National Commentators on Embiid

[rzzzzz]

A couple of months ago, Kevin McHale and Isiah Thomas commented on how strongly they felt that Embiid should be planted in the paint, getting the rock delivered to him there. Last night, down the stretch, when the Sixers had their chance to take the game, but couldn't get a good shot off, including a 24 second violation coming out of a time out, the game's commentators questioned why Embiid wasn't planted in the paint, getting the rock. And this morning, at least one controversial, ex-home team commentator is questioning why Embiid is standing at the arc, instead of being planted down low, getting the rock.

Granted, he has serious knee pain, is out of shape and the worse for a really nasty flu bug. But he will kick that bug, his knee should recover with proper rest and physio, and we should hope that he will get himself into shape and will not be deployed such that he spends himself out in the regular season. Should not the coaching staff focus on developing an offensive scheme that includes Embiid planted in the paint, getting the rocK? (saving Ben in the half court for another post.)

[Bum Adebayo]

Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, this is the answer.
Brett hates post play, and with Simmons refusing to shoot, he has the perfect excuse to put Embiid outside.

[youngcrev]

Gasol wasn't allowing him to get good position in the paint and they doubled him immediately every time he did manage to get a post touch

[PhillyFan11]

Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, this is the answer.
Brett hates post play, and with Simmons refusing to shoot, he has the perfect excuse to put Embiid outside.

How does Ben not shooting affect him? If you get doubled find the open man. Not that difficult. That’s Jo’s biggest flaw in my opinion....he becomes a black hole with the ball in his hands. Seems like a lot of the times he predetermines that he’s going to shoot the ball, or he turns it over.

Either that or we have to seriously reconsider whether building the franchise around a 7’2 C is the best idea. Obviously Ben isn’t the answer to building the franchise around either, but I don’t understand how Jo seems to be getting a pass in these playoffs. Great players make things happen, and I’m hearing nothing but excuses

[Negrodamus]

Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, this is the answer.
Brett hates post play, and with Simmons refusing to shoot, he has the perfect excuse to put Embiid outside.

How does Ben not shooting affect him? If you get doubled find the open man. Not that difficult. That’s Jo’s biggest flaw in my opinion....he becomes a black hole with the ball in his hands. Seems like a lot of the times he predetermines that he’s going to shoot the ball, or he turns it over.

Either that or we have to seriously reconsider whether building the franchise around a 7’2 C is the best idea. Obviously Ben isn’t the answer to building the franchise around either, but I don’t understand how Jo seems to be getting a pass in these playoffs. Great players make things happen, and I’m hearing nothing but excuses

Strange take, but I can think of reason why we build around him:

Read on Twitter

[76ciology]

Im proud with the maturity of embiid. He adjusted.

What he needs to improve is his perimeter shooting more than his ISO skills. Watch how great he is and our offense in g3.

[Bum Adebayo]

Embiid on: +90 off: -109
Simmons on: -16 off: -3
I keep hearing how great Simmons is and how uhmazing analytics are, so I ran the numbers and this is what I found. What am I missing here?

[PhillyFan11]

Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, this is the answer.
Brett hates post play, and with Simmons refusing to shoot, he has the perfect excuse to put Embiid outside.

How does Ben not shooting affect him? If you get doubled find the open man. Not that difficult. That’s Jo’s biggest flaw in my opinion....he becomes a black hole with the ball in his hands. Seems like a lot of the times he predetermines that he’s going to shoot the ball, or he turns it over.

Either that or we have to seriously reconsider whether building the franchise around a 7’2 C is the best idea. Obviously Ben isn’t the answer to building the franchise around either, but I don’t understand how Jo seems to be getting a pass in these playoffs. Great players make things happen, and I’m hearing nothing but excuses

Strange take, but I can think of reason why we build around him:

Read on Twitter

Could that possibly have something to do with the fact that our bench bigs are indeed that awful?

And Embiid was no doubt great on D, but as our #1 scoring option, and the guy the entire offense runs through, he was a giant disappointment. 20 PPG on 42% shooting...not nearly good enough and if it doesn’t improve we will never have a shot to make a serious run. Great players win in the playoffs, not well balanced teams.
The fact of the matter is that last night we needed 93 points to win and our 5 role players gave us 53....we needed 40 from our #1 and #2 scoring options and Jo and Jimmy gave us 37 on 11 of 32 shooting.

[Negrodamus]

How does Ben not shooting affect him? If you get doubled find the open man. Not that difficult. That’s Jo’s biggest flaw in my opinion....he becomes a black hole with the ball in his hands. Seems like a lot of the times he predetermines that he’s going to shoot the ball, or he turns it over.

