Knicks @ 76ers 11/12/2024

[Ferry Avenue]

Embiid is who he is, and unfortunately he's a soft player. Giannis, for example, wouldn't show up totally unconditioned with statue body language (albeit at home against the team that eliminated us). He also wouldn't settle for contested jumpers, opt out of rebounding, or play lazy defense.

We may be used to it by now, but that doesn't mean it's excusable. Shaq was totally warranted in calling him out and I'm glad he did.

Sent from my SM-S921U using RealGM mobile app

And if that's your centerpiece -- and he is -- it'll be the limiting factor in your success -- and it has been.

And there is no difference this year. He is still the centerpiece. If you want a second-round exit to be the team's ceiling, keep the status quo with Joel Embiid as your centerpiece. It all but guarantees it.

He did a fine job though when he was dead set on the MVP and a gold medal -- those individual goals bring out a different player in him. Team goals don't do it for him however.

[the_process]

Embiid is who he is, and unfortunately he's a soft player. Giannis, for example, wouldn't show up totally unconditioned with statue body language (albeit at home against the team that eliminated us). He also wouldn't settle for contested jumpers, opt out of rebounding, or play lazy defense.

We may be used to it by now, but that doesn't mean it's excusable. Shaq was totally warranted in calling him out and I'm glad he did.

Sent from my SM-S921U using RealGM mobile app

And if that's your centerpiece -- and he is -- it'll be the limiting factor in your success -- and it has been.

And there is no difference this year. He is still the centerpiece. If you want a second-round exit to be the team's ceiling, keep the status quo with Joel Embiid as your centerpiece. It all but guarantees it.

He did a fine job though when he was dead set on the MVP and a gold medal -- those individual goals bring out a different player in him. Team goals don't do it for him however.

Does Jo realize rings are counted just as much (if not more) for individuals as for teams?

I would bet against it.

[FireMorey]

Anyone else find it irritating that people have just come to just accept that Embiid isn't going to come into games in shape if he misses a bunch of time?

He's a pro athlete. Get your ass in shape. Cardio is not that difficult to handle. What in the hell is he doing during his training and season preparation?

[Mik317]

he is a 7 ft 300 lb man with chronic knee issues..it is what it is

Cardio and in game cardio are also two different things

[FireMorey]

He had issues with it before the injuries mounted. I don't think it's acceptable. And I say that as an Embiid defender. I have never seen a player look as gassed in him in NBA games in all my years watching basketball and this includes players of all sizes and injury histories. He gets more tired than anyone I've ever seen. Unless he is just worse at hiding it than other players.

[Mik317]

There is an art to it that he sucks at for sure lol.

But most stars pick and choose when to give full effort or not. LeBron hasn't really locked in on defense in ages. Prime Harden was king of getting his rest on defense and off ball. Curry is always running but also has Green to bring the ball up and run the offense and gets hidden on defense. People like to bring up Giannis but IIRC his minutes were very well controlled to about 30 or so a night and he has been hurt every playoffs since regardless.

The real issue is that Biid is the whole offense and the whole defense. And this is on him as well as he wants to be Giant Kobe so **** bad lol But the FO also wants this. The "best" way to make sure he's "healthy" going into the playoffs is making it so he doesn't have to do it all for the team to function. They are currently pointing to the Kawhii Raptors as evidence of this load management **** working, ignoring the fact that team was pretty much a playoff team without him during and AFTER that season...adding him to it and having him go God-Mode is what led to the chip. This team has barely won 2 games and honestly should have lost those. You have to build a good team and then add Biid to elevate it by his presence not be the only reason the team can even do anything. IDK how many times you can watch the team fall completely apart the moment he sits and think otherwise.

