A little over one month into the season, it's time for Philadelphia 76ers fans to shift their expectations with Joel Embiid. It's clear that although this is still one of the best big men in the league and a high-level scorer, he's not quite the same player he was when he won the MVP award in 2023.
It was natural for fans to hope they'd see the old version of Embiid step on the court when he made his return to the hardwood. But we now have seven games of sample size in front of us, and it should be clear that this is a bit different player than the one we saw tearing up the playoffs in the spring of 2024.
The injuries have certainly taken a toll on Joel Embiid. And while that's frustrating and has the potential to be disheartening for the Sixers fanbase, we should also remember that debilitating injuries will always have a less devastating effect on the best players. This is true with Embiid as well.
Embiid is not as mobile on defense as he once was
We have seen Joel look like largely the same player on the offensive side of things. When he's getting to his spots, he's still near-unstoppable. He's going to hit you with a pump fake at the top of the key into a cross, then a pull-up jumper and hit nothing but net every single time. There's still an element of "you know exactly what's coming and can do nothing to stop it" when it comes to his offensive game.
He may not be scoring in bunches in exactly the same way as he did before, but Embiid's process is still fluid on offense, and he's gotten at least 20 points in five of his seven games this season. It's the
defensive side of things where the expectations are going to have to change just a bit in Philadelphia.
Joel has looked quite a bit less mobile on defense, struggling to make quicker movements and sometimes costing the 76ers in rebounding or rim protecting situations. This is where his plus/minus has suffered, and where teams have been able to take advantage of Philadelphia. Understanding that Embiid isn't as much of a plus in these areas as he used to be is going to take some getting used to.
There's still time for things to develop and for Joel to get a bit more comfortability defensively. But for now, the coaching staff has to avoid heavily relying on him on that side of the ball in the way they used to.