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Philadelphia 76ers Have Their Own Magic and Kareem

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar duo brought the Lakers five championships in the 1980’s, now the Philadelphia 76ers have the making of a similar pairing now.

“The Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers were the part of a pinnacle of NBA basketball in the 1980s. Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the Lakers organization to five championships during the decade. Without having both Magic and Kareem, the Lakers would have never been gotten their rings. The Philadelphia 76ers are in a similar situation that the Lakers where at the beginning of the 1980’s. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can easily emulate Magic and Kareem respectively for the Sixers.

Ben Simmons and Magic Johnson are almost the same height and have similar skill sets. I mentioned this in a earlier article, and I still old true to the idea that Simmons could become the face of the league based on these similarities. Simmons has not played a minute in the NBA yet, so there is no way to compare his stats against Magic’s, but if Simmons’ summer league and college stats are any indication, the Philadelphia 76ers do have their point guard of the future in him.

Simmons will be the Magic Johnson of the Sixers, because of his position, height and skill set. Simmons might not be the same exact similar enough to be put into the conversation.

Joel Embiid monsters over most of NBA contemporaries just like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did during his time in the NBA. Embiid is in a similar boat as Simmons, in that, he has not played a minute in the NBA so their are no stats to compare to Kareem’s. Kareem was known for his plethora of post moves and his defense. Embiid should be able to produce similarly on defense based on his physical gifts, but what about offensively.

In the video above it can be clearly seen that Embiid could realistically have a similar offensive impact that Kareem could have. This is not to say that Embiid is a carbon copy of Kareem, but that Embiid could be the Kareem of the duo.

There is a lot of promise and hope put into both Simmons and Embiid. Comparing them to Magic and Kareem might be a lot of pressure to put on the young big men, but they could more than meet the challenge. Once they begin playing with each other, it will be a lot easier to see the projection of the two young players careers.

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