What's Been Happening?

Quick point of order--I work a full-time job and have other personal obligations to fulfill on a regular basis, so breaking stories as soon as they happen is not exactly feasible for me, as I have realized in recent weeks. To that end, I've decided to start a new weekly series where I briefly summarize major bullet points for the Sixers. Tentatively, this section, as you see above, is dubbed 'What's Been Happening?' That's weak and generic, but it's all I've got for now. Get it? Got it? Good.

Now let's get to some news...

Second half schedule released

The NBA revealed the second half schedules for all teams on Wednesday afternoon. The Sixers will play 36 games (17 home, 19 away) and have 9 back-to-back sets and three more miniseries.

The Sixers play their last game of the 'first half' of the season March 3 against the Jazz before the All-Star break. When regular season play resumes on March 11, they will be thrown right back into the fire with five games in seven nights, including a road back-to-back at Chicago and Washington right out of the gate.

They end their season hosting Orlando in a miniseries on May 14 and 16.

Sixers will send two to All-Star game

Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will be representing the Sixers in this year's All-Star game on March 7 in Atlanta. It will be the duo's third consecutive year making the roster together, and for Embiid specifically it will be his fourth straight appearance, all as a starter. Allen Iverson (2000-2006) was the last Sixer to start four straight All-Star games.

Embiid could have been chalked in weeks ago. The big man has arguably been the most dominant two-way force in the league this season, and is at the top of many reputable analysts' MVP lists at this juncture of the season. His stat line reads like a 2K glitch--29.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists in just 32.9 minutes per game. The scoring is coming on career best efficiency (56.0 eFG% and 65.2 TS%, both towering above his previous bests of 51.7 and 59.3), and he's also up to career highs in PER (30.7), BPM (8.0) and WS/48 (.274). If that reads like nonsense to you, trust me when I say it is patently ridiculous.

Simmons is a bit more surprising of a selection. Not that he isn't having a strong season--15.7, 8.3, and 7.9 plus the most versatile defense in the league make for a high impact player--but in some ways, he's been a bit disappointing. The scoring average is a career low, and at times he has seemed to struggle with his place in the offense. There were two reserve slots for guards and two wildcard positions available.

Neither Trae Young (27.0 PPG) and Russell Westbrook (just 0.3 assists and 0.3 rebounds shy of averaging a triple double, and coming off six straight All-Star appearances) would have been a surprising choice. Other guys like Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, and Malcolm Brogdon have cases too. As for the wildcard pool, Khris Middleton is having another tremendous year, Domantas Sabonis has improved across the board from last year's All-Star berth, and other candidates exist as well. Hell, his own teammate Tobias Harris, in the midst of a career year, could maybe have been shown a bit more love.

Note that I am not saying Simmons didn't deserve it--his across the board impact is greater than any of the names I just listed--but it just would not have been surprising had he been passed over for someone else. Perhaps he reaped the benefit of his own name recognition and playing for the team with the Eastern Conference's best record.

Rivers to coach ASG

Perhaps this could have been lumped into the previous section, but Doc Rivers will be the bench boss for the Eastern Conference during the All-Star game. This will be his third time coaching the world's most high profile pickup game, having previously led the East in 2008 and 2011. Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz (25-6) will match up against him for the West. The coach of each conference's best team gets the gig.

Rivers will coach Team Durant, as Kevin Durant will captain the team since he led the conference in fan voting.

Of course, Rivers doesn't seem to give much of a damn about the All-Star game.

My kind of coach.

Joe in the rotation over Korkmaz?

Last night's 5-triple, 19-point showing notwithstanding, Furkan Korkmaz could be in danger of losing his rotation to rookie second rounder. Prior to the 28 minutes he'd received against the Raptors, the fourth-year Turkish guard had averaged just 13.2 minutes per contest, including a mere 2:13 only one game ago.

Isaiah Joe had 12:28 in that game.

It isn't hard to see the logic here. Korkmaz has struggled mightily this season (7.5 points on 37.7 shooting) after a career year just a season ago. The floor-spacing he theoretically provides is, well, entirely theoretical at this point (32.6% from three this year even after going 5-for-11 last night). Mix in what can charitably described as porous defense and virtually no playmaking ability to speak of, why wouldn't he be in danger of losing his job?

Joe hasn't been spectacular in his limited run (4.4 points on 36.4% shooting), but the shooting looks good. His arching shot seems more workable than Korkmaz's line drive stroke, and for what it's worth, he is shooting 37.3% on threes. And despite the size difference (Joe stands 6'4", 165 to Korkmaz's 6'7", 202), he seems to play with a bit of a defensive conscience.