Joel Embiid

[yuuby]

The way he plays just invites injuries. He diving on the floor half the game to get foul calls. We literally just dodged two major injury scares this season against Washington where Embiid himself said he thought he was done for the year.

We are the guy at the casino who kept winning by going all in. We have amassed a fourtune (built up Embiid's trade value) but we can lose it all with one bad all in bet (Embiid injury). Let's go home and take the money we have amassed (whatever we get by trading Embiid now) instead of continuing to play Russion Roullette.

[DCasey91]

Also I don’t think he has the trajectory I thought he had with his passing which is kind of disappointing to me besides his overall gamestyle. More career turnovers than assists for a Center is kind of bad in today’s NBA. Like Hakeem, but Hakeem is so much more mobile and durable and literally the perfect small ball center for today.

Mosquitos will be comfortable knowing that Joel can’t punish them with facilitating skills.

[Black Mage]

Embiid ball in games 6 & 7:

4 assists 16 turnovers (most live ball which led to easy Atlanta points).

You can't win with a terrible decision maker demanding 35+ usage in the playoffs.

He needs to learn to play team basketball and lower his usage rate to 25% as a big man and lose weight. There is no reason this dude should be playing at 285+ lbs after all of his injuries. Are his handlers that afraid to tell him the truth.

Those saying you can't trade Embiid just because you are afraid of his health seem to be missing the point. The health isn't the only reason we want him traded. His style of play being antithetical to the modern NBA is just as big of a factor.

No one should be running the majority of their offense based on midrange iso, postups which take 10 seconds off the shot clock to complete and the person running them is a terrible playmaker and decision maker.

No one should be playing drop coverage against great pick and roll creators but we are forced to since our 7 foot 285+ lb center is a liability on the perimeter and can't switch that action which puts pressure on the whole team.

People were blaming Danny Green for getting cooked by Trae yet most was based off of screens where Embiid was dropping and just let Trae do whatever he wanted. Just like he let Kemba and Tatum do whatever they wanted in 2020, and he let Rozier, Horford and Tatum do whatever they wanted in 2018.

The lose weight comment just exposes you as a true troll and clown. GTFOH with that take.

[Mik317]

This is a waste of time lol

You got it fam.

[yuuby]

He would be much better for the modern NBA if he lowered his weight back to this and played more face ups, pnr, and pick and pop 3's.

Now he is heavy since it allows him to bang in the post. A skill that isn't that important in todays NBA.

From 2015: Sixers questioning Joel Embiid’s conditioning, maturity after sending him home from recent West Coast trip

Embiid has a weight issue. Although the Sixers wouldn’t disclose his weight, a source said he’s close to 300 pounds after being 250 pounds at Kansas last season.

His work ethic is being questioned by some inside the organization.

And a blowup with assistant strength and conditioning coach James Davis is one of the reasons he was sent home during the team’s recent West Coast road trip. …

The Sixers are trying to address the added weight. Embiid, however, hasn’t always been a willing workout participant, according to sources. He’s even blown off conditioning drills, one source added.

An altercation with Davis during the West Coast trip, coupled with Brown’s wanting him to be in “more of a structured, stable environment,” pushed the Sixers to send him home, the sources said.

Sixers take the measurements at the start of the season and have listed Embiid at 280 lbs for 2 straight seasons. Which begs the question why did a dude with leg injuries decide to put on 30-40 lbs on top of his college weight?

[Kobblehead]

Wait, why are we talking about Embiid's weight/conditioning? He's course-correctly significantly in the last couple of years regarding that. Seems like an outdated topic.

[stormi]

In between 2016 & 2017 was peak Jo physique. He was unusually nimble on his toes for a man his size while still being powerful/skilled enough to work any defender, and activate Hakeem mode out of his bag which he's gone away from in the past two years. He was a supercharged AD.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

He did put on a tonne of weight, and adjusted his playstyle accordingly. He's in a class of his own size wise now, but he uses it very well and he's still uncoverable against any defender in the post. Whether that weight has hindered him or helped him is an interesting conversation to be had. His joints have suffered in this process and his conditioning has been hit or miss, but when he's on he's apart of best player in the world discourse.

[yuuby]

Wait, why are we talking about Embiid's weight/conditioning? He's course-correctly significantly in the last couple of years regarding that. Seems like an outdated topic.

