By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
For the first time this season on Wednesday night, we got to see Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor start together and while it may have been exciting to think about before tip-off, we quickly learned that it may not be for the best. Sure, playing the two at points when it makes sense is all good and well, but there's not a whole lot of logic to having Embiid on the perimeter, away from the area of the floor that he is most effective, especially since he is the guy at center moving forward. But, whether we like it or not, this is the situation for the time being.
On Friday, things will get even more interesting with Nerlens Noel expected to return.
The pairing of Okafor and Embiid also brought this big man logjam to a somewhat very concerning light. While Okafor seemed to excel, Embiid wasn't very active on the offensive or defensive end and keep in mind, this is without Nerlens Noel in the picture. Jahlil finished with 17 points, nine of which game in the first quarter, while Embiid finished with a season-low nine points on just six shots to go along with six rebounds, a career-high five assists and two blocks. Although the pairing creating some spacing and matchup issues, Embiid didn't make his first shot until the second quarter, which is concerning for the teams' leading scorer.
“I think for once, since I've been a Sixer, I didn't trust the process tonight,” Embiid told reporters after Wednesday's loss to the Raptors. “I was just standing. I wasn't moving. I was just standing on the perimeter. I wasn't active on defense.” [CSNPhilly.com]
Embiid was a little beat up coming into the game. He missed Sunday's game in Detroit with elbow inflammation, he sprained his ankle in pre-game warmups and then he was hit in the face on a play that resulted in a bloody nose and even dove into the crowd chasing after a lose ball.
We've only gotten a small taste of the Embiid and Okafor starting lineup and Brett Brown says he definitely plans to use the two together when the matchups present themselves and it won't hurt the team.
"I am inclined to try that,” Brown said. “If teams present it where it's clearly, responsible is a word that keeps coming to my mind, where we're not hurting the team. This balance of developing our guys and experimenting and truly seeing what do we have. What do we have? That's my job, draped under we want to win games. So that is a slippery slope, that's a funky line to walk sometimes. I do want to do it. We want to continue to try this.” [CSNPhilly.com]
On Friday, the Sixers will likely have Nerlens Noel back in the picture, so Brown will have a difficult task juggling minutes while also having to deal with the playing time of guys like Ersan Ilyasova and Dario Saric.
Speaking of those two, the starting pair of Embiid and Okafor had each of their court time cut down with Ilyasova tallying 23 minutes of action and Saric playing just 13. While Ilyasova may not be a future piece for the Sixers, the Saric situation is another concerning aspect of this big man surplus. Saric was shifted to the three, where he has to guard quicker players and be removed from the post area, a place he has succeeded this season. The 22-year-old forward missed his only two shots and had five personal fouls in his limited minutes played, which may have also been why he wasn't on the court as much. His game doesn't really seem to fit into the NBA's three spot. Dario isn't quite quick enough and other teams can take advantage of that when he's on the floor in that position.
While Ilyasova still managed to score 12 and grab seven rebounds off the bench, since joining the Sixers, he's been a big part of the teams' scoring threat and taking him out of the starting lineup doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We know this year is yet another one for development, but it's clear that they are right up there in lot of games with good teams. Ilyasova has been a big part of raising the level of competition, averaging 14.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in 22 games as a Sixer. Coming off the bench clips about six minutes of playing time from the veteran forward and this season with Philadelphia he's shooting 47.6 percent as a starter and 40.6 as a reserve. While he may not complain, having him paired with Embiid seemed to work and at this point, putting Embiid in the best situation to succeed is the most logical move.
All of this begs the question – what do the Sixers do when Ben Simmons returns? With so many guys 6-foot-10 and over, it's only a matter of time before frustration and discontent arises from young players that may not be getting the playing time they believe to deserve. Nerlens Noel has expressed his concern with the roster, Jahlil Okafor has been taking it in stride thus, but for the first time this season, Joel Embiid did not "trust the process".
We'll get a better idea of how the team plans to utilize their big men on Friday, when the Sixers host the Lakers on ESPN.
