1. Joel Embiid is out of basketball shape
Embiid spent 28 minutes on the floor Friday night, which is a positive sign in his progression towards a full workload. His conditioning is still out of whack, though, and he doesn’t plan on playing in Saturday’s game against Toronto — which leaves some questions as to how long it’ll be until we see Embiid producing to that extent.
Boston didn’t do a particularly great job defending Embiid matchup-wise, and it hardly mattered. He floated towards the perimeter and still struggled to stay as mobile as he normally is. He only scored 11 points on 4-16 shooting, while also missing all six of his 3-point attempts. His shot is coming up short, and his legs just look tired.
As somebody who spent most of the offseason rehabbing and was only able to participate lightly in two preseason games, this isn’t an unexpected hurdle for Embiid. He needs to get back into game shape, and it may be a couple of weeks before he is. He won’t always struggle to the extent he did on Friday either, and a few days of rest — including the squad’s game against Toronto — could benefit him in the short term.
With all of that said, it is a cap on the team’s potential for early success. Embiid’s two-way presence is a big part of the Sixers’ playoff hopes, and he doesn’t look particularly nimble on defense nor overly effective on offense. Until he’s able to ramp up his activity and get some rhythm going on offense, we could see some of Philadelphia’s struggles continue.
Next: 5 noteworthy things from the Sixers' opening night loss
Some of these notes harped on the negatives more than the positives, but they’re things that need to be monitored moving forward. There’s still plenty of reason for optimism, and the team’s production for three of the four quarters against Boston gave some good examples of why.