Joel Embiid‘s pregame workouts are a thing of beauty, but just how beautiful are they?
Going to a Philadelphia 76ers game over the past few seasons has been very, very nice. Fans that decide to go last minute have typically been able to snag tickets for as low as $5, depending on who the Sixers are playing and what night the game falls on.
When you go to a game, though, don’t expect to see much outstanding basketball. The entertainment is good, as the Sixers have lots of in-game stuntmen, jumbotron games, and trivia throughout the night, but the on-court entertainment is usually some of the worst in the league.
So why in the world are fans lined up an hour before tip-off to get into the Wells Fargo Center? The Sixers have their own Stephen Curry.
Curry has taken over the league with his impressive ball-handling skills in his pre-game routine. It’s a spectacle to go and see Curry warm up, and for some, it’s more important than seeing him play.
Joel Embiid is the Sixers’ Stephen Curry. His pregame warmups — although not taking place before every game — are watched intently by fans and reporters as they hope to see something new about his game. They look for new things that Embiid is developing, new things that he’s working on in his injury recovery.
Next: The road to pregame workouts
The road to get to this point of fans getting excited for pregame warmups has been a rough one. The Philadelphia 76ers picked Embiid with the third overall pick in 2014, and there were high hopes regarding his potential in the NBA. Right away, the Sixers knew he came with injury problems, but given that the projected top overall pick had fallen to three, it was tough to pass up.
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Sam Hinkie did not pass up on Embiid, and it is still unknown if it has paid off or not.
The first season was one that was all recovery for Embiid since he had undergone reparative surgery on his left foot.
His recovery went for the whole season, and carried into the summer. But fans were thrown through a loop when it was announced that Embiid had gone through a setback that would require another surgery, as well as another year of sitting out from real games and another year of slow recovery.
So, fans again rested on watching Embiid play during pregame warmups.
He went from shooting in a boot, to shooting flat-footed, to just recently getting more physical and leaving his feet.
Embiid is not on track to be available for summer league, but he could be around for the preseason.
Next: Workout #1
Sometime during 2015 season
This first video takes us all the way back to 2015, when Embiid was supposed to be in his rookie year, but sitting out due to his first surgery. The video was actually not published until 2016, so I’m not sure when exactly in the 2015 season this was published, but it looks like it could be in January or February.
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This video chronicles the first go-around of Embiid’s recovery, where the team may have been a little too risky with allowing him to do certain things too quickly.
This workout starts with a lot of mid-range jumpers with a little movement before the shot. That movement could be a quick fake or something along those lines.
Embiid leaves his feet just a little bit when taking these shots.
He wasn’t draining an insane amount of shots, and in fact, got quite frustrated at one point due to the outcome of his workout. Embiid is seen cussing in this video out of frustration because of shots not falling.
Later in the workout, Brett Brown steps in and works with Embiid, showing the large amount of coaches that are working with him.
Embiid transitions to a different workout, where he shows some movement across the key. He missed a few close shots here.
Looking at these workouts, it’s a lot of repetition, likely for muscle memory. They want him to get his form on each and every shot type down for when he finally takes the floor. Not having to adjust much when he does make his debut will make everything much more smooth.
Embiid, in this video, seemed to be much more consistent with his shots that were further from the hoop for some reason. Also, when the Sixers put a body on him, he missed several shots.
Furkan Aldemir was spotted in this video, so that was nice.
Next: Workout #2
January 10th, 2016
This next workout is nearly a year later when compared to the first one. Lots has happened in between the two videos, including Embiid’s second surgery and second go-around in the boot.
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The workout starts with some flat-footed shooting with a right-step involved. He then switches to stepping with the left foot, his bad foot.
Next, he shoots some free-throw shots, and is very solid from the line. His form looks decent and he hits several of his attempts.
The team then does some dual workouts where they have him do strengthening exercises along with shooting drills. He does some leg lifts while simultaneously taking shots. Not only will this improve his leg strength, but it will improve his one-footed shooting ability.
During some down time in his workout, Embiid is allowed to play some flat-footed, no movement defense on one of his teammates. He puts a hand up in his face, and after forcing a miss exclaims, “I’m in his head!”
Still, in this video, his closer shots are rimming out. His touch obviously needs to be softened, because it looks like he’s simply putting too much “oomph” on the ball when he puts it in the basket from close distances.
In this video, there’s not nearly as much leaving the feet as there was in the first one.
Embiid still gets visibly frustrated with consecutive misses. I can’t help but think the same will happen when he steps on the court and has bad games. Luckily, in this video, when he got visibly frustrated, he took it out on his game, and came back with a few made shots.
Hopefully he responds to his frustrations in real games with made shots.
Next: Workout #3
March 12th, 2016
The last video falls two months after the previous video. Embiid has now visited Aspetar, the world-class athletic clinic in Qatar, and fans are eager to see what he’s worked on.
He starts off with some mid-range shots, and his form greatly resembles that of solid big-man shooter Chris Bosh. He’s got a solid rhythm to his jumper. He still isn’t leaving his feet that much.
Looking at the drill repetition that starts at the 0:32 second mark in this video, Embiid grabs a ball that bounces back his way, puts it between his legs, spins around and puts up a shot. It didn’t go in, but the ball handling we see in this rep is pretty exciting. Embiid is clearly feeling himself following that ball handling show off, as he hits four straight jumpers after that point.
The workout then moves onto the elbow, where he hits several shots. His jumper was falling in this workout, but only from the left side of the floor. The right side was very weak.
The workout ends with him taking some 3-pointers, where he finally was seen leaving his feet a little bit on shots.
This video definitely shows progress in several areas. He’s got a solid shooting stroke down, he can handle the ball effectively, and he can sink shots from all over the floor.