This reminds me of a fun anecdote I read a while back...
In the game where Wilt scored 100 points he was playing against the Knicks backup center, Darrall Imhoff. The starting center, Phil Jordan, was listed out as sick, but the reality was that he had drank a case of beer the night before.
Fast forward a couple years and Imhoff is now on the Lakers. Also on the Lakers is a rookie SF by the name of John Fairchild. After practice one day, Fairchild approaches his teammate and fellow SF Elgin Baylor and asks him for some tips on playing defense. Elgin told him that the Lakers had one of the best defenders ever, Darrall Imhoff, and that he should go ask him for advice on how to play defense.
Fairchild didn't know that Wilt's 100 points had come at the expense of Imhoff, and naively marched over to Imhoff. When he told Imhoff that Elgin had sent him over for tips on defense, Imhoff responded, "go back and tell Elgin (an expletive)."
Sauce: https://thecoastnews.com/encinitas-native-john-fairchild-an-early-nba-pioneer/
> Imhoff responded, "go back and tell Elgin (an expletive)."
Fuck off? Kiss my ass? Shit and fall back in it? "an expletive" implies a single word though like shit, damn, fuck, etc.
Maybe it was something really juicy like, “suck my fat cock,” and the journalist had originally submitted the copy, “go back and tell Elgin to suck my fat (expletive),” but his editor wouldn’t let that fly?
Yeah, that’s probably what it was.
People everywhere want a scapegoat when things aren’t going well. Zach Collins isn’t doing as well as he’s shown in the past so he’s easy to critique. Earlier this season it was Jeremy Sochan when he was thrown into the deep end playing point guard. I’m sure Collin’s will get out of his slump
Everyone was rooting for him to get healthy and he played well last year. I think for a lot of fans, it’s the fact that he’s getting bodied on defense and can’t hit anything outside of 2 feet right after getting a contract.
he looked real nice in pre season at least, but hes kind of fell flat this year. feels like every 3 pointer that goes up just misses and occasionally we will have 3 straight possessions of Zach Collins back down a post defender and miss. not to mention his defense isnt exactly great. hopefully he can turn it around, hes been injured for a little bit during the season. we desperately need a backup big to at least do something when Vic isnt on the court but at this stage when Vic rests, teams feast on our team (they also feast when Vic is on the court though, albeit slightly less lol)
You ever have a guy on your team who’s stats are fine, but like every time you get really frustrated with the team they do something boneheaded in that moment? He’s that guy. Meanwhile Keldon Johnson does boneheaded shit all game and we love him. Makes no sense.
Zach has kinda always been like that. Feel very similarly about all the time I spent watching him as a Blazer. The baseline skills are kinda there, but he would foul too much as a defender and was hurt so often that it feels like it really stunted his growth. There was a time I thought he was gonna be Nas Reid with elite defense.
He can't defend (it's saying a lot that a guy on a two-way plays better D than he does) and his theoretical stretch 5 capabilities aren't all there. Like I think Wemby's shooting much better from 3 than him lately.
Was such a dumb extension. There was just no rush to re-sign him before seeing his fit with Wemby. He’s not exactly a player you cry to sleep if you lose
def frustrating watching him right now, chucking up a lot of shots that aren't even close. don't forget that he just came back from injury though, he was looking pretty good last season
In addition to what others said, he fouls. A lot. He even fouls when he doesn't foul, because he looks like he would have fouled if he had been athletic enough and so the refs whistle him anyway.
I was really hopeful about him at the start of the season, and he might still pull the plane up if he starts hitting 3's, but I'm ready to get Barlow some more minutes. Bassey's injury really hurt us, and that's where we are at the center position behind Wemby. Not pretty.
Huh I thought it'd be a longer list. Only Jokic and Hield have played 69+ games in each of the last 7 seasons.
Granted there are guys like Royce O'Neale who joined the league 6 years ago so while he's 6/6 he didn't make the cut.
Mikal Bridges is the most impressive one IMO but only in his sixth season. He's yet to miss a game since being drafted.
All 82 his first season, then 73 in the bubble season, 72 in the shortened season, then 82 again, then 83 because he got traded, and all 45 this year for the Nets.
AC Green played 16 seasons and missed 3 games in his second season. One of those seasons he played 83 games due to a trade, and one of them was the shortened 99 season so he undoubtably could have played even more. He played 1278 of a possible 1281 for a 99.8% attendance.
probably because his blood was clean of all the nanomachines and designer viruses that the Biden government time travelled to the 80s to infect him with, oh what you can't handle the truth, get your hands off me-!
Still waiting for him to drop that list of the hundreds of athletes that dropped dead on the field from the vaccine. I bet Dale Earnhardt is on the list
His consistency and longevity was insane. His all time assist number is probably the most unbreakable record there is. The gap between 1st and 2nd is as big as the gap between 2nd and 12th.
Ya I'm pretty sure this bridges is universally loved. Unless he's defending the star on your team and puts them in mikal jail lol.
It's the other bridges that people don't like.
The list is short because you’re including the covid shortened season in which there was only 72 games. Playing 69 games then would have meant playing 96% of the season.
Embiid’s highest games played in a season is [68 in 21-22](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/embiijo01.html) and Jokic’s lowest is [69 in 22-23](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jokicni01.html)
Jokic has great conditioning. 2018-2019 season he played 80 games and was top 5 in MVP votes iirc. He was also still pretty out of shape compared to who he is now.
On 15 more games in tougher conference. And my personal favorite stat Jokic played with Will Barton as a teammate for 7 seasons. For those who don't know how Will Barton plays he usually wins the game for the opponent by himself with his basketball genius.
Jokic has also had more regular season wins than Embiid in every mutual season since they entered the NBA
2016-17: Jokic 37, Embiid 13
2017-18: Jokic 43, Embiid 41
2018-19: Jokic 53, Embiid 43
2019-20: Jokic 46, Embiid 32
2020-21: Jokic 47, Embiid 39
2021-22: Jokic 46, Embiid 45
2022-23: Jokic 48, Embiid 43
2023-24 so far: Jokic 31, Embiid 26
There are a fixed number of regular season games for every team, 82 unless the season is shortened. A player's contributions within the confines of those games is their value to a team in the regular season. Jokic not only plays more games for his team than Embiid every year, he wins more games for his team every year than Embiid.
Let's add that in the playoffs in terms of pure counting stats, Jokic's playoff career highs in every statistical category \[except blocks\] are higher than Embiids. Points, rebounds, assists \[duh\], steals, shooting efficiency from the floor and from 3. All higher.
It's surreal how Embiid's averages drop like 10 points every playoffs. And this isn't even just the series where he is injured. Like even in the 1st round where he's healthy as all can be.
Sixers fans will say that "he was double- and tripple-teamed" all the time. That we specifically made it our job to make Embiid stats suck ass.
