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With Joel Embiid returning, will 76ers build toward playoff success? | The Kevin O'Connor Show

Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor and Adam Mares discuss Joel Embiid's return to the 76ers lineup and if Philadelphia will develop other options outside of relying solely on their star. Hear the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

All right, Adam on Tuesday night, Joel Abe is gonna make his return this season.

The Sixers are gonna be without Tyrese Maxey.

So we're not gonna see the Sixers at full strength either, but am beed is returning.

What are you gonna be watching for first in Abe's return?

Well, first of all, just how healthy he is, you know, to see what he looks like.

It, it's, I think probably underappreciated.

We all saw the first week of the season.

The Thunder were locked in the, the Celtics were locked in but most teams were a little clunky.

It takes like a week to kind of get into the flow.

You're now hopping into a league that's 10 games in three weeks in.

You're almost certainly going to be out of shape and just your rhythm is off.

So how far behind is he?

Can he walk right in and dominate?

That's number one.

But my big question for the 76ers and it's my big question for M bead and it's a little bit what we just talked about with Luca, but I think it's more extreme for M bead.

We know MB can be as dominant as any player in the history of the game getting to the foul line, everybody flattening out, doing your thing and shooting the jumper.

Maybe you get into the post, you back a guy down, you draw a foul, whatever, which that box is checked.

We've checked it, we checked it six years ago.

You can do that.

But as I said, when you get to the playoffs, teams now scheme for that, they overload, they force you to go somewhere else.

And if you haven't spent the entire season working on, what do we do when teams overload?

What is my two man game with Maxie?

What's my two man game with Paul George?

What's my three man game with Maxie and Cody Mar?

What is the thing that we do?

So, teams are overloading this, that sets up for that, that's the thing that I felt like I be and the 76ers have never focused on and I don't know why.

And then when you get to the playoffs, they just kind of look like they're stuck in the mud because they haven't built anything other than the m be dominant offense.

And so for me, I'm not necessarily looking for that on night one, but it's the question I have for the 76ers now it's health because they're starting behind the eight ball.

But aside from that, it's, are you gonna build something that pays off in the end or are you gonna collect a lot of wins doing one thing that we know every year.

If a team shuts that faucet off, there's nothing else for you to go to.

That's the big question.