Joel Embiid

Dr. J recently said that Nikola Jokic deserves the MVP award over Joel Embiid. Why would he admit this when he's a Sixers ambassador?

The biggest concern for Embiid and his supporters is this: if Dr. J can’t be on your side one hundred percent, being connected to the same franchise he played for and represents, then who will be? In several weeks, the playoffs will be in full swing and awards will start to be announced. Allen Iverson is a Hall of Fame player who honored Dr. J in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech. Although Dr. J gave praise to Embiid and said he hoped that the Sixers’ big man would win, he said that Nikola Jokic was deserving of the award. There is no true controversy here, but it is a little odd that Dr. J expressed that Jokic is more deserving. Julius Erving claims that it’s not just production numbers that sway him towards Jokic. The fact that Jokic has played more games this season seems to resonate with Erving. Does Dr. J reflect on his era where players played more minutes and load management wasn’t as prevalent?

Joel Embiid has risen over the last few years to become one of the best players in the league. Embiid was always considered a player with a lot of ...

In fact, Rudy Gobert recently said that he would vote for Nikola Jokic as MVP. The MVP race is quite competitive, with players like Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic also in the running due to their excellent performances. But he played like the innocent dumb guy and all of a sudden he was winning big pots. And he looks at me and is like, “Well, that’s it!” In my head I’m like, “This f*cking a**hole.” Joel Embiid overcame those difficulties and became one of the best players in the NBA today. Joel Embiid has risen over the last few years to become one of the best players in the league. Sometimes in the casino, playing against people, they’d get pissed because he just says “all in” every time.

With the NBA playoffs less than three weeks away, teams are clawing for spots within the standings, looking to cement their seeding, avoid play-in games, and ...

As of today, Embiid and Harden are first and third in both free throws made and attempted per game. Nevertheless, Embiid has adapted and thrived in the pick-and-roll this year. It can’t go unnoticed that in addition to being phenomenal offensively, Embiid and Harden are two of the most prolific foul-drawers in the league. As the roll man, Embiid’s size and skillset keep defenses at a constant disadvantage, allowing him to simply read whatever the opposition decides to give up. More importantly, Embiid has dominated as a one-on-one threat throughout his career, beating his defender with an array of low-post moves, face-ups, and jumpers. Simply put, Embiid has never needed the pick-and-roll as a staple within his playing style, because his game never required it. Within the pick-and-roll, Embiid and Harden are still a work in progress, but the recent success has been undeniable. Ranking second in the league in assists with 10.1, Harden has thrived in his role as the facilitator in an offense filled with willing scorers in Tobias Harris, Embiid and Maxey, who balance out the floor by forcing defenses to commit and keeping scoring opportunities plentiful for everyone involved. He also ranks just outside the top 25 in points per possession out of the pick and roll, with an average of 6.3 per game. This season, Harden ranks inside the top 30 in the NBA in free throw frequency percentage out of the pick-and-roll, with an average of just under 16 percent. Harden’s arrival in Philadelphia was controversial, surrounded by broken relationships, another disgruntled star, and two teams in the Atlantic Division with generational talents, desperate to maximize their championship windows. With the NBA playoffs less than three weeks away, teams are clawing for spots within the standings, looking to cement their seeding, avoid play-in games, and secure the best possible route to playoff supremacy.

For the final time this season, we highlight 10 new things from the NBA, including yet another level to Joel Embiid's brilliance, impossible passes from ...

And yet, for all but the super toned, it is impossible to look good sleeveless in a jersey. I guess the solution is the T-shirt version? Regardless, the collared shirt look is not the answer. The player you choose is a window into your soul: What kind of skills do you value? He is a minus defender, addled away from the ball. Tyus Jones is the king of that stat, and for many seasons it was both a gold star and a marker of an almost aggressive anti-aggression; you won't commit turnovers if you don't take any chances, but you have to take some chances to win. The goal is to coax the ball handler into that skip pass; the ball stays airborne long enough for the defense to reset itself. Blame injuries if you prefer; the absences of almost every key player -- including Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert -- played a big role in the Jazz sputtering. Tatum could flick that pass anytime, but anticipates Theis' cut -- and how that cut will occupy Smith. As soon as Theis hits the foul line, the ball is gone. James Harden is broken right now as a scorer, but the Harden-Embiid pick-and-roll is as dominant as advertised. Even as he ascended to the MVP, Jokic was caricatured as a lead-footed sieve on defense. There is no need to draw help defenders any further when they are pre-rotated toward you -- leaning into the paint, at the mercy of their own momentum.

Joel Embiid is one of the most dominant and respected players in the NBA right now. However, that has little to do with his eating habits, according to his ...

And he always asks for them to be burnt.” He’d just be in the back of the bus, stuffing his face, trying to hide as much as he can." He asks for the steak to be burnt, burnt. Justin Anderson: "Everything had to be extra, extra, extra, extra, extra, extra well done. And the chef came out and was like he’s not burning the steak, that’s like against his chef code…(Joel) was disappointed and he was like, ‘I don’t want to eat here anymore.’” And asking for a grown man to change the way he likes his food won't work 10 times out of 10.

Joel Embiid – the first Center in 40 years to average over 30 ppg, doing so in far lesser time than everyone else.

And he’s doing all that in 33.7 minutes per game. But it’s been a joy watching this year’s regular-season for any NBA fan with Play-offs spots, MVP race, scoring title race all going down to the wire. Big men, however, play even less than 36, most of them averaging not more than 33 or so minutes a game. Players at that time played almost games of the season all of their careers without an injury or carrying one which probably ended their careers. The big men who maintained their athleticism for more than a decade or two did that without the medical advancements of the current era. He is shooting 49.5% from the field and 36.5% from downtown.

