Tag: Joel Embiid

Kevin Durant’s ‘That’s sickening’ is a meme after Joel Embiid couldn’t spin a basketball on his finger

Do you need to know how to do this to be a great basketball player?

Team USA basketball recently began its training camp in Las Vegas before they will soon head to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

All of the players on the team were asked if they are able to spin a basketball on their finger. Kevin Durant believed that all of his teammates could do it. Most were able to complete the silly task, though there were a few notable and somewhat surprising exceptions.

One player who struggled to get the basketball on his finger and spin it with any success was big man Joel Embiid. The 2023 NBA MVP speculated that he was probably the only guy who can’t do it.

Durant said “that’s sickening” and he thought Embiid had more coordination than that.

Jrue Holiday said that somebody does not need to know how to do this if they play basketball. But it certainly is cool if they can, and the fact Embiid couldn’t do it was a shocking revelation for Durant.

This is now a meme

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Sixers star Joel Embiid dons Team USA jersey as camp gets underway

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid dons the Team USA jersey as he begins training camp for the Paris Olympics.

Team USA has convened for training camp in Las Vegas as they prepare to chase down another gold medal in the Olympic games. The Americans will boast one of the stronger rosters in the games led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will get set to make his Olympic debut after choosing to play for Team USA rather than his native Cameroon or France. This promises to be a good experience for the big fella as he will look to not only compete and bring home an Olympic medal, but to learn from all of the greats around him.

Media day for Team USA was on Saturday and Embiid donned his No. 11 jersey for the Red, White, and Blue.

Embiid and Team USA had their first team scrimmage on Saturday as the 2023 MVP winner was able to experience his preparation for the Olympics.

Team USA will take on Canada in the USA Basketball Showcase on July 10 in Vegas before taking on Australia in Abu Dhabi on July 15. The first Olympic game in France will be on July 28 against Serbia.

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Sixers swung for the fences and got Paul George, now’s the time to win

The Philadelphia 76ers swung the fences and got Paul George which means now’s the time to win in the Eastern Conference.

The Philadelphia 76ers couldn’t wait for free agency. The whole point of the 2023-24 season was to have a handful of expiring contracts and prepare for this offseason so they could add to their star duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

Mission accomplished. The Sixers brought in Paul George on an agreement of 4-years and $212 million. The All-Star forward averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while shooting 41.3% from deep.

Now that George has been brought in, the challenge is to get through the Eastern Conference. George comes in at 34 years old while Embiid will be 31 before the 2025 playoffs begin. That championship window is only going to be open for so much longer, but Philadelphia has its best shot at winning with these three stars leading the way assuming the rest of the roster gets filled out properly.

However, this has been heard before. “The Sixers have their best shot at winning a title in X season”. It has been said plenty of times in the past only to not get past Round 2 during this current Embiid era.

A big reason for the past shortcomings has been injuries. Embiid has dealt with some type of ailment in every single postseason run he has gone through in his career. When the big fella runs out of steam in April and May due to the nagging injuries, the Sixers have been unable to find that other scorer to help push them forward.

With George now in the fold, that shouldn’t be a problem. The Sixers can turn to him in the playoffs to come up with big baskets in clutch moments that others weren’t able to get in the past. For his playoff career, George averages 21.2 points and 7.5 rebounds which shows that he can perform in the postseason.

After being the No. 1 or No. 2 option in LA, George will be the No. 3 option in Philadelphia behind Embiid and Maxey. Just because George is now in Philly, that doesn’t mean Maxey should take a step back. The star averaged 29.8 points and shot 40% from deep on 9.2 attempts in the 2024 playoffs. That is the type of production that’s needed to win in the postseason.

If George can produce 15 to 18 points per night as the No. 3 option, the Sixers should finally be able to get over the hump. Opposing teams have to pay attention to George and send defensive players his way which allows Embiid and Maxey to get free as much as they can and operate.

Every team eventually gets over that proverbial hump after years of failure. That’s what makes the taste of winning that much sweeter. With George now in tow, the time is now for the Sixers to get the job done in the Eastern Conference finally.

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ESPN’s Tim Bontemps claims Sixers are biggest threat to Celtics

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps claims the Philadelphia 76ers are the biggest threat to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

The Philadelphia 76ers have waited for this moment. They spent all season telling Joel Embiid to be patient and that they would go out and get the best player available in free agency due to the cap space they possess.

They came through on that school of thought as they were able to lure Paul George away from the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency. The Sixers agreed on a 4-year $212 million deal to bring George in to join Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to chase down the defending champion Boston Celtics in the East.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps hopped on “Get Up” praising the Sixers for their move and saying that they are the biggest threats to the Celtics in the East:

The Sixers now have the best Big 3 in the NBA. It’s really not close. With the three guys have now, all of them were All-Stars last year. You’ve got a lead guard in Maxey, got an elite two-way wing in Paul George, you got maybe the most dominant big in the league and Joel Embiid. They fit together perfectly. They complement each other in every way on the court. They’re versatile. Paul George an elite shooter. You have two elite shooters now giving spacing around Embiid. They can go out and get any kind of role players that can fit alongside them. They’re versatile in a lot of ways. They have the highest ceiling now of any team in the league, but the Boston Celtics, and they can go toe to toe with the Celtics depending on how healthy these guys are, which is obviously the biggest question.

