Make me feel better about Joel Embiid

[Mik317]

I am a Sixer fan and I want no parts of Embiid's back and want Parker or Wiggins for us...

however, I do think Wiggins is probably the best fit for the Cavs IMO.

Wiggins would have to be a great scorer for the Bucks or Sixers from jump in most fans eyes. He is the prize of their respective tanks...and if Wiggins isn't ready to be that...I fear he will crumble under that pressure. Not to say he won't have any with the Cavs but with Kyrie and Waiters, he will be allowed to do what he is good at and fill the wings, get open looks off of them and not have to create on his own a lot. MCW might be able to do that or him too...but eh. Plus he is a known name, doesn't have the injury risks of Embiid.

however the whole 1st pick thing could also kill him if Parker or Embiid get off to great starts and the Cavs stumble again.

Embiid is a great fit too for a lot of the same reasons but his back is scary. Yeah he probably will be cleared...but what about a couple months into the season. It sucks to be scared of every time he jumps wondering if his back or knees will give out.

BUT if he pans out...you are an automatic contender. Having a big man that has any kind of talent changes so much. Its not a bigmans league anymore yeah...but thats why having one is such a great thing. Roy Hibbert sucks IMO..but since he is huge as ****, that space he takes up makes the Pacers tough to beat at times. Dwight Howard probably hasnt added much skill since his 3 or 4th season but his teams are almost always a threat. If Embiid is even half of what he can be..the Cavs will be lucky to have him for his first 7 years.

But there is some risks.

Glad it's not my team making the choice lol

[LloydFree]

You should feel good about Embiid because he is the best prospect to come out the past two drafts... by far. If you didn't get a sense of how good he is, just watch the part of his DX scouting video that concentrates on "Weaknesses", (around the 9 minute mark). Don't even look at his strengths. Then look at the "weaknesses" of Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Marcus Smart and Julius Randle. If watching that doesn't convince you Embiid is the prospect to pick #1, I don't know what will.

[FlightNumber23]

You all make good points and I'm starting to come around to Embiid. Like one poster said I guess I'm just afraid of him becoming a Tyson chandler type player. Not that he's bad but it's just that I wouldn't take him number one. I think where I'm getting caught up at with him is offense.i always expect a guy that goes number 1 to be able to be a 20ppg guy after a year it 2 and I guess it scares me that Embiid will never be a 20ppg guy like other elite bigs. I get that he will effect the game in so many other ways I'm just worried that since he's so skinny that hes just gonna get pushed around down low and not be able to really become a scoring threat. There's nothing wrong with that it's just that at number 1 overall that not something you want. I guess I just feel like we can get somebody that will have the same impact he will have in FA like Marc Gasol or Monroe or maybe I'm just being blindsided by elite wing players in today's basketball.

I might be wrong but I view wiggins as a Paul George type plAyer because hes an athletic SF who has good perimeter defense and doesn't require the ball in his hands to be effective and get his on offense. I view Embiid as a Hibbert type as well for the obvious reasons of defense and nimble around the rim with certain post moves. Then I think to myself who would I rather have on my team and which one accounts for most of the success of the pacers? George to me is the reason the pacers are where they are more than Hibbert. It's like if the pacers lost Hibbert they would still be a good team because I view Hibbert as more of a luxury because of his position and George as a necessity that makes them who they are.

[Marcus]

The problem with your theory is that wiggins isn't as advanced as George and embiid isn't as limited as hibbert.

Also Jo is 265 at the moment. It's not so much that he'll get pushed around because he's skinny. He'll get pushed around because he doesn't know how to use his weight. All that will come with time.

[Volcano]

A little bit OT, but I would categorize it as PF/C instead of C alone. The notion that bigs aren't as essential anymore is false imo.

Practically every championship team has had the best FC in the league. Miami is probably the only exception, but they only won after Lebron move from SF to PF and put Bosh at C. It wasn't conventional, which is a part of the reason why they struggled. Battier's decline had an effect on them too imo as you need more defensive players to absorb the deficiencies of small ball.

Then you have:
Duncan/Spurs dynasty - More recently, you can argue that Duncan/Splitter/Diaw have been the best FC rotation in the league, counting defense of course. If you count SF's that help on big men duties (rebounding, helping out in the paint), they may even have a bigger case with Kawhi.

Dallas - Dirk/TC/Marion - one of the best shooting bigs of all time + DPOY + elite role player

KG/Boston - KG injured in 2nd year and Perkins injured in Finals (next big man was an undersized PF in Bass). Could be looking at 3 rings if it wasn't for injuries.

Lakers/Gasol + Odom/Bynum - leagues ahead of any other FC in the league outside of Boston. Gasol had to play like the best big man in the league.

Detroit - Wallaces - anchoring one of the best defenses of all time, which is what won them a championship. Their offense was nothing to write home about and Billups/Prince, while good defenders, could never come close to the defensive impact of Ben. Ben was a historically good defensive C.

Lakers/Shaq - enough said

So looking at all these recent championship teams, big men are still essential whether it's a PF or C.

[FlightNumber23]

Maybe I compare Wiggins to George because thats his ceiling, i dont know. I always told myself that he will, at worst, be prime Andre Iguodala and more than likely a Paul George type a few years into his career. I view Embiid as worst case a current Deandre Jordan and best case Roy Hibbert with shooting range.

[Marcus]

Maybe I compare Wiggins to George because thats his ceiling, i dont know. I always told myself that he will, at worst, be prime Andre Iguodala and more than likely a Paul George type a few years into his career. I view Embiid as worst case a current Deandre Jordan and best case Roy Hibbert with shooting range.

But DeAndre is actually better than Hibbert right now.

What are you basing these comparisons on? How much of Wiggins and Embiid did you watch this past season?