Despite a very strong start, James Harden has run into a poor slump of form with the Philadelphia 76ers. The former MVP has been struggling to play well ...

And I feel like, no disrespect to the Arizona Cardinals, I feel like they don't put the team in a position to be successful year after year after year. "It has always been a dream of mine to play at Duke; it has always been a dream of mine to play in the NBA," Paolo said. Anunoby appeared to stick his arm out and shove Green away before trying to knock the ball to a teammate. For the Flames, we’ve talked a lot this season about the Toronto Maple Leafs and some of these teams who really need to make some progress in the playoffs, but the Flames certainly fall in that category as well. Danny Green was furious after being called for a technical foul in Game 3 of his Philadelphia 76ers’ first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. Green was called for a loose-ball fall with 13.5 seconds left before halftime and blew up over the call. Though they’re cruising to a Pacific Division banner, the Calgary Flames could be in for a battle in the first round of the playoffs. Some teams have that culture, and some teams don’t and sometimes it starts from the top to the bottom. Seravalli: “Last night featured a potential first-round playoff preview as the Calgary Flames traveled to Nashville and wound up losing in a shootout to the Predators. Not a lot of time and space, it felt like a playoff game atmosphere and playing style. Coming off the Easter holiday weekend, it was still believed the San Francisco 49ers would ultimately come to terms on a new deal with versatile offensive most valuable player Deebo Samuel, who is in the final year of his rookie contract and is understandably looking for a pay raise after he recorded 1,405 receiving yards, 365 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns during the 2021 regular season. Consider looking to one Florida or Toronto to win the East and compete for a Stanley Cup this spring. And considering Harden's playoff resume, the signs are not good for the 76ers as they prepare to make a run for the NBA championship. The former MVP has been struggling to play well with the 76ers and has been putting on inefficient offensive performances for the franchise.

Before the internet-breaking trade that sent James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid was leading Philly on his own.

His burstability is gone, and his isolation game is less effective. Does anyone expect him to go back to the days when he was an elite scorer for the Houston Rockets? The three-time scoring champ will likely be just as bad, if not worse, next year. Harden is averaging 3.6 turnovers in his last 10 contests. It’s hard to imagine him turning back the clock and becoming the same force he was a few years ago. James Harden needs to improve his play immediately. But that’s not what Embiid needs in the playoffs. The seven-time All-NBA selection has still been a strong facilitator, averaging 9.9 assists in those recent games. Harden has a $47 million player option for next year. The Ben Simmons-Joel Embiid partnership never quite worked. But that hasn’t been the case. The MVP candidate couldn’t rely on his former running mate in Simmons anymore, as the guard’s frustrations kept him off the court and became the primary reason for the trade. So, Embiid had to carry his team by himself.

Dr. J spoke to For The Win about the current NBA players he admires as well as how the game has changed -- on and off the court.

This year’s kid was Wendell Moore from Duke. I get a crash course in college ball from seeing those candidates and I get to vote, alongside Roy Williams and Jamal Wilkes and a lot of my friends from basketball are a part of that panel. I was happy to get the call and to respond to it and to pull it off the way that we did. Before, you used to have the stats to support being in the conversation. I think the companies are going to benefit, the products are going to benefit, the kids are going to benefit — and justifiably so. In the 1980s, he invited me to be a part of an acquisition of a bottling franchise, which covered Philadelphia and New Jersey and Delaware. We held on to it until around 2005, then we sold it back to Coca-Cola, so that was a win. When the officials came out, our coach would have to scramble and say: “Alright! Alright! No more dunking!” I really liked to warm up by dunking and experimenting and it was a part of my game. I don’t think I peaked until I was in my mid-20s. So the dunk shot was taken out of the game. I think Ja Morant is going to be a future Hall of Famer. He can easily be a Hall of Famer and maybe even an MVP. I think he’s in the discussion already. I know when I was in high school, I wasn’t ready! ERVING: I love Joel and I love watching him become the player he has become. Luka Doncic. You have Giannis. You have Ja. Those are my top five guys right now in terms of the things required to be an MVP. Steph Curry was there before he got hurt.

By Matt Gregan, Sports Talk Philly Staff Writer. Tyrese Maxey, a candidate for the Most Improved Player award this season, is getting set to wrap up an ...

Having Maxey's minutes staggered alongside Harris in a way where they would play a lot with the bench is perhaps the best solution this team has to fix a problem which has been plaguing them all season long. The Sixers lose the minutes in lineups with Embiid and no Harden by 5.7 points per 100 possessions. The team gets demolished in lineups with Harden and no Embiid, losing by 11.3 points per 100 possessions. Harden also has developed a good chemistry with Embiid. Their pick-and-roll combination is lethal and its something the Sixers need to use much more often, especially late in games when things slow down. He plays with a ton of confidence and has adjusted to everything the Sixers have thrown at him this season. He went from being somewhat hesitant and unreliable on shots beyond the arc, connecting on 30.1 percent of his threes as a rookie, to having it be his biggest offensive skill this season. However, he still possesses elite passing and court vision allowing him to do a great job spreading the ball around. He has really picked up his game and shooting efficiency playing alongside Harden. In 22 games since Harden's debut after the All-Star break, Maxey is averaging 18.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. Maxey has proven capable of stepping up and carrying the Sixers' offense at times this season. He is currently second in the NBA in three-point percentage this season, knocking down his threes at a 43.5 percent clip. The jump he took as a scorer stands out the most. Tyrese Maxey, a candidate for the Most Improved Player award this season, is getting set to wrap up an insanely successful sophomore season.