Tag: Joel Embiid

Sixers star big man Joel Embiid ranked as 6th-best player in the league

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is ranked as the 6th-best player in the league at the moment.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is one of the best players in the game. He has the ability to take games over in the blink of an eye and carry the Sixers to wins is impressive. He was having another phenomenal season in 2023-24 before a left meniscus injury derailed his campaign.

With averages of 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.7 blocks, Embiid would have likely won his second straight MVP award. Unfortunately, he played only 39 games and couldn’t qualify for the award.

Bleacher Report put together their top 10 players in the league as the playoffs begin to come to a close and Embiid was ranked 6th:

In the regular season, he averaged 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds and a career-high 5.6 assists. He finished with a total of 1,353 points in 1,309 minutes, becoming the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to tally more points than minutes for a season.

But if we’re going to weight postseason performance more than the regular season in determining the NBA’s best player, that standard needs to be applied evenly across the board.

For most of his career, the 30-year-old has ducked criticism for failing to make a deep playoff run to this point. Injuries have typically played a role, but his career postseason box plus/minus of 4.1 is well shy of the 7.0 he has in the regular season. Ditto for his career scoring numbers, which go from 27.9 points with a 53.6 effective field-goal percentage in the regular season to 24.9 with a 49.1 effective field-goal percentage in the playoffs.

The point for Embiid ranking behind the likes of Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic is due to the lack of playoff success.

Yes, Embiid’s playoff numbers are not up to the same level as his regular season numbers, but unfortunately for him, the big fella has dealt with a ton of injuries. All Embiid needs is one healthy playoff run and then he will be set. One has to believe that a healthy Embiid can deliver the Sixers past Round 2 and into legitimate contention status in the East.

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Sixers’ Joel Embiid gives update on his health with Olympics looming

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid gives an update on his health with the Olympics looming.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid battled through a ton of adversity in the 2023-24 season. The big fella missed two months due to a meniscus procedure he underwent on Feb. 6 and it continued to bother him into the playoffs.

Even on essentially one leg, Embiid was dominant in the postseason. He averaged 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.5 blocks in the Round 1 loss to the New York Knicks. It wasn’t his most efficient showing, but the big fella was fantastic when considering the left knee issue and then also the Bell’s Palsy that was bothering him.

Embiid, an avid soccer fan, hopped on the League Champions pregame show on Saturday and gave an update on his health as he continues to prepare to represent Team USA in the Olympics:

Nah, I feel great. I feel much better, you know, with the knee and the face. Much better.

Team USA’s first official game per the Olympics website is set for July 28 when they take on Serbia. That will be considered group play for Embiid and Team USA who are settled in Group C in the Olympics.

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Sixers’ Joel Embiid reacts to Timberwolves eliminating Nuggets

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid reacts to the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminating the Denver Nuggets.

The Philadelphia 76ers are moving into the offseason following their first-round elimination by the New York Knicks, but the playoffs are still going on around the league. The Sixers, like everybody else, are watching the postseason and paying attention to all the action.

There will be a new champion in the NBA after the Denver Nuggets fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 7 of their second-round series on Sunday. Minnesota rallied from a 20-point deficit in the second half to stun the defending champs behind Anthony Edwards and a stifling defensive effort.

Sixers star Joel Embiid was shocked to see the Nuggets go down the way they did at home. He summed it up in a single word.

Embiid and Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards have a close relationship. One has to assume that the big fella will be rooting for Edwards the rest of the way as the Timberwolves take on the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

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Dwight Howard has some advice for former Sixers teammate Joel Embiid

Big man Dwight Howard has some advice for former Philadelphia 76ers teammate Joel Embiid.

The Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up a disappointing finish to the 2023-24 season. The Sixers entered the playoffs as the No. 7 seed and were bounced in the first round by the New York Knicks in six tough games.

The reason the Sixers were the seventh seed was Joel Embiid missed 43 games and they were 16-27 without him. He missed February and March due to a meniscus injury, and Philadelphia went into a free fall without him. The Sixers were 31-8 when he played.

Former Sixers big man Dwight Howard hopped on “The OGs Show” and had some advice for Embiid:

He’s 7’2”, 7’3”, and he got the handles, he can shoot 3s. He’s 390 — like he is big.

I think he’s too heavy for the wear and tear of the NBA season. I think if he lost about 20 points, it’ll be great for his knees. He’ll be able to play a couple more years longer. He’ll be faster. He’ll probably be able to jump higher. I did go through a season where I lost weight. I lost 30 pounds in 30 days. The next year I came back with the Lakers and I was a lot leaner. I was a lot faster–jumping like I was 19 again. I really believe that if he loses that weight, he’ll be more mobile. I think it’ll be smart.

Embiid has done a better job of taking care of his body and being more available for the Sixers on a nightly basis. Unfortunately, he suffered a freak injury and Philadelphia was unable to recover. Howard brings up a good point about losing weight, but Embiid has been ahead of that curve for quite some time now.