He looked terribly fatigued in the 2nd halves and 4th quarters of the Atlanta series. It was so embarassing that he got called out by Capela for getting fatigued. If your opponents are openly talking about your lack of fitness as a game plan you know you have a problem.

[yuuby]

I think he was at his best physically in his rookie season the month before he got injured against Portland.

Watch on YouTube

Like look how mobile and skinny the guy in that video looks. He's actually setting proper picks.

[stormi]

Wait, why are we talking about Embiid's weight/conditioning? He's course-correctly significantly in the last couple of years regarding that. Seems like an outdated topic.

He looked terribly fatigued in the 2nd halves and 4th quarters of the Atlanta series. It was so embarassing that he got called out by Capela for getting fatigued. If your opponents are openly talking about your lack of fitness as a game plan you know you have a problem.

It's more the issue of him having to carry the offense on his spine, while anchoring the defense pretty much singlehandedly. Star player that win usually have reduced role moments during games, it helps with energy conservation - even during playoff games. Moments where they can sit back and let their teammates take over for a bit. For a lot of these guys that's defensively, where they can hide - or offensive sequences when the ball can be taken out of their hands and placed into that of another reliable option.

We literally do not have that. It's reminiscent to the Cavs in 2018 when Lebron had to do everything himself, and even Mr. Million Dollar body broke down.

[Kobblehead]

He looked terribly fatigued in the 2nd halves and 4th quarters of the Atlanta series. It was so embarassing that he got called out by Capela for getting fatigued. If your opponents are openly talking about your lack of fitness as a game plan you know you have a problem.

You know he had a torn meniscus during that series, right?

[yuuby]

He looked terribly fatigued in the 2nd halves and 4th quarters of the Atlanta series. It was so embarassing that he got called out by Capela for getting fatigued. If your opponents are openly talking about your lack of fitness as a game plan you know you have a problem.

You know he had a torn meniscus during that series, right?

His specific meniscus injury isn't that serious. Tony Allen played a whole season on a similar one and said it was only a pain tolerance issue. Doc just said that most likely he doesn't even need surgery on it just rest.

Embiid is a drama queen. The injury didn't prevent him from dropping 40 ppg in that series in the 3 games that they choose to play him single coverage in (game 1, 2, and 5) and he turned into a pumpkin as he always does when teams double team him in the post as we saw in games 6 and 7.

Embiid being fatigued isn't a new story. He fell off a cliff in the 2nd halves against Boston in 2018 and 2020. Was he injured then too?

[stormi]

He looked terribly fatigued in the 2nd halves and 4th quarters of the Atlanta series. It was so embarassing that he got called out by Capela for getting fatigued. If your opponents are openly talking about your lack of fitness as a game plan you know you have a problem.

You know he had a torn meniscus during that series, right?

His specific meniscus injury isn't that serious. Tony Allen played a whole season on a similar one and said it was only a pain tolerance issue. Doc just said that most likely he doesn't even need surgery on it just rest.

Embiid is a drama queen. The injury didn't prevent him from dropping 40 ppg in that series in the 3 games that they choose to play him single coverage in (game 1, 2, and 5) and he turned into a pumpkin as he always does when teams double team him in the post as we saw in games 6 and 7.

Embiid being fatigued isn't a new story. He fell off a cliff in the 2nd halves against Boston in 2018 and 2020. Was he injured then too?

The bolded literally emphasizes the lack of help / Embiid's gravity. If you're forcing doubles (and triples) consistently and not exploiting it, something about the structure of your team is evidently rotten.

[kuclas]

Fatigue is a big problem with Embiid. He’s been better this season. But we cannot have our starting center initiate offense from 20 feet out all the time.

Yes. Embiid simply blew an easy layup game 4 with 8 seconds left. That was the only game he played bad 0-12 second half. But Sixers offense stagnant end of game due to playing 4 on 5 on offense. Ok. So take out Simmons so he doesn’t get hacked. But that’s the problem. You lose your starting point guard to initiate the offense. During hack a shaq or even hack a Howard years. LA and magic didn’t take out their starting point guards.

[Sixerscan]

In between 2016 & 2017 was peak Jo physique. He was unusually nimble on his toes for a man his size while still being powerful/skilled enough to work any defender, and activate Hakeem mode out of his bag which he's gone away from in the past two years. He was a supercharged AD.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

He did put on a tonne of weight, and adjusted his playstyle accordingly. He's in a class of his own size wise now, but he uses it very well and he's still uncoverable against any defender in the post. Whether that weight has hindered him or helped him is an interesting conversation to be had. His joints have suffered in this process and his conditioning has been hit or miss, but when he's on he's apart of best player in the world discourse.