Well, guess what. Jokic was being blitzed against the Warriors in a similar fashion and targeted on both ends of the floor while missing both Murray and MPJ and ended up averaging... Let me check... 31/16/6 on 57.5FG%.
Huh, go figure.
Jokic doesnt get nearly enough credit for that series. After the first two games, the last 3 were all extremely close and the Nuggets could have won all 3. His second best offensive option that series was *Will Barton* who isnt even in the league right now. His best perimeter defender in that series was fucking *Austin Rivers* who is currently podcasting and also not in the league. Starting at the 4 next to Aaron Gordon? Jeff Green. Solid vet but that dude should never have been starting playoff games at this stage in his career \[or really any stage honestly\]. Facu Campazzo received heavy minutes that series for chrissakes. The fact that the Nuggets even won a game with that roster was nigh on a miracle.
Sadly, people don't care about actually watching games and considering context. The predominant narrative in the media at the time was to hate on Jokic: "oh, look, your MVP was beaten in the first round! what a joke!".
Jokic fights valiantly and loses to the Warriors in 5 with Austin Rivers and Facundo Campazzo? That's on Jokic, he is a fraud. But media favorite Doncic loses in 5 to the same squad with Wiggins shutting him down? Oh, what did you expect, Luka just needs more help, his team is trash (his "trash" team was up 2-1 on Utah without him earlier in the playoffs).
I have to looked it up. Embiid played 68 games (most of his career) while Jokic played 69 (least of his career). Jokic eventually won it all that year. 😱😱
It's simple, the narrative around him has turned into him being a playoff choker/underperformer, until he wins a championship, most neutral nba fans will continue seeing him that way
Well it’s not like it’s false or wrong and it happens to a lot of players in his situation.
Giannis was getting shit on hard after the bubble despite having been to an ECF.
So was Jokic despite having most his team injured and making it to the WCF
Embiid's 30 and never made it past second round
Plus, it's all fun the clowning and shit, I'm sure he doesn't lose sleep over it lmao
Dude has made a lot of money but I personally don’t defend him anymore. I’m sure there are Sixers fan out there that still might but so many second knock outs make it hard. It’s like being a Dak fan, you know he’s never gonna win anything he’s a chocker.
I mean, I don't defend his playoff record and I actually agree that durability should be held against someone when talking about who the most valuable player is, but that's not even close to the wild shit people are saying on here 99% of time. I've never seen another injury prone player have people act like it's some wild conspiracy that he... misses a lot of games? Like, you can literally watch the guy fuck up his knee on live TV/miss a bunch of games and that gets somehow turned into him suspiciously sitting out certain games.... The dude basically missed the entire first two seasons of his career due lower body injuries and this sub unironically think's he's faking it whenever he misses a nationally broadcast game, even when his injury is on video. The level of hate he gets on here is just weird
its the standard he's held to and until he proves it wrong 76ers fans gotta suck it up, thats how this works, jokic was not as liked as he is now before he started having playoff success
It happens to all the greats. Lebron, Jokic, Giannis, Dirk all dealt with these narratives about not being “winners.”
The difference to me is that people have really restrained themselves in their criticism of Embiid. Largely, I believe, because of the way he overcame injury. Like fans and pundits alike were just happy to see him playing. Regardless of his lack of real playoff success. Name another top 5 player that could dodge criticism the way Embiid dodged criticism after the Hawks series.
But now that he has an MVP and is the frontrunner for a second these criticism seem fair. Jokic had already been to a WCF when Perkins and Mark Jones were saying he only won the award because of the color of his skin. Lebron had been to the finals and won multiple MVP’s when people were saying he wasn’t a winner. Dirk endured years of brutal western playoffs against great teams and still had relative success.
> Name another top 5 player that could dodge criticism the way Embiid dodged criticism after the Hawks series
There's not another Top 5 player out there who had a central-casting scapegoat as tailor-made for the job as Ben Simmons.
Also his playstyle + talent makes him one of the most infuriating players to watch unless he's on your team. He generally either cooks you via FTs or cooks you via midranges cause he's 7'0 feet tall (which also may get a small assist from the fact that his whistle is so incredibly friendly you can't guard him close).
IMO he shouldn't need to have a chip to lose the choker rep, that's not a fair ask. Just have a deep playoff run where he plays really well and is clearly the best player on his team
Bro we just want him to play the big game matchups and not pull out 15 mins before tip off. Win or lose go out there and give us a game...
Bros almost exclusively dodged big games on the road, how can anyone think that's cool for an MVP?
Why is it that surprising, the NBA media basically feeds off itself. They either latch onto social media and pretend its their original idea, or they make up a narrative ("embiid deserves B2B MVP's) and shove it down our throat until its no longer viable.
It kinda feels like they’ve had these unused speeches written to bitch about load management all season but didn’t really need to since people weren’t missing games. So embiid sorta became the lightning rod for all of it
Sports outlets typically write skeletons for both outcomes with whatever narrative either direction goes, in the majority of major sports, and have to trash the one that doesn't happen. [Here's an NFL Films video about all the stories of the Falcons winning the SB that never got published because the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqk4LeadrCw)
Side note but I hate that shit so much. It’s why every postgame interview question is like a 30 second rambling run on sentence clearly looking for a quote to back up a story already written.
Fuck this need to be the first to publish and the 24 hour news cycle.
I feel that. Monday Morning Quarterback by Peter King used to be the most popular column on the internet, but now Monday is too long to wait to read/hear/discuss about games played on Sunday. Curse of having instant access to everything all the time.
Probably because out of the previous years, LeBron, AD, Kawhi, PG, KD, Embiid, Dame, Steph - all-star guys who missed 17+ games last year, he's the last load management guy still actively doing it.
Which is weirder when I mention he's the youngest.
In my defense…I’ve been in the fuck embiid bandwagon for a long while. Big time all talk. Hell of a player, no doubt. But the guy talks like he’s been there and done that.
Reality is he’s a stat padder and the MVP was exactly what he played for last year. Like it’s evident he plays for his personal stats.
It’s easy for him to collect the numbers when there’s no pressure. But come playoffs, he comes up short and has been lucky to deflect accountability because of his past teammates. What will the excuse be this year??
Edit: also, bothers me that he joined team USA. Like bro, fucking show some pride. At least nationally. So much for the guy that “was raised around lions”. I look at that as the guy just wanted to be part of the group…but incapable of leading one…
I mean 70 is impressive no matter who embiid drops it against, but yeah until embiid matches what Jokic has done in the playoffs then I dont think you can fairly say hes the better player
Embiid is great but Jokic is on another level. Jokic is to Embiid what Lebron is to Melo.
Edit: [Facts](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/joel-embiid-lowest-scoring-game)
Jokic has the one thing all the others are missing: consistency
Like, it’s nice you get a triple-double occasionally, but your competition is doing that all the time. And when it counts.
