Joel Embiid reacts to moves made by Sixers at the trade deadline
· Yahoo Sports
LOS ANGELES -- After the Philadelphia 76ers fell to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, star big man Joel Embiid was ready to face the media. Mere hours after a somewhat disappointing trade deadline for the Sixers, the big fella was ready to give his thoughts on what happened.
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To recap, the Sixers made only two moves at the deadline. They traded away young guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for picks while Eric Gordon was moved to the Memphis Grizzlies for a future pick swap. No player was acquired by the Sixers at the deadline.
Embiid had recently pleaded to the front office to improve the team and not duck the tax. Well, the trades allowed Philadelphia to get under the luxury tax and that's about it. With a concerned member of the team's public relations staff looking on, Embiid gave his thoughts on the deadline.
"I don't remember what I said a couple weeks ago," Embiid laughed while looking at the PR member. "But the only thing I said is I believe in myself. I believe in Tyrese (Maxey). I believe in everybody in this locker room. The main thing is, I believe in ourselves. So, no matter what, we're gonna go out there and complete and still try to win it."
To refresh Embiid's, and everybody else's memory, the big fella said:
"Obviously, we've been ducking the tax the last couple of years, so hopefully we keep the same team," Embiid said. "I love all the guys that are here. I think we got a shot. So, hopefully—I don't know what they're gonna do, but I hope that at least we got a chance to just go out and compete because we got a good group of guys in this locker room, and vibes are great."
Despite not making any real moves at the deadline, Embiid seems more than motivated to get the Sixers to the playoffs and then a deep run into the postseason. Philadelphia hasn't made it past Round 2 since 2001, and while Embiid would have liked some more help in that regard, it didn't happen.
Now, Embiid will look to move forward, and keep things moving in the right direction while they await the return of Paul George from his 25-game suspension.
"I believe in myself, so I'm always gonna believe I have a chance as long as I'm healthy," Embiid stated. "I believe that we can beat anybody. Obviously, you gotta win as a team. So, my goal is to also bring everybody along. Obviously, we hold down the fort until PG comes back because he's really needed and he's irreplaceable. So yeah, just got to keep trying to get better, but to answer your question, I believe in myself, so I'm always gonna believe I have a chance whenever I'm healthy."
The Sixers will move forward on Saturday when they take on the Phoenix Suns to continue the road trip.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Joel Embiid reacts to moves made by Sixers at the trade deadline