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Sixers’ Daryl Morey gives thoughts on NBA’s 65-game rule for awards

Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey gives his thoughts on the NBA’s new 65-game rule to qualify for awards at the end of the season.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The NBA introduced a rule for the 2023-24 season in an effort to get players to take the regular season more seriously. To qualify for end-of-season awards such as MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBA teams among others, a player has to play in at least 65 games.

It felt like the rule was aimed at players such as Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, who has an obvious injury history. The Sixers like to rest him in certain games to deliver a healthy Embiid to the playoffs. They know he is the one that will carry them to a title.

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey gave his thoughts on the 65-game rule after the Sixers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

“Yeah, I understand why the league office did it,” said Morey. “I would put, and this is easy for me to say, I would try as the league office to put all the focus on how do we make the regular season more important, so we don’t have to create these, 65 is better than 64 kludge. So again, it’s easy to say when you’re at a distance.”

To Morey’s point, the number of 65 is a random number that the league came up with. The problem the league has is to figure out how to make the regular season matter. It isn’t going to come down to the 65-game rule for certain players.

“I’ve been pretty vocal, like, just do everything you can to make the regular season more meaningful,” Morey finished. “More, you know, the top two seeds get a bye. The good thing about the NBA is we innovate more than any other league. I think we’ll get there and this was sort of the kludge they had to do to try and like, create this dynamic, but it’s definitely a kludge we just need to make the regular season more and more important over time.”

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Julius Erving applauds Sixers for effort in tough Round 1 loss to Knicks

Franchise icon Julius Erving applauded the Philadelphia 76ers for their effort in a Round 1 loss to the New York Knicks.

On the one hand, the Philadelphia 76ers took a step back in the 2023-24 season. After three consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Sixers were ousted in the first round by the New York Knicks in six games.

It was a tough series as both teams exchanged body blows. The final scoring margin between the teams after six games was one point in favor of New York. The Sixers were right there in all six games, but the Knicks came up with the clutch hustle plays down the stretch of games.

However, Philadelphia deserves credit. Joel Embiid battled through a meniscus injury as well as Bell’s Palsy to lead his team, and young Tyrese Maxey blossomed into the star everybody always believed he could be.

The effort the Sixers showed made franchise legend Julius Erving proud. He applauded the effort on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While the Sixers head into a very important offseason, the Knicks are up 2-0 on the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals.

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Philly radio host Ike Reese rips into Sixers following elimination to Knicks

Philadelphia radio host Ike Reese rips into the 76ers following their Round 1 elimination loss to the New York Knicks.

The 2023-24 season for the Philadelphia 76ers ended earlier than previous seasons. After three consecutive second-round exits, the Sixers lost to the New York Knicks in first round this season.

However, the Sixers seem to be getting a pass, and rightfully so. The injury to Joel Embiid that caused him to miss two months put a wrench into any plan the Sixers had of competing. Philadelphia dealt with the James Harden saga at the beginning of the season and a changing cast of players throughout the season.

However, WIP host and former Philadelphia Eagles Pro Bowl linebacker Ike Reese wasn’t having it. He ripped into the Sixers:

This nonsense about congratulating them, pat him on the back for trying last night. They were favored in this series! They were favored going into this series favorites. We lost to a six-foot guard with a bunch of second-round draft picks. And we supposedly got two top 20 players on his team! We supposedly got a coach who knows what the hell he’s supposed to do, and it’s supposed to be an upgrade, but somehow we lose to the Knicks on our home court, Game 6, and everybody I’m seeing is talking about pacifying this damn team. Are you guys kidding me? This isn’t about Joel Embiid needs to go. This ain’t about Tyrese Maxey. This is about us demanding higher performances from this team and stop making excuses. I’ve been one of the top excuse-makers for Joel Embiid his entire career. This nonsense has to end. Daryl Morey, you’re on the clock to get this team right.

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey is very aware that he has work to do to get the Sixers over the hump and get this team a championship. He is armed with substantial cap space and assets needed to make moves. One has to assume Philadelphia will be very active in the 2024 offseason.

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1 NBA MVP trend shows how much the league has grown worldwide

The NBA is more of a global game than ever.

The seeds were planted long ago, but we’re finally seeing the full fruits of ex-NBA commissioner David Stern’s labor. The league presents more of a global game than ever, and that fact has now spilled out onto the court in the coolest possible way.

On Wednesday night, after Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic won his third MVP award in four seasons, there was a lot of thoughtful reflection about what his latest achievement meant. But beyond the extremely exclusive club that Jokic is now a part of, his newest MVP win is so much bigger than him. Why? The Serbian is a non-American player who is helping to establish a bona fide international dominance alongside some of the finest talents in the league.

Jokic’s third MVP continues the longest streak (six years) of non-American players to win the prestigious award in league history. This is the reality that Jokic (2021, 2022, 2024), the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid (2023), and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019, 2020) have given us.