Does that mean Biid is faultless? Hell no. He should have lost weight ages ago. His rebounding effort is terrible or rather his approach to it of "ill get in the way and you go get it" needs to be called out. There are more than enough things to get on him about. But then theres the fact that with even this busted out of shape version of him, the team looked more capable than ever says it all. He can raise a teams floor by just existing...cannot carry due to his own flaws at this point imo but still this team goes from a low lottery team to a playoff team with him...I wonder what adding him to an actual good team would do for once.

AgaiN idk what was available this offseason, and honestly I am leaning towards we simply missed our actual chance years ago from all of the past mistakes BUT to build a team around Embiid, you need real shooters (JJ), a set up guy (a Harden who didn't want to cook lol), an athletic wing defender/rebounder (Ben not afraid of offense), a guy who can get hot (Maxey)...add to that athletes and shooters, and a back up 5 that can either pass or shoot to run similar Biid sets and thats the blueprint. Morey kinda sorta followed this but Martin and Oubre can't really shoot or create, Drummond has been awful, Lowry and Gordon are washed and old, and Maxey may have finally hit his peak and everyone is a pretty bad passer or creators atm so yeah it is what it is.

This season and probably most of the remaining in this era are always going to come down to a flukey out of nowhere run...which in turn probably means a lot of meh time. I don't think this "plan" will work because the fact remains the team is just bad without Biid so he can't really rest and when he's on the court he will inevitabally try to do too much and **** himself up again as we wait for Morey to make a deadline deal (he won't) and go "well wait until Biid gets back from his latest injury tho...again.

it is what it is

[Jailblazers7]

Even if he stays healthy, I don’t think Embiid will ever have to conditioning needed to play 4 high intensity playoff series in a row.

[FireMorey]

There is an art to it that he sucks at for sure lol.

But most stars pick and choose when to give full effort or not. LeBron hasn't really locked in on defense in ages. Prime Harden was king of getting his rest on defense and off ball. Curry is always running but also has Green to bring the ball up and run the offense and gets hidden on defense. People like to bring up Giannis but IIRC his minutes were very well controlled to about 30 or so a night and he has been hurt every playoffs since regardless.

The real issue is that Biid is the whole offense and the whole defense. And this is on him as well as he wants to be Giant Kobe so **** bad lol But the FO also wants this. The "best" way to make sure he's "healthy" going into the playoffs is making it so he doesn't have to do it all for the team to function. They are currently pointing to the Kawhii Raptors as evidence of this load management **** working, ignoring the fact that team was pretty much a playoff team without him during and AFTER that season...adding him to it and having him go God-Mode is what led to the chip. This team has barely won 2 games and honestly should have lost those. You have to build a good team and then add Biid to elevate it by his presence not be the only reason the team can even do anything. IDK how many times you can watch the team fall completely apart the moment he sits and think otherwise.

Does that mean Biid is faultless? Hell no. He should have lost weight ages ago. His rebounding effort is terrible or rather his approach to it of "ill get in the way and you go get it" needs to be called out. There are more than enough things to get on him about. But then theres the fact that with even this busted out of shape version of him, the team looked more capable than ever says it all. He can raise a teams floor by just existing...cannot carry due to his own flaws at this point imo but still this team goes from a low lottery team to a playoff team with him...I wonder what adding him to an actual good team would do for once.

AgaiN idk what was available this offseason, and honestly I am leaning towards we simply missed our actual chance years ago from all of the past mistakes BUT to build a team around Embiid, you need real shooters (JJ), a set up guy (a Harden who didn't want to cook lol), an athletic wing defender/rebounder (Ben not afraid of offense), a guy who can get hot (Maxey)...add to that athletes and shooters, and a back up 5 that can either pass or shoot to run similar Biid sets and thats the blueprint. Morey kinda sorta followed this but Martin and Oubre can't really shoot or create, Drummond has been awful, Lowry and Gordon are washed and old, and Maxey may have finally hit his peak and everyone is a pretty bad passer or creators atm so yeah it is what it is.

