For the first time in his NBA career, Joel Embiid is far down in the pecking order in terms of interesting narratives for this Sixers franchise.
You have LeBron James taking a minimum deal to seek a ring in Philadelphia of all places, where we haven’t hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1983. Jaylen Brown has arrived via trade from the Sixers’ arch-rival to go on a scorched-earth, “Analytics are whack” campaign for the next eight months or so. We could even turn next to Tyrese Maxey’s continued
ascension up the All-NBA ladder or VJ Edgecombe building on a stellar rookie campaign before arriving at Embiid.
Yet while the Sixers are better equipped than ever to go forward without Joel on a given night in November or February, he remains the lynchpin in this franchise’s championship aspirations. When available last season, he still played at an All-Star level, with averages of 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 blocks. It’s maybe 75-80 percent of his past MVP-level production, but still something only a dozen or so players in the league can replicate. While Philadelphia has any number of ball handlers and guys to score the basketball, they don’t have anyone else capable of being a two-way presence on the interior. Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti are not starters on a championship team, so Joel needs to be able to wade through two months of postseason action if this organization is going to reach its goal. The upside is the roster around him is better equipped than ever to get him to the postseason; the downside is everything else, which means at this point, we must bring up the criticisms from the haters…
They imagine he was a hurdle to overcome in LeBron coming to Philadelphia, but then James speaks glowingly about him. They fabricate some feud between him and Jaylen Brown because Joel isn’t all over social media welcoming Brown post-trade, but then it comes out that he was part of the group in constant communications with his new teammate. They bring up dietary stuff from ages ago, even though he’s in the best shape in years. They mention old maturity concerns that are basically a thing of the past now that Joel has found happiness in a family of his own and taken proactive steps to be in a better place mentally to sort through past traumas and setbacks. And yet, the “he’s never available” criticism does have some ring of truth to it, because…
It does feel like it’s always “something” with Joel. It doesn’t matter that he works his tail off to return and play with a facemask or a huge brace or whatever. Or that there are sometimes things entirely outside of his control, like his appendix bursting or coming down with a temporary neurological condition like Bell’s palsy. Any time there’s a prolonged period of things going well for Embiid, it seems like something is bound to pop up to ruin it. It’s frustrating. I guarantee he’s more frustrated about it than anyone. But to say you feel secure about his health or that you’re not worried about his body breaking down over the course of the season would be insane to me. Sometimes people’s bodies just do not cooperate and, unfortunately, we have years and years of evidence of that being the case for Joel.
So that’s where we are with Joel Embiid, a complicated situation as always. He’s somehow both far down on the list of importance for this Sixers roster, and maybe the most important. I would love, love, love for him to get his One Shining Moment, but like with his availability, I can’t say I’m counting on it. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
