The Philadelphia 76ers were supposed to be the next big thing in the NBA after completing the tanking process. With an exciting duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the results just haven’t yet shown. NBA superstar Kevin Durant recently shared some of his thoughts as to why that’s the case.
During a recent appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast, that is co-hosted by JJ Redick and Tommy Alter, Durant explained the 76ers have been changing the supporting cast around Embiid and Simmons too much.
“It’s hard to become a great team when you’re getting new teammates every year,” said Durant, a former league MVP and two-time NBA champion. “It’s tough, especially young players like them, they’re expected [to shine] … and in Philly, they’ve got so many expectations on them, it’s tough.”
The 76ers have shown to be more than willing to take risks when building a supporting cast around Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Between the trades for Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, along with signing Al Horford in free agency, those ideas just simply didn’t pan out.
Now, the 76ers will enter an offseason where the cast of role players they have around their starts clearly are inadequate but they lack much for cap space to be able to make meaningful changes. However, would further shuffling around the group even help as Kevin Durant expressed concern about?
It will be interesting to see how the 76ers navigate their current situation this offseason. After firing Brett Brown, Philadelphia will need to find a new head coach before making too many changes. There are plenty of options like Mike D’Antoni, Tyronne Lue, and Billy Donovan to name a few.
There will be plenty the Philadelphia 76ers will need to do before they can catch up with teams like the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference.
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