This season and probably most of the remaining in this era are always going to come down to a flukey out of nowhere run...which in turn probably means a lot of meh time. I don't think this "plan" will work because the fact remains the team is just bad without Biid so he can't really rest and when he's on the court he will inevitabally try to do too much and **** himself up again as we wait for Morey to make a deadline deal (he won't) and go "well wait until Biid gets back from his latest injury tho...again.

it is what it is

Good points, but with Embiid's physical condition I don't think it has to be a black and white thing. Either he's not in shape at all or he's fully in shape. Remember, he's coming off a ramp up period. He doesn't look to me like he's been ramping up. Sucking wind in the first quarter with his hand on his knees? He looks like he did physical activity for the first time in 3 years. He's had since July to get in shape. And even if he couldn't exactly do 10 mile sprints on sand, I'd like to think that he could get himself to a point where he could play a quarter without keeling over. I don't think as a professional athlete, that's a lot to ask. If it is, we've set the bar incredibly low. I think asking him to be dunking over fools in the final 2 minutes of a game in his first game back may be a bit much. Or doing chase down blocks from behind in the 4th quarter. But asking to be in shape so he doesn't look like he's about to pass out in the first quarter is about as bar bones of an ask that a fan can have.

[ivysixer2000]

I don't understand the constant dogging out of Jojo by his own 'supposed' Sixer fans. He has always been an emotional player, too emotional as he wears his thoughts on his sleeve during games too much both positive and negative.

Will he change to a robot on the court? I doubt it, hell he was crying at the end of a playoff series in public....who does that? He obviously cares unlike some other stars.

As for Shaq, he was never in shape himself to start a season which pissed off Kobe. Barkley was out of shape his whole career. Bet neither commented on that, and if they did, they both need to shut the hell up.

[Stanford]

I don't understand the constant dogging out of Jojo by his own 'supposed' Sixer fans...

He has always been an emotional player, too emotional.

That's why.

[Ferry Avenue]

Even if he stays healthy, I don’t think Embiid will ever have to conditioning needed to play 4 high intensity playoff series in a row.

What he doesn't have is the ability to keep his emotional intensity high throughout such a period of time.'

And again, if he's your centerpiece, that matters greatly. If he was the 8th man in the rotation it wouldn't matter.

[zaz102]

For those dogging Embiid. This team sucks and has sucked when Embiid doesn't play. Not sure how he could be treated like he's the weak link. If I could go back in time and let Embiid have his way, I'd love to have a Embiid and Butler led team.

[Iverson Armband]

This team lead by Paul George and Maxey, even without Embiid should be better than what they are. They looked like the worst team in the league without him, that is flat out ridiculous.

[ivysixer2000]

I don't understand the constant dogging out of Jojo by his own 'supposed' Sixer fans...

He has always been an emotional player, too emotional.

That's why.

Well, like I said that there is a positive and negative to it. We love it when he has his arms up high to the heavens when he is pumping up the crowd but the flipside is there also a negative.

I hope that he is able to shut up all of those Negadelphia haters.

[WentzerWuver]

I don't understand the constant dogging out of Jojo by his own 'supposed' Sixer fans...

He has always been an emotional player, too emotional.

That's why.

Well, like I said that there is a positive and negative to it. We love it when he has his arms up high to the heavens when he is pumping up the crowd but the flipside is there also a negative.

I hope that he is able to shut up all of those Negadelphia haters.

I hope so too! We will have a bronze statue of him once he retires and if we are force to trade him, this will be the type of tribute we will honor him with cause of the sacrifices he has made to the organization and the city of brotherly love!

https://youtu.be/L9WS4ps_Ci8?si=u0OvG0sNp9VMQPES

[WentzerWuver]

you'd think so many so called Sixers fans would be used to Ramp Up Embiid games by now lol. I thought despite the numbers he played fine. Didn't really force anything, was simply short on shots which is generally a not having legs thing, still deterred at the rim by just being there and actually kept the ball moving for the most part and yeah he was gassed early...as should anyone who hasn't played NBA basketball for months lol.

