He moves and shoots great for someone his size, but I prefer to watch a few more games before declaring him a superstar. He was 4-10 last night with 4 rebounds for a crappy team. Not great, not bad, but not a reason to call him a superstar either.
TP, same here. Seems to be a lot of overreactions here when we all know that if this was a C's player many would be downplaying it due to this being a preseason game. Let's actually see the kid play a regular season game, lay alone a full season, first when it matters before hailing him as a superstar and a better piece than someone like KAT, which is crazy talk.
Any chance he puts up 17.5/7 on over 50% shooting (Jahlil Okafor's rookie #s)? I was on board with Danny rolling the dice on Embiid had the other top 5 been gone (I didn't really want Randle or Vonleh). It will be really impressive if he comes out and proves to be an injury-free star. The Sixers need a direction and Embiid surely could provide one.
As for Okafor and Noel, I really hope they can move on to better situations. Noel could fit in just about anywhere, but Okafor needs the grooming/attention of a caring coaching staff - he could still be a very good player in this league.
If Embiid was available at 6, assuming Smart would've been off the board already, I would've taken Embiid, too. It was probably the right choice for them at that time, but I just think he's getting hailed as a surefire prospect a bit too soon.
And, no, I don't see him hitting those numbers, especially the percentages with a more jumpshot-dense game. People forget that Embiid hasn't played ball all that long, which will kill him defensively, and we've seen what double-teaming and trapping him does. I'm not going to throw out numbers, because I honestly don't know. But I seriously doubt he hits Okafor's numbers, who was thought to be the most ready rookie last year before KAT went Super Saiyan on the league. If he reaches his full potential, it's going to take time for him to develop.
The Sixers biggest mistake was taking Okafor that next year and then not trading him or Noel. Anyone with a brain saw that combo not working out from the beginning, which has got them to where they are now. And though Embiid's shot is a bit better than I thought, you still really can't play him with either Noel or Okafor, because it kills overall spacing and pretty much take away the biggest strength of one of the two on the floor.
Embiid will be on a minutes restriction so he probably won't reach Okafor's offensive number but he'll be much, much better defensively. I don't see where Embiid not starting to play basketball until he was 15 means much. When he came to Kansas, Coach Self saw Embiid's raw talent and thought he'd be the #1 pick after 2 or 3 years development. Instead he became the probable #1 pick as a freshman before the injury knocked him down to #3. He overshadowed his much more hyped teammate. From what I've seen so far, Embiid looks even better now. He looks not only stronger but quicker. He's shooting 3s now and his defense looks even better. Regarding double teams that happened to Embiid in college too. At first he was deer in the headlights, then he learned to pass out of it and then he learned to attack quick before the double team could get there. Like any rookie, Embiid has a lot to learn and areas to improve but the Sixers appear to have made good use of these past 2 years to get Embiid ready.
The Okafor pick gets unfairly knocked a lot. Embiid had suffered his reinjury so his future was in doubt. Russell their preferred choice was taken by the Lakers. Porzinigis was considered a highly touted project but he would not do an individual workout for the Sixers. Okafor as you said was deemed the most NBA ready prospect with star potential. At the time in that situation, Okafor was the safe and best choice.
Topic: Joel Embiid now "the process" (Read 50679 times)