The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Dwight Howard is the First Big Assignment for Joel Embiid

By Josh Wilson

Oct 18, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard (8) celebrates a play in the first quarter of their game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 18, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard (8) celebrates a play in the first quarter of their game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Joel Embiid‘s first real NBA challenge is going to be against Dwight Howard when the Philadelphia 76ers face the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Philadelphia 76ers rookie center Joel Embiid finally got his first taste of regular season NBA basketball. Although his shooting performance wasn’t great, he had an overall solid first night, putting up 20 points and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes.

Still, Embiid has not gotten his first taste of the dominant big man in the NBA. On Wednesday he went up largely against Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, who is challenging, but probably not as challenging as many of the other centers around the league.

Dwight Howard is another breed, though. He fits into that category of top-tier centers in the NBA. He has been a high-volume scorer and a high-level rebounder for years, and in five seasons he has been the league leader in rebounds per game.

More from The Sixer Sense

The peak in Howard’s career came when Howard had three straight seasons leading the league in rebounds, and also had two straight years in that same stretch where he led the league in blocks. Although Howard has failed to lead a team to a title, and he certainly doesn’t come without his fair share of negatives throughout his career.

Now, Howard is opening a new chapter in his career, playing for his hometown team, the Atlanta Hawks. He’s the first All-Star big man that Embiid is playing in the regular season. It’s not a small matchup by any means.

Luckily, the ambitious young big man is looking forward to it.

When asked about the matchup against Howard, Embiid said, “I think it’s going to make me better. I like competing. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

And when Embiid is on the floor, he’s likely going to be all alone as far as having a solid big man. Brett Brown is standing his ground with the idea of keeping Okafor and Embiid in separate lineups while they are on minutes restrictions.

How Embiid approaches this matchup, and how well the matchup turns out will be important. Based on the confidence Embiid has played with already, there shouldn’t be an issue with that, but there may just be a talent disparity between the two big men. Embiid has a solid skill set, especially for a rookie, but he’s got a long way to go before he’s filled out his shoes.

Must Read: Top 30 All Time Sixers Scorers

Keeping Howard off the glass is going to be the first challenge for Embiid. He’s also going to have to challenge him on the defensive end. One thing Embiid is really going to have to try to eliminate is lob passes to Howard from Jeff Teague. So far, it’s seemed like the two of them have had some decent chemistry, and Howard has been able to explode from the perimeter in towards the hoop, catching his opponents off-guard and getting an easy basket.

Howard is all over the floor, and very athletic for a big man. Luckily Embiid has been adding muscle, and may be able to keep Howard from scoring quite as much.

Next: Top 10 ROY Candidates for 2017

Overall, this matchup is important. It will be interesting to observe how Embiid approaches the matchup, and how well he fares against Howard.