While on the Mike Missanelli show, Joel Embiid was asked about the James Harden trade rumors and how he feels about playing with the 9x All-Star.
Joel Embiid mostly hit on familiar notes late Monday afternoon in an interview with Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic.
Whenever the Sixers’ five-time All-Star talks, though, folks listen. And it was certainly interesting to hear Embiid’s thoughts on the roster around him and Ben Simmons ahead of the Thursday afternoon trade deadline.
Asked about James Harden, a name on the tip of many NBA fans’ tongues these days, Embiid gave a mildly meandering response that acknowledged Harden is a great player and also praised his teammates.
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“I don’t know,” Embiid said. “I haven’t heard anything, but I’ve seen the stuff coming out. He plays for the Brooklyn Nets. There’s nothing I can do about that. Like I said, I love all my teammates. But that’s like you asking me a question like, ‘Would you love playing with Steph Curry?’ Obviously the top players, they all make each other better. And he’s in that category … and he’s gotten close before. He’s gotten to the conference finals. He’s gotten close to making it to the Finals. But that’s something I really can’t comment about, because he plays for another team and it’s not realistic.
“We all see the same things on the Internet and I don’t know what’s true and what’s not, but I do believe with the guys that we have, my teammates, I do believe that we have a chance together. But it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take all of us to play the highest level possible to be able to compete. But when you’re looking at the way Tyrese (Maxey) has progressed this year, he’s been so good for us. He’s been amazing. The past few weeks, Tobias (Harris) has been great. Obviously Seth (Curry) is a knock-down shooter; he’s always going to do his thing. You add that to the leadership that guys like Danny Green provide. Andre (Drummond) has been huge for us. And obviously we’ve got to stay healthy. Matisse (Thybulle), Shake (Milton), (Furkan Korkmaz) — we’ve got a lot of guys that can play basketball, so it’s all about bringing it all together and figuring it out.
“But going back to your question, I can’t comment on a player from another team. But yeah, who’s not a fan of Kevin Durant or Steph Curry or James Harden? They’re all top players in this league. I love watching them. I enjoy their games and what they’ve been able to do in their careers.”
Though such a scenario still does not appear likely, Missanelli posed to Embiid the hypothetical of Simmons returning to play for the Sixers.
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As he did at media day and when Simmons ended his training camp holdout in October, Embiid maintained the Sixers are a better team with the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up on the court.
“ … To me, my goal has always been to win a championship,” Embiid said. “I don’t hate anybody and I don’t have any problems with anybody around the league, (but) let’s say I really hated someone on another team and the front office went and traded for that guy because they believed we could win a championship. You know what? I have no pride. My goal is to win a championship. I’d be fine with it. But like I said, I don’t hate anybody and I love everybody. I don’t know about how everybody else feels but to me, I’m trying to win a championship and whatever it takes to accomplish that, I’m fine with that.”
Though the Sixers entered Monday night just 1.5 games behind the conference-leading Heat in the standings, they’ve unsurprisingly been weaker than last season in areas where Simmons thrived such as forcing turnovers and pressuring defenses with transition attacks.
Embiid said he prefers to “stay out of it” and let president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and the team’s front office handle its business before the deadline. He commented last month that the Sixers have “everything we need,” a sentiment he essentially reiterated Monday.
“We’re right there,” Embiid said. “If it wasn’t for the last two losses, we could be in first place. I said it right before the season and I’ve always said it — as long as I’m on the floor, I’m always going to do whatever is necessary to make sure that we have a chance. And obviously I can’t do it alone; it takes all of us. My teammates, they’ve been great all season, playing extremely hard and fighting every possession.
“We’ve always believed in ourselves. We’ve always believed that we were good enough, and I still believe that we are good enough. But it’s going to take all of us. We’re all going to have to be perfect if we want to be able to win and contend for the championship. But like I said — and I’ve said it a lot of times — I love my teammates and I do believe in all of them. And I think we have a chance.”
Simmons is still technically one of Embiid’s teammates despite sitting out the Sixers’ first 53 games after requesting a trade and telling the team he wasn’t mentally ready to play. It sounded Monday like Embiid’s stance hasn’t meaningfully changed since his comments on the 25-year-old in late September.
Embiid told Missanelli he’s tried to speak with Simmons but declined to provide further details, calling that private information. He indicated he did not regret his press conference answer about the turning point of the Sixers’ Game 7 loss to the Hawks in the second round of the playoffs.
Embiid listed off a series of pivotal fourth-quarter moments following a crushing Sixers defeat, beginning with “when we had an open shot and we made one throw and we missed the other, and then they came down and scored.” Simmons was the player who passed up the open shot, Matisse Thybulle the player who split the ensuing foul shots. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers’ answer about not knowing whether Simmons could be a point guard on a championship team has also drawn intense scrutiny since the loss to Atlanta.
“The only thing I can think about is the comments,” Embiid said. “But then again, I look back at what was said during the year. You talk about Coach, (he) really had all of our backs, especially (Simmons), all year long, always praising and all of that stuff. If that one thing was the reason why all this is happening, then it’s not fair, because everybody’s allowed to make mistakes, especially in the heat of the moment.
“But I really believe that it’s really deeper than that. Obviously some people deal with pressure differently, especially from fans and stuff. To me, honestly, I wouldn’t change anything. Like you said, I’m honest. I won’t go back on what I said, especially because I didn’t mention anybody. I didn’t call out anybody.”
Once the deadline has passed, Embiid’s opinions on Simmons and the Sixers roster will again be highly sought after. For now, he’s like many fans of the team in being curious how the next few days will unfold.
