There are always a few big storylines surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers year in and year out. The two bigger ones involve Ben Simmons’ jump shot and Joel Embiid’s minutes and conditioning.
To begin the 2020-21 season, Embiid is averaging 33.4 minutes which seems like it can be a lot in the early part of the season. He played almost 37 minutes in Saturday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, however, and he had 19 points and 14 rebounds getting deep post position and he looked like his conditioning was in a solid spot.
In terms of the minutes in the long term, the 33.4 minutes average is something that coach Doc Rivers would like to see as the season continues.
“That’s fine,” said Rivers. “He can handle it. I think he played the other night almost 37, I didn’t like that, but that’s gonna happen. You go through the year and it evens out, that 34 for 33. I don’t really have a minute barometer, I just know where I’d like to keep it.”
It is impressive how Embiid has gotten himself in shape for this season and in Rivers’ new faster-paced offensive system. He detailed all of the measures he took to be sure that he is in a good spot for this season and all of those measures seem to be working out great right now. He looks like he is in much better shape than in the past and he looks like he is all set to go for this season.
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