The Sixers’ top asset is unquestionably Joel Embiid. A full-time JoJo would have been an All-Star, shoe-in Rookie of the Year, first team All-Rookie (probably still is), and more. Even with Ben Simmons waiting in the wings and any number of potential top picks coming, Embiid is still top dog, and the Sixers still need point guard help. The whole big-man logjam was (is) part of a long and arduous process, but if it led to a healthy Embiid, it was all worth it.
Without a doubt, Embiid is one of the (if not the) brightest young stars in the league, and this team revolves around him. Unless you’re John Smallwood, because then you’re drunk off the grit.
In his column entitled “Is it possible the Sixers are better set at point guard than at center?” – it’s somehow not just the word “no” – he argues the affirmative. With one small caveat:
If you don’t consider the 31-game tease from Embiid as a qualifier, McConnell has arguably been the second-most valuable Sixer, to rookie forward Dario Saric.
Ah yes, the Sixers are more set at point guard than center if you totally ignore their center. Point taken.
Smallwood is right about one thing: T.J. McConnell has vastly outplayed expectations. He came into this season as the depth chart’s (if there was one) third PG, behind Jerryd Bayless and Sergio Rodriguez. Bayless’ fragile wrist and Rodriguez’s general un-impressiveness have given way to McConnell’s coming out party. T.J.’s Rising Stars snub was a bigger injustice than Embiid’s All-Star no-call, but how can you argue that the Sixers are more set at the position they’re going to aim to fill in the draft than the one they won’t touch?
No, he probably should not be a starter, but McConnell has shown that he is a reliable-enough safeguard to allow the Sixers to go full fuel ahead with next season’s plan to try injured No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons, a 6-10 forward, at point guard.
So we’re discounting 31 games of Embiid but not zero games of Simmons? And we at least know that Embiid is a bonafide star in this league when he plays. He’s nobody’s backup. And again, taking nothing away from McConnell, but he’d at least the team’s second-unit PG next season, behind Ben Simmons (and/or a top draft pick). Winning in the NBA is about acquiring (super)stars. Joel Embiid is one. Timothy John McConnell, for all of his glory, isn’t close.
At least – I hope – Bryan Colangelo doesn’t think this way. Sitting still at PG because you have T.J. Goddamn McConnell is a great way to cut your legs off before they grow.