Either that or we have to seriously reconsider whether building the franchise around a 7’2 C is the best idea. Obviously Ben isn’t the answer to building the franchise around either, but I don’t understand how Jo seems to be getting a pass in these playoffs. Great players make things happen, and I’m hearing nothing but excuses

Strange take, but I can think of reason why we build around him:

Read on Twitter

Could that possibly have something to do with the fact that our bench bigs are indeed that awful?

And Embiid was no doubt great on D, but as our #1 scoring option, and the guy the entire offense runs through, he was a giant disappointment. 20 PPG on 42% shooting...not nearly good enough and if it doesn’t improve we will never have a shot to make a serious run. Great players win in the playoffs, not well balanced teams.
The fact of the matter is that last night we needed 93 points to win and our 5 role players gave us 53....we needed 40 from our #1 and #2 scoring options and Jo and Jimmy gave us 37 on 11 of 32 shooting.

We're too busy accommodating for our 6'10 point guard who turns into a center in half court offense to be effective. That's why Embiid is rarely posting up. The construction of this team is flawed; not Embiid.

[PhillyFan11]

Strange take, but I can think of reason why we build around him:

Read on Twitter

Could that possibly have something to do with the fact that our bench bigs are indeed that awful?

And Embiid was no doubt great on D, but as our #1 scoring option, and the guy the entire offense runs through, he was a giant disappointment. 20 PPG on 42% shooting...not nearly good enough and if it doesn’t improve we will never have a shot to make a serious run. Great players win in the playoffs, not well balanced teams.
The fact of the matter is that last night we needed 93 points to win and our 5 role players gave us 53....we needed 40 from our #1 and #2 scoring options and Jo and Jimmy gave us 37 on 11 of 32 shooting.

We're too busy accommodating for our 6'10 point guard who turns into a center in half court offense to be effective. That's why Embiid is rarely posting up. The construction of this team is flawed; not Embiid.

Explain to me how Simmons not having a jump shot keeps Embiid from imposing his will? Get low and if they double either draw a foul or find the open man. Embiid simply didn’t have the will to dominate like he is capable of. And if it was because of tendinitis and/or a cold...well then we really are screwed.

And for the record, Simmons was bad in the playoffs too. He doesn’t get a pass. But he’s not the #1 scoring option, face of the franchise, and doesn’t already have the max contract. You sound like a 3rd grader with the excuses, 1 player not playing well doesn’t bring down the other. Both players didn’t do their job

[Ferry Avenue]

Explain to me how Simmons not having a jump shot keeps Embiid from imposing his will? Get low and if they double either draw a foul or find the open man.

The open man is Simmons. When Embiid finds him, then what?

[PhillyFan11]

Explain to me how Simmons not having a jump shot keeps Embiid from imposing his will? Get low and if they double either draw a foul or find the open man.

The open man is Simmons. When Embiid finds him, then what?

Again, the 3rd grade excuse of “well Ben isn’t good so it’s ok that Jo wasn’t good either”

The team scored 90 points in a crucial game 7. Pointing to Ben as the reason the team didn’t win is like blaming a LG because the eagles only score 10 in a big game. No, it’s the franchise QB’s fault if that happens. The #1 scoring option/face of the franchise scores 21 on 33% shooting in a game 7 and I don’t want to hear excuses.

But are we really going to pretend like Jo doesn’t miss Ben wide open under the basket on a regular basis? If Jo were passing it to Ben and he was failing id be the 1st to throw Ben under the bus. But that didn’t happen, Jo just didn’t make enough happen on offense

[Ferry Avenue]

Explain to me how Simmons not having a jump shot keeps Embiid from imposing his will? Get low and if they double either draw a foul or find the open man.

The open man is Simmons. When Embiid finds him, then what?

Again, the 3rd grade excuse of “well Ben isn’t good so it’s ok that Jo wasn’t good either”

The team scored 90 points in a crucial game 7. Pointing to Ben as the reason the team didn’t win is like blaming a LG because the eagles only score 10 in a big game. No, it’s the franchise QB’s fault if that happens. The #1 scoring option/face of the franchise scores 21 on 33% shooting in a game 7 and I don’t want to hear excuses.

But are we really going to pretend like Jo doesn’t miss Ben wide open under the basket on a regular basis? If Jo were passing it to Ben and he was failing id be the 1st to throw Ben under the bus. But that didn’t happen, Jo just didn’t make enough happen on offense

I never said anything about Simmons's being the reason the team didn't win. There are former NBA players who have watched the team and have taken the perspective that Simmons and Embiid don't complement each other, mainly because Simmons's inability to shoot doesn't jibe with Embiid's low post game. Are they wrong?

