The Sixer Sense
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Philadelphia 76ers: 5 Areas Where Joel Embiid Has Improved

By Josh Wilson

Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 5, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) passes balls behind his back before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) passes balls behind his back before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Form

One of the biggest things I’ve noticed about Embiid’s shot during pregame warmups is that his form seems to be getting better. I recently wrote a post evaluating three pregame Joel Embiid warmup videos, and in his warmups from last season, he looks a bit undisciplined with his form.

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    • When Embiid takes jumpers, he seems to go back and forth between a few different structures of his arm and shoulders, thus making it harder for himself to nail the muscle memory down. It’s pivotal for a player like Embiid to get that down before he has to take shots in real game situations, simply because it’s one less thing to think about.

    If Embiid has to worry about making sure his form is good on top of defense trying to get in his head, he won’t be able to sink as many shots. If he is to get that muscle memory down now, though, his jumper will be like second nature to him in game situations, and he won’t even think about it.

    That’s more what’s happened this year. As I noted in the video evaluation post, Embiid’s jumper looks more like Chris Bosh’s jump shot in videos from this season, which is good because Bosh has one of the best formed jumpers for a big man in the NBA today. Embiid’s elbow and shoulders are in the same place every time, and he gets in a rhythm when he’s taking jump shots.

    When he gets in this rhythm, he sinks shot after shot, and the muscle memory is clearly developing. There’s reason to believe that Embiid has improved his form, especially comparing videos from last season to this season.

    This in itself brings up a positive about Embiid. Since he didn’t play at all this season, and was spending time working on his game with no defense, he had time to discipline his shot and get that muscle memory down solid. If he didn’t have all the extra time due to injury, he may have struggled a lot this season.

    Next: 3-point shot