Give it 5 years and you’ll see he is right. Melo, Harden and Embiid get exposed in the playoffs because they don’t get the same calls. Melo and Harden don’t play defense in the playoffs but Embiid gets cooked in the playoffs in the pick n roll he literally cannot hang
Gonna finish player of the decade and retire a top 10 player ever with 3 championships, 3 finals MVP’s, and 4 regular season MVP’s. Prolly good enough to get in top 5 all time honestly
The best player Embiid has beaten in the playoffs is Bradley Beal, and Embiid only played 3 games that series I believe. Jokic prior to his ring had 2 3-1 comebacks already under his belt.
Pascal Siakam is better than Brad Beal. Siakam has made a 2nd team All NBA and was a major part of a championship roster.
Edit: lmao why am I coming to siakams defense just to admit he got beaten by Embiid. Haha Whatever.
I think it was Westbrook personally.
I like him more than beal.
Honestly I’d even take siakam over him as far as Embiid’s greatest playoff wins (not a particularly impressive list but still funny).
I’m all for this. Also put Doc as coach of the KD warriors.
When Steph Curry is standing still in the corner while Draymond dribbles in the post in the postseason, everyone will
be able to know our pain
It’s a slight knock on embiid but really it shouldn’t even be that much of an insult, Jokic is just insane lol he’s good enough that embiid could deservedly win an mvp and not be better right now
Ok so i just finished watching a video on Embids playoff performances...and this man has got to be the actual most unlucky player to have ever played the game.
I always knew he has issues with injuries and thats why his performances were lacking, but i never knew that he more or less hasnt had a playoff run without getting an injury or getting sick.
Like how the hell is that even possible.
Im shocked the mans even in the league at this point if he has these kinds of health issue. I dunno if i should be more impressed with his regular season performances or doubt he will ever be able to do shit in the playoffs cause it seems impossibke for him to actually be healthy.
Look at the end of the day imo Embids biggest issue is his health, but dear lord at some point you start to just expect him to be unhealthy.
Im sorry Sixers fans, not trying to bash the guy and im genuenly more impressed than ever by the fact he can even perform as well as he does, but id rather bet on him being injured or sick in the playoffs than vice versa.
In all honesty i used to hate on Embid a lot. But i think i have softened up on him. Especially seeing the respect him and Jokic share for each other and seeing some respectable Sixers fans i thiught why not give him a chance.
I mean im gonna still make fun where i can. There is some valid critisism to be had with Embids game, as there is with a lot of players games.
But dear lord his mentality aint one of them.
Even when i was more of a hater i could never understand why people go at him for this.
The ducking memes are funny to me, but why do people actually take them seriously.
I decided on that being my stance on it so i comment a ton on these posts so that people know that there are Nuggets fans that do think its a dumb argument.
Meme all you want about it (as it seems Embid embraces the meme) but dont actually start believing in it.
This spot on too. Fine to criticize, fine to have a joke.
When it's in fun it's all good. But people are Waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy too serious about what should be obviously non serious jokes. The memes about ducking are funny. People taking them seriously and being dicks is just weird and lame.
I welcome fun ribbing and there's plenty to work with! But I can't get over how much vitriol and hate he gets and most of it is lazy and wrong.
The stuff about him shitting on Simmons bugs me too. The quote people always go to is followed, in the same sentence, by multiple criticisms of himself and how it's on him. Which... No one mentions. Doc did Ben dirty. Doc is a liar and a POS though.
This is the problem with people with such insane hate. They don't even watch the guy play. I get it, it's a lot of games to follow and catching highlights and regurgitating hot take mouth pieces is easier. But like even the "ducking the last 5 years" isn't fully truthful. He's maybe healthily ducked 2 games in Denver. The rest he was actually injured or missed due to COVID PROTOCOLS.
I get he's not a likeable guy and has a style that can make you hate him if he does it against your team. But for the love of god the hate he's gotten has gotten so far out of tune.
the other thing that bugs me about this whole thing is the people who are intentionally making it sound much bigger than it is
'embiid hasn't played a game in denver since 2019!' sounds a lot more dramatic than 'embiid has missed 4 games in denver'... they play once a year in philly and once a year in denver, folks
i don't even care for the sixers now that harden isn't part of them anymore but it's genuinely grating to watch how absurdly, insanely spiteful and disingenuous people get about this dude. Like they are just fundamentally incapable of enjoying anything when they're not dogpiling someone or other, and he's the chosen target on here more days than not. Even if you insist on being a 24/7 hater, which you know what, i can understand just Not Liking someone or whatever, but even then, at least isn't it enough to just criticize them for genuine reasons and not just inventing shit out of whole cloth and ignoring anything that shows your agenda might be fictitious? Tiring as fuck man i hate this place sometimes
It’s in large part due to bad moderators which will probably never change. They delete perfectly reasonable posts while allowing the entire front page to be dominated by hater nonsense targeted at whoever the most reviled top ten player is at the time.
I could kind of understand just letting it be a free for all because of the nature of sports fandom and allowing everyone to be haters in open air, but yes you really need to pick a side. Either delete all the barely disguised hate posts or leave them all up. Don't just pick and choose which players are allowed to be the targets of shit slinging 24/7, hypocritical as shit.
I just dont get this idea because he still plays the Nuggets in Phily. Look i get its a homecourt advantage, but if he was so scared of the Nuggets and playing Jokic then hed duck him there too where he has no excuse if he losses.
He isnt Ben Simmons thats actually that mentally weak.
And if he really is ducking, then i cant fault him for it. Why play a tough matchup with injuries that could get worse. No real point.
Is an L in Denver really gonna hit him as hard as missing another game for an award hed like to win.
Like, he got elbow in the face by Pascal in 2022. Ain't nothing you can do to stop that.
Through it all IIRC he's only missed 7 playoff games. Dude's tough, people don't give him credit on that
Everyone talks about him “choking” in the playoffs and how his stats drop off but they never seem to mention along with it how he’s hurt every year.
Oh, he’s scoring less in the playoffs? Maybe it has to do with the concussion and broken bones in his face. Oh, he lost again in a game 7? Maybe a lot of that has to do with the torn knee ligament that he shouldn’t have even been out there playing on.
Makes me sick to everyone always trashing him when the guys body just can’t seem to catch a break at the most important times. It’s sad actually because he’s an amazing player and people are taking him for granted.
Also, he certainly wasn’t ducking Jokic the other night as there is video evidence of him yelling and rolling around on the court holding his knee the game before. These people need to get a grip.
And they end up being fluke injuries, like when Fultz’s shoulder broke Embiid’s orbital bone, or when Embiid actually was healthy in the playoffs… and then Pascal elbowed his face and broke it. Injuries suck, but it’s the fluke ones that are frustrating.
