Rival Coach Labels LeBron James-Joel Embiid Combination ‘Old and Slow’ After Blockbuster 76ers’ Move

The Philadelphia 76ers have the best team on paper after LeBron James joined Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and a decent bench rotation.

The team features a point guard in Maxey, who can not only drive to the rim at will, but also score on catch-and-shoot plays. His sophomore backcourt partner is also good in both those roles, while also being terrific in clutch situations.

Then, the former Boston Celtics star is also great at attacking the basket, and can comfortably stay on the perimeter to shoot three-pointers. Finally, the center, when healthy, is as dominant in the paint as the best in the league, while also improving as a perimeter threat.

The pattern is similar. The Sixers have four players who are comfortable both scoring at the rim and from outside. Add LeBron James to the equation, and the similarity continues.

Head coach Nick Nurse will have a tough job creating an offense that avoids these overlaps and helps the quintet create enough offensive production to outgun opponents. However, it seems the problems are deeper than that.

It’s scary. It can be unstoppable. Or it can be hard to watch. They’re both slow and old. When you get tired, and you drain the clock and are methodical and just isoing with brute force when you’re not young, spry, and athletic, that can look awful. Everyone is just standing around. And then you end up falling down because you’re old.

Mark Medina wrote

This was an unnamed assistant coach revealing to the Fadeaway World journalist how the 76ers can either be ‘unstoppable’ or become their own undoing when considering both James and Joel Embiid’s health and conditioning.

LeBron James’ 76ers move risky, claims coach

This assistant coach was one of the three Mark Medina spoke to under terms of anonymity. When the reporter asked this coach what he thought about LeBron James’ fit with the retooled 76ers.

I’m shocked. He’s already experienced teaming up with talent before. But it’s a real risky move as far as trying to get Maxey, Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, Embiid, and himself to co-exist and be on the same page. This isn’t fantasy basketball. It’s not that easy. He knows that.

The coach told Medina

The coach was not far off from what others have been saying about the Sixers. Before the four-time champion joined, there were question marks about the fit of the other four.

Had they simply signed a playmaking point guard, they would have solved that problem. But with LeBron James on the team, he will demand excellence from the other four, especially with him running the offense.

If they do, this team will likely be dominant throughout his last few moments in the league. If not, or if cracks start to appear, this entire experiment could end up blowing back in James’ face, affecting his legacy more than anyone else’s.

Other coaches were not as pessimistic about LeBron James’ 76ers fit

This particular assistant coach gave pessimistic answers to both of Mark Medina’s questions. But the others were not as negative about LeBron James’ fit with the 76ers.

Any team that LeBron joins get better. He’ll help them. But anytime you start mixing different players, there is always uncertainty. There are teams that have been really good in the past that didn’t meet expectations. Then there are some that have. So this is a ‘TBD’ situation. But you would rather take the talent. LeBron makes the Sixers better. He makes any team better automatically.

Another coach told Medina

This coach seems to be of the belief that the Sixers are definitely a work-in-progress. They have to figure out theoretically how they can solve their skill overlaps, and then work hard during training camp to iron it out. Since all the players have openly expressed their interest in playing with James, it could be that they will eventually listen to him.

But then, when the games start, there is bound to be trouble. How they solve it as they go is going to define whether this experiment is a success. This coach, however, believes that it will work, and LeBron James will end up looking like the player who made this team better.

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