Health will absolutely be the biggest question mark with this group. Obviously, Embiid has a vast injury history, but so does George. It will be interesting to see how the Sixers handle the regular season with these two leading the way. Coach Nick Nurse has a history with an oft injured star–Kawhi Leonard–so it will be interesting to see what happens next for the Sixers.

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Rasheed Wallace reacts to Paul George joining Joel Embiid, Sixers

Rasheed Wallace takes to Twitter to give his reaction to Paul George joining Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Paul George joining the Philadelphia 76ers has taken the NBA world by storm. It is one of the biggest moves the league will see in this current offseason as the Sixers form the most talented Big 3 in the league with George, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey.

As the Sixers move forward, they still need to fill out the roster with helpful role players who can push them over the hump in the East, but Philadelphia’s trio of stars is as elite as any.

Philadelphia native and 2004 NBA champion Rasheed Wallace took to Twitter to give his thoughts on George joining Embiid and the Sixers. He posted a screenshot of George and Embiid’s appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” during the finals with a bold proclamation.

The Sixers still have a ton of work to do as times move on, but they should certainly be the biggest challengers to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

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Mitchell Robinson reacts to Sixers’ Joel Embiid grabbing his leg

New York Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson gives his perspective of what happened when Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid grabbed his leg in the playoffs.

During the Round 1 series between the Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks back in April, Sixers star Joel Embiid and Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson got tangled up underneath the basket.

The result was Embiid pulled on Robinson’s leg while he was in the air and one could argue that the big fella should have been ejected with a flagrant-2 foul. Instead, Embiid was hit with a flagrant-1 and he then scored a playoff career-high 50 points to lead the Sixers to a Game 3 win.

Robinson recently broke his silence on Embiid pulling on his leg on “The Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart”:

I keep seeing the video over and over and I’m like ‘Alright bro. Like, come on now’, but like I mean, it wasn’t that serious. I mean he didn’t have to grab my leg.

Robinson was then asked that if it was a player besides Embiid, does he think that player would be ejected:

For sure. If I did it’s I would have been out and suspended…I would have been out of there.

Obviously, this is a Knicks-centric podcast. It’s hosted by Brunson and Hart and they’re Robinson’s teammates so this would be a time for him to give his perspective on what happened with Embiid.

Embiid explained the play afterward saying he meant no harm to Robinson. He just had some bad visions of what happened with Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga when he fell on his knee. He didn’t want Robinson to do the same as he was just trying to protect himself.

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Sixers rookie Adem Bona goes through emotions, playing with Joel Embiid

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Adem Bona discusses going through the emotions of being drafted and learning from Joel Embiid.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers found themselves a solid prospect in the second round of the NBA draft on Thursday when they selected UCLA big man Adem Bona with the No. 41 overall pick. It never hurts to add the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year to the roster.

Bona averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.8 blocks as a sophomore with the Bruins. He will now look to carry those numbers and that energy to his NBA career with the Sixers.

The big man had to make a quick turnaround after being drafted on Thursday to making the trip down to the Sixers practice facility on Friday as he discussed the emotions he has gone through.

“It’s been amazing,” Bona said on Friday. “I felt everything. Happiness, sadness, joy, every emotion just hit me at the same time. It’s just unreal to get your name called. Like, I still can’t believe it. I’m an NBA player right now. We worked towards this goal every single day of our life to get to the NBA. We’re here now so it’s pretty exciting.”

The Sixers will be counting on Bona to bring a high energy level to the Sixers on a nightly basis. With the uncertainty surrounding Paul Reed’s future, there is a small chance that Bona will make an impact as the backup to Joel Embiid.

Speaking of Embiid, the rookie big man is excited to learn from the superstar MVP.

“We have similar roots,” he stated. “He’s African. I am African, too. Playing against him, going against him every day is going to be a handful for me and also, it’s gonna be a learning process for me to be able to learn from such an amazing player, it’s really gonna be a good step for me towards my career. Practicing against him every day and going against him in practice, I think that’s going to help me in my progression.”

As far as the expectations for himself, Bona is just ready to get to work and give the Sixers a competitor on a nightly basis.

“I spoke with the front office pretty much after I got drafted,” he explained. “I can feel the energy truly form. I can tell what the organization is about. They’re hard-working, the expectations, it’s an amazing program. We’re a part of a great team and it’s really exciting to be here. I can’t wait to get to work.”

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Cooper Flagg joins USA Select Team as only college player, will practice against US Olympic team

Cooper Flagg was the only college basketball player named to the USA Select Team on Friday with the goal of helping the Olympic team prepare.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag]’s trajectory into stardom continues to rise at nearly meteoric levels.

