What we’re seeing proper now could be the shell of Joel Embiid.
At his finest, Embiid is likely one of the most proficient gamers in basketball. Offensively, there may be nothing the previous league MVP can’t do. His combination of ability, energy and measurement are a rarity, and it’s allowed him to change into one of many defining gamers of this period. Defensively, his quickness permits him to take up house. He protects the rim. He rebounds. When motivated on that aspect of the ball, he has usually been a optimistic.
However the left knee he injured final season remains to be very a lot a difficulty. The swelling and irritation, the ache and sluggish therapeutic course of have all mixed to make this a irritating and misplaced season for Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.
So, they should shut him down for the rest of this marketing campaign.
Watching him in Saturday evening’s 105-103 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, or Thursday evening’s blowout defeat to the Boston Celtics, makes it completely clear: Embiid shouldn’t be on the ground. He can’t explode offensively off the injured knee, which implies his offensive food plan is proscribed to mid-range jumpers, 3-point makes an attempt and foul pictures, if he’s getting a pleasant whistle. Defensively? Neglect it. He can’t transfer laterally. He’s not altering ends with velocity. On Saturday, Nets heart Nic Claxton repeatedly beat him up the ground, which gave Brooklyn benefit conditions within the halfcourt.
When taking part in soccer or hockey, there may be an unwritten rule about injured gamers. They will play by way of harm provided that they’re wholesome sufficient to proverbially defend themselves within the subject of play. Watching the Celtics frequently run pick-and-rolls at Embiid, or the Nets continuously put Embiid in motion, confirmed that Embiid merely isn’t there. It’s one of many causes Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse sat Embiid through the fourth quarter Saturday evening — there was no method to have an efficient protection in opposition to the Nets with him on the ground.
This has been a rocky yr for Embiid in additional methods than one. The knee doesn’t appear to be getting higher, and he’s hinted at the potential of one other surgical procedure in current interviews. He had an altercation with a reporter when that journalist hinted that he’s not doing what he can to indicate up and play. Embiid is clearly making an attempt to robust out the season, however the Sixers must step in and save him from himself. Embiid, who turns 31 subsequent month, ought to have much more basketball in him. He must be wholesome for that. The Sixers, in the meantime, are 20-36. They don’t seem to be profitable a championship this season.
“He’s giving us what he can,” Nurse advised reporters after Saturday evening’s loss. “He’s not himself; everyone knows that. He’s not, actually, the man that we’re used to seeing play at a super-high stage. However I commend him for giving us what he can.”
Philadelphia is in a troublesome spot. The Sixers’ first-round decide is owed to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, nevertheless it’s top-six protected. With Saturday evening’s loss, the Sixers now would have the sixth-best lottery odds if the season ended immediately. Nonetheless, Philadelphia’s mind belief has been vocal about making an attempt to make a run on the Play-In Event — the staff is a recreation and a half behind the No. 10 seed, which is at the moment held by the Chicago Bulls.
However the actuality for the Sixers is that their absolute ceiling is getting the tenth spot, profitable a pair of Play-In video games on the street and garnering the eight seed, then setting a date with the Cleveland Cavaliers within the first spherical. Extra life like is that this: They take the tenth and closing Play-In spot, lose one of many two street video games and are compelled to provide the Thunder a lottery decide.
Pulling the plug on Embiid would permit the Sixers to do what’s wanted to get their franchise participant wholesome and likewise permit them to do the sensible factor.
They should tank. They should attempt to lose each recreation for the rest of this season. No person anticipated the Sixers to be inside shouting distance of retaining this decide. However now that they’re, they should regulate their mode of considering, cease being prideful and do no matter it takes to place themselves in place to maintain the decide.
Not solely are we speaking a few draft class that ought to yield lots of expertise, not solely are we speaking about an out of doors shot on the No. 1 decide and the prize of Duke ahead Cooper Flagg that comes with it. However the Sixers did an amazing job within the 2024 draft. It’s been arguably their greatest win of the season. Jared McCain would have been a frontrunner for Rookie of the 12 months, had he not injured his knee. Justin Edwards has developed right into a future starter. Adem Bona is no less than a rotation-level huge off the bench.
It signifies that the stink of this season doesn’t need to bleed into future seasons for the Sixers. It may be a blip on the radar. If Embiid figures out a method to get wholesome, Philadelphia has sufficient younger expertise that it could possibly make an actual bounce as quickly as subsequent season.
However the facade of this season has to cease. The Sixers aren’t going to avoid wasting this yr. It’s too far gone. And they’re risking handing the Thunder a top-10 decide.
So, the following step must be straightforward. Shut down Embiid. Get him wholesome. Maintain the prized draft asset, and are available again stronger subsequent season.
(Photograph: Stacy Revere/Getty Pictures)
