Please dunk on him so hard that his daddy runs on the court to save him.. https://t.co/cMvt5RYiSQ
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2017
I couldn’t have said it any better than Jeff did:
Embiid, get on the court.
The Best Time Of The Year – Summer
Here we have Joel Embiid making waves with Lonzo Ball insults. What does this accomplish? It allows the media to have a field day with story lines that draw attention away from the actual basketball that hasn’t been played.
What I love about what is happening is the hype train. You fully see that hype sells just as well as success. How does a team that is 75-253 in the past 4 years sell out its stadium before the season even starts? It’s the mystery behind the potential of the unknown that people can’t get enough of. They want to say “I told you so” before the “so” has even touched the court.
It’s miraculous when you think about it.
- The Sixers best player, Embiid, has played 31 games in 3 years.
- Ben Simmons has never played a game in the NBA.
- Their newest draft pick has 1 year of college experience on a team with a 9-23 record.
- Dario averaged 17.5 in the last 24 games of the season in which he started which shows he can score at the NBA level.
- I’ll use Covington at the 5th starter who hasn’t shot higher than 40% from the field in the past 3 years and was 33% from deep last year.
- The bench consists of Okafor (Sixers fans would value him near 0), Holmes (ready to break out), and McConnell (who has convinced fans he is a serviceable PG).
This is your starting point 4 years after the fact when Hinkie started the process. Now don’t get me wrong, this is an entertaining starting point. You don’t really know how much talent you have, but you know it’s oozing. Whether these guys can turn this to success on the court is unknown.
Process Trusters will say, “dude, you’re a hater”. What am I hating? How am I being realistic vs living in fantasy Sixers land? Take a look at the odds to win the 2018 championship:
That’s progress. They have the 13th best odds to win the ship this year. 16 teams make the playoffs so you even see Vegas predicting they are going to. I tend to think this is more because Sixers fans are unpredictable and may hammer this 66-1, so why make it 100-1? It’s the power of the unknown.
To bring it all full circle, the 17′-18′ season is going to be incredibly fun to watch as a Sixers fan. The energy created around the team is electric. It’s hard to not get caught up in what the team has been able to do after 4 years of losing. What have they actually done is more off the court than on the court, but that’s what makes it so enticing. You have one side saying it’ll never work and another saying that it can’t fail. At this point in time, neither is wrong which makes for the most talk.
I’ll finish this post the same way I started this post. The Sixers future lies in their health. Get (and stay) on the court!
I want to clarify that I am a huge Embiid supporter from day 1. Nonetheless, I think that any tweet that is ultimately taunting another player is foolish. I also think that Embiid is going to have a really tough year media wise. He is not going to be looked at as this new lovable goofy player if he tweets stuff like that. Analysts and the media are going to look for every reason to drag this guy down.
Now for the upside…Embiid can deliver. I honestly think he can be the best player in the NBA. I think they might have to start making new rules for the game after seeing the ways he can dominate out there. Raise the rims when Embiid gets the ball? The opposing team gets to send in a 6th player to double team him when we’re on offense? He’s required to be drunk while playing? just bouncing some ideas
Anyways, I’m psyched to be a season ticket holder and I think we make the playoffs as a 7th seed this year (assuming Simmons doesn’t trip over Shawn longs foot in practice and headbutt Fultz who then proceeds to fall right on Embiids horsecock and then we lose all three in one shot). 2020 Eastern Conference Champs. Mark my words. TTP
The current state of the team reminds of the Phillies. A core group that was “home-grown” and became the foundation for a decade of success. Just happens much more suddenly with the NBA vs. MLB. I think one of the biggest contributions Embiid has made is shifting the narrative around the team to one not just of optimism, but also of confidence. That vibe is attractive to young players. The team will bond well.
However, my gut tells me Embiid will have a slightly above average season. Think the sophomore slump will hit him, but he’ll figure it out by year 3.
I’m going to hammer them at 66-1
Go back to the start of the process and evaluate every team in the league. Then, look at every team now. The last 3 years have been dominated by two teams. No other team was realistically winning a title in those years anyway. Of course they’re not proven players and there’s no guarantee that any of this works, but when you look at the other choices we had, and where other teams are, I’d take the Sixers last 4 years and current position over all but about 3-5 teams.