He was as decorated a high school recruit as the prep ranks have seen in quite some time, and now, as we close in on seeing him play for the Duke Blue Devils in under six months, Flagg can add another incredible achievement to his resume.

The USA Select Team will help the country’s Olympic team practice ahead of this summer’s games in Paris, and Duke’s star freshman is the only college player set to join said Select Team from July 6-8.

At 17, Flagg becomes the first college player to play or practice with the U.S. national team since Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart participated at a minicamp for NBA stars in Las Vegas in 2013.

In many ways, this could be a harbinger of things to come for the talented forward. Six members of the current Olympic Team served on Select Teams, and 30 players who served on select teams went on to play for USA Basketball at either a FIBA World Cup or the Olympics. More than anything, he gets to test himself against the best players the USA has to offer, even before ever playing a minute in college basketball.

Team USA enters the Games as the top-ranked team in the world, but after a disappointing showing (by USA standards) at last year’s FIBA World Cup saw the Americans finish in fourth place, Team USA vowed to come back stronger in France. Managing director [autotag]Grant Hill[/autotag], another Duke legend, assembled names like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Joel Embiid, and Kawhi Leonard for the Olympic squad

It was an incredible job doing so and one Hill should be proud of. The real work begins as Team USA now has to gel as a unit and prepare to play, a goal the Select Team is meant to help with.

The amount of insight and tips Flagg can learn in those days practicing against  Team USA could be invaluable as he partakes in his only season in the NCAA.

Flagg is no stranger to USA Basketball. He was a team member that won gold at the 2022 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup. He was picked as USA Basketball’s male athlete of the year for 2022, becoming the youngest player ever to win that honor.

There is also precedent for Select Team members joining the official roster in the event of injuries or other events. Keldon Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs was a Select Team member and ended up on the Olympics roster for 2021.

If that were to happen, Duke’s two highest-rated recruits from the 2024 class playing in the Olympics in Flagg and center [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], who is set to play for South Sudan.

Rookie big man Adem Bona reacts to joining Joel Embiid, Sixers

Rookie big man Adem Bona reacts to joining Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers after being selected.

The Philadelphia 76ers selected UCLA big man Adem Bona with the No. 41 pick in the 2024 NBA draft as they did end up making both selections. It was a bit of a surprise when considering the Sixers are a title contender, but they got a good player with both picks.

Bona was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore with the Bruins and averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game. The energy he plays with makes him a potential backup to Joel Embiid for the long-term and he is also somebody who could play in some lineups with Embiid.

Speaking to reporters after being selected, Bona gave his reaction to joining the Sixers and he singled out Embiid:

I can’t wait to get there. To get to work. I’m so excited to be there. Actually, my older brother is a Philly fan. He’s really excited right now, probably. he’s back home in Nigeria watching. I can’t wait to be there, man. I’m also getting the opportunity to meet Joel Embiid.

This is a great opportunity for Bona now to continue his NBA career and the Sixers will now look to move on to the next phase of the offseason. Free agency is set to begin on Sunday at 6 p.m. EDT and they figure to be one of the more active teams when considering the cap space they possess.

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Nick Nurse confident Sixers can win with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey

Coach Nick Nurse expresses confidence that the Philadelphia 76ers can win with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

The Philadelphia 76ers have a lot to look forward to heading into the offseason. Despite a tough Round 1 exit at the hands of the New York Knicks, the Sixers have a star duo in Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey that should excite everybody.

Embiid was on his way to winning his second consecutive MVP award before the unfortunate meniscus injury he suffered in January which caused him to miss two months. He was scoring efficiently and had his playmaking abilities unlocked.

Maxey blossomed in the 2023-24 season and made his first All-Star appearance. He’s only going to get better and the Sixers now have the challenge of building the roster around the two stars.

Coach Nick Nurse hopped on “The Draymond Green Show” and expressed confidence in Embiid, Maxey, and the Sixers as a whole to get the job done in the offseason:

First of all, you’re 100% right about Tyrese. He makes every room he goes into better. I still think he’s got a ceiling that hasn’t been hit yet. I think he’s got to—he doesn’t understand how good he’s gonna be yet. I can’t wait to see him keep growing, and listen, I think that as you know, man we need—we got a whole bunch of roster spots. We got a whole bunch of money to spend and we got to piece it together around those two guys like who complements them. Who’s got some toughness? Who’s got some winning spirit? Who’s got some winning experience? Who’s not afraid? Who can accept some roles? All that kind of stuff that you need to build a team that we’re certainly trying. I believe in my front office and Daryl (Morey) and Elton (Brand) and ownership and all that stuff, and I certainly believe in those two players.

The Sixers will be looking to add some win-now players around Embiid and Maxey so they can challenge the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. The Cs are the defending champs and they have been to at least the conference finals in four of the previous five seasons.

Nurse is right in expressing confidence in Embiid and Maxey. If the Sixers could have just one healthy playoff run from Embiid, then who knows what this team could do? Combine that possibility with the continued rise of Maxey and the Sixers have a lot to look forward to in the coming seasons.

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