I see people say he's less athletic than he was earlier in his career a lot, but they never seem to mention that in 2016 and most of 2017 he was not playing back to backs and was on a minutes restriction. He didn't play 30 minutes in a game until November 2017 and didn't play a back to back until February 2018. Of course he's going to play with more energy when he's playing 2 24 minute games a week instead of 4 35 minute games.

Also think he's just learned how to play better positional defense and rely less on highlight plays. He still goes out on guards on the perimeter but he relies on his length and positioning more. I would categorize a lot of these highlights people post from his rookie year as wasted energy (which, again, you can afford when you are on a minutes restriction) and covering for mistakes he stopped making as he matured.

I also don't think people get that he's literally the only player in the league that is asked to be the #1 option on offense and also be a defensive anchor. Jokic takes off on defense all the time, Gobert is a role player on offense. Davis plays a lot of 4 and has Lebron. Bam and Ayton doesn't have his role. All the guards and wings don't have nearly the same defensive responsibilities that a center does.

He should always be working to improve his conditioning, but when people complain about it being bad I don't think they get what is being asked of him.

[kuclas]

Bottom line is Sixers need a secondary iso scorer. And I’m talking elite secondary wing iso scorer. Harris is good this season just not a the best secondary option. Embiid does wear down especially in the closing minutes. He’s been better this season. But still needs help.

[76ciology]

Bottom line is Sixers need a secondary iso scorer. And I’m talking elite secondary wing iso scorer. Harris is good this season just not a the best secondary option. Embiid does wear down especially in the closing minutes. He’s been better this season. But still needs help.

Pretty much my sentiment. Except I think we need someone who can make Embiid slide into 1B on offense.

The issue why Embiid wear down is because of physical and its almost impossible to anchor both offense and defense.

Its non negotiable that Embiid has to be injury free and peak stamina in the playoffs, where he has to step out, switch and close out on defense because all teams will be playing a lot more pick and roll next year if you look at the numbers the frequency of pick and rolls has increased at an historic rate.

[Mik317]

holy **** do you get stuck on a new thing every week man.

PNR coverage isn't impossible to cover and it was not the reason we lost. Embiid on a bad wheel began to cover it much better as the series went on. There are also not that many Trae level guards nor Capela level lob threats walking around.

This fear of the PNR is overblown IMO. I mean ffs we were getting isod by Kevin Huerter...that hurt more than the PNR. Ben and Tobias began to stay down on Trae's fakes and fought over screens and we began to blow up the lobs. That wasn't were our defense failed...it was Gallo, Kevin and earlier Bogdan finding our weak links and hitting big 3s....which led to over helping. Its fun to clown Gobert and the Jazz because of their fans pushing made up stats to validate him but they lost that series because their wings couldn't stay in front of anyone and Gobert had to not only defend the rim but also the corner 3s....and couldn't. Their fix won't be to get rid of Gobert but have better point of attack defenders....and again not many teams can spread people out like the Clippers.

You are all trying to find solutions to issues that aren't the big of a deal. NO team you make will be flawless. Every team will have a thing that they can be exploited at. The key is to not have multiple and to be versatile. The Suns are the new darlings right now but its not just "oh they run da PNR and thats that". They have one of the greatest PGs of all time; a top tier scorer and a bunch of role players who play their roles to perfection but aren't 1 dimensional either. Bridges and Cam aren't gdlk creators but both can put the ball on the floor in a pinch for example. And all of them play defense and rotate well. And despite that...they are also more than likely simply the healthiest team left standing. The Nets are the assumed favorites and its mainly due to them having some of the best tough shot makers in the world. That doesn't mean thats the way to go either. You seem to have this idea that there is only one way to win and that just isn't how it works.

We didn't lose because of the PNR...at least not defensively IMO. Again I think some are focusing on the wrong things. Yeah could be better. I am not a fan of the deep drop coverage. Think we should stunt more, switch, or just fight through the screen more rather than allowing Trae to just choose between the floater or the lob...and I think we started to do that as the series went on.

