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Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid is clearly a star in the NBA. He is one of the top big men in the league, he is dominant on either end of the floor, and he even has his own signature shoe to show off his own rising stardom.
However, after a down 2019-20 season by his standards, where does he rank in the NBA?
The Athletic has continued their rankings of putting players into tiers and they have placed Embiid in the second tier of stars. However, not near the top of the second tier, they’re putting him in 2B behind players such as Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic.
The Athletic on the tier ranking for Embiid:
If we’re tiering players, I don’t think there is much of a case, statistical or otherwise, to put [Embiid] in that top tier of “Franchise” performers … Embiid is firmly in the next group down, where you find players like Nikola Jokic and Damian Lillard with those on the ascent, such as Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker arguing for inclusion. [note some of these tiering decisions have changed even from the time of a thought exercise two months ago.] From a team-building standpoint, this is both great and terrible. Great, because you have an All-NBA level player on your squad. Terrible because he’s not quite a First Team All-NBA level player year-in-year-out, and the difference is meaningful if the measuring stick is a championship or two.
You can build a winner around Embiid, it’s just harder.
The analysis is not wrong. Embiid is a perennial star who continues to put up big numbers, but can you truly build a winner around a center in today’s era? It is possible, but it does seem like it is much tougher. Things have to break just right and the shooters around the big man have to be able to knock down shots at a high clip.
The playoffs against the Boston Celtics is a prime example of how tough it is to have your center as the guy to build around. Embiid averaged 30 points in that series, yet it was tough for the Sixers to really rack up high scoring numbers as a team because the shooters could not knock down the shots necessary around him.
At the end of the day, Embiid still is a young star and you don’t just trade a guy like that. His tandem with Ben Simmons can win a title, but it is up to management to come up with the right supporting cast around them. [lawrence-related id=38586,38583,38567]