Joel Embiid - The Prophecy is Realized

[Simmons25]

I'd go as far as calling Joel's ball handling a weakness. Far too often gets stripped of the ball in the post... and when he tries to be a guard.

[Rastas]

Embiid really needs to improve his diet.
Not just to get physically fitter , but to also help his BBIQ and quicker decision making.

Also I hope he watches a lot more BB vids this offseason - proven helper.

[Mik317]

dribbling in traffic at 7'2 is generally not the best play regardless. The ball has to travel farther or you have to be scrunched down to prevent that negating any size advantage.

again Embiid's next step needs to be making his moves sooner and more decisive because the moment the defense collapses on him things tend to get very mangled up and any size or strength advantage goes away and the refs tend to favor in the smaller guys because they are awarding a good basketball play. Not saying he's Shaq but Shaq made his moves rather quick and thats why in his prime he was unstoppable. For all the Hakeen talk....Hakeem was 6'9....not 7'2.

[VDT]

Embiid needs to play closer to the basket, it will also help him to make quicker decisions and is a natural change as he ages.

To do that Embiid needs to become more comfortable playing with his back to the basket and the offensive scheme and the roster of the team need to also change to accommodate that change.

[sixerswillrule]

dribbling in traffic at 7'2 is generally not the best play regardless. The ball has to travel farther or you have to be scrunched down to prevent that negating any size advantage.

again Embiid's next step needs to be making his moves sooner and more decisive because the moment the defense collapses on him things tend to get very mangled up and any size or strength advantage goes away and the refs tend to favor in the smaller guys because they are awarding a good basketball play. Not saying he's Shaq but Shaq made his moves rather quick and thats why in his prime he was unstoppable. For all the Hakeen talk....Hakeem was 6'9....not 7'2.

Yeah Embiid needs to do less of those out of control drives from the three point line and make more quick moves inside. But come on he is not 5 inches taller than Hakeem lol.

[76ciology]

1.) why is he not developing a hook shot at the post. This is why he can’t take his post game to the next level. If you watch prime D12 or Shaq, the hookshot is a constant to their post game.

2.) Currently Embiid is shooting at 30% on 3s. Considering all things like his form, FT%s and etc, it’s very likely he can be a 35% to near 40% 3pt shooter in the near future. When that happens, isn’t Ben at the post against a smaller defender and Embiid attacking closeouts pulling away rim protector 5s is a more desirable offense?

3.) what is peak embiid? For me, it’s when he can be point 1&2. While defensively, being able to defend 4s with improve conditioning. When that happens, he can be the best player in the league.

[VDT]

1.) why is he not developing a hook shot at the post. This is why he can’t take his post game to the next level. If you watch prime D12 or Shaq, the hookshot is a constant to their post game.

2.) Currently Embiid is shooting at 30% on 3s. Considering all things like his form, FT%s and etc, it’s very likely he can be a 35% to near 40% 3pt shooter in the near future. When that happens, isn’t Ben at the post against a smaller defender and Embiid attacking closeouts pulling away rim protector 5s is a more desirable offense?

3.) what is peak embiid? For me, it’s when he can be point 1&2. While defensively, being able to defend 4s with improve conditioning. When that happens, he can be the best player in the league.

1 is true. I would even say he is not comfortable playing with his back to the basket. A reliable hook shot would open up his game and probably make him the best player in the league.

Regarding 2 , i think Embiid is a better three point shooter than his stats indicate. He seems to shoot a lot of end of the clock 3s which deflate his stats. I expect him to improve in this area and become an ok to good shooter. Having said that Embiid being employed as spacer is not going to happen for a significant amount of time. It is ok to do it to conserve energy or help Simmons sometimes but generally speaking teams use spacers to help their best player, they dont use their best player as spacer. You can get that functionality much cheaper than Embiid. Also i dont want him to attack closeouts because it is easy to turn the ball over and/ or get injured.

Regarding his peak, i think he is a player primarily in the mold of Hakeem/ Shaq at their peak ( although we will see how good compared to them), that is, being a high scoring center that can anchor the defense, possibly with the addition of some new age traits like 3 point shooting.

[SexDrugsPnR]

Regarding 2 , i think Embiid is a better three point shooter than his stats indicate. He seems to shoot a lot of end of the clock 3s which deflate his stats. I expect him to improve in this area and become an ok to good shooter.

He didn't take that many late clock threes. Only 26 of his 257 attempts came in the last 4 seconds of the clock. His percentage on these is indeed terrible. He only made 2 of those (7.7%). He shot 32.9% on threes with more than 4 seconds left on the clock.

[Chris76]

1.) why is he not developing a hook shot at the post. This is why he can’t take his post game to the next level. If you watch prime D12 or Shaq, the hookshot is a constant to their post game.

2.) Currently Embiid is shooting at 30% on 3s. Considering all things like his form, FT%s and etc, it’s very likely he can be a 35% to near 40% 3pt shooter in the near future. When that happens, isn’t Ben at the post against a smaller defender and Embiid attacking closeouts pulling away rim protector 5s is a more desirable offense?

3.) what is peak embiid? For me, it’s when he can be point 1&2. While defensively, being able to defend 4s with improve conditioning. When that happens, he can be the best player in the league.

