Joel Embiid needs to play to his strengths
The Philadelphia 76ers star is a transcendent talent, but he doesn’t always play up to his potential.
Heading into their Wednesday night bout with the Washington Wizards, the Philadelphia 76ers are in a good spot. They’re 11-8 and right in the thick of a muddy Eastern Conference playoff picture, which comes in spite of the fact that they’ve played the toughest schedule to date.
For a young team with a lot of new faces, that’s a impressive feat.
The hot hands of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have been the driving force behind Philly’s success, while the growth of Robert Covington has played an integral role as well. It’s Embiid’s two-way presence, though, that seems to have the greatest impact overall.
Not only do opposing offenses drop off a cliff when Embiid’s in the game, but his offensive repertoire is as unique as they come. He’s a physical anomaly at 7-foot-2, and can use every bit of that size to gain an advantage on his defender.
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Perhaps the only issue in that is the fact that Embiid doesn’t always play up to the potential he so clearly has. Even with an endless mismatch, there are times where he simply settles for shots he shouldn’t be taking.
Embiid’s strengths boil down to two areas — his literal strength and pick-and-pop jumpers. He’s creative with the ball in the interior, but can get turnover prone whenever he dribbles too much outside the paint. He’s also best as a spot shooter, which normally comes in mid-range scenarios where he can play off of Simmons’ (or T.J. McConnell‘s) penetration.
It’s when Embiid strays too far from those strengths when he struggles the most. His struggles are relative — he’s always one of, if not the best, players on the floor — but he has another gear that he should be able to find more often.
That comes with being smarter with his possessions. Rather than settling for mid-range jumpers against smaller, slower defenders — something he did often in the first half of Philly’s loss to Cleveland on Monday — he needs to pound the ball inside.
Post-up play gets frowned upon at times in today’s game, but Embiid has a unique advantage. Literally nobody can match his physicality underneath, which allows him to be one of the league’s most efficienct post scorers when he does exploit that advantage — not to mention his knack for drawing contact.
He can smash defenses to their unsolvable breaking point with his size underneath, and that’s something he needs to utilize as much as possible.
That also means he needs to limit his jumpers a bit. Rather than hesistating or going for contested mid-rangers, he should either attack closeouts and get to the rim or find more confidence in spot-up scenarios. More body control, which should come in time, could allow him to diversify his game even further without becoming turnover prone.
Embiid is almost undisputably the best big man in the league when he’s at the top of his game. That’s not an easy title to get. Now it’s about refining his approach and maximizing the skill (and physical) advantages he so clearly has.