Embiid unhappy with 76ers' defensive effort when he plays with Okafor

The Philadelphia 76ers' overcrowded frontcourt is reaching a critical tipping point.

The problem all boils down to deposed general manager Sam Hinkie taking three centers in consecutive drafts. That created a logjam that currently sees Nerlens Noel out of the rotation (and increasingly frustrated), Jahlil Okafor playing out of position for a second straight year at power forward, and star rookie Joel Embiid losing trust in his beloved process.

Embiid vented his frustrations over the defensively inept pairing with Okafor following Friday's loss to the struggling Los Angeles Lakers. Continuing a trend from last season, Okafor proved incapable of checking power forwards on the perimeter.

"I thought we had a bad defensive game. I’m the type of guy, if I play defense, I want everybody around me to do the same," Embiid told Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly. "I think the whole team needs to do a better job, especially when the coach wants to play Jah and I at the same time."

"We’ve got a lot to work on to be able to play together," he added.

The lineup data from Friday's game corroborated with Embiid's critique of the incompatible frontcourt pairing with Okafor. The Sixers were outscored by 13 when both centers shared the court as compared to the plus-11 mark posted when Embiid took the floor with a true power forward like Ersan Ilyasova or Dario Saric.

Having seen this same pattern play out with the Noel and Okafor pairing last season, head coach Brett Brown wasn't surprised to see the twin towers lineup struggle.

"Never from the start to the finish did you feel like you were in any type of rhythm or flow," Brown said. "It doesn't really surprise me. It saddens me, but it doesn't surprise me."

The shortfall, however, circles back to roster construction rather than Brown's schematics. The team is well aware that the frontcourt situation is untenable, but so long as Philadelphia employs three young centers, they'll need some way to find them playing time, which is forcing them into awkward lineup combinations.