Joel Embiid seems like he could be the savior of the Philadelphia 76ers. Why are fans so crazy about him? Here’s a few good reasons.
Joel Embiid has been everything Philadelphia 76ers fans wanted him to be and more. The 7-2 center out of Cameroon and Kansas University had to wait a few years before he got to make his NBA debut, but he has finally made that debut, and has been able to show in just a few short games that he was worth the wait.
Whether or not things would have gone better if he would have been able to play sooner is unknown at this point, but right now, Sixers fans and general NBA fans alike are just enjoying watching Embiid and wondering where in the world his ceiling is. As it stands, his minutes keep getting increased, and his possible ceiling just keeps going up and up.
Most outsiders have accepted Embiid and realized that he’s a truly great center. At the same time, some outside fans have wondered why the “crazy Sixers fans” are so hyped about Embiid, and why they can’t stop talking about him.
Sure, he’s good, but he still isn’t exactly winning a whole lot of games for the team. Why the excitement?
Well, for starters, the Sixers fans have not had a ton to get excited about on the court over the last several seasons. With the Sixers hitting a nearly all-time low 10 wins last year, the fans would have been excited to see just about anybody new doing something good on the floor, and even without Embiid, Sergio Rodriguez probably would have gotten a lot of hype.
Nonetheless, Embiid is hyped as ever, and is well worth it. Here’s some basic reasons why Sixers fans love Embiid.
Nov 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) scores past Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) and guard J.R. Smith (5) during the second half at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
He embodies the new wave of the center
Joel Embiid is one of the new wave centers in the NBA. While some predicted that over the next few years, the center would be phased out due to the inability to gel with the game getting further away from the rim and the 3-point shot being so heavily valued, players like Embiid are going against the grain in that regard.
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Other players similar to him are last year’s Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns and even his own teammate Richaun Holmes. None of those players will ever be considered sharpshooters in the NBA, but they will be considered solid players from beyond the arc.
Having a big man who is able to shoot 3-pointers is something that would have been pretty much unheard of and made up 5-10 years ago, so the fact that Embiid is able to do it at a success rate of nearly 50 percent so far has been incredibly impressive.
It’s already posed huge challenges to defenders. Hassan Whiteside, when the Miami Heat played the Sixers, said that he was fine with not even defending Embiid’s 3-point shots. He just wants to keep him away from the rim at all costs. The problem is — Embiid can do damage at the rim as well. This type of versatility not only allows the Sixers to run him basically in any play anywhere on the floor, but it makes for a very difficult time for defenders.
What has been even more interesting is the fact that the Sixers have not had a player shooting this well from beyond the arc in years. Their best 3-point shooter in years is a 7-3 big man. What’s not to love about that?
Nov 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) shoots and scores on a three point shot against Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) during the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
He is charismatic
Every star has to have charisma. Especially in Philadelphia, being charismatic with fans is a must if you’re going to succeed as a Philly star. While not every Philly star has to have the same type of charisma, they need to be captivating in that sense if they’re going to go down in the history books of Philly sports.
A type of attitude and swagger is required to be a star in Philadelphia.
The last truly charismatic star the Sixers had was Allen Iverson. Iverson had charisma, but he had a type of charisma that was carried with a bad-boy attitude. Iverson did what he wanted and when he wanted.
Embiid’s charisma is definitely a little bit different. He certainly says what he wants, but as far as what he does, he seems like for the most part, he’s respectful and agrees with the coaching staff whether he wants to or not.
The charisma Embiid has is, just like his play style, very much a new-age charisma. He is a humorous player who gives solid funny quotes, and his social media presence is known. After that win over the Miami Heat, Embiid posted a picture of him going up against Hassan Whiteside. The location on the photo was “BBQ Chicken” as to say Embiid “cooked” Whiteside.
He’s a social media savage, and that charisma is eaten up by Philly fans, and especially by Sixers Twitter.
Nov 21, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) reacts as time winds down on a victory against the Miami Heat at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 101-94. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
He wants to play
There have been a few games this season where head coach Brett Brown has been faced with a tough and interesting predicament as far as whether or not he should play Embiid. Coming into the year, we knew a few things about how restricted Joel would be for games. We knew he wouldn’t be playing in any back to backs, and we knew there would be a limit to how many minutes he could play each night.
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To start the preseason, Embiid was seeing just around 12 minutes per game. Things steadily increased all the way to 24 minutes, which is where he was supposed to stay until at least Christmas when he was reevaluated. The Sixers staff shook things up when they cleared him for 28 minutes from here on out on Wednesday night.