1 is true. I would even say he is not comfortable playing with his back to the basket. A reliable hook shot would open up his game and probably make him the best player in the league.

Regarding 2 , i think Embiid is a better three point shooter than his stats indicate. He seems to shoot a lot of end of the clock 3s which deflate his stats. I expect him to improve in this area and become an ok to good shooter. Having said that Embiid being employed as spacer is not going to happen for a significant amount of time. It is ok to do it to conserve energy or help Simmons sometimes but generally speaking teams use spacers to help their best player, they dont use their best player as spacer. You can get that functionality much cheaper than Embiid. Also i dont want him to attack closeouts because it is easy to turn the ball over and/ or get injured.

Regarding his peak, i think he is a player primarily in the mold of Hakeem/ Shaq at their peak ( although we will see how good compared to them), that is, being a high scoring center that can anchor the defense, possibly with the addition of some new age traits like 3 point shooting.

Embiid and Simmons started to initiate contact before finishing and made their inside game better.
Simmons' flip or baby hooks were so much better.

Unfortunately, Toronto's size made it difficult to bang inside too much. Foul trouble, Embiid's sickness and other factors took its toll.

I agree that it's risky to have Embiid starting his offense from the perimeter. Possible injuries, help defenders stealing the ball, and sloppy turnovers that led to easy buckets are good reasons for him to start closer to the basket.

[USWAY]

In the video he just posted on his Instagram (where he's literally making shirley temples, smh) he looks to be in awesome shape

[Stanford]

He's always had abs. His conditioning just sucked.

[USWAY]

He's always had abs. His conditioning just sucked.

You can't see his abs, just his arms. He looks noticeably leaner. But that's a good point, he usually comes back in good shape, it's can he maintain it through the season.

[instagram]

[kuclas]

So probably half of us were sure embiid has some structural damage to his knees like me. I was sure he would have some type of knee scope after the season

If embiid has knee tendinitis as officially reported. That isn’t good long term. It could be really early arthritis like Todd gurley of the nfl LA Rams running back.

We don’t know how his body can hold up with rigors or nba season.

The foot history. I’m not longer concern. It’s the knee and back. A 7 foot 2 300 pounder (that’s probably his real weight) body can’t handle it.

Even Shaq started breaking down around age 28-29 and Shaq was far healthier the first 7 plus seasons he played.

And embiid deconditions very quickly if he’s out more than one week.

[freshie2]

Just to be clear, tendinitis and arthritis aren’t really related. Tendinitis impacts the tendon, while arthritis is the joint surface. I hope he has neither, but there is no connection between the two or between Embiid and an NFL RB.

[Sixerscan]

Just to be clear, tendinitis and arthritis aren’t really related. Tendinitis impacts the tendon, while arthritis is the joint surface. I hope he has neither, but there is no connection between the two or between Embiid and an NFL RB.

Maybe it’s lupus.

[PhilasFinest]

i really wonder if some people truly understand what the rigors of an NBA season + extremely heavy workload do to the body...especially for a guy of Embiid's size and freakish athleticism. Sure eating right, proper exercise/recovery and load management can help, but at the end of the day....this dudes going to feel it after 82+ games at 30-40 mpg.

[Sixerscan]

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1693406&start=580#p69265748

Why don't we just give Horford a max contract this summer and play him next to Embiid.

Was only sort of serious here but it's funny how things work out. Glad it wasn't the max.

[Aussiepiston1]

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1693406&start=580#p69265748

Why don't we just give Horford a max contract this summer and play him next to Embiid.

Was only sort of serious here but it's funny how things work out. Glad it wasn't the max.

He had a player option for 30mil and 99% of people expected him to take it so either you're a psychic, spoke it into existence or you're really Al Horford

[Eyeamok]

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1693406&start=580#p69265748

Why don't we just give Horford a max contract this summer and play him next to Embiid.

Was only sort of serious here but it's funny how things work out. Glad it wasn't the max.

You made that post in October of 2018. Everyone knew at that point Al was opting out of his 30 million contact. You get no credit for this transparent post.

[76ciology]

dribbling in traffic at 7'2 is generally not the best play regardless. The ball has to travel farther or you have to be scrunched down to prevent that negating any size advantage.

again Embiid's next step needs to be making his moves sooner and more decisive because the moment the defense collapses on him things tend to get very mangled up and any size or strength advantage goes away and the refs tend to favor in the smaller guys because they are awarding a good basketball play. Not saying he's Shaq but Shaq made his moves rather quick and thats why in his prime he was unstoppable. For all the Hakeen talk....Hakeem was 6'9....not 7'2.

He is also not shaq. Because shaq can just bulldoze his way against guys like Baynes or Gasol.

Unless it’s a mismatch, the league doesnt favor the post player that they dont call fouls in favor of the post player.

Personally, i want him to play like Duncan. Face-up mid range game and having a reliable hookshot. While being DPOY caliber player on the defensive end.

How about being balanced? Playing like shaq against mismatches, playing like hakeem on similar sized opponents and playing like center version of Kevin Durant against slow and big opponents.

If we dont want Biid to dribble and operate from the perimeter then we better find ways to create mismatches like involving him on two man games against smaller players.