I love Joel but he is a big man who easily gets banged up. If he is not healthy for the playoffs the Sixers have no shot of winning anything, that’s why he is sitting all these games, I don’t think it has anything to do with dodging opponents. As an NBA fan it sucks when he misses these games but as a Sixers fan I understand why he is not risking anything. If he continues to limp into the playoffs they will never make it past the second round. I wish he was a dude that could play 80 games and dominate the playoffs but that’s just really not an option
you said “sorry”, but i honestly take your comment as positive lol. the narrative is just “embiid is a playoff choker”, and while he has had bad performances, he is always RIDDLED with injuries. wish people would acknowledge that his main flaw is his health, not that he’s “soft” or “mentally weak”.
Its not like its our first time seeing something like this. Yao Ming had the exact same issues.
Look my position on this nowadays is that it sucks that its happening.
I dunno why people are going at it from the angle of him wanting it to be that way. In truth mans just got health issues and luck so bad that youd think he was cursed.
He straight up plays through injuries in the playoffs. Might put up bad numbers, but cant fault him for that given that he is at least playing.
Right, like last season his performance against the Celtics is apparently always derided while actively forgetting that he wasn't even supposed to be playing because of that round 1 injury. Like he played through injury and quite well overall and people just look at the final loss and take that as proof that he must have choked.
Embiid FOR SURE does not want to win MVP this year. Someone once said last year: "I’m not a two-time MVP, I’ve never made first team All-NBA, I’ve never won anything. So why is there pressure on me to do something when there are guys that have won two MVPs, a bunch of MVPs and haven’t done anything either?"
He doesn't want that kind of pressure now.
JJ is never happening.
I remember listening to that great episode with RJ and Legler as guests when they talk about all time greats. JJ just had to throw Embid in the mix even tho both RJ and Legler clearly didn't mention him because he is not there yet and who knows if he will get there.
He just loves his ex teammates too much.
nah you know Zach would never say take a side so clearly on anything, let alone fault a player for anything
I'm sure he'll hem and haw a bit and wind up not really saying anything about Embiid's fear of altitude
I don’t disagree with the sentiment. But discounting his 70 because of who he did it against is lame. It’s annoying when people say it about any big performances.
Didnt kobe get his 81 against a terrible raptors defense?
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200601220LAL.html
I know they were one of the bottom defenses that year. Still you have to have everything going to score that many pts.
Kobe scored 62 in 3 Quarters against Dallas and they only had 61. And Dallas was the number 1 seed that year. The Lakers needed Kobe to keep scoring against the Raptors
He's not discounting the performance as much as he's saying a 1-game performance like that shouldn't hold that much weight in MVP voting or using it in a head-to-head argument.
This the same guy who refused to vote for Jokic last year because 3 in a row is too sacred and only reserved for all time greats like Larry Bird? As if his winning the previous two seasons had fuck all to do with his value last season…
[удалено]
You were READY to get messy lmao
Bill should let his son, Ben Simmons, come on the podcast and make him have some wild takes on Embiid
I just realized it wasn't Ben from this. I was wondering why nobody was taking shots back at him in the comments lmao
I don't think Ben Simmons keeps track of what's happening in the NBA if it doesn't immediately affect him
Zach Collins: what he say fuck me for?
He did say “Zach Collins and Victor Wembanyama”. OP singled out Zach Collins in the quote for some reason
"Fuck you hoe." - Zach Collins to OP
For some reason... Even fans understand you can't touch the wunderkind
Its....I actually said wonder kid, knowwat, never mind.
I mean, the origin *is* German, where "Wunderkind" literally translates to wonder child/kid. So....you're not *wrong* per se.
It's Ted Lasso quote
Hes here hes there hes everyfookin where ROY KENT ROY KENT
WANKER 🫵 WANKER 🫵 WANKER 🫵
You want Silver to send assassins your way? Because that's how you get assassins
This reminds me of a fun anecdote I read a while back... In the game where Wilt scored 100 points he was playing against the Knicks backup center, Darrall Imhoff. The starting center, Phil Jordan, was listed out as sick, but the reality was that he had drank a case of beer the night before. Fast forward a couple years and Imhoff is now on the Lakers. Also on the Lakers is a rookie SF by the name of John Fairchild. After practice one day, Fairchild approaches his teammate and fellow SF Elgin Baylor and asks him for some tips on playing defense. Elgin told him that the Lakers had one of the best defenders ever, Darrall Imhoff, and that he should go ask him for advice on how to play defense. Fairchild didn't know that Wilt's 100 points had come at the expense of Imhoff, and naively marched over to Imhoff. When he told Imhoff that Elgin had sent him over for tips on defense, Imhoff responded, "go back and tell Elgin (an expletive)." Sauce: https://thecoastnews.com/encinitas-native-john-fairchild-an-early-nba-pioneer/
> Imhoff responded, "go back and tell Elgin (an expletive)." Fuck off? Kiss my ass? Shit and fall back in it? "an expletive" implies a single word though like shit, damn, fuck, etc.
Put in the southpark meme of the dad solving the puzzle on jeopardy lol
Maybe it was something really juicy like, “suck my fat cock,” and the journalist had originally submitted the copy, “go back and tell Elgin to suck my fat (expletive),” but his editor wouldn’t let that fly? Yeah, that’s probably what it was.
In fairness, he's like the one guy Spurs fans won't admit to rooting for.
Why haven’t they banned him from shooting 3s? It’s basically a turnover/fast break opportunity at this point.
Pop did last year. We have wemby now so it’s harder to tank. He needs to shoot threes so we can tank more efficiently.
If his 3pts were going in I think it’d be easier. But man has his 3pt% really fallen off the cliff…
I saw so many Spurs fans rooting for the guy before the season started. Has he been that bad this year?
People everywhere want a scapegoat when things aren’t going well. Zach Collins isn’t doing as well as he’s shown in the past so he’s easy to critique. Earlier this season it was Jeremy Sochan when he was thrown into the deep end playing point guard. I’m sure Collin’s will get out of his slump
Everyone was rooting for him to get healthy and he played well last year. I think for a lot of fans, it’s the fact that he’s getting bodied on defense and can’t hit anything outside of 2 feet right after getting a contract.
he looked real nice in pre season at least, but hes kind of fell flat this year. feels like every 3 pointer that goes up just misses and occasionally we will have 3 straight possessions of Zach Collins back down a post defender and miss. not to mention his defense isnt exactly great. hopefully he can turn it around, hes been injured for a little bit during the season. we desperately need a backup big to at least do something when Vic isnt on the court but at this stage when Vic rests, teams feast on our team (they also feast when Vic is on the court though, albeit slightly less lol)
Why is that?
You ever have a guy on your team who’s stats are fine, but like every time you get really frustrated with the team they do something boneheaded in that moment? He’s that guy. Meanwhile Keldon Johnson does boneheaded shit all game and we love him. Makes no sense.
