Joel Embiid is having an extremely dominant season this year, and most would say that this is the best season of his career thus far. Joel Embiid is currently averaging 28.9 PPG, 10.7 RPG, and 4.3 APG this season while shooting a solid 36.5% from beyond the arc.
It is clear that there are few in the league that can stop or bother Joel Embiid in single coverage due to his physical dominance. In fact, teammate Danny Green has recently compared Joel Embiid to Shaquille O’Neal, claiming that Embiid is O’Neal, but “with footwork and a touch”. Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire relayed the news.
Other than the fact that he’s 7-foot-2, 300 pounds and nimble? He’s just a force that we’ve never seen before. He’s Shaq with footwork and a touch. We’ve never seen a big man with guard skills like him. Obviously, he puts the work in. Day in and day out watch the film, knows his personnel, knows who he’s playing against, and knows what he can get, or what advantages he has against something big that he’s playing against.
I think his biggest thing is that he’s improved on tremendously is reading the double teams and trusting his teammates more and more each game. Finding the reads, finding the right passes, making the right plays, to where other guys are in rhythm and able to help him make the game easier.
There is no doubt that Joel Embiid doesn’t just rely on interior offense to make an impact on the game. He can score comfortably on all three levels, and has improved as a passer this year, as Green mentioned. Notably, Shaquille O’Neal himself has praised Joel Embiid recently, lauding him for being able to improve from criticism. Hopefully, we see Joel Embiid continue this level of play for the rest of the season.
The Philadelphia 76ers haven’t yet made the NBA Finals during Joel Embiid’s tenure, but that could change this season, especially since he is playing at an MVP level. Hopefully, we see the 76ers figure out a way to get Joel Embiid some help prior to the trade deadline and give the team a better chance of winning a championship with an MVP candidate on the roster.