He is a low key terrible rebounder tho and that needs to be fixed big time. I don't think he likes jumping in crowded spaces and thus just attempts to paw at the ball which probably works against our ass rebounders in practice lol.

as for the calls for trading him, again regardless of your feelings on him it was NEVER going to happen. No one trades a MVP without said MVP wanting out. You go down with the ship every time....if only on the off chance of a fluke run out of nowhere. I am tired of people whining about something that was NEVER going to happen and won't happen unless Biid asks out. So find a new thing to whine about on your 13th alt account for once.

I agree on Joel playing well in his first game back but it seems like most who comment the hate were just basing it off his box score stat instead. And his presence alllow PG to have one of his best performances on the team. It was a better game than the last game where we were very fortunate to win due to so many mistakes. This game was much as we just lost a close game to a better team, so no harm in that.

To Mik317 - for me it's the lies from the organization. They lied about him being ready at camp; they lied about the plan; they lied that he was "ramping" up these extra 2 weeks so he would be "in game shape and condition to avoid risk of injury." Joel showed up out of condition. It's been nothing but lies and I'm sick of it from the organization. Second, Joel's mindset wasn't great, it's an awful look when you needed 2 extra weeks to show up out of condition and then make demonstrable flailings and stand pouting in the paint while KAT waltzes in for a 2nd O-board and scores. Wasn't the Olympics supposed to give Joel a taste of "winning" mindsets and attitudes?

To Wentz: I watched the whole game. His presence did help the team, no questions about that; but he could have helped more simply by remaining mentally focused. Mental focus and controlling his emotions isn't a conditioning issue, it's been a Joel issue his entire career. Shaq was right, Joel needs to get that mental part straightened out.

He might still be mentally drained, but you know how much he wanted to win a ship for us. It hurts him greatly when we lose.

https://youtube.com/shorts/S8qrzsX9I70?si=X3Bw7nQfhdk05nAH

https://youtu.be/BK4WqNOAvAg?si=qWkkJ21EQuNqjdoq

[M2J]

This team lead by Paul George and Maxey, even without Embiid should be better than what they are. They looked like the worst team in the league without him, that is flat out ridiculous.

That was like a game and a half, the full game they could've and possibly should've beaten KD led Phoenix team with a top record.

I think too many people are too quick to jump on the players for the early season failures as I think the roster works well when healthy (albeit that could be a permanent problem, in which upper mgmt could've planned better for). Joel had swelling, so he probably wasn't really ramping up, he'll be fine. George seems to be rounding into form. They have versatile depth at essentially every position.

The only person to be pissed at is Nurse for not figuring out how to beat teams when everything isn't perfect

[mjkvol]

This team lead by Paul George and Maxey, even without Embiid should be better than what they are. They looked like the worst team in the league without him, that is flat out ridiculous.

This nails it. The entire point of the George signing was to have a functioning unit when Embiid is out, and together with Maxey and some solid role players should be enough to be a competitive playoff-level team even in stretches without Embiid. And with the emergence of McCain as a legitimate offensive option, there is no excuse for being this bad, Embiid or no Embiid. We can only hope it is just the team needing to gel and find their way.

[Sixerscan]

This team lead by Paul George and Maxey, even without Embiid should be better than what they are. They looked like the worst team in the league without him, that is flat out ridiculous.

This nails it. The entire point of the George signing was to have a functioning unit when Embiid is out, and together with Maxey and some solid role players should be enough to be a competitive playoff-level team even in stretches without Embiid. And with the emergence of McCain as a legitimate offensive option, there is no excuse for being this bad, Embiid or no Embiid. We can only hope it is just the team needing to gel and find their way.

I'm confused. I'm seeing that Maxey and George have played 38 total minutes together. They played the Phoenix game which was a tight competitive game against a good team on the road, then Maxey got hurt in the Clippers game.

Yes they should be competitive with George and Maxey without Embiid. I look forward to actually seeing it.