So going by your rankings of Simmons and Embiid, and I agree with the Embiid ranking, and knowing that the 76ers also have a top 5 defensive wing in Thybulle, a knock down 3 point shooter in Curry, a capable small ball 4 in Harris along with solid pieces off the bench in Maxey and occasionally Milton, they had a solid reserve big in Dwight. How do they not get to the championship? How do they not get past a defensively challenged Atlanta?
My thinking is that Simmons is difficult to build around, but not impossible. And I’m not knocking him. But he’s a Draymond Green in that you surround them with these really good pieces and then they can flourish. I personally think Simmons makes the 76ers somewhat offensively challenged as they are built right now because of his lack of outside game. Yes, defensively, the 76ers can be and are stout. But we saw what an offensive team like the Hawks were able to do.
Now I don’t agree that Simmons is a top 15 player but I also don’t think he’s terrible despite the shooting and free throw shooting but those 2 aspects are a big thing. I’ll stick with Fox as I think those type of guys who can score like that and see the floor a bit are really hard to find. I think if Sac surrounds with defensive pieces, we could see the playoffs. I think if Fox was on the 76ers instead of Simmons, then there is still enough defensive juice on the 76ers that they would become more capable offensively and go farther.
I also think that if the 76ers obtained Hield and Bagley and firsts AND Maxey can adequately replace Simmons in the lineup, like they may be better in the long run……doesn’t mean Hield and Bagley are better but I could feasibly see how Embiid would benefit from the addition of Hield’s shooting. Maybe this last part is a stretch.