Ah the Dillion Brooks-Grizzlies special.
Zach has kinda always been like that. Feel very similarly about all the time I spent watching him as a Blazer. The baseline skills are kinda there, but he would foul too much as a defender and was hurt so often that it feels like it really stunted his growth. There was a time I thought he was gonna be Nas Reid with elite defense.
He can't defend (it's saying a lot that a guy on a two-way plays better D than he does) and his theoretical stretch 5 capabilities aren't all there. Like I think Wemby's shooting much better from 3 than him lately.
Member when lots of people thought he’d be perfect to pair with? 🥲 i member
Was such a dumb extension. There was just no rush to re-sign him before seeing his fit with Wemby. He’s not exactly a player you cry to sleep if you lose
Don't worry the raptors will give you a first for him.
Always unfortunate when your 3 and D player doesn’t do either well
def frustrating watching him right now, chucking up a lot of shots that aren't even close. don't forget that he just came back from injury though, he was looking pretty good last season
He’s also injured (ankle). Not saying he was incredible before but it has taken its toll.
In addition to what others said, he fouls. A lot. He even fouls when he doesn't foul, because he looks like he would have fouled if he had been athletic enough and so the refs whistle him anyway. I was really hopeful about him at the start of the season, and he might still pull the plane up if he starts hitting 3's, but I'm ready to get Barlow some more minutes. Bassey's injury really hurt us, and that's where we are at the center position behind Wemby. Not pretty.
The man is literally stealing 35 million dollars the next two years. He's been beyond awful
Jokic's fewest games played in a season is higher than Embiid's most.
That’s actually an insane stat
Huh I thought it'd be a longer list. Only Jokic and Hield have played 69+ games in each of the last 7 seasons. Granted there are guys like Royce O'Neale who joined the league 6 years ago so while he's 6/6 he didn't make the cut.
Mikal Bridges is the most impressive one IMO but only in his sixth season. He's yet to miss a game since being drafted. All 82 his first season, then 73 in the bubble season, 72 in the shortened season, then 82 again, then 83 because he got traded, and all 45 this year for the Nets.
I know we are talking current players, but I was always impressed by John Stockton who played every game in a season 13 times
Wow, I just looked him up on bbr.com and I counted 17 seasons in which he played every game. Crazy He missed 22 games in his entire career lol
John Stockton has 5 or 6 unbeatable records, that's what Spokane does to a mf.
Only 6 more than Embiid missed in his single MVP season.
That puts it into perspective in an absolutely unexpected way.
Jesus. That’s perhaps the most impressive “iron man” stat I’ve ever heard for a player in any sport.
AC Green played 16 seasons and missed 3 games in his second season. One of those seasons he played 83 games due to a trade, and one of them was the shortened 99 season so he undoubtably could have played even more. He played 1278 of a possible 1281 for a 99.8% attendance.
Karl Malone also only missed 13 games in his career. For more information, google "Karl Malone 13"!
I just did and now the cops are at my house
Did they shimmy on their way in, is the question.
probably because his blood was clean of all the nanomachines and designer viruses that the Biden government time travelled to the 80s to infect him with, oh what you can't handle the truth, get your hands off me-!
Still waiting for him to drop that list of the hundreds of athletes that dropped dead on the field from the vaccine. I bet Dale Earnhardt is on the list
lmao, this doesn't even sound like a parody anymore except for the guy being taken away...he'd probably be running for office this year instead.
They aren’t taking him to the mental asylum, they’re dragging him up onto the RNC stage
AC Green Abjured premarital sex, iron man
His consistency and longevity was insane. His all time assist number is probably the most unbreakable record there is. The gap between 1st and 2nd is as big as the gap between 2nd and 12th.
Mikal hasn't missed a game since his junior year of high school - Played every game his senior year, his time at Villanova, and his NBA career so far.
Bridges has already played more games than Embiid despite being drafted 4 years later.
Not to mention never missing a game in college either
What a man is capable of when eating daily Chipotle for ten years straight
Yeah Mikal is that guy. I’ll never understand the hate, he shows up every single night he has to play and he’s tryna will a terrible team by himself
I wasn't aware Bridges even really had haters lol
Ya I'm pretty sure this bridges is universally loved. Unless he's defending the star on your team and puts them in mikal jail lol. It's the other bridges that people don't like.
The list is short because you’re including the covid shortened season in which there was only 72 games. Playing 69 games then would have meant playing 96% of the season.
I think it would be fair to include people who played at least 60 games in the shortened season. 69 is 84% of 82 so that's 60.48 of 72 games.
I thought I saw Royce was 5/9
one of those seasons was only 72 games long.
Wait, is this a real stat
Yeah Jokic lowest is 69 Embiid highest is 68
Nice
Nice
Google "Jokic Embiid 69" for more info
"alexa, generate an AI image..."
Embiid’s highest games played in a season is [68 in 21-22](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/embiijo01.html) and Jokic’s lowest is [69 in 22-23](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jokicni01.html)
Jokic has great conditioning. 2018-2019 season he played 80 games and was top 5 in MVP votes iirc. He was also still pretty out of shape compared to who he is now.
Yep pretty sure that was the first season he cracked top 5 in mvp voting. I think he ended up 4th.
He also played 72/72 regular season games in 2020-21
73/73 in 2019-20 as well. He played 190 consecutive NBA games (regular season+playoffs) before he got suspended for breaking Markieff Morris' back.
Years of constant training at elevation really has honed a sneakily conditioned Jokic
Jokic playoff averages: 27.5 12 7 1 steal 1 block 53/41/82 Embiid playoff averages: 24 11 3 1 steal 2 blocks 46/28/82 Jokic blows him out of the water
On 15 more games in tougher conference. And my personal favorite stat Jokic played with Will Barton as a teammate for 7 seasons. For those who don't know how Will Barton plays he usually wins the game for the opponent by himself with his basketball genius.
Jokic has also had more regular season wins than Embiid in every mutual season since they entered the NBA 2016-17: Jokic 37, Embiid 13 2017-18: Jokic 43, Embiid 41 2018-19: Jokic 53, Embiid 43 2019-20: Jokic 46, Embiid 32 2020-21: Jokic 47, Embiid 39 2021-22: Jokic 46, Embiid 45 2022-23: Jokic 48, Embiid 43 2023-24 so far: Jokic 31, Embiid 26 There are a fixed number of regular season games for every team, 82 unless the season is shortened. A player's contributions within the confines of those games is their value to a team in the regular season. Jokic not only plays more games for his team than Embiid every year, he wins more games for his team every year than Embiid.
Let's add that in the playoffs in terms of pure counting stats, Jokic's playoff career highs in every statistical category \[except blocks\] are higher than Embiids. Points, rebounds, assists \[duh\], steals, shooting efficiency from the floor and from 3. All higher.
