Sixers' Ben Simmons shines in Joel Embiid's homecoming

KANSAS CITY – Ben Simmons had one of those y'all-came-to-see-Joel-Embiid-but-don't-forget-about-me games.

The 76ers point guard dominated play in what was a homecoming for Embiid, who played for Kansas during the 2013-14 season. Simmons finished with 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting as the Sixers beat the Miami Heat, 119-95, at the Sprint Center.

The rookie also finished with seven rebounds, five assists and one blocked shot.

'I just felt comfortable," Simmons said. "My mind was right. I let myself feel into the game. I came through."

J.J. Redick finished with 19 points while making five of six three-pointers. Meanwhile, Embiid didn't come close to duplicating his 22-point effort in his preseason debut on Wednesday.

On Friday, he had five points on 1-for-7 shooting. He did have seven rebounds, one assist and one block in 14 minutes, 33 seconds.

"I was a little bit try to force a little bit too much," Embiid said of playing in front of Kansas fans.

According to sources, the Sixers (2-3) informed Emeka Okafor, Kris Humphries and James Blackmon Jr. following the game.

But while Embiid had his homecoming, Markelle Fultz and Amir Johnson sat out the final tune-up for the regular season. Reserve center Richaun Holmes also remained sidelined with a fractured left wrist.

Johnson, a reserve center/power forward, sprained an ankle Oct. 3 and missed the preseason opener the following day.

Fultz has played in two of the five preseason games. The point guard missed the last two games with right knee soreness. The first pick in the June draft also was sidelined Oct. 6 with right shoulder soreness.

Sixers coach Brett Brown acknowledged that he's concerned about Fultz missing so much court time.

"To say he's going to jump in and play at a high level with that limited amount of preparation, of course [I'm concerned]," Brown said. "Then you pile on he's just 19 years old, of course.

"But that's OK. We have a long lens. Our vision line is long. This isn't something that we feel that we have to solve the world's problem on opening night, especially with him."

Fultz is trying to keep up by watching and evaluating games.

"I look at my teammates and see where they like catching the ball," he said.

He also gets to view the mistakes his teammates make and try to learn from them.

"I know part of the process of just getting back out there, you have to go through stuff like this and still learn," Fultz said.

But Brown hopes Embiid can progress to playing 32 minutes per game in January. Friday was his second straight appearance after being sidelined the past eight months due to a torn meniscus in his left knee. He didn't start practicing full-court, five-on-five until Oct. 5.

"Given what he's been through, I think he's exceeded my expectations," Brown said in reference to Embiid being as ready as he could be for the regular season.

"But you start talking about legitimately the start of the year, preseason isn't even close to what the NBA season is," he added. "The NBA season isn't even close to what the playoffs are. So you can't tricked by preseason."

The Sixers will have a better idea how far along Embiid is during their season opener at the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

By then, the Sixers roster will be set.

Monday is the official deadline for teams to trim their rosters to 15 full-time players and two additional players to two-way contracts for the regular season.  Two-way players will go back and forth from the NBA to the G-League, formerly the NBA Development League.

The Sixers signed James Michael McAdoo to one of those two-way deals. Don't be surprised if Jacob Pullen gets signed to the other two-way deal..

"If I get an opportunity, I'm taking it," Pullen said before the game. "I feel like the coaching staff likes me. I feel like the management likes me."

The point guard spent the past six years playing professionally overseas. He signed with the Sixers with the hope of living out his NBA dream.

"I made a few dollars overseas," Pullen said. "I'm not hurting. So I deal with going that route just to get where I want to be."