Doc Rivers said the 76ers will run more pick-and-roll offense with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
This is a huge win for Philly and kind of scary for the rest of the league.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) December 1, 2020
In a shocking turn of events Doc Rivers gets hired and makes an immediate impact on this Philly team. Who would have thought that one of the most basic and hard to stop “plays” would work here! I mean it must take a literal rocket scientist to figure out that your 6’10” All Star PG who is an elite driver and passer would benefit from a Pick and Roll from a Top 5 Big. I, like all of you, would have NEVER thought this might be a good option. Espcially, since Philly has had elite shooters over the last couple of years. I mean why do you need to set a pick when you have such elite shooting! As we all expected, Doc came in with these crazy new ideas he developed in LA. I wish someone like Stockton and Malone could’ve tried this 30 years ago, I bet a duo like that would have been damn near unstoppable but you gotta give credit where credit is due.
I haven’t been allowed to run the pick and roll with Joel since I joined the Sixers. So working that in is going to be nice. – Ben Simmons
I’m not going to pretend like I researched this but has Joel and Ben never run the pick and roll before in a game? Like, not once? If Brett Brown couldn’t come up with pick and roll you should have fired him earlier, maybe like a year earlier like some (me) suggested you do instead of trading Jimmy Butler. Very bad look for Brett, like should never coach in the NBA again bad. Lets not let Simmons and Embiid off scott free. In todays NBA you’re telling me the two best players on a playoff team never thought “Hey we should run this pick and roll, I know coach said not to but what is he going to do? Bench both of us?”. Like that never crossed anyones mind? Elton Brand was a PF, I’m sure he set a pick or two in his day. He never was like “Hey Brett, can we try running this wildly basic play that middle schoolers can run?”. I refuse to believe an NBA organization, especially one with players like Simmons and Embiid, just didn’t think the most effective play in the last 30 years could work. I refuse to accept the incompetence from literally everyone.