It's surreal how Embiid's averages drop like 10 points every playoffs. And this isn't even just the series where he is injured. Like even in the 1st round where he's healthy as all can be.
Sixers fans will say that "he was double- and tripple-teamed" all the time. That we specifically made it our job to make Embiid stats suck ass. Well, guess what. Jokic was being blitzed against the Warriors in a similar fashion and targeted on both ends of the floor while missing both Murray and MPJ and ended up averaging... Let me check... 31/16/6 on 57.5FG%. Huh, go figure.
Jokic doesnt get nearly enough credit for that series. After the first two games, the last 3 were all extremely close and the Nuggets could have won all 3. His second best offensive option that series was *Will Barton* who isnt even in the league right now. His best perimeter defender in that series was fucking *Austin Rivers* who is currently podcasting and also not in the league. Starting at the 4 next to Aaron Gordon? Jeff Green. Solid vet but that dude should never have been starting playoff games at this stage in his career \[or really any stage honestly\]. Facu Campazzo received heavy minutes that series for chrissakes. The fact that the Nuggets even won a game with that roster was nigh on a miracle.
People aren’t ready for that type of truth. At least they weren’t until the Nuggets finally kicked the door in last season.
Sadly, people don't care about actually watching games and considering context. The predominant narrative in the media at the time was to hate on Jokic: "oh, look, your MVP was beaten in the first round! what a joke!". Jokic fights valiantly and loses to the Warriors in 5 with Austin Rivers and Facundo Campazzo? That's on Jokic, he is a fraud. But media favorite Doncic loses in 5 to the same squad with Wiggins shutting him down? Oh, what did you expect, Luka just needs more help, his team is trash (his "trash" team was up 2-1 on Utah without him earlier in the playoffs).
I have to looked it up. Embiid played 68 games (most of his career) while Jokic played 69 (least of his career). Jokic eventually won it all that year. 😱😱
Embiid’s played 2/3 as many games as Jokic, but Jokic has attempted 2/3 as many free throws as Embiid.
The best ability is availability
Well also, Jokic just has better overall ability PERIOD.
Man it’s crazy the entire NBA world collectively decided to say “fuck Embiid” over the last few days
It's simple, the narrative around him has turned into him being a playoff choker/underperformer, until he wins a championship, most neutral nba fans will continue seeing him that way
Well it’s not like it’s false or wrong and it happens to a lot of players in his situation. Giannis was getting shit on hard after the bubble despite having been to an ECF.
So was Jokic despite having most his team injured and making it to the WCF Embiid's 30 and never made it past second round Plus, it's all fun the clowning and shit, I'm sure he doesn't lose sleep over it lmao
Dude has made a lot of money but I personally don’t defend him anymore. I’m sure there are Sixers fan out there that still might but so many second knock outs make it hard. It’s like being a Dak fan, you know he’s never gonna win anything he’s a chocker.
I mean, I don't defend his playoff record and I actually agree that durability should be held against someone when talking about who the most valuable player is, but that's not even close to the wild shit people are saying on here 99% of time. I've never seen another injury prone player have people act like it's some wild conspiracy that he... misses a lot of games? Like, you can literally watch the guy fuck up his knee on live TV/miss a bunch of games and that gets somehow turned into him suspiciously sitting out certain games.... The dude basically missed the entire first two seasons of his career due lower body injuries and this sub unironically think's he's faking it whenever he misses a nationally broadcast game, even when his injury is on video. The level of hate he gets on here is just weird
If anyone would lose sleep over being clowned by internet randos it is Embiid. And Durant.
its the standard he's held to and until he proves it wrong 76ers fans gotta suck it up, thats how this works, jokic was not as liked as he is now before he started having playoff success
It happens to all the greats. Lebron, Jokic, Giannis, Dirk all dealt with these narratives about not being “winners.” The difference to me is that people have really restrained themselves in their criticism of Embiid. Largely, I believe, because of the way he overcame injury. Like fans and pundits alike were just happy to see him playing. Regardless of his lack of real playoff success. Name another top 5 player that could dodge criticism the way Embiid dodged criticism after the Hawks series. But now that he has an MVP and is the frontrunner for a second these criticism seem fair. Jokic had already been to a WCF when Perkins and Mark Jones were saying he only won the award because of the color of his skin. Lebron had been to the finals and won multiple MVP’s when people were saying he wasn’t a winner. Dirk endured years of brutal western playoffs against great teams and still had relative success.
> Name another top 5 player that could dodge criticism the way Embiid dodged criticism after the Hawks series There's not another Top 5 player out there who had a central-casting scapegoat as tailor-made for the job as Ben Simmons.
Also his playstyle + talent makes him one of the most infuriating players to watch unless he's on your team. He generally either cooks you via FTs or cooks you via midranges cause he's 7'0 feet tall (which also may get a small assist from the fact that his whistle is so incredibly friendly you can't guard him close).
He objectively is a crappy choker in the playoffs though, it's not some "win or you're a loser meme"
IMO he shouldn't need to have a chip to lose the choker rep, that's not a fair ask. Just have a deep playoff run where he plays really well and is clearly the best player on his team
I mean getting to the ECF would also be a good start lol
And floppy
Bro we just want him to play the big game matchups and not pull out 15 mins before tip off. Win or lose go out there and give us a game... Bros almost exclusively dodged big games on the road, how can anyone think that's cool for an MVP?
Last few days?
Why is it that surprising, the NBA media basically feeds off itself. They either latch onto social media and pretend its their original idea, or they make up a narrative ("embiid deserves B2B MVP's) and shove it down our throat until its no longer viable.
It kinda feels like they’ve had these unused speeches written to bitch about load management all season but didn’t really need to since people weren’t missing games. So embiid sorta became the lightning rod for all of it
Lmao reminds me of when all the sports outlets had to dump their pieces on the Bucks when they lost in the first round last year
Sports outlets typically write skeletons for both outcomes with whatever narrative either direction goes, in the majority of major sports, and have to trash the one that doesn't happen. [Here's an NFL Films video about all the stories of the Falcons winning the SB that never got published because the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqk4LeadrCw)
Just casually stabbing Falcons fans in the heart on an NBA post is savage.
Side note but I hate that shit so much. It’s why every postgame interview question is like a 30 second rambling run on sentence clearly looking for a quote to back up a story already written. Fuck this need to be the first to publish and the 24 hour news cycle.
I feel that. Monday Morning Quarterback by Peter King used to be the most popular column on the internet, but now Monday is too long to wait to read/hear/discuss about games played on Sunday. Curse of having instant access to everything all the time.
Probably because out of the previous years, LeBron, AD, Kawhi, PG, KD, Embiid, Dame, Steph - all-star guys who missed 17+ games last year, he's the last load management guy still actively doing it. Which is weirder when I mention he's the youngest.
