On Monday night, Joel Embiid took the court for his 58th game of the season. That’s an interesting number when you consider that, prior to this season, the 23-year-old big man had played in just 59 games total since graduating from high school in 2013. There were 28 games in his one season at Kansas, in 2013-14, and 31 games last season as an NBA rookie, and that’s it.
All of this is worth noting given the admission that Embiid’s rookie teammate made prior to the Sixers’ 108-94 win over the Hornets on Monday night. Ben Simmons was sitting at his locker talking about the team’s recent struggles on defense when he suggested that some of the problem might be a lack of focus.