The 76ers’ hopes of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals were dashed in Wednesday’s thrilling 114-112 game-five defeat, despite Embiid and Dario Saric each contributing 27 points to the cause.
There were high hopes for the 76ers heading into the NBA playoffs after a campaign that yielded 52 victories in the regular season and a first playoff series win since 2012 – a round-one triumph against the Miami Heat.
It did not pan out quite as the 76ers had hoped, but Embiid insists the future is bright for a talented and youthful Philadelphia side.
Speaking about a moment where Simmons approached him with his empty hands, Embiid said: “He was like ’there’s going to be a lot of rings on these'.
“We have a bright future. We’re going to be fine.
“I feel like we had more [to show]. We got a lot of talented guys; we didn’t play our best.
“We feel like when everybody is on, we’re unbeatable. We committed a lot of mistakes [in the series]. We’ve got to learn from it.”
Simmons echoed those sentiments, but the Australian believes he can take a lot of positives from the series defeat.
“The feeling right now is I didn’t want to be done. I feel like I had a lot more to go,” he said.
“I’m just learning, this is just the start for me, I have a long way to go. So, second series and I’m learning, there’s a lot of things I learned this series that I didn’t against Miami so that makes me a better player, so I’m grateful for those opportunities.”
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