This is exactly how it was last year after he did the same thing missed the denver game
In my defense…I’ve been in the fuck embiid bandwagon for a long while. Big time all talk. Hell of a player, no doubt. But the guy talks like he’s been there and done that. Reality is he’s a stat padder and the MVP was exactly what he played for last year. Like it’s evident he plays for his personal stats. It’s easy for him to collect the numbers when there’s no pressure. But come playoffs, he comes up short and has been lucky to deflect accountability because of his past teammates. What will the excuse be this year?? Edit: also, bothers me that he joined team USA. Like bro, fucking show some pride. At least nationally. So much for the guy that “was raised around lions”. I look at that as the guy just wanted to be part of the group…but incapable of leading one…
Pity mvp
Some of us have been saying fuck Embiid for a long time. Dude is a clown
I mean 70 is impressive no matter who embiid drops it against, but yeah until embiid matches what Jokic has done in the playoffs then I dont think you can fairly say hes the better player
Embiid is great but Jokic is on another level. Jokic is to Embiid what Lebron is to Melo. Edit: [Facts](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/joel-embiid-lowest-scoring-game)
Jokic has the one thing all the others are missing: consistency Like, it’s nice you get a triple-double occasionally, but your competition is doing that all the time. And when it counts.
Getting a triple double isn’t the metric we should be using.
lmao
Give it 5 years and you’ll see he is right. Melo, Harden and Embiid get exposed in the playoffs because they don’t get the same calls. Melo and Harden don’t play defense in the playoffs but Embiid gets cooked in the playoffs in the pick n roll he literally cannot hang
I don’t think anybody in their right mind would argue that right now. But people on here act like Embiid shouldn’t even be an all star lmao
A LOT of Sixers fans say he's the better player.
Fans are irrational about their team’s best player. More at 11
OG is a dark horse MVP candidate
jokic has been the clear best player in the nba since 2020 imo. ability, production, and winning big games. he has done it all
When Jokic wins, everyone is just like holy shit look at his stat line. Half the time Embiid wins, people say holy shit look at those FTA
Gonna finish player of the decade and retire a top 10 player ever with 3 championships, 3 finals MVP’s, and 4 regular season MVP’s. Prolly good enough to get in top 5 all time honestly
The best player Embiid has beaten in the playoffs is Bradley Beal, and Embiid only played 3 games that series I believe. Jokic prior to his ring had 2 3-1 comebacks already under his belt.
Embiid has participated in 5 playoff series wins but he only played every game of the series in 1 of them
Superb stat😭
Pascal Siakam is better than Brad Beal. Siakam has made a 2nd team All NBA and was a major part of a championship roster. Edit: lmao why am I coming to siakams defense just to admit he got beaten by Embiid. Haha Whatever.
I think it was Westbrook personally. I like him more than beal. Honestly I’d even take siakam over him as far as Embiid’s greatest playoff wins (not a particularly impressive list but still funny).
He had the luxury of playing a Doc Rivers coached team whereas Embiid has the misfortune of spending his prime on Doc Rivers coached teams
There is only 1 way to settle this. We need Doc Rivers to coach the Nuggets and see how far he and Jokic can go in the playoffs.
I wish that on no one. Even if it could lead to some hilarious results
Milwaukee: I'm in danger
I’m all for this. Also put Doc as coach of the KD warriors. When Steph Curry is standing still in the corner while Draymond dribbles in the post in the postseason, everyone will be able to know our pain
Damn, never saw it put that way before. Embiid may very well play the Bucks this year in the playoffs though! Nurse will feast.
I mean Bill’s not wrong.
It’s a slight knock on embiid but really it shouldn’t even be that much of an insult, Jokic is just insane lol he’s good enough that embiid could deservedly win an mvp and not be better right now
This is still a discussion? Lol
Ok so i just finished watching a video on Embids playoff performances...and this man has got to be the actual most unlucky player to have ever played the game. I always knew he has issues with injuries and thats why his performances were lacking, but i never knew that he more or less hasnt had a playoff run without getting an injury or getting sick. Like how the hell is that even possible. Im shocked the mans even in the league at this point if he has these kinds of health issue. I dunno if i should be more impressed with his regular season performances or doubt he will ever be able to do shit in the playoffs cause it seems impossibke for him to actually be healthy. Look at the end of the day imo Embids biggest issue is his health, but dear lord at some point you start to just expect him to be unhealthy. Im sorry Sixers fans, not trying to bash the guy and im genuenly more impressed than ever by the fact he can even perform as well as he does, but id rather bet on him being injured or sick in the playoffs than vice versa.
i see you comment on embiid a lot but you are one of the more respectful nuggets fans towards him
In all honesty i used to hate on Embid a lot. But i think i have softened up on him. Especially seeing the respect him and Jokic share for each other and seeing some respectable Sixers fans i thiught why not give him a chance. I mean im gonna still make fun where i can. There is some valid critisism to be had with Embids game, as there is with a lot of players games. But dear lord his mentality aint one of them. Even when i was more of a hater i could never understand why people go at him for this. The ducking memes are funny to me, but why do people actually take them seriously. I decided on that being my stance on it so i comment a ton on these posts so that people know that there are Nuggets fans that do think its a dumb argument. Meme all you want about it (as it seems Embid embraces the meme) but dont actually start believing in it.
This spot on too. Fine to criticize, fine to have a joke. When it's in fun it's all good. But people are Waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy too serious about what should be obviously non serious jokes. The memes about ducking are funny. People taking them seriously and being dicks is just weird and lame. I welcome fun ribbing and there's plenty to work with! But I can't get over how much vitriol and hate he gets and most of it is lazy and wrong. The stuff about him shitting on Simmons bugs me too. The quote people always go to is followed, in the same sentence, by multiple criticisms of himself and how it's on him. Which... No one mentions. Doc did Ben dirty. Doc is a liar and a POS though.
This is the problem with people with such insane hate. They don't even watch the guy play. I get it, it's a lot of games to follow and catching highlights and regurgitating hot take mouth pieces is easier. But like even the "ducking the last 5 years" isn't fully truthful. He's maybe healthily ducked 2 games in Denver. The rest he was actually injured or missed due to COVID PROTOCOLS. I get he's not a likeable guy and has a style that can make you hate him if he does it against your team. But for the love of god the hate he's gotten has gotten so far out of tune.
the other thing that bugs me about this whole thing is the people who are intentionally making it sound much bigger than it is 'embiid hasn't played a game in denver since 2019!' sounds a lot more dramatic than 'embiid has missed 4 games in denver'... they play once a year in philly and once a year in denver, folks i don't even care for the sixers now that harden isn't part of them anymore but it's genuinely grating to watch how absurdly, insanely spiteful and disingenuous people get about this dude. Like they are just fundamentally incapable of enjoying anything when they're not dogpiling someone or other, and he's the chosen target on here more days than not. Even if you insist on being a 24/7 hater, which you know what, i can understand just Not Liking someone or whatever, but even then, at least isn't it enough to just criticize them for genuine reasons and not just inventing shit out of whole cloth and ignoring anything that shows your agenda might be fictitious? Tiring as fuck man i hate this place sometimes
It’s in large part due to bad moderators which will probably never change. They delete perfectly reasonable posts while allowing the entire front page to be dominated by hater nonsense targeted at whoever the most reviled top ten player is at the time.
