*Update: Embiid commits to Team USA* (France gives Embiid til Oct 10th to commit)

[rapstarter]

Man some tough takes here….

1. Embiid is an American. He’s lived here most of his life. It’s his home. Embiid is basically the American dream personified - immigrant who moved here for opportunity, found it, and capitalized. He personifies the good qualities of what America is supposed to be about.

2. We need a big man and he’s a perfect fit for the roster

3. Most importantly - this is absolutely the right call for Embiid and his career. The disconnect between his talent level and his ‘winning mentality’ is massive, part is on him; but part is on the 76ers. He was drafted by a losing organization that made losing the objective. He’s been coddled his entire career. He’s been surrounded by softies and losers. He’s had minimal positive vet influence through his career. He’s had poor coaching. The ‘best players’ he’s been paired with are Simmons and Harden who are the mentally weakest players in the NBA and have loser mentalities.

It’s not too late for Embiid to mature and become the beast he was supposed to be. We’ve seen what positive influences like Kobe, Duncan, KG, Jordan, etc have had one some of the less mature stars of the past. He’s going to be playing with Curry and LeBron for christs sake - those are the PERFECT role models for Embiid.

For the first time in his NBA career he’s going to be part of a winning culture. It’s not too late for him. Embiid has the talent to be a title winning big man but it’s never going to happen for him w/ status quo.

Embiid's had far more talent around him than his peers like Giannis, Jokic and Luka. Guys like Butler, pre-injury Simmons, Harden and even Harris are very good players.

[JujitsuFlip]

He wants to play for the team that is gonna win the gold, i don't blame him, smart move, kudos.

[Tor_Raps]

Not a super huge fan of naturalizations but Embiid has spent half his life in the US, including almost his entire basketball career and became a citizen last year. I'll take it.

You can say the same thing about almost every star in the nba since almost every team is based there. You don't see Giannis switching from Greece to the US because of this. Weak move from a weak dude.

Giannis was almost 19 and had already played professionally when he came over. Embiid was around 16, in the middle of high school, and had barely picked up a basketball before. I get that people are going to cry about this; I'm not an especially huge fan. But there's a massive difference between those two.

I just used Giannis as one example. You can say the same about almost ANY international player. Their teams are based in the US so it's obvious they'll spend most of their time there. You don't see others running to switch their allegiances. Like I said, weak move from a weak dude.

[Roger Murdock]

Man some tough takes here….

1. Embiid is an American. He’s lived here most of his life. It’s his home. Embiid is basically the American dream personified - immigrant who moved here for opportunity, found it, and capitalized. He personifies the good qualities of what America is supposed to be about.

2. We need a big man and he’s a perfect fit for the roster

3. Most importantly - this is absolutely the right call for Embiid and his career. The disconnect between his talent level and his ‘winning mentality’ is massive, part is on him; but part is on the 76ers. He was drafted by a losing organization that made losing the objective. He’s been coddled his entire career. He’s been surrounded by softies and losers. He’s had minimal positive vet influence through his career. He’s had poor coaching. The ‘best players’ he’s been paired with are Simmons and Harden who are the mentally weakest players in the NBA and have loser mentalities.

It’s not too late for Embiid to mature and become the beast he was supposed to be. We’ve seen what positive influences like Kobe, Duncan, KG, Jordan, etc have had one some of the less mature stars of the past. He’s going to be playing with Curry and LeBron for christs sake - those are the PERFECT role models for Embiid.

For the first time in his NBA career he’s going to be part of a winning culture. It’s not too late for him. Embiid has the talent to be a title winning big man but it’s never going to happen for him w/ status quo.

Embiid's had far more talent around him than his peers like Giannis, Jokic and Luka.

Sure.
It’s just they are all immature **** heads. And none of those teams made losing on purpose their identity.

I’m telling you as a Browns fan who’s seen this with his football team. The poison seeps through. It’s a corruption on the organization.

I absolutely think Embiids supporting cast has been better than Jokic or Giannis’s, but nobody on the 76ers is held accountable for anything and their coaching, training and development is piss poor.

The right attitude matters more than a bit more talent.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

You can say the same thing about almost every star in the nba since almost every team is based there. You don't see Giannis switching from Greece to the US because of this. Weak move from a weak dude.

Giannis was almost 19 and had already played professionally when he came over. Embiid was around 16, in the middle of high school, and had barely picked up a basketball before. I get that people are going to cry about this; I'm not an especially huge fan. But there's a massive difference between those two.

I just used Giannis as one example. You can say the same about almost ANY international player. Their teams are based in the US so it's obvious they'll spend most of their time there. You don't see others running to switch their allegiances. Like I said, weak move from a weak dude.

Giannis didn't go to high school or college here. Plenty of Americans play for other countries, nice to see someone turn around and do the same for us

[ReasonablySober]

Man some tough takes here….

1. Embiid is an American. He’s lived here most of his life. It’s his home. Embiid is basically the American dream personified - immigrant who moved here for opportunity, found it, and capitalized. He personifies the good qualities of what America is supposed to be about.

According to Wikipedia he moved to the US when he was 16 years old. He's 29 now.

I know players have been able to choose which country to represent since forever, but I still think it's dumb. It renders the Olympics even more meaningless than they already are.

[Mickey8]

Its the only chance for him to win something, somebody to carry him to the success

[Sedale Threatt]

You can say the same thing about almost every star in the nba since almost every team is based there. You don't see Giannis switching from Greece to the US because of this. Weak move from a weak dude.

Giannis was almost 19 and had already played professionally when he came over. Embiid was around 16, in the middle of high school, and had barely picked up a basketball before. I get that people are going to cry about this; I'm not an especially huge fan. But there's a massive difference between those two.

