The Philadelphia 76ers are getting set to begin the second half on Thursday when they take on the Chicago Bulls on the road. However, they are dealing with a lot of issues pertaining to the league’s health and safety protocols when it comes to their star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

The two of them had to miss Sunday’s All-Star game in Atlanta due to contact tracing with a barber testing positive for COVID after he cut their hair before they went to Atlanta for the festivities.

As the second half gets set to begin, the Sixers are ranked third in ESPN’s latest edition of their power rankings:

The Sixers know what they’re going to get from Joel Embiid, who is arguably the NBA’s best center, and certainly is their most dominant low-post presence. But Simmons has recently turned up his level of aggression at the offensive end, and it has made a notable difference. The most eye-popping display of this came against the Utah Jazz last month, in a game in which Embiid didn’t play and Simmons scored a career-high 42 points. But it also has happened plenty when Embiid has shared the court with him in recent games. And when Simmons is aggressive like that, using his singular combination of size and strength to attack the defense, Philadelphia becomes a different team. Embiid deservedly gets the most attention. But Simmons’ offense could be what ultimately determines just how high Philadelphia’s ceiling is.

The Sixers begin the second half on the road against the Bulls on Thursday and then the Wahington Wizards on Friday as the schedule begins to get more compact and games come at an even faster pace.

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