Joel Embiid in walking boot after "setback" with foot

[tazzmaniac]

Head coach Brett Brown explained during a recent interview that the 76ers’ decision to put Joel Embiid (foot) back in his walking boot was more of a precautionary move than anything else.

Advice: "It is a minor thing. It's so precautionary," said Brown. "When [Joel] said 'I feel a little soreness', our first reaction is to go back to square one and go back to the boot. When you speak to doctors and people that do this all the time, they say it's quite normal. It's part of the recovery of an injury that you will experience some soreness from time to time."

Joel Embiid is going to be a phenom.  According to everything I've ever read about the kid, he was by far considered the best prospect in this draft and is likely better than any prospect in the 2015 Draft.  I know people freak out and assume he's following the path of Sam Bowie and Greg Oden, but I'm assuming he's going to get healthy.   Between him, Noel, Saric and whoever they end up with in the top 5 this year, that team (on paper) is set up to be ridiculous long-term.

And sure... people will point out how shallow "on paper" is, but... is it? 

Yeah, it is.  Embiid, according to the wiki, moved to the U.S. to play basketball at 16.  That means college scouts and coaches got a decent look at him and while he was a 5 star recruit, he was VASTLY overshadowed by Wiggins when they both started at Kansas.  So basically, all of the Embiid hype is based on how he looked in the rather limited sample size of part of one college season.

Now, what we saw looked good but between "bust" and "top 10 center all time" there are about a thousand different levels where Embiid could plateau.  Let's say Embiid becomes as good as Alonzo Mourning.  That would make him one heck of a player, but someone worth throwing away two entire seasons?

Mike

The Sixers didn't throw two entire seasons away for Embiid.  Embiid was the result of one season of tanking.  They'll get another top 5 player from this season of tanking.  I expect they'll tank next season as well.  People complain about the Sixers tanking strategy but I've yet to hear a reasonable argument for how they would have been better off fielding a couple poor to mediocre teams these past two seasons. 

[byennie]

Who said anything about 2 years?

Not to mention, teams would happily wait 2 years for the next Alonzo Mourning. I guess people have short memories, but Alonzo averaged 21/10 with 3.5 blocks on 14 shots (78% FT) as a rookie... arguably better than Anthony Davis' 2nd year and not far behind Davis now. I would take Davis over Alonzo, but it's not entirely clear if he's a better defender, and the offensive numbers are very similar too. In other words, Alonzo was really good. He had about 8 years at that level, before injuries caught up with him (and ultimately he had a kidney transplant followed by a few years as a very good role player / part-time starter)

[tazzmaniac]

People were legitimately comparing him to young Hakeem.

People were legitimately comparing Harrison Barnes to Kobe Bryant, too.

Wow talk about giving players unfair unexpectations.. also a lot of revisionist history here. There really wasn't a consensus that Embiid was a better prospect for number 1 than wiggins or parker leading up the draft even before he got hurt

http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/10960593/2014-nba-draft-cleveland-cavaliers-land-no-1-overall-pick
 
Wiggins had been highly hyped since high school and there was legitimate debate about whether, he, parker or embiid would go first depending on who won. Guy must be the only player in history of NBA to not play for the whole season and surpass his draft mates. Only on Celtics blog.

I think the article you referenced was after Embiid's back injury but before his foot injury.  It says something about Embiid's talent that with less than a year of college play and with a back injury that he was still being discussed as the #1 pick.  Even with the foot injury, he only dropped to #3. 

[MBunge]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

And the Sixers tanked to get Embiid, then tanked again by picking a guy with the third pick in the draft who wasn't going to play that season.  That's giving up two entire seasons for Embiid.

And if you would throw away two seasons for Mourning, you must enjoy playing fantasy GM more than the actual game of basketball.

Mike

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

And the Sixers tanked to get Embiid, then tanked again by picking a guy with the third pick in the draft who wasn't going to play that season.  That's giving up two entire seasons for Embiid.

And if you would throw away two seasons for Mourning, you must enjoy playing fantasy GM more than the actual game of basketball.

Mike

Please elaborate on what rookie makes this team anything more than a 20 win team.

Counting this as a tanking season because of Embiid is just flat out wrong very few rookies make a huge impact in the W/L column.

Even Durant sucked.

[MBunge]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

And the Sixers tanked to get Embiid, then tanked again by picking a guy with the third pick in the draft who wasn't going to play that season.  That's giving up two entire seasons for Embiid.

And if you would throw away two seasons for Mourning, you must enjoy playing fantasy GM more than the actual game of basketball.

