Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid is one of the game’s top players when he is healthy and ready to roll. Unfortunately for him, that has not been the case in the past few playoff runs for Philadelphia.
In 2018, he suffered a facial injury after running into Markelle Fultz that caused him to miss the first two games of that run and he had to wear a mask the rest of the playoffs. In 2019, he was hampered by knee troubles that limited his effectiveness against the Toronto Raptors in the semifinals.
As the Sixers get set to head down to Orlando for the 2020 playoffs, the big man vows to be ready to go and lead the way like he’s supposed to.
“For me, it’s just about being myself,” Embiid said. “I need to be more assertive. This year, there was a lot of times I was not into the offense and I was just going through the motion and all that stuff. With the playoffs coming in, I need to be more assertive, demand the ball, and do what I do.”
With the season being in suspension since March 11, Embiid has had plenty of time to relax and rest up to be sure that he at his best for when the season does resume. The Sixers will lean on their superstar big man in this way to make sure that they get to where they want to go. They will not win if he is not as his best.
“I know what I’m capable of,” he continued. “I know what my teammates think of me. I know I’m capable of carrying the team. It’s all about me being assertive. If I feel like I’m not getting the ball, I just got to talk to them and do what I have to do, but at the end of the day, I should never be in a position to complain about not getting the ball just because of who I am. I believe I can carry the team and I believe by being able to do that, I just need to take matters into my own hands.”
According to coach Brett Brown, Embiid has been in the gym six days a week and getting ready for this season resumption despite his claim that he has been “chilling” so there is a clear hunger to get back out there and win.
“I’ve been chilling, quarantining, doing what we were told to do,” the big man added. “I don’t know how I’m going to look basketball-wise, I don’t know so we’re going to see how that goes, but I’ve just been chilling.”
Embiid is still averaging 23.4 points and 11.8 rebounds this season despite a lot of issues surrounding this offense. There is a lot of issues surrounding them on offense and they are a back half of the league offensive team with an offensive rating of 110.4 which is good for 17th in the league.
“Before the season got suspended, we had a lot to work on,” Embiid finished with. “Our offense wasn’t there, it was getting better with all the changes that had to be made, it was getting better, but it still wasn’t there. Defensively, I feel like we are the best defensive team in the league. We’ve got the pieces that we need and offensively, we were still trying to figure out and we were getting better so I think the focus needs to be getting together and figuring out the best way to attack offensively.”
The games begin August 1 for the Sixers again. [lawrence-related id=34206,34197,34186]