[Negrodamus]

Could that possibly have something to do with the fact that our bench bigs are indeed that awful?

And Embiid was no doubt great on D, but as our #1 scoring option, and the guy the entire offense runs through, he was a giant disappointment. 20 PPG on 42% shooting...not nearly good enough and if it doesn’t improve we will never have a shot to make a serious run. Great players win in the playoffs, not well balanced teams.
The fact of the matter is that last night we needed 93 points to win and our 5 role players gave us 53....we needed 40 from our #1 and #2 scoring options and Jo and Jimmy gave us 37 on 11 of 32 shooting.

We're too busy accommodating for our 6'10 point guard who turns into a center in half court offense to be effective. That's why Embiid is rarely posting up. The construction of this team is flawed; not Embiid.

Explain to me how Simmons not having a jump shot keeps Embiid from imposing his will? Get low and if they double either draw a foul or find the open man. Embiid simply didn’t have the will to dominate like he is capable of. And if it was because of tendinitis and/or a cold...well then we really are screwed.

And for the record, Simmons was bad in the playoffs too. He doesn’t get a pass. But he’s not the #1 scoring option, face of the franchise, and doesn’t already have the max contract. You sound like a 3rd grader with the excuses, 1 player not playing well doesn’t bring down the other. Both players didn’t do their job

Because Ben is allowing double teams to bother Embiid.

[Mik317]

They were doubling Embiid the moment he even thought about posting up. It was also often Ben's man but not always. They are quick and long enough to recover on any pass AND unless its JJ , the target is either unwilling to shoot (Ben or Jimmy), supercold (Tobias), or Streaky as **** (Scott or Ennis). Doesn't help that Embiid is a stubborn ass who often waits too long to pass in the first damn place. So forcing post ups when they have not worked out would be insane.

Also we need to just give the Raptors credit; they forced Embiid out and he struggled to adjust. It doesn't mean we gotta trade Embiid now. It doesn't mean he sucks. It just means he met someone just as big and strong as he is and he will need to find counters to that. Thats kinda how it works. People keep pointing to Shaq but 1. Shaq was a freak and not many people will replicate that. 2. He took his lumps too.

Embiid needs to spend the summer getting is better shape and improving his jumper. That way defenses won't be able to just live with him standing at the 3 point line and he could use more speedy and finesse moves when power is not ideal.

Ben getting any semblance of a jumper and other guys being more willing and consistant threats from deep also will open up the floor.

[Kobblehead]

He needs to eat well.

He needs to get in the pool or on the exercise bike in his spare time between games (since he can't practice for conditioning).

[PhillyFan11]

The open man is Simmons. When Embiid finds him, then what?

Again, the 3rd grade excuse of “well Ben isn’t good so it’s ok that Jo wasn’t good either”

The team scored 90 points in a crucial game 7. Pointing to Ben as the reason the team didn’t win is like blaming a LG because the eagles only score 10 in a big game. No, it’s the franchise QB’s fault if that happens. The #1 scoring option/face of the franchise scores 21 on 33% shooting in a game 7 and I don’t want to hear excuses.

But are we really going to pretend like Jo doesn’t miss Ben wide open under the basket on a regular basis? If Jo were passing it to Ben and he was failing id be the 1st to throw Ben under the bus. But that didn’t happen, Jo just didn’t make enough happen on offense

I never said anything about Simmons's being the reason the team didn't win. There are former NBA players who have watched the team and have taken the perspective that Simmons and Embiid don't complement each other, mainly because Simmons's inability to shoot doesn't jibe with Embiid's low post game. Are they wrong?

Is it ideal? Of course not. Do I excuse Ben for not at least having a foul line jump shot? Of course not, he is indeed a flawed player.

But it’s not a built in excuse for Jo to not get the job done on offense either....or at least even try. Again, if Jo needs the perfect team around him, and perfect conditions, and perfect health in the playoffs to succeed then we don’t have the franchise player we thought we had. Great players that step up big in the playoffs win championships, the LB Pistons aren’t going to happen again.

I’m not giving up and saying Embiid is a lost cause...but he definitely came up small this year and I don’t want to hear the excuses. If he’s the franchise guy he needs to figure out how to score more than 20 points per game or we are going to
become the Nuggets or 1 of these other teams that never gets over the hump

[XDevilBoiX]

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[downtownpie]

Gasol wasn't allowing him to get good position in the paint and they doubled him immediately every time he did manage to get a post touch

Shhhhh. People dont want to hear this. Gasol had a huge series and they dont win the series without him.

[XtremeDunkz]

One good thing Embiid has going for him, Horford and Gasol aint getting any younger.