It wasn’t exactly a secret that the 76ers had a team meeting Monday night after falling to 2-11 — they didn’t open the locker room until about an hour after the game and didn’t speak to the media until then.
But what got Joel Embiid and Paul George fired up is that some of the details of that meeting were leaked. One of those details was Tyrese Maxey telling Embiid that the former MVP needs to set a better example by showing up on time to team meetings and events, a small thing that made headlines at the meeting. Embiid took responsibility for needing to set the tone, but was upset that he became the story.
Joel Embiid when asked about the details that emerged from Monday’s team meeting: “Whoever leaked that is a piece of shit. But even then, we talked about a lot of things. I don’t want to go into detail, but the whole thing probably took 30 seconds.”
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell.bsky.social) 2024-11-21T05:22:49.066Z
It wasn’t just Embiid who was upset, on “Podcast P with Paul George”, The 76ers wing echoed Embiid’s sentiments.
“That conversation should never have leaked, period. It wasn’t even like it was a meeting that went in this direction of the blame game or confronting people to such an extent. You know what I mean? That it should never have gotten out.” period, whether you want to think so for motivational reasons for the media or not, it wasn’t the type of conversation to leak. I see there were two guys attacking each other and arguing loudly and it was heard and then something leaked, but it wasn’t that type of energy, so I don’t know why or how it leaked.”
The details of these closed-door meetings always end up in the media, and usually in the same way: After it’s over, the players call their agents to talk (or vent) about it, and then it’s the agents who bring things up to the media. their player in the best light. Occasionally, a player or coach will reveal things for strategic reasons, but either way, the content of the meeting tends to leak out.
The idea of Maxey calling Embiid was over the top — welcome to social media — but it also fit the pattern of what we heard from behind those closed doors. Embiid reportedly said no at one point
fully understand what the team was trying to do offensively, while other players told Nick Nurse they wanted to be coached harder. It sounded like a mixture of frustration and organizational dysfunction. There are plenty of new players, a top-tier roster with three stars who have played just six minutes combined this season (and he won’t add at least a few more games to that total with George suffering another bone bruise), role players who didn’t start and it led to the worst offense in the league so far.
Start winning and there will be no more need for these team meetings or the stress of escaping them.