Joel Embiid turned in one of his best performances so far this season despite the Philadelphia 76ers dropping a very winnable game against the skidding Brooklyn Nets. However, that does not change the fact that the superstar is far from the level of player he once was, and there is no realistic way to fix that.
The Athletic’s Tony Jones summed it up pretty nicely — Embiid, in his current form and stature, is merely 85 to 90 percent of the caliber of player he was on the offensive end. And to make things more complicated, he no longer has the tools to compensate for his reduced production as a scorer with his defense. Without any viable vertical lift and mobility, he has slowly become a defensive liability.
So far, Nick Nurse and the coaching staff have been trying various workarounds to make things work on defense with Embiid on the court, but as teams get more acclimated to seeing the 76ers operate in a compromised manner, they will get more aggressive in trying to exploit the superstar’s shortcomings, especially in more high-stakes contests.
Joel Embiid is becoming a liability on the floor for the 76ers
No matter what their billing is according to people from the outside, Philadelphia believes that it has what it takes to be a formidable force in the playoffs. While they do have the talent to make that a reality, that alone will not be enough for them to trump the better teams in the league in the context of a seven-game series.
Playoff series are often won by the teams which make the best adjustments from game to game. And if the 76ers go into the postseason as currently designed, there is no way that opposing teams will just gloss over the advantages they can generate with Embiid manning the floor on the defensive end.
So, what’s the fix here? For now, the answer has been pretty elusive. The grimmer part is that there is utter uncertainty as to whether or not their issue with Embiid in that regard can even be remedied given that it is anchored on his physical condition, which is waning as fast as it can be.
The rest of the season for the 76ers will probably be defined by how Embiid reinvents himself. But more importantly, it is worth monitoring how the coaching staff intends to minimize those holes which their adversaries can easily exploit come playoff time.