I just used Giannis as one example. You can say the same about almost ANY international player. Their teams are based in the US so it's obvious they'll spend most of their time there. You don't see others running to switch their allegiances. Like I said, weak move from a weak dude.

Most of them are going to be shtty comparisons given how relatively late Embiid was discovered and how early he came over. For example, there’s a massive difference between 16-year-old Luka Doncic and 16-year-old Joel Embiid. I’m probably overlooking a few but I can’t think of too many current internationals who spent big chunks of their formative amateur years in the US.

[EmpireFalls]

We even have glory hunters and team hoppers in international ball now lol... The Super Team era continues.

[Roger Murdock]

He’s a **** US Citizen who lives in this country and spend most of his conscious life here. He learned basketball here.

He is the American dream. People should grow up.

[YogurtProducer]

The choices are:
1. Easy gold medal where you have to put in zero effort yourself [USA]
2. A difficult road with France, where you'd be the face of the team but also take backlash when you shrink in the biggest stage [France]
3. Playing for your country, with no expectations of winning, but going out and competing to make your country proud [Cameroon]

I can see why he took choice #1 tbh. He's tired of getting (rightly) scrutinized for shrinking in the biggest moments.

Maybe that's just me, but I would go nr.3

EASILY go number 3.

If Shai Gilgeous Alexander decided he was gonna play for the USA I would want him to lose his Canadian citizenship. That is some unclassy **** right there.

[YogurtProducer]

Man some tough takes here….

1. Embiid is an American. He’s lived here most of his life. It’s his home. Embiid is basically the American dream personified - immigrant who moved here for opportunity, found it, and capitalized. He personifies the good qualities of what America is supposed to be about.

According to Wikipedia he moved to the US when he was 16 years old. He's 29 now.

I know players have been able to choose which country to represent since forever, but I still think it's dumb. It renders the Olympics even more meaningless than they already are.

He might be American but to me the Olympics is about representing where you are from. You grew up Cameroonian.

[Mak]

It does not matter because there is no chance that he will be healthy enough to participate.

[phanman]

You can say the same thing about almost every star in the nba since almost every team is based there. You don't see Giannis switching from Greece to the US because of this. Weak move from a weak dude.

Giannis was almost 19 and had already played professionally when he came over. Embiid was around 16, in the middle of high school, and had barely picked up a basketball before. I get that people are going to cry about this; I'm not an especially huge fan. But there's a massive difference between those two.

I just used Giannis as one example. You can say the same about almost ANY international player. Their teams are based in the US so it's obvious they'll spend most of their time there. You don't see others running to switch their allegiances. Like I said, weak move from a weak dude.

You really can't make the comparison to a majority of international stars that come over to the NBA vs Embiid. Pretty much all of them have never played both USA high school & NCAA D1 basketball. Ironically his Cameroonian mate in Pascal followed the same path.

I mean Giannis was grew up in Greece, discovered basketball there, and was playing at a professional level before being drafted. He was on the U20 team in 2012.

[ReasonablySober]

Man some tough takes here….

1. Embiid is an American. He’s lived here most of his life. It’s his home. Embiid is basically the American dream personified - immigrant who moved here for opportunity, found it, and capitalized. He personifies the good qualities of what America is supposed to be about.

According to Wikipedia he moved to the US when he was 16 years old. He's 29 now.

I know players have been able to choose which country to represent since forever, but I still think it's dumb. It renders the Olympics even more meaningless than they already are.

He might be American but to me the Olympics is about representing where you are from. You grew up Cameroonian.

Yup. Stuff like this renders the competition meaningless.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Emb-arrassing

[YogurtProducer]

Giannis was almost 19 and had already played professionally when he came over. Embiid was around 16, in the middle of high school, and had barely picked up a basketball before. I get that people are going to cry about this; I'm not an especially huge fan. But there's a massive difference between those two.

I just used Giannis as one example. You can say the same about almost ANY international player. Their teams are based in the US so it's obvious they'll spend most of their time there. You don't see others running to switch their allegiances. Like I said, weak move from a weak dude.

You really can't make the comparison to a majority of international stars that come over to the NBA vs Embiid. Pretty much all of them have never played both USA high school & NCAA D1 basketball. Ironically his Cameroonian mate in Pascal followed the same path.

I mean Giannis was grew up in Greece, discovered basketball there, and was playing at a professional level before being drafted. He was on the U20 team in 2012.

according to wikipedia Giannis was BORN in Greece.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

He’s a **** US Citizen who lives in this country and spend most of his conscious life here. He learned basketball here.

He is the American dream. People should grow up.

I don't have a huge problem with it, but it is more complicated than that since he went through the process to become a French citizen and play for them.

IDK it is kind of like college sports. Like I'm all for players being able to transfer. It's their life and playing for free. But the ability for them to switch schools to get a better chance of winning makes it less fun for me as a fan. I have zero interest in following Olympics Transfer portals.

[ItsDanger]

Emb-arrassing

LOL, nice.

[YogurtProducer]

I hate this. Terrible look for both Team USA and Embiid, IMO. US has such a surplus of talent compared to every other country and yet we recruit a non US born player to represent the country? Embarrassing. And for Embiid, no pride in your own nation? No willing to put them on your back and see what happens? Perennial loser, Troel.

AD, Bam, Zion, Draymond, JJJ, Kessler... plenty of guy to have built a great center rotation with.

Pathetic move for all parties.

If I was a guy who lost my roster spot to Embiid I would be **** pissed.

It does look horrible on USA Basketball too.