By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
PSA: We are aware the Eagles are on tonight. If you're planning to watch the Eagles instead or stream the Sixers and watch both (preferred option), make sure to check out our Eagles preview here: Eagles Go For Season Sweep of Banged Up Redskins on Monday Night Football. Thanks, fam.
The Philadelphia 76ers (0-3) aim to notch their first win of the season tonight as they travel to Detroit for a match-up with Andre Dummond and the Pistons (1-2). The Sixers looked like a promising group on Opening Night against Washington last Wednesday, but have since regressed on a pair of occasions. They let a lead slip away from them against Boston and well, Saturday against Toronto was an embarrassing effort on all ends, despite Ben Simmons putting up his third consecutive double-double to start his career.
Tonight, the Sixers will have Joel Embiid available after he sat during Saturday's game. The 7-foot-2 big man has not yet been cleared for back-to-backs, but the team won't have to worry about that for a little while as their next back-to-back isn't until November 29 and 30.
The Pistons took last year's season series, 2-1.
Joel Embiid returns, Jahlil Okafor plays first game
As mentioned briefly above, the Sixers should get a boost tonight with the return of Joel Embiid. His presence on the court may not have done a whole lot in the teams' 34-point loss to Toronto on Saturday, but he'll get the opportunity to rebound from his rough game on Friday tonight in Detroit. Through two games, Embiid is averaging 14.5 points and 13.5 rebounds, but he's shooting just 35.5 percent from the floor. If Embiid hopes to return to his dominant form, the team will need to get him the ball in the post more and Joel will need to stop settling for three-pointers.
Jahlil Okafor got his first game action of the young season on Saturday night, putting together a strong night off the bench. Vegan Jah scored 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting while also grabbing nine boards. He looked more active defensively, tallying two blocks, but picked up three fouls early, which limited his effectiveness throughout the game. It'll be interesting to see if Brett Brown opts to play him at all with Embiid back in the lineup as Okafor was a healthy scratch the first two games.
Despite historical numbers, Simmons focused on wins…
Whether you're angry about Markelle Fultz's free throw shooting or lack of offense, the amount of playing time for Jerryd Bayless or even Joel Embiid taking too many three's, there's not a whole lot to be frustrated about when it comes to Ben Simmons. After sitting out an entire year with a foot fracture, Simmons has come in and been very effective even without a jump shot. Through three games, the former LSU product is averaging 15.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and six assists, shooting just under 43 percent from the floor. It seems Ben has gotten more and more comfortable each game as the rookie event knocked down a pair of pull-up jumpers against Toronto on Monday. Despite his impressive numbers to start, Simmons is focused on the bigger picture.
"I'd rather have a win, honestly," Simmons told reporters on Monday. "I'd rather have three wins than double-doubles."
Simmons is second player with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in each of his first three career games in NBA history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The schedule doesn't get easier…
During the first three games of the season, Philadelphia has faced the No. 1, 3 and 4 seeds from last year's Eastern Conference playoffs. The Sixers could have won at least one of these games, but haven't yet and that's okay. If you trusted the process to this point, you have to give this team time to develop chemistry and gel. Hopefully they take a step in the right direction in a winnable game tonight in Detroit.
Through the months of October and November, the Sixers have the most difficult schedule in the NBA. They play Houston twice in the next week, Golden State twice in November while also hosting Cleveland and Boston next month too. November includes a five-game road swing out West as the team plays 10 of its first 14 games on the road.
Last season, even with Embiid to start, they went 0-7 and 4-18 through the first 22 games. Not good. After they had time to develop and gel, though, things clicked and they put together an 11-5 month of January and finished the season with 18 more wins than the previous year.
Is it time to be concerned about Fultz?
Over the first three games of the season, one of the biggest storyline's has been about the drastic change to Markelle Fultz's shot mechanics, making him a much less effective weapon on offense than he was drafted for originally. During his time at Washington, Fultz would handle the ball and try to find an open shot and he aksi wouldn't hesitate to let it fly when he got the ball passed to him on the perimeter. So, what's changed? Jury's still out on that.
The free throw aspect is frustrating, but Fultz was a 65 percent shooter from the stripe in college, so you take what you can get. The issue here is that Fultz is not taking jumpers when he has the opportunity. It's like he doesn't even think about it. Instead of using the open floor to shoot the ball, Fultz has gotten the ball in open space, penetrated into the paint and passed it to one of his teammates. PhillyVoice.com took a look into some of these examples, while also focusing on some positives from his game so far. Fultz seemed to be successful when being used as the primary ball-handler off the bench rather than playing off ball to Ben Simmons on Monday.
Whether it's his shoulder injury, a mental block or just the rookie transition, you'd hope that with his talent at 19 years old, Fultz will figure it out over time. How much time that takes remains to be seen.
Scouting the Pistons
The Pistons finished last season four games out of the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, going 37-45. Detroit didn't do a whole lot at all to add to their team in the offseason, drafting Luke Kennard with the 12th overall pick in the draft and not signing any free agents. Last time out, the Pistons staged a comeback to erase 21-point deficit on Saturday to beat the Knicks. Here are some quick early notes on Detroit's team:
- Tobias Harris is off to a hot start, averaging 24.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, shooting 55.8 percent overall and 47.1 percent from beyond the arc.
- Pistons' center Andre Drummond is already averaging a double-double on the season with 12.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, shooting 55.2 percent.
- Point guard Reggie Jackson is averaging 16.7 points, 6.7 assists and four rebounds per game, but is shooting under 40 percent to start the season.
- Former Sixer Ish Smith is playing just under 20 minutes per game over the first three contests, averaging a solid 8.7 points and four assists off the bench
Projected Lineups
| Matchup Preview | October 23, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
@ |  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia 76ers (0-3, 0-2 Away) |
Detroit Pistons (2-1, 1-0 Home) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Game Information
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Little Caesar's Arena, Detroit, Michigan
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Stream Live: NBC Sports Live App