I just think your new obsession with defending the PNR is overstated IMO. Thats not this teams issue. And while going totally the opposite way is also dumb...Defense in general was not the problem. Seth getting picked on sucked but he was only getting picked on because he was our best option on the other end. Fix that. If we still lose...THEN you look at other things.

[phillynative]

Embiid put in work this offseason on his game and his conditioning. I agree he should drop some weight and the ball shouldnt be in his hands as much. That doesnt mean embiid is done growing as a player. The one thing you can count on is hes going to put in the work . Which is more than you can say about the other Max guy who legit refuses.

Embiid has a unique ability of adding to his game. Its not like hes locked to a certain type of baskeball. His skillset is too broad as a big man to believe he couldnt adjust.

Alot of his weaknesses can be minimized just by having a legit PG/ perimiter threat.

Turnovers- instead of creating his own shots he will have someone getting shots for him or breaking down the defense.

Fatigue- Hes a big guy so he will always experience some fatigue. I think his conditioning this season was a step in the right direction. I think the injuries threw him off towards the end though. I think he expends alot of energy trying to creste for him self and also defend the paint. Adding a peremiter threat would lessen the load offensively and better sustain his energy.

Shot selection- the answer to this is no different than his other flaws..

[76ciology]

Spoiler:

holy **** do you get stuck on a new thing every week man.

PNR coverage isn't impossible to cover and it was not the reason we lost. Embiid on a bad wheel began to cover it much better as the series went on. There are also not that many Trae level guards nor Capela level lob threats walking around.

This fear of the PNR is overblown IMO. I mean ffs we were getting isod by Kevin Huerter...that hurt more than the PNR. Ben and Tobias began to stay down on Trae's fakes and fought over screens and we began to blow up the lobs. That wasn't were our defense failed...it was Gallo, Kevin and earlier Bogdan finding our weak links and hitting big 3s....which led to over helping. Its fun to clown Gobert and the Jazz because of their fans pushing made up stats to validate him but they lost that series because their wings couldn't stay in front of anyone and Gobert had to not only defend the rim but also the corner 3s....and couldn't. Their fix won't be to get rid of Gobert but have better point of attack defenders....and again not many teams can spread people out like the Clippers.

You are all trying to find solutions to issues that aren't the big of a deal. NO team you make will be flawless. Every team will have a thing that they can be exploited at. The key is to not have multiple and to be versatile. The Suns are the new darlings right now but its not just "oh they run da PNR and thats that". They have one of the greatest PGs of all time; a top tier scorer and a bunch of role players who play their roles to perfection but aren't 1 dimensional either. Bridges and Cam aren't gdlk creators but both can put the ball on the floor in a pinch for example. And all of them play defense and rotate well. And despite that...they are also more than likely simply the healthiest team left standing. The Nets are the assumed favorites and its mainly due to them having some of the best tough shot makers in the world. That doesn't mean thats the way to go either. You seem to have this idea that there is only one way to win and that just isn't how it works.

We didn't lose because of the PNR...at least not defensively IMO. Again I think some are focusing on the wrong things. Yeah could be better. I am not a fan of the deep drop coverage. Think we should stunt more, switch, or just fight through the screen more rather than allowing Trae to just choose between the floater or the lob...and I think we started to do that as the series went on.

I just think your new obsession with defending the PNR is overstated IMO. Thats not this teams issue. And while going totally the opposite way is also dumb...Defense in general was not the problem. Seth getting picked on sucked but he was only getting picked on because he was our best option on the other end. Fix that. If we still lose...THEN you look at other things.

I dont mean Embiid’s PnR defense is the issue this playoffs, altho it was in 2020 playoffs.

My point is we need to get someone really good on offense, that can slide Embiid to 1B on offense. Primarily because perimeter generated offense is OP in the playoffs and to keep him fresh and healthy in the playoffs (something that hasnt happened since 2018). And by doing so, Embiid can play better down the stretch because right now he’s carrying too much load.

We’re gonna face a lot more Trae-Kemba type guys in the upcoming years because teams will stack up and turn the league into an arms race of PnR. And among the teams, we’re the least equipped to win this battle.

Can we win by going against the grain? Its something ive been trying to explore but right now, i dont see enough sample size to tell me it’s possible

Anyway im not too concerned because I know Morey also knows the situation with his recent statement about how hard it is to build around bigs and how hard he tried to trade for Harden. Im completely grounded and accept that he knows the situation (PR stuffs and etc) more than I do.