The Most Troubling Part of the Sixers' Offense Without Joel Embiid

Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Sixers are cratering without Joel Embiid.

They barely treaded water early in the season without him. But, as of late, the Sixers aren't even breaching the surface.

Their 102.5 points scored per 100 possessions over their last three games—all without Embiid—ranks 27th in the NBA, per Cleaning The Glass (CTG).

The only teams whose offenses have been more anemic during that time? The Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls—who have combined to go 1-9 over the same stretch and all of whom are tanking.

In that same stretch, Philadelphia's effective field goal percentage is 46.3 percent, ranking 29th in the league, per CTG.

The Sixers have never and will never be a face of efficient shot diet in the NBA as long as Embiid is on the team. But they were getting away with some positive regression on threes early on, when Embiid was both missing games and on a heavy minute restriction.

Through their first 15 games of the season, the team shot 37.8 percent from deep. Philadelphia was seventh in the league in three-point percentage.

Since then? 24th in the league at 34.6 percent from three.

They gave themselves a chance on offense because they shot above their heads from beyond the arc. Luck was involved. And as the Sixers have settled in as a downright bad three-point-shooting team, everyone is seeing just how stuck they are without Embiid in the equation.

Beatdowns at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers and New York Knicks and a messy affair with the Atlanta Hawks drew flashbacks to last season's lifelessness.

Is the problem getting fixed entirely? There is no logical reason to believe that can happen. The personnel is what it is. It will once again require shooting luck.

"We got to play a little faster."

But can it get better at all? Everyone must learn to crawl before they walk. The local basketball team is no different. It starts with the low-hanging fruit, the things that are mandatory on a night-to-night basis to manufacture a passable offense without Embiid and Paul George.

"I think I'd start with just transition. We got to play a little faster. We got to attack more just coming up the floor. I think Tyrese [Maxey], obviously, VJ, Q, Kelly, all have the ability to come up the floor and hit the paint and draw two defenders just initially," Nick Nurse told reporters after Thursday's loss to the Hawks.

"We got to get some early offense so everything's not a grinding, late-shot-clock type of situation because that's just putting yourself in a tough spot."

"Just movement. If we move more, we'll get more opportunities, better opportunities. Instead of having to end in an iso. So if we just move, keep playing," VJ Edgecombe contributed. "I think that's all, to be honest. Just got to keep moving, man."

Ultimately, everyone can point to something. The bottom line is that the plane doesn't fly without both of its engines working together. "We miss Joel," Edgecombe reiterated six times while answering a postgame question on Thursday:

VJ Edgecombe on the #Sixers struggles without Embiid:

"We miss Joel, it's that simple. He's a walking 30 points, he's a big presence, he requires so much gravity. So now all the attention is on Tyrese and we have to make his job easier."

Embiid missed his third straight game. pic.twitter.com/GbNoliGPbx
— Sixers On SI (@SixersOnSI) February 20, 2026

"Joel is a huge part of the offense. You take someone like that out of the team and you're definitely going to see a significant change," Adem Bona added.

"But I think without him on the floor, we try to play a little bit fast, try to move the ball. Not having Joel, it's completely different because he's a huge part of the offense. So we just try to play a little bit faster, move the ball and get down the floor quicker without Joel on the floor."

The most troubling part of all?

They seem aligned on what needs to improve, and yet it hasn't.

The pace and movement are concerning. Take this possession early in the Hawks game as an example:

Trendon Watford, standing at the top of the key with the ball in his hands and Jock Landale guarding him in isolation, has to motion to teammates to move and do something so that the possession can develop. This was the 55th game of the season. pic.twitter.com/ZHaCOX9yAM
— Austin Krell’s Film Room (@AKFilmRoom) February 20, 2026

This should be way more intuitive 55 games into the season. These are not new teammates. Quentin Grimes coming to set a ball screen for Trendon Watford should be a snappy continuation of what transpired one movement before.

It doesn't have to be Grimes, either. Bona, a non-shooter, could've flashed high to pick for Watford, dragging Mouhamed Gueye out of the paint and opening up alleys to the rim with both Hawks bigs lifted in coverage.

It could even be Watford initiating a DHO with someone. But just standing there against the shot clock is unacceptable.

You can manufacture pace in two seconds. That stagnance is a failure of preparation and awareness on everyone from players to coaching staff.

But perhaps the quintessence of the problem is this possession:

This is the shot the Sixers get with 75 seconds to go and trailing by 7 points. Four guys standing and "spacing". pic.twitter.com/tkh2kbUWvU
— Austin Krell’s Film Room (@AKFilmRoom) February 20, 2026

Four blue jerseys standing and watching. Edgecombe, who expressed that movement needs to be better after this game, is standing and watching one pass away after giving the ball to Maxey.

Why not come screen for Maxey and see if it forces a switch or gets him a downhill opportunity? Why is Oubre in the dunker spot and Andre Drummond spaced to the corner on the side of Maxey's more dominant hand?

At least in this scenario, it was all but telegraphed that the Sixers needed a three. But if they got into something quicker, it could've been a fast two to cut the deficit to five with over a minute to play.

The step-back 28-footer over a ballhawk in Dyson Daniels was all too enticing, I suppose.

Whatever the case may be, there are clearly opportunities to manufacture offense. The Sixers all seem to know what needs to happen. They can drape their hopes and dreams on Embiid, as they've done for almost a decade. They can use having to play multiple roles as an excuse. Or they can go out and do something to make it better.