Now or never for Joel Embiid and the Sixers

Joel Embiid is often exhausted. A 7-foot, 280-pound center who dreamt of being a volleyball player growing up, born in Yaoundé, Cameroon on March 16, 1994. That makes the Big Fella 27 years old, starting basketball at the late age of 15 striving to be like his Idol Hakeem Olajuwon, who grew up not too far from JoJo in Nigeria. Luc Mbah A Moute hosted a pre-selection camp where kids from Cameroon could come together and compete for five spots at an annual basketball without borders camp. Before winning the job and catching the eyes of NBA talent — and the Sixers — the only English Embiid knew was “good morning”. Not only starting a new sport, but a new language as well.

According to Fox Sports, the list of Joel Embiid’s injury history is long.

The third overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft is a four-time All-Star despite battling countless injuries, and is averaging 29.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists on 51 percent shooting this season. These MVP numbers have carried the sixers all year long to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. It feels like a lot shorter… but seven years the Big Fella has been in our league. With all those injuries listed, having to learn not only the game from scratch but our language as well, he has still been able to dominate and be the best big man the game has to offer.

One of the many things that makes Embiid special is his free throw shooting, especially in the clutch. Jo has shot 86 percent from the line this year continuing his greatness from the charity stripe, greatness that may have been inherited during his two-year absence to start his NBA career. The final two minutes of games most nights for the Sixers come down to Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid not only in isolation, but at the free throw line. JoJo’s ability to hit clutch-time free throws carries this team to success more times than not. In this star-ran league, Jo is more likely to get calls in crunch time than Tobias — sad, but true — so his ability to knock down free throws efficiently should not go unnoticed.

Joel Embiid is the lifeblood of the Sixers’ championship aspirations. The Sixers need to take advantage of his dominance now — not later.

What should also not go unnoticed is the typical “lifespan” for All-Star centers in their prime. Joel had his career high this season (50 points) to beat the Bulls, beating his previous career high (49) from last year against the Atlanta Hawks. The team needs him to drop these numbers to beat mediocre talent all regular season if the role players aren’t filling their roles.

A perfect example is a recent 109-107 victory over the Pelicans, who were without Zion Williamson. Jo had 37 points in 33 minutes and they needed every second of his performance, as the final horn sounded with the ball in the hands of who else — Joel Hans Embiid. Big time win in pursuit for the No. 1 seed in the East! It’s not to be pessimistic, but it’s a game you wish you could have rested Jo more, as we head for “now or never” stages of his career. The reason I use that term is the Sixers are shortening Joel’s “lifespan” in this league just by his usage, and how much he needs to dominate for Philadelphia to win games. Part of the reason being he has never played with an All-Star guard who can shoot, and part of which is because he hasn’t proven he can stay healthy.

This year is a big win now year. Obviously you want to win every year but as Jo inches closer to 30 years old and 10 years in the league, old adage of “now or never” starts to creep in. This may be Joel’s only time being a one seed. If it pans out the way it’s looking, you’d play the Hornets round one, then the Hawks or Knicks in round two. Two rounds the Sixers should cruise through and could possibly even win without Joel’s help. That makes this year almost a guaranteed Eastern Conference Championship appearance. One of their greatest chances yet during the Process.

The only two teams standing in their way are the Bucks and the Nets, and we shall see who makes it out between them. Three All-Stars scare me, but not as much without LaMarcus Aldridge, who provided them with paint presence and could stretch the floor. With his loss they are slim at the five, which benefits Simmons and Embiid tremendously. It may be the year of the Bucks with their huge addition of Jrue Holiday after coming up short two historic regular seasons in a row. I think they learned their lesson with the regular season and hopped on the Nets’ wave by taking turns resting star players so they stay healthy come playoff time and win games when they matter.

It will be interesting to see who the Sixers meet in the conference finals. Either way, the Sixers should rest Embiid as much as possible through the first two rounds. Rivers should have him log 23-26 minutes a night if everything goes as planned and the Sixers wipe the floor with these mediocre first two teams.

I love Joel as much as any other Sixers fan. My biggest thing with him is can he sustain health. As far as I’m concerned, he cannot, but has done so for the most of this season. This is why these NBA playoffs are so pivotal — because we may never get an easier path to the conference finals. Nobody in the world can guard Joel when healthy, so let’s keep him healthy and not tear him down by sweeping these first two teams and putting them away early.

It’s going to take everything Joel, Ben, and Tobias have to knock out KD, Kyrie, and Harden, or Giannis, Middleton, and Holiday. That being said, I worry Joel has 2-3 more MVP years like this if we are lucky before he starts to shut down. So, it’s now or never for me. The Sixers need to take care of business. Don’t waste this man’s career. The Sixers are going to need everything Joel’s got, and this is their best opportunity yet to have him at full strength for a deep playoffs run.