Have We Reached Peak Joel Embiid?

And If So, What Does That Mean?

Joel Embiid has been one of the most talked about players among NBA nerds for a while. His performance in Wednesday night’s nationally televised game against the Lakers — 46 points (on 20 shots!), 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 blocks — may have vaulted him into a household-holy shit this guy is for real for real for real- name.

And to think, he did it all at just 69%.

If he really is only at 69(nice)% of his potential, that means The Process is capable of putting up numbers of 66, 22, 10, and 10 which would be

But what if he’s not at 69%? What if Embiid has already reached his final form? What would that mean for him, and the future of the Philadelphia 76ers and the NBA at large?

Typically, asking if a player is as good as they’ll ever get a mere 43 games into their professional career would be preposterous. But Joel Embiid is not typical. Joel Embiid is preposterous (and even more preposterous is the idea that he’s paired up with Ben Simmons who has been putting up numbers at a historic rate for a rookie in his own right.)

I’m going to explore what it means if today’s Embiid is 100% of all the Embiid we’ll ever get to experience. Then, I’m going to explore how that might not actually be true.

How could he possibly get any better?

I don’t mean just in terms of numbers, either. As his much-talked-about minutes restriction seems to be going bye-bye, Embiid’s box scores have kept up with the ridiculous pace he set as a wrapped-in-cellophane rookie last year.

What might be even more impressive is how he looks on the basketball court. In Wednesday night’s game Embiid powered through, dribbled past, shot over, Euro-stepped around, and drew fouls on Brook Lopez, Andrew Bogut, Julius Randle, and anything else the Lakers could throw at him. The only thing LA didn’t try guarding him with was A SECOND MAN SERIOUSLY HOW HAS HE NOT EARNED NEVER ENDING DOUBLE TEAMS BY NOW!?

He’s no slouch on the defensive end of the floor, either, and not just as a rim protector. Inside he’s a force and when he’s not blocking shots he’s changing them — or making would-be attackers change their minds mid-drive*.

Against the pick-and-roll he can switch onto guards and somehow keep up with them, and he has the patience, athleticism, and timing to play help defense without completely abandoning his own assignment. Basically, he’s everything you want and more in a modern-day NBA Center (or a throwback-era NBA Center, or a pre-NBA, basketball-is-just-being-invented-oh-my-god-this-isn’t-fair Center.)

*My favorite instance of this came in an early-season game last year against Cleveland in Philly. Embiid had already blocked LeBron’s shot on various occasions that night, and late in the game James started to drive towards the hoop. Embiid slid over into position and LeBron decided against it and backtrack-dribbled back out of the lane. This is LeBron James we’re talking about. Maybe it was one play, on one night, but he made a decision, with the game on the line, not to challenge Embiid. This is less than one month into Joel’s career. I wish I could find video evidence of this flinch but my search for “Lebron James fears Joel Embiid and runs away like a baby” yielded no results. So here are the 3 blocks on James that caused him to think twice later (I promise, it happened.)

It’s hard to imagine how there’s any possible way to go “up” from here. But maybe there is.

Right now, Embiid’s biggest “weakness” is probably his tendency to try to force things. At this point in his career, it’s not even that much of a negative. He wants the ball. He wants to be “the guy”. Sometimes he just does too much to try to make something happen and ends up travelling or kicking the ball out of bounds or picking up an offensive foul for nearly ending a dude’s life.

He’s still developing as a leader, but already takes the responsibility both on and off the court seriously. The team rallies around him, as his attitude as much as his play contributes to the team’s drastic difference when he’s in the game. He’s cocky, but funny about it, and he backs it up with his play. That’s a guy you go to basketball-war with.

Now think about his skills in a slowed-down game. When he has more experience and time to add to his mental-chess master skills to see the play develop in his mind before it plays out on the court. There’s no reason to believe he shouldn’t be able to develop this based on the previous leaps he’s made in his development.

At Kansas, part of what made scouts salivate over the thought of him was just how much he seemed to get better from game to game. This is a guy who didn’t even start playing basketball until he was 15-years-old. Now, a mere eight years later, he’s on the verge (or past the verge, he may already be verged) of being one of the best players in the world.

