Playoff Woes and The Holdout
Though Butler was gone, the team held its own, going 39-26 before the global pandemic halted the NBA season. Following the restart in the NBA Bubble, the team had an up-and-down end to the season, going 4-3 to finish with an overall record of 43-30. Simmons would get injured prior to the end of the season and would miss the postseason. His presence would be missed as the Celtics easily swept the hobbled 76ers.
Following the early exit, coach Brown was fired in favor of Doc Rivers. Daryl Morey was also named as the new 76ers President with Brand retaining his general manager status. To start off the shortened 2020-21 season, the team selected Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey to help with their backcourt depth. Brand also overhauled Horford’s massive contract to the Oklahoma City Thunder for guard Danny Green.
The overhauled roster found themselves at the top of the Eastern Conference at the end of the season, going 49-23. Embiid made his mark, averaging 29 points and 11 rebounds a game as well as finishing second in the MVP race. The team easily dismantled the eighth-seeded Washington Wizards, but in a shocking upset, lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the second round.
Though Embiid had a terrific postseason, especially in the Atlanta series, Simmons’s lack of confidence in his shot played a huge part in the loss. Simmons only had 3 total shots in the 4th quarter in all seven games against the Hawks and shot a horrendous 33% from the stripe.
Ben Simmons attempted 3 total shots in the 4th quarter in the entire 7-game series vs. the Hawks. pic.twitter.com/5AWJ0acJRZ
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) June 21, 2021
In a do-or-die game seven, Simmons passed up a wide-open dunk, much to the Philly Faithul’s dismay. Overall, though the team and Embiid showed their dominance, they had still yet to make it to the Conference Finals during the era of The Process and this year was no different.
All the negative talk about Simmons, including Embiid and Rivers, led to a holdout where he requested a trade and refused to join the team in training camp. The holdout and fiasco led to Simmons losing $19 million due to team fines. However, the drama would end soon when Morey and Brand swung a trade for The Beard.