The Legend of Joel Embiid

[Simmons25]

Now I can't stop looking at Embiid's knees in every photo of him lol

LOL I noticed the knock knees issue last year and just assumed everyone knew about it. No different to people like me having flat feet and being prone to foot fractures (I've had 2). Embiid is always going to have knee issues I believe unless he learns to hang on rims and land with less force.

[76ciology]

Could also explain why we overpaid for an upgrade in Fultz. Imagine how bad we'll look with Simmons and a mere high end 3&D guy with the 3rd pick of the 2017 draft. Atleast now Fultz and Simmons makes it easier to live with Biid's uncertainty.

If Biid flops, then either try to get a third star with oursourcing the tank with the LAL/SAC pick + salary cap like how Celts tried to land a tertiary level star with Hayward or Kyrie. Quite frankly, Amir, Holmes and maybe Bolden can start with our team right away with Biid out of the equation.

[BigSleep333]

embiid does have knock-knees. im in no way a medical expert, but i think it could stress the knees a lil bit more, but not that much you could say its a legit concern for his career. look at cristiano ronaldo, arguably the goat of football. even he has knock-knees a lil bit and it doesnt bother him at all.

[rzzzzz]

so we saw the tapes of Embiid displaying his athletic prowess, in workouts a couple of months ago. and he has, mostly, been silent on Twitter ever since. my fear is, like Eskimo said, that he hurt himself in practice or just fooling around. my hope is that maybe this does play into some sort of salary negotiation game. moreso, i'm hoping on the first day of camp, to see him back to moving and dunking, even if he's not scrimmaging.

[Chris76]

Could also explain why we overpaid for an upgrade in Fultz. Imagine how bad we'll look with Simmons and a mere high end 3&D guy with the 3rd pick of the 2017 draft. Atleast now Fultz and Simmons makes it easier to live with Biid's uncertainty.

If Biid flops, then either try to get a third star with oursourcing the tank with the LAL/SAC pick + salary cap like how Celts tried to land a tertiary level star with Hayward or Kyrie. Quite frankly, Amir, Holmes and maybe Bolden can start with our team right away with Biid out of the equation.

If Embiid flops, Okafor is the best chance for a starter.

Amir is older and he, Holmes, and Bolden are PFs. They would struggled defending 270 lb or more centers.

Okafor has lost weight, working on being more mobile, and people still can't give him a chance. Not saying he will become a star, but he could fill a need.

[CoreyGallagher]

Read on Twitter

We're all obviously worried about him and some may comment about him hopping around, but this made me happy. Dude really seems to love Philly lol.

[Unbreakable99]

Read on Twitter

We're all obviously worried about him and some may comment about him hopping around, but this made me happy. Dude really seems to love Philly lol.

With him jumping around like that he’s comfirmed to be out until March lol

[eyeatoma]

Read on Twitter

We're all obviously worried about him and some may comment about him hopping around, but this made me happy. Dude really seems to love Philly lol.

With him jumping around like that he’s comfirmed to be out until March lol

Too soon bro

Sent from my SM-G935F using RealGM mobile app

[James40]

Read on Twitter

We're all obviously worried about him and some may comment about him hopping around, but this made me happy. Dude really seems to love Philly lol.

It's better than a video of him bowling.

[James40]

embiid does have knock-knees. im in no way a medical expert, but i think it could stress the knees a lil bit more, but not that much you could say its a legit concern for his career. look at cristiano ronaldo, arguably the goat of football. even he has knock-knees a lil bit and it doesnt bother him at all.

To be fair, soccer isn't played on a hard court that covers ice.

[crazy_me_87]

embiid does have knock-knees. im in no way a medical expert, but i think it could stress the knees a lil bit more, but not that much you could say its a legit concern for his career. look at cristiano ronaldo, arguably the goat of football. even he has knock-knees a lil bit and it doesnt bother him at all.

To be fair, soccer isn't played on a hard court that covers ice.

Also a thing to note is that Ronaldo weights 180-185 lbs while Embiid weights at minimum 250.. likely more. Thats alot of extra Stress on the Bones, Joints and Tendons...

And as much as i want Joel to have a long healthy Career.. its hard to ignore that History is just very, very unkind to Big Men with Severe Early Career Injuries... It does not have to be Greg Oden out of the NBA in 2 Years bad... But think of Ralph Sampson or Yao Ming.. Both where gamechanging Big Men who had Injury Issues from the get go... both ended up beeing HOFmers but you cant help but ask what they could have become if they where Injury Free..

Its also sadly just in general... Big Huge Players with Problems either with the Feet or Knees just have not a great Track Record.. makes sense considering Feet and Knees have to hold up to alot of weight..and force from constantly Running and Jumping on a unnaturally hard(for our Body) Surface... Humans are not made to run and Jump on Hardwood.

I pray Joel beats the odds but i cant bring myself to just expect him beeing healthy from now on.. not based on 2 missed years and one where he played 31 Games..

[Chris76]

embiid does have knock-knees. im in no way a medical expert, but i think it could stress the knees a lil bit more, but not that much you could say its a legit concern for his career. look at cristiano ronaldo, arguably the goat of football. even he has knock-knees a lil bit and it doesnt bother him at all.