Mike

Please elaborate on what rookie makes this team anything more than a 20 win team.

Counting this as a tanking season because of Embiid is just flat out wrong very few rookies make a huge impact in the W/L column.

Even Durant sucked.

Philly is on pace to win 18 games this season, one fewer than last season.  There's more than a few players they could have drafted which could have helped them win more than 20 games.  Now, none of them might have the long-term potential of Embiid but that's irrelevant.

And since, as you point out, "even Durant sucked", that means Embiid is going to suck next year, right?  So I was wrong.  Philly is actually tanking THREE YEARS for Embiid.

Mike

[D.o.s.]

Nothing good happens in Philadelphia, though. They're just being true to their constituency.

[Fafnir]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

To be fair to Wiggins Bill Self's system is designed to make wing players look like hot garbage and never touch the ball for some reason.

I was completely shocked when Wiggins elected to go there compared to other more friendly locations. Clearly didn't hurt his stock in the end, but Self let the PG and older bigs on that team freeze Wiggins out hard.

[celticsclay]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

To be fair to Wiggins Bill Self's system is designed to make wing players look like hot garbage and never touch the ball for some reason.

I was completely shocked when Wiggins elected to go there compared to other more friendly locations. Clearly didn't hurt his stock in the end, but Self let the PG and older bigs on that team freeze Wiggins out hard.

Joel Embiid is a hybrid of David Robinson and Shaq with a little bit of Hakeem mixed in. If he is not challenging for the MVP next season it will be a really disappointing season for him.

[tazzmaniac]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

And the Sixers tanked to get Embiid, then tanked again by picking a guy with the third pick in the draft who wasn't going to play that season.  That's giving up two entire seasons for Embiid.

And if you would throw away two seasons for Mourning, you must enjoy playing fantasy GM more than the actual game of basketball.

Mike

Please elaborate on what rookie makes this team anything more than a 20 win team.

Counting this as a tanking season because of Embiid is just flat out wrong very few rookies make a huge impact in the W/L column.

Even Durant sucked.

Philly is on pace to win 18 games this season, one fewer than last season.  There's more than a few players they could have drafted which could have helped them win more than 20 games.  Now, none of them might have the long-term potential of Embiid but that's irrelevant.

And since, as you point out, "even Durant sucked", that means Embiid is going to suck next year, right?  So I was wrong.  Philly is actually tanking THREE YEARS for Embiid.

Mike

How would Philly be better off having a few more wins this season?  None of the players selected after Embiid have done all that much.  Quite a few have been injured.  So who should they have taken instead of Embiid?  I can't even begin to understand your statement about long-term potential being irrelevant. 

[Endless Paradise]

Nothing good happens in Philadelphia, though. They're just being true to their constituency.

That's not true -- it's always sunny there.

[Celtics4ever]

Joel Embiid is a hybrid of David Robinson and Shaq with a little bit of Hakeem mixed in. If he is not challenging for the MVP next season it will be a really disappointing season for him.

Great Sarcasm!  TP

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

As I said, Wiggins vastly overshadowed Embiid WHEN THEY STARTED at Kansas.

And the Sixers tanked to get Embiid, then tanked again by picking a guy with the third pick in the draft who wasn't going to play that season.  That's giving up two entire seasons for Embiid.

And if you would throw away two seasons for Mourning, you must enjoy playing fantasy GM more than the actual game of basketball.

Mike

Please elaborate on what rookie makes this team anything more than a 20 win team.

Counting this as a tanking season because of Embiid is just flat out wrong very few rookies make a huge impact in the W/L column.

Even Durant sucked.

Philly is on pace to win 18 games this season, one fewer than last season.  There's more than a few players they could have drafted which could have helped them win more than 20 games.  Now, none of them might have the long-term potential of Embiid but that's irrelevant.

And since, as you point out, "even Durant sucked", that means Embiid is going to suck next year, right?  So I was wrong.  Philly is actually tanking THREE YEARS for Embiid.

Mike

I can't even begin to comprehend the stupidity I just read.

How is long term potential irrelevant for a top 3 pick?

And that last part is just wrong, there's not a single rookie this year that makes this team significantly better. Wiggins team has the same freaking record as ours.

Exum? Gordon? Randle? Smart? Vonleh? McDermott? Who? Who makes this team anything more than what it already is? Not anybody listed there.

Philly tanked 2 years, Embiid or no Embiid. The top 10 this year has not made an instant impact. They'll be significantly better next year, though I doubt the jump in W/L will be as big as the jump in point differential.