Joel Embiid has become overhated

[M2J]

To clarify, i did not see him as the MVP last year and his PO showings have been disappointing.
I cannot say with certainty whether he is just not cut out for it or caused by his bad injury history.

However he is an extremely good regular season player, shows tons of passion and has been more loyal than anybody could expect from him. Very few star players would be willing to put up with all those convoluted situations in Philly, many have quit on much better teams. He has done everything you could have asked for. Stayed through tough times, adjusted his game, now is willing to go through another retool.

But at this point it feels like any positive statement I see about him is met with constant critique and belittling. You can be upset about the voters decision but he has not earned that hate, if seen for what he is, he is still a really good player and deserves some more levelheaded takes.
This is a forum, filled with older more informed users, so i would hope people could formulate some more nuanced opinions, rather then falling for the modern hot take rollercoaster of constantly overhyping and devaluing.

He is very vulnerable in the PnR… which is a fatal flaw in today’s NBA.

Joel, even at his size can move his feet and guard 1-5. They have at times played a system where he is in drop coverage to allow shots from PnR But, that's because he's an elite rim protector too and that causes bigger issues bringing him away. Typically doesn't become an issue in the playoffs when they make adjustments.

[Lalouie]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, NOPE, i don't see it

[Vampirate]

Basketball discourse is so toxic. 90% of you guys don’t even seem like you really enjoy following the NBA. One guy can never be propped up without putting another guy down. Sure, Jokic is better than Embiid and unlike Joel, he has a title now. Why does that have to be brought up when simply appreciating the fact that this 300 pound incredibly skilled big is a joy to watch on the court? Everything Embiid does is just pointless to people because he doesn’t have a ring. It took until last year for so many of you to finally appreciate Joker and pretend like you weren’t trashing him the prior years for winning MVPs without greater playoff success, as if he wasn’t pretty much just as amazing of a player the previous couple years as well. Whether Embiid wins a championship or not, he’ll go down as one of the greatest players ever.

It was bad even before this, but man, guys like Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith have just done irreparable damage to basketball discussion. Even in more hardcore circles, you can just see the negativity, generalities, obsession with rings, and overreactions seep in.

It's honestly really simple.

Harden was a superstar in his prime, Harden could carry you to 50+ wins by himself with enough shooters. Harden though is not an All Time player like Luka is simply because his TS% drops in the playoffs. Luka has maintained and sometimes raised his TS%.

And yes, Luka is an All Time player.

The same goes for Embiid and Jokic.

Even before the championship, Jokic was producing very efficiently in multiple playoffs despite missing key players and people were doubting him. His TS% in all playoff games combined is .614, he's that good.

Btw, both Harden and Embiid have had some very good playoffs before, but they were never consistent and both have had many bad ones.

[Wolfgang630]

Embiid is just the new Harden. Harden averaged over 36? one year. He could score at will. He got to the free throw line (garbage way he did it) and carried the offense. Embiid does the same things, but he brings more on the defense side for sure.

[SFour]

He's a great player, you can't deny that.....but he's a very unlikable player with all the flopping and frontrunning celebrations.

Personally he's my most hated player in the NBA.....I find joy watching him fail in the playoffs.

[Johnny Bball]

Flopping, injuring players carelessly, crotch chopping and various other displays of gloating, trash talking without backing it up, blaming his failure on teammates, over the top complaining to officals, general troll. Wonder why he would be disliked.

[soxfan2003]

He strikes me as this generation's KG. Loyal to a fault despite massive dysfunction in the front office and roster construction. Garnett went 7 seasons without going deep into the playoffs too. His personality also rubbed some the wrong way (more so after he went to Celtics).

In 40 plus years of watching NBA basketball, I've never seen a true MVP caliber superstar play with less talent than KG over a relatively long time. Even Lebron in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavs actually had more talent on average than KG.

If I remember correctly....KG's situation probably hard to duplicate since he was paid a large contract before max contracts went into full effect and you combine that with Joe Smith fiasco where the Wolves lost picks to illegal sign a marginal player.

Charles Barkeley was kind of in a no win situation in Philly as well. He was working with some big names early in his career but they were past their primes and then supporting cast got pretty darn bad.

I don't think there really is a this generation KG right now. Doncic may come closest but he despite not playing with truly great talent, he has probably already played with a better player than KG ever did in MN.

Embiid has had a couple of seasons if he played great or was healthy, his team had great chance to make the finals.

MN was so horrible outside of KG and western conference so strong, KG never had that chance even if he was healthy and playing at MVP level.

Embiid had better surrounding talent; but the level to which he has had to deal with bizarre events is unparalleled. His GM uses a burner-phone to trash him (b/c he was the prior GM's pick). Fultz forgets how to shoot before ever playing a minute in a real NBA game. Fultz comes back but still can't shoot and instead uses his shoulder to bash Joel's eye socket in. Simmons becomes and emo-cripple with the yips. Zhaire Smith nearly dies from a food allergy. Simmons quits and refuses to play. Harden quits and refuses to play team ball b/c he didn't get the All-star vote.

That's just about a quarter of the bizarre things that happened to him. Joel absolutely needs to play better in the playoffs; but there are A LOT of things he's had to deal with that no other player in the history of the sport ever has or ever will have to deal with.

I will agree with you there that the 76ers have been a true soap opera and one can't blame this one that much on the media that obviously loves to generate clicks.

[76ciology]

Because its easy to root against him. He always underperform in the playoffs. So everyone who has shorted the Jojo stock has looked like a genius for the past few years.

Another thing is he is not that entertaining unlike Jokic or Steph. He’s not a magician passer or scorer. He also doenst possess freakish length and athleticism like Wemby and Giannis.

Who here has bought his shoes?

But despite all that, he’s a great player and every year is a new opportunity.