only two games, but sixers have defensive rating of ~102 when embiid is *off* the floor, which is slightly better than their defense last season when he was *on* the court
philly couldn't defend at all when embiid sat last season—horford (and to a lesser degree guys like richardson and thybulle) should shore up those wild swings
philly could be vulnerable against quick teams who spread the floor, but have smothered 3-point attempts so far. BOS and DET were 5th and 6th in 3PAs last season (~35.5 per game average). sixers held them to 22.5 average
redick's defensive on/off numbers were camouflaged by sharing so many minutes with embiid, but i think people will be *shocked* by how bad he is on that side of the floor this season
not trying to roast jj, but sixers were only able to afford the luxury of a unitasker shooter because of fantastic team defenders like embiid, simmons and covington. they don't have to work around him anymore (offensively, it's a different story)
mixed feelings about thybulle's offense. not convinced he can do anything—8 FGAs in 45 minutes, 12.5% FG, 3 assists, 5 TOs—but he doesn't try to. his 11.6% usage would have ranked 5th lowest in entire NBA last season (aside specialists like iggy and pj)
thankfully, matisse is only taking layups and 3s. dunno if he can reliably shoot from deep, but his 1-8 start would be more concerning if he was interested in attempting shitty shots
