Looking at the Sixers’ NBA 2K21 ratings

With the way things are going lately on the Philadelphia basketball scene, it’s nice to imagine a world where you can call the shots instead of Team Front Office Collaboration. If that’s your wish, you can enjoy controlling the action on NBA 2K21, which released on Friday.

Like so many things in 2020, the latest 2K release is strange in that the real NBA season is still underway. Usually, we would have a new batch of rookies and free agent signings shaking up the in-game rosters. This year, plenty of players are on rosters who have likely played their last games in those jerseys. Let’s take a look at what the game has in store for our Sixers, courtesy of 2kratings.com.

The Sixers are listed as a Tier 1 team, which buckets them among the top 10 teams in the league. Honestly, it’s just nice that someone still views this roster as a Tier 1 team, as I don’t think anyone in Philadelphia does any longer. Philadelphia’s 81 overall rating is tied with seven other teams for fourth-best in the NBA, behind Brooklyn (83), the Clippers (83), and Milwaukee (82).

Here is the breakdown for each Sixer’s overall rating:

Joel Embiid: 91

Ben Simmons: 87

Tobias Harris: 84

Al Horford: 80

Josh Richardson: 80

Alec Burks: 77

Matisse Thybulle: 75

Shake Milton: 75

Furkan Korkmaz: 75

Glenn Robinson III: 75

Kyle O’Quinn: 74

Raul Neto: 73

Mike Scott: 72

Ryan Broekhoff: 72

Norvel Pelle: 71

Zhaire Smith: 70

Marial Shayok: 67

Embiid’s 91 rating is identical to his final rating from the NBA 2K20 game, whereas Simmons has dropped slightly from 88 to 87. Joel is ranked 10th among all NBA players, while Ben clocks in at 24th. I particularly love Embiid’s archetype designation of “Paint Beast,” which makes me think of his lion tall tale. I don’t have any major quibbles with the ratings as a whole.

Out of nowhere, Ryan Broekhoff has the team’s highest 3-Point rating at 84. The Sixers sure could have used his sharpshooting in the Bubble. Korkmaz and Robinson III are next at 83 each, with Neto right behind at 82. Tobias Harris is the only starter with a 3-Point rating of at least 80 (he’s at 80 exactly). #Spacing

Glenn Robinson III, the 2017 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner, has the best Driving Dunk rating on the team at 93. Zhaire Smith is next at 90, followed by Ben Simmons at 87. Funny how the Sixers’ top three dunkers were all injured by the end of the season.

Have fun hitting the virtual hardwood with the Sixers. You’re bound to have better luck than the real-life version.