To be fair, soccer isn't played on a hard court that covers ice.

Also a thing to note is that Ronaldo weights 180-185 lbs while Embiid weights at minimum 250.. likely more. Thats alot of extra Stress on the Bones, Joints and Tendons...

And as much as i want Joel to have a long healthy Career.. its hard to ignore that History is just very, very unkind to Big Men with Severe Early Career Injuries... It does not have to be Greg Oden out of the NBA in 2 Years bad... But think of Ralph Sampson or Yao Ming.. Both where gamechanging Big Men who had Injury Issues from the get go... both ended up beeing HOFmers but you cant help but ask what they could have become if they where Injury Free..

Its also sadly just in general... Big Huge Players with Problems either with the Feet or Knees just have not a great Track Record.. makes sense considering Feet and Knees have to hold up to alot of weight..and force from constantly Running and Jumping on a unnaturally hard(for our Body) Surface... Humans are not made to run and Jump on Hardwood.

I pray Joel beats the odds but i cant bring myself to just expect him beeing healthy from now on.. not based on 2 missed years and one where he played 31 Games..

Embiid has one gear, he plays fast and reckless, Westbrook like. It's what makes him good. I'm not sure you can temper that, probably why they don't want him playing in preseason.

Preseason, blowouts, maybe back to backs, if they can limit his mins, hopefully, they can extend his career. Having Okafor play well could help lowering the stress on Embiid, less mins if not needed.

[GabeCerebro]

First of all, him hitting RFA means nothing and is of no risk. We still hold all the cards and can choose to either match or let him walk. Two, not offering the max this year and having to match next year makes no tangible difference I've yet to see Embiid camp say well we are willing to accept an offer less then the max so waiting only gives us more leverage and more information about his long term viability.

Three, I think it's doubtful another team offers him a max deal if he reinjures his foot. He may get a max two year deal. No team is going to commit for four years sorry isn't happening and if some team does they are fools. Especially if the sixers refuse having access to his medical information for the last three years.

Exactly. There is no legitimate reason to be offering Embiid anywhere near the max right NOW. We hold all the cards.

* Embiid signs on at a discount now for $70 mill over 3 years (Which I think he would do otherwise he is stupid)
* Embiid doesn't sign and gambles that entire $70 mill just to make $90 mill instead at the end of the year.. and if injured walk away with almost $0 (Which I don't think he will be stupid enough to do)
* Embiid doesn't sign and has a great year and plays most games and I'd be happy to match any deal and pay him the max.

Either way it goes... we are in no position to be offering him anything but a heavily discounted deal at this moment.

Here's the thing. His camp would not cooperate with our precautionary stance if we don't offer him the max. Thats how I see it.

Embiid will ask for the max. His camp would make it know their disappointment if we dont give him an offer while we continue to put him on restriction. Other teams will also offer Embiid the max with the consideration that they are exchanging just mere cap space for him. I'm pretty sure teams would rather have a 50-60 game Embiid than 2 Amir Johnsons.

The way I see it. Accept reality. Give Embiid what he wants. Let him know that big money means big responsibility like being more mature with how he treat his health. While on our end, we just prepare ourselves with a 50-60 games per year Embiid with a constant supply of bigs which is pretty easy to do nowadays.

Exactly. You give him what he wants, period. You cannot treat this Embiid situation with rational normal approach. You keep him happy under any circumstance. If you get burnt, oh well. He's "that" guy.

[LongLiveHinkie]

Basically Embiid is 100%, but the team isn't letting him practice.

[WMDman]

Basically Embiid is 100%, but the team isn't letting him practice.

no need to rush him

[LongLiveHinkie]

Basically Embiid is 100%, but the team isn't letting him practice.

no need to rush him

If 6 months is rushing a guy who is 100% healthy, what isn't rushing? a year?

[CoreyGallagher]

Read on Twitter

If anybody is wondering why he could be having issues.

[LongLiveHinkie]

So he's 7'6?

Because he was listed as at least 7'0 when he was drafted.

Sounds like another case of Ben Simmons overgrowth syndrome.

[Sixerscan]

He's grown 6 inches from coming over from Africa, not since being drafted.

[Sixerscan]

Basically Embiid is 100%, but the team isn't letting him practice.

no need to rush him

If 6 months is rushing a guy who is 100% healthy, what isn't rushing? a year?

I still don't understand by what standard they are being conservative. They said there are criteria ("criterion", actually, because BC gon BC) that he has to accomplish. That implies there is some sort of objective test that he has to pass because he can play 5 on 5. They are acting like this test is some sort of passive thing that just sort of happens out of mid air, when it actuality their medical staff is the one that chooses when and where he takes this test.

I am wondering whether they tried to make him take these tests, and failed, which implies some sort of setback (Even if its just something like, "go x amount of days without pain" it seems like that sort of thing should have been accomplished in 6 months of normal slow healing). Or if they have just decided from a while back that he wasn't going to take all of these tests until a certain date with the idea that he does not have to be ready until opening night. (For example, "squat your body weight 10 times without pain", and they haven't let him near a squat rack)

If the latter was actually their plan all along, it would sure be nice if they said that, because it would imply that they have some sort of control over the situation.