But What if He Doesn’t?

If Joel Embiid stays exactly where he is right now and does not develop any new physical or mental skills as a basketball player he’ll still be an all-world talent constantly in the discussion for best Center in the NBA. And most likely in the discussion for top-5 player in the game for the next decade or so.

Would that be disappointing? I don’t think so. His level of play is already so high that expecting it to get much higher is downright greedy. Hoping that it could possibly happen is like daydreaming about some kind of perfect basketball-playing-machine for a movie or a video game or something. Like, if for Space Jam 2 the Monstars just stole Joel Embiid’s skills. They wouldn’t need anybody else.

I think it would be OK for the Sixers as well. Embiid isn’t the only player making waves in Philly. Ben Simmons is having a historic rookie year (and doing so with an obvious area — his jump shot — that could be majorly improved to turn him into a nightmare for the league.) The fact alone that Philly got both of these guys should have all doubters of The Process (not The Process meaning Embiid, The Process meaning the process) singing new tunes. But it doesn’t stop there.

Incredible surprise delight Robert Covington just signed a win-win extension that gets the 3-and-D specialist paid while keeping the team’s core together and allowing them cap flexibility moving forward. Their role players (JJ Redick, TJ McConnell, Dario Saric, Richaun Holmes, Amir Johnson) add everything they need to round out a surprisingly deep rotation. And number one overall draft pick Markelle Fultz hasn’t really even played yet.

I’m pretty sure the Sixers can say:

What About Injuries?

Oh, thanks for reminding me.

Yes, concerns about his health prove to be the greatest risk to the future of Joel Embiid’s otherwise no-single-fucking-doubt-about-it* Hall-of-Fame career.

Sure, you could focus on the negative, and worry about how Embiid might never reach his ridiculous potential but I’m going to look at this from a positive angle. So far, injuries have slowed down his development.

No shit, Sherlock.

No, think about that. Since he’s been drafted, he’s either been injured, or having surgery, or recovering from surgery, or rehabbing his surgically repaired body part. He hasn’t had the opportunity to add to his game as a fully-healthy-grown-man-basketball player.

Shudders.

He hasn’t been able to reap the benefits of a full off-season’s worth of straight-up training on his game. He hasn’t been able to fine-tune his skills, or add more weapons to his arsenal for real over the course of an entire summer yet. He’s been too busy fixing his broken body.

If** his body doesn’t break anymore, it’s over.

*I’m kidding, but I’m not.

**How long until this “if” goes away? Two years of healthy basketball? Probably not enough. Five years maybe? I think five years oughta do it.

Have We Reached Peak Embiid as a Personality?

Joel has not only grabbed the baton as “funniest player in the NBA” but he’s full out sprinting ahead of the rest of the league and isn’t looking back.

Barkley was funny because he said whatever the fuck he wanted to and didn’t give a shit. Shaq was funny because he was a big, goofy, lovable-when-he-should-be-scary rapper/actor/eater-of-Nestle-Crunch-bars.

Embiid checks all those boxes. He’s an enormous giant, but silly as hell. He says “fuck Lavar Ball” on Twitter, and hits on Rihanna, and blocks little kids’ shots at the courts by Pat’s and Geno’s, and location-tags Milwaukee as “Shithole” on Instagram. He makes fun of himself — fully embracing the “Shirley Temple” story until he completely owns it. He even adopted “The Process” as a nickname.

That’s like a player saying “fuck it, call me Mr. Tank, or The Rebuild, or Better Luck Next Year Guy.”

We should have ten plus years of hilarious commercial endorsements, award-show appearances, and an induction into the SNL Five-Timers Club on our hands with this guy.

I genuinely enjoy his social-media presence and personality to the point where if he did suffer a career-ending injury I would want him to stick around in some sort of capacity so I could still have him “in my life.”

Ok, What if He’s Banned from the NBA for Being Too Good?

Probably going to happen. We should enjoy him while we can.