And that is … just wild to think about:

Sure, there were plenty of standout international players around the league over the last 40 years. You had your Hakeem Olajuwon’s, Dirk Nowitzki’s, and Pau Gasol’s as stars. And there were, of course, other countless standout difference-makers and role players whose impact can’t be forgotten.

But before the last six years, I don’t think there’s ever been as clear-cut of a case that most of the top players in the premier men’s basketball league on this blue marble in space aren’t, in fact, American.

Seriously. Let’s think about this.

If I ranked the current best players in the NBA, it would probably go like this, and it’d actually take a little while before we got to someone from the United States!

  1. Nikola Jokic (Serbia)
  2. Joel Embiid (Cameroon)
  3. Luka Doncic (Slovenia)
  4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada)
  5. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece)
  6. Jayson Tatum (United States)

Dearest readers, the first five players on that list are a First-Team All-NBA-caliber group in any average year. And only one of them (Embiid) is in their 30s. There’s still so much great basketball to be played among them.

This is all a fantastic development for the NBA, which continues to expand its reach worldwide. I can’t help but think about children elsewhere in the world staying up to watch stars like Jokic, Embiid, and Antetokounmpo dominate at the top of the sport and wondering, “Hey, that could be me one day!” That in itself is planting another seed. It is the game growing naturally, with kids potentially getting awesome new role models who paved the way to their hopeful dreams.

To be clear, at this point in time, most of the best players in the league after the tippy-top still come from the United States. It’s not all that close, either.

But this is still a dramatic shift from where the league even was in the early aughts. When I see stats like this about recent MVP winners all being from elsewhere in the world, it makes me so excited for the future, decades from now, when the world will have potentially really caught up to the U.S., and we will see more players from other walks of life rising to well-earned NBA superstardom.

Then we’ll really have a global game.

Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey will be included in decision making for Sixers

Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey will be involved in the offseason decision-making for the Philadelphia 76ers.

CAMDEN, N.J. — As the Philadelphia 76ers head into the offseason, one has to wonder what comes next for them after a first-round elimination at the hands of the New York Knicks. The Sixers gave a valiant effort considering the adversity they were facing, but it wasn’t meant to be.

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey has substantial cap space and numerous other assets at his disposal to help the Sixers take the next step. He also has stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey who appear as dominant as any combination in the league.

As Morey heads into the offseason seeking help for his star duo, he will certainly consult them to help move the Sixers forward.

“Yeah all as equal, you definitely want Tyrese and Joel to feel good and comfortable about the players you’re adding,” said Morey. “They’re so good they can make any player work well or not work well. So I’ve always had a history of working with our top players and obviously the coaching staff to make sure everyone feels about those acquisitions.”

While Embiid and Maxey will be included in these decisions, it isn’t likely everybody will be on the same page. Morey understands that and it will come down to how that player can help the Sixers in the future.

“There are some times where, basically either the head coach or the front office or one of your better players— it’s never unanimous,” Morey explained. “There are times when it’s like ‘OK, two of those three feel good about how a player can help.’ Often, you still often do it, and then over time, they either prove that it’s better than you think or worse than you think.”

The point is, it appears the Sixers are on the same page in terms of having their main pieces in the decision-making process. Obviously, it comes down to Morey and what he believes will help the team, but Embiid, Maxey, and coach Nick Nurse will have a say in any moves as well.

“There have been times when I’ve thought someone wouldn’t work as well and they worked better, there have been times when Joel felt like, ‘OK, I’m not sure about this’, but then got very excited about that player,” Morey finished. “So you just got to have a lot of faith. The good thing is there’s a lot of trust between all the key components where you can take bets on players and feel generally good about how everyone’s viewing it.”

The summer promises to be a very interesting time for the Sixers.

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Evan Turner questions the potential Paul George-Joel Embiid duo for Sixers

Evan Turner questions a potential Joel Embiid-Paul George combination for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The offseason has just begun for the Philadelphia 76ers following a first-round elimination at the hands of the New York Knicks. The Sixers are looking to take advantage of the cap space and the trade assets at their disposal to bring in another star to put next to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George is the biggest name connected to the Sixers. The All-Star forward can decline his player option for the 2024-25 season and enter free agency. The Sixers are one of the teams in the league that can offer him a max deal to pry him away from LA and bring him to Philadelphia.

Former Sixers forward Evan Turner, who played with George briefly while with the Indiana Pacers, questions the George-Embiid duo. He said they would be skilled, but isn’t sure if they would get the job done:

I never met a human that would let a media rumor drive his energy or personality like somebody’s like ‘I hear you were going to Philly.’ That dude be like ‘You know what? I’m going to Philly.’ You know how soft that team gonna be if him and Embiid go together? It would probably be the most skilled duo ever since Kobe (Bryant) and Shaq (O’Neal). Embiid would be hurt and PG gonna be Paul, though.

Of course, George would essentially be the No. 3 guy in Philadelphia behind Embiid and Maxey. The Sixers would focus on the two stars they already have while George would play a role as the third member of something of a “Big 3”, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if the Sixers were to bring George in on a deal.

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