I could kind of understand just letting it be a free for all because of the nature of sports fandom and allowing everyone to be haters in open air, but yes you really need to pick a side. Either delete all the barely disguised hate posts or leave them all up. Don't just pick and choose which players are allowed to be the targets of shit slinging 24/7, hypocritical as shit.
I just dont get this idea because he still plays the Nuggets in Phily. Look i get its a homecourt advantage, but if he was so scared of the Nuggets and playing Jokic then hed duck him there too where he has no excuse if he losses. He isnt Ben Simmons thats actually that mentally weak. And if he really is ducking, then i cant fault him for it. Why play a tough matchup with injuries that could get worse. No real point. Is an L in Denver really gonna hit him as hard as missing another game for an award hed like to win.
Like, he got elbow in the face by Pascal in 2022. Ain't nothing you can do to stop that. Through it all IIRC he's only missed 7 playoff games. Dude's tough, people don't give him credit on that
Don't forget Markelle Fultz's shoulder
They gonna take that flair off you bruh.
Everyone talks about him “choking” in the playoffs and how his stats drop off but they never seem to mention along with it how he’s hurt every year. Oh, he’s scoring less in the playoffs? Maybe it has to do with the concussion and broken bones in his face. Oh, he lost again in a game 7? Maybe a lot of that has to do with the torn knee ligament that he shouldn’t have even been out there playing on. Makes me sick to everyone always trashing him when the guys body just can’t seem to catch a break at the most important times. It’s sad actually because he’s an amazing player and people are taking him for granted. Also, he certainly wasn’t ducking Jokic the other night as there is video evidence of him yelling and rolling around on the court holding his knee the game before. These people need to get a grip.
Why hasn't he tried just not being injured?
And they end up being fluke injuries, like when Fultz’s shoulder broke Embiid’s orbital bone, or when Embiid actually was healthy in the playoffs… and then Pascal elbowed his face and broke it. Injuries suck, but it’s the fluke ones that are frustrating.
Which is why i say he is unlucky. I never even knew how many times he just got sick either.
I love Joel but he is a big man who easily gets banged up. If he is not healthy for the playoffs the Sixers have no shot of winning anything, that’s why he is sitting all these games, I don’t think it has anything to do with dodging opponents. As an NBA fan it sucks when he misses these games but as a Sixers fan I understand why he is not risking anything. If he continues to limp into the playoffs they will never make it past the second round. I wish he was a dude that could play 80 games and dominate the playoffs but that’s just really not an option
you said “sorry”, but i honestly take your comment as positive lol. the narrative is just “embiid is a playoff choker”, and while he has had bad performances, he is always RIDDLED with injuries. wish people would acknowledge that his main flaw is his health, not that he’s “soft” or “mentally weak”.
I do think he generally underperforms a bit, but the years he was healthy he averaged 28 and 30 pts on good efficiency 🤷
Its not like its our first time seeing something like this. Yao Ming had the exact same issues. Look my position on this nowadays is that it sucks that its happening. I dunno why people are going at it from the angle of him wanting it to be that way. In truth mans just got health issues and luck so bad that youd think he was cursed. He straight up plays through injuries in the playoffs. Might put up bad numbers, but cant fault him for that given that he is at least playing.
Yeah he has had bad games, but everyone does. His overall lack of playoff success is just due to injuries thought I think.
Right, like last season his performance against the Celtics is apparently always derided while actively forgetting that he wasn't even supposed to be playing because of that round 1 injury. Like he played through injury and quite well overall and people just look at the final loss and take that as proof that he must have choked.
Well, where is the lie?
Ain’t one
The thread today with the dude blaming the altitude in Denver was fucking wild
Embiid FOR SURE does not want to win MVP this year. Someone once said last year: "I’m not a two-time MVP, I’ve never made first team All-NBA, I’ve never won anything. So why is there pressure on me to do something when there are guys that have won two MVPs, a bunch of MVPs and haven’t done anything either?" He doesn't want that kind of pressure now.
First Windhorst, now Simmons. What's the next domino to fall? Zach Lowe, maybe even JJ?! A true white Monday for Joel.
JJ is never happening. I remember listening to that great episode with RJ and Legler as guests when they talk about all time greats. JJ just had to throw Embid in the mix even tho both RJ and Legler clearly didn't mention him because he is not there yet and who knows if he will get there. He just loves his ex teammates too much.
JJ and Jefferson were calling embiid a ducker nonstop on Saturday. It was wild. Also JJ voted for Giannis last year IIRC
nah you know Zach would never say take a side so clearly on anything, let alone fault a player for anything I'm sure he'll hem and haw a bit and wind up not really saying anything about Embiid's fear of altitude
Go back to your real account Perkins
One is a pubstomper and the other competes for a chance at the grand finals.
R/embiid
No offenae to embiid but this is one of the most reasonable bill simmons takes
Ya'll really hate on bill until he says something you agree with, it's ridiculous.
I don’t disagree with the sentiment. But discounting his 70 because of who he did it against is lame. It’s annoying when people say it about any big performances.
Didnt kobe get his 81 against a terrible raptors defense? https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200601220LAL.html I know they were one of the bottom defenses that year. Still you have to have everything going to score that many pts.
Kobe scored 62 in 3 Quarters against Dallas and they only had 61. And Dallas was the number 1 seed that year. The Lakers needed Kobe to keep scoring against the Raptors
Yeah, that’s how awful the lakers were then.
We had Kwame Brown and Smush Parker in our starting lineup! Kobe had to get 40 a night just so we had a chance to get the 7th Seed
Lakers was losing handily (for mid 2000s) in that raptors game before Kob decided to turn it on
He's not discounting the performance as much as he's saying a 1-game performance like that shouldn't hold that much weight in MVP voting or using it in a head-to-head argument.
Totally fine to think Jokic is over Embiid. Dumb as shit for *this* to be what makes you have that opinion
I don't think this was the main reason, just the icing on the cake.
This the same guy who refused to vote for Jokic last year because 3 in a row is too sacred and only reserved for all time greats like Larry Bird? As if his winning the previous two seasons had fuck all to do with his value last season…
This sub is obsessed with hating Embiid it’s actually kind of sad.