an aggressive, fearless style.

How does he weigh those concepts? 

“You’re a basketball player at the end of the day,” Maxey said. “They want me to be extremely aggressive just because it helps our team. And mistakes come with that; they happen. You try to keep the ball in our possession — turn them over and don’t turn the ball over as much as possible. But mistakes happen. 

“If you’re going to make a mistake, make it aggressive. Say it’s not because I was being passive or not because I was off defensively. ... If I make a mistake defensively, I’ve got to be into the ball … and being over-aggressive. And if I’m going to make a mistake offensively, it’s got to be the same way. Can’t be passive, got to be decisive and aggressive.”

Bench spots still very undecided

Danny Green (left middle finger laceration) will miss his second straight game Sunday night when the Sixers play the Magic in Orlando.

Shake Milton, Georges Niang and DeAndre Jordan were the only bench players in the team’s rotation for the Brooklyn game. 

“We were getting our butt kicked and when that happens, you want to put your eight best players on the floor as soon as you can get them on the floor,” Rivers said.

With 17 regular-season games left, it doesn’t seem much is settled.

“It’s a competition,” Rivers said. “It just is. And that’s good it’s a competition. I think Joel’s going to play every night — I’m sure — and James and Tobias and Tyrese. But it’s a competition. That’s what makes teams really good. When guys don’t play, they have to understand that and be ready for the next moment. And when guys do play, they have to seize the moment. That’s what this is all about.”

As for the players already getting heavy minutes regularly, the Sixers won’t prioritize pushing for the highest possible seed over health.

“Definitely,” Rivers said when asked if key players will have rest games before the playoffs. “Joel and James, we kind of have a mapped-out game plan. Danny is getting rest just because he keeps getting injured, so we don’t have to worry about him. But even Tyrese, he’s played a lot of minutes. We probably will rest him a game somewhere. He’ll not want that, but it’ll probably be good.”

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