These minutes restrictions are calculated by the medical team that works closely with Embiid and knows how much he can handle on his foot. Things look healthy and safe so far, but better safe than sorry should be the motto for the team.
So Brown has played Embiid (for most of the season) planning to get him 24 minutes before the 48 minute clock runs out. But sometimes four quarters of basketball aren’t enough to decide a game. With the Sixers actually being very close and competitive in a lot of their games so far this season, it’s not a huge surprise that three games now have gone to overtime.
But if you’ve used 24 minutes already, what do you do? Do you risk a few more minutes of play even if it means a potential bad thing happening by going over the suggested minutes restriction? Or do you play it safe and risk losing the game?
Their first overtime game came afgainst the Indiana Pacers. Embiid came to the bench after the fourth quarter buzzer and strongly said to Brown, “I’m playing.”
Embiid started that period on the bench, but was put in later in the game. The Sixers would lose, but the very next game against the Pacers again that went to overtime Brown was quick to use Embiid.
Finally, in an overtime game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Embiid was used in the first overtime period, but was sat for the entire sixth period when the game went to double overtime. Embiid, as he was informed that he couldn’t play by the medical staff, angrily kicked a chair on the bench.
In the first overtime game against the Pacers Embiid was visibly upset to be put on the bench to start the game.
You hate to see a player upset, but you love the passion. Him coming to the bench and telling Brown, “I’m playing.” After all that Embiid went through with the game of basketball, it would be understandable if he didn’t like the game like he used to. But he loves it, and he is excited to play. Having a player that passionate is incredible to watch as Sixers fans.
Nov 21, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) reacts after a defensive stop against the Miami Heat at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 101-94. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
He’s even better than we thought
Coming into this season, a lot of us had good long-term expectations for the Sixers center, but overall thought that he probably wouldn’t prove to be an incredibly impactful player right away in the NBA just because of how rusty he was.
We couldn’t have been more wrong about Embiid. Well, sort of. Embiid still is showing some rust, but he’s just at such a high level even with the rust that it’s hard to say that he’s playing below a level of where he’s going to be eventually. It’s almost as if Embiid with rust is better than a lot of the Sixers other centers when they’re playing fresh. That’s pretty impressive.
Embiid is such a good player fundamentally that even without him knowing really how to pass and how to be aware of his surroundings, he’s incredibly impactful. As he develops those skills, he’s only going to get better, and that’s scary for his opposition, and even for his team who needs to figure out how to handle him in years to come.
Were we foolish for thinking that Embiid was going to have trouble coming into his first season in the league? Perhaps, but with his career starting off all too similar to that of other big men like Greg Oden, those of us who were worried had our worries backed up well.
We should still be happy that Embiid is turning out to be better than we even thought.
Nov 21, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) along with forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) and guard T.J. McConnell (1) and forward Robert Covington (33) talk during a break in action against the Miami Heat in the second half at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 101-94. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
He’s accepted the process
Over the last few seasons, those who have stuck around with the Sixers and wanted to see the radical rebuilding process pay off in a huge way have been known as people who have “trusted the process.” This radical rebuild was implemented by Sam Hinkie, who has since been pushed out by the ownership of the team. That group of people has been known as a bit of a cult, and there’s an interesting dynamic to the process culture that exists.
Embiid was a huge part of that process. In 2014, the Sixers drafted Embiid despite him having a broken foot and despite him having to miss at least one full season because of that. Hinkie was really banking on Embiid being good in the long-term.
Even when Embiid suffered a setback and had to get another surgery placing him out for another full season, the team did not give up on him. They focused a large amount of their medical staffing towards Embiid to ensure his recovery went as smoothly as possible, and to ensure Embiid was ready to dominate when he did hit the court.
They even went out of their way to have him rehab in Qatar, which was near where Embiid grew up, and with a staff that spoke his native language. They were not shy about making his rehab as intense and meticulous as possible.
Embiid didn’t have much of an option other than to trust the process, but he’s really adopted the whole culture. He’s been appreciative of Hinkie, the team, and possibly most imporatntly the fans for sticking by him and seeing him through this whole process even though it might have been easier to not focus quite as many of their efforts on a player that had no guarantees.
Embiid has even gone so far as to give himself the nickname of “The Process,” totally immersing himself and his personality into the process. He’s basically one of us when it comes to the process culture.
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