phillynative wrote:Ferry Avenue wrote:76ciology wrote:I hope its OK to ask this about Embiid.
Is embiid streaky as a superstar? Is there a big variance to his performance in terms of bad game vs good game or the frequency of his bad is higher?
Or Is it just optics (specifically, just my optics) with us being used to great bigs being consistent players or maybe Embiid’s body language is just super bad during off nights than the body language of other great bigs on their off nights?
Harden is here, our team can adjust its schemes with him to make us a better and more consistent team. I like how Harden can get Embiid to the line and easy baskets when Biid’s shots aren’t falling.
I do think that the variance is how much his bad game and good game affects the team because he anchors the team on both ends. That if steph has a bad game, draymond can still anchor the defense. If michael jordan has a bad game, pippen and rodman can anchor the defense.
If embiid has a bad game, sure Harden can anchor the offense. But hows the defense?
In the bigger scheme of things, I hope Embiid’s load of offense will decrease and focus more on being more energetic and less injury prone.
But what happens if Harden is not playing or who grabs the boards and anchor the defense when Embiid’s body language is bad? Do we play more DeAndre Jordan? Then we shift into a rox type team with a duo guard lead team and a big who is a lob threat?
Should Doc have sat Embiid during the game he played against the Heat rather than letting him play heavy minutes? If Im coaching, I would have sat Embiid for I dont like his energy and body language during the game. But it’s a players’ league, so I dont know if he has control over this.
I think Embiid has clearly shown a pattern over his career of what might be called “cumulative fatigue.”
The biggest tip-off of that is when he plays in an unanimated manner and doesn’t show any of his typical playfulness or fire. It’s like his personality and spirit completely disappear. I think that’s a symptom of accumulated fatigue.
I have a different theory. I think hes just a player and plus because of his size that gets rusty fast when hes not on the floor for a few games. When he started the season he was rusty, when he came back from covid he was rusty and now after the allstar break and new teammates and new roles hes a little out of rhythm and a little rusty. I expect once he gets his rhythm back n continue to adapt to Harden we will see his play rise again.
Embiid is a very aware player im sure he knows how hes playing and what other guys are doing out there and the implications it has on the MVP race. He has to finish the season strong but he also knows he has to adjust to Harden as well. Its not the easiest task for a big man who has never played with anyone like a Harden and who put in the work to put the whole team on his back. Now he has to learn when to be aggressive when not to be agressive, when or who to give the ball to, when to pick n pop or roll. When to spread the floor, when to post and when to isolate.
Of course none of us knows what's really going on because we're not in the locker room or inside these guys' heads, but what you're saying above doesn't incorporate the lulls he has in his animation on the court. He has distinct periods in which he's highly animated on the court, followed by distinct periods in which he's almost completely unanimated.
If the variation in his performance we're talking about were explained exclusively by situational factors, he would remain animated despite them. There's no reason why a guy adjusting to Harden or who is rusty should become suddenly completely unanimated. Where did his personality go? Someone's personality can easily remain intact despite the situational variation you're talking about.
Whatever explains the variation in his performance has to incorporate the change in his animation on the court as well, because there is distinct and regular variation in his animation on the the court that covaries with his performance.
