Is There A Growing Disconnect Within The Sixers?

By Kevin McCormick, Sports Talk Philly Editor

To say the Sixers are going through a rough patch right now would be an understatement. Monday night the Sixers were steamrolled out of the gym by former teammate Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. These bad string of losses has everyone wondering the same thing, what is going on with the Sixers?

This team just does not have it right now. They have lacked all kinds of effort on the floor and teams are making them pay for it. It started when the team traveled to Atlanta and let the Hawks run all over them, then traveled to Boston where they just looked disinterested and were blown out by a Kemba-less Celtics team. 

There is no one thing right now that you can point to and say that is causing the Sixers woes right now. Whether you want to say it’s the coach, players, roster construction, or style of play. All of those things are variables, but one thing that can easily be changed is effort and it has just not happened.

It looks like there could be cracks growing within the team right now. This video from last night’s game is a clear example of this. In the huddle during a timeout, Brett Brown is trying to rally the team to try and get back in the game. Only the players look like they are not listening, not caring, and some even get up before he is even finished talking. That is not a great sign for a team that is supposed to be in the title hunt this year. 

At Sixers game in Miami, Brett Brown trying to get his team going #Sixers pic.twitter.com/mzAzDsDaMG

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) February 4, 2020

Things did not get better after the game ended either. When talking to the media after the game it seemed that the blame game might start being played with the Sixers. Ben Simmons came out and said that the team as a whole just played soft. But others were a little more direct. 

Brett Brown discussed his reasoning of why Joel Embiid only attempted one shot in the third quarter, but at the end, he almost takes a slight jab at his All-Star center. Bringing up a lack of offensive rebounding from Embiid. 

Brett Brown reacts why Joel Embiid only took 1 shot in the 3Q #Sixers pic.twitter.com/PysqqKoXjR

— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) February 4, 2020

Joel Embiid later got his chance to speak on that same situation and almost takes a jab back at the coach. He mostly deflects, saying that it is more on the players than the coaches. But brings up that if you want to get someone the ball that you can. 

Joel Embiid responds to Brett Brown saying that the zone bothered him. He disagreed on that notion. #Sixers pic.twitter.com/wpdzddrExu

— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) February 4, 2020

Although this is only a small sample after one bad loss, it should still bring caution. If there is a growing disdain between players and coaches this team is going to implode. 

Hopefully with the trade deadline this week the addition of some new faces can help swing things with this team. They are all going to have to come together if they still want to be competing in June.