The 2024-2025 NBA season was a physically and mentally draining time for the Philadelphia 76ers and their fans.
With championship expectations to start the season, the Sixers’ hopes were quickly shot down, with Paul George hurting his knee before the season started and then re-injuring the same knee in the first week of the season. Joel Embiid wasn’t ready to start the season and a combination of injuries limited the former MVP to just 19 games before the team shut him down for the season. Even more injuries to Tyrese Maxey, as well as the front-runner for Rookie of the Year, Jared McCain, the Sixers’ season was lost as quickly as it started.
With all of the drama surrounding the team, there’s now a chance to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Sixers have found themselves with the third overall pick in the upcoming draft, giving them the chance to select a player who could make an immediate difference. This gives the team some hope for the future, as a good core of young stars is already on the roster.
Other than health, the Sixers are now faced with the question of how to fix the roster and team, moving forward, so that they’re successful in both the regular and postseason, while maximizing the ability to have both Embiid and George on the floor.
A younger and more talented roster is the first step, and President of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey, has already stated that the goal for next season’s roster is just that, a younger, better Sixers team. But, with Joel Embiid and his injury history, still owed roughly $248 million over the next four years, the Sixers need to figure out the best way to maximize their return on that investment.
Adjusting Embiid
For his entire career, Embiid has been unable to stay healthy for an entire season. He missed the first two whole seasons of his career, and the injuries continue. He’s not a reckless player but he’s dealt with injuries that are more freakish or unlucky in nature than anything else. From foot and hand injuries up to multiple facial fractures, for whatever reason, he’s been unable to consistently compete at his max level because he can’t remain healthy.
So, how does the team help Embiid?
They should make him a center. But, he’s already a center, right? Technically, yes, but Embiid loves to roam around the perimeter, and he loves to try to take defenders off the dribble. Whether that’s by trying to drive to the basket or stepping back for a mid to long-range shot, Embiid loves to show off his skills. If he wants to remain a dominant and, more importantly, healthy player, then he has to step into a traditional center role.
Think 1999/00 – 2002/03 Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq was the most physically dominating big man the game has ever seen, and he ruled the low post. For those four years, Shaq averaged 28.3 points and 12 rebounds with 2.6 blocks per game. The problem was that he couldn’t hit free throws, hitting at 55.4% on 11.3 attempts per game. At Embiid’s free-throw rate, Shaq would have averaged three more points per game.
But Embiid isn’t and can’t be Shaq, can he?
In the modern NBA, Embiid could be the closest thing we’ve seen to Shaq in the last twenty years, and the Sixers must make him realize this before this upcoming season.
With the improvements that Tyrese Maxey has made in his game, taking so much from the short time he spent with James Harden, it’s not too much to ask Embiid to stop hanging around the perimeter and trying to dribble. The Sixers have a wealth of players who can handle the ball and pass well. If Embiid wants to continue to play and be as healthy as he can be, he needs to embrace the change.
By definition, a “process” is a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end. Embiid has embraced the “process” as a nickname, but he needs to embrace it as a philosophy because repeating the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
The constant movement, as if he were a guard or wing player, with the dribbling and driving, has done nothing but put extra wear and tear on the 7’0″ near-300-pound center’s legs and caused him to injure himself more than not. He must remove that part of his game. He can’t move outside of 8-10 feet from the basket at all times.
In the 39 games he played in the 23/24 season, Embiid dished out a career-high 5.6 assists per game. He’s learned to pass much better from the post than he had at any time in his career. As the game has changed, Embiid must change, but he’s not built like some of the younger, and much lighter players.
Spending the entire game in the low post would allow Embiid to use his full offensive arsenal at his leisure, because there’s not a center in the league that can stop him. Gobert, Wembanyama, Miles Turner, Jokic, Jarrett Allen, Mark Williams, Karl Anthony-Towns and anyone else that would be put in front of him would be eaten up. Teams would have to resort to having extra big men on the bench, just to take up some fouls on him, as they did in the past with Shaq.
That’s where teams would fail, though, as Embiid hits on 83% of his free-throw attempts for his career, and for a guy who has upped that to around 87% over the last few years, teams would be left with very few options for defending Embiid. He’s big enough and strong enough that he could move anyone in the post to get to where he wants, and he’s agile enough in the post to be able to utilize his jump shot. Embiid’s shooting percentage would increase, his rebounding and blocked shots would increase as well, all while limiting the amount of pressure and movement on his legs from jumping, running and launching himself all over the place while dribbling.
Benefitting the team
As of right now, the Sixers will have Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Paul George, Justin Edwards, most likely Kelly Oubre Jr. and the soon-to-be drafted third overall pick in the draft that should be a talented wing. That group, with their athleticism and shooting, would feast with Embiid operating from the low post. Whether it’s kicking the ball out to an open shooter, as teams are forced to double-team him in the post, or finding a cutting player on his way through the lane, the idea of a passing from the post Embiid would terrify opponents and put him on the level of Nikola Jokic in terms of overall stats.
With Embiid down low and forsaking the perimeter, it would open up Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain for more open three-point attempts, which both are very good at hitting. Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. would be able to utilize their mid-range games, as well as Oubre Jr. and Edwards using their size and speed to slash through the lane.
Defensively, Embiid in the post is pretty self-explanatory. When he’s down low and focusing on defense, there’s not going to be any easy buckets within eight feet for opposing teams; it will prevent a lot of the interior success that opposing teams have had against the Sixers over the past few years with Embiid’s tendency to wander.
With all this taken into account, the team would be able to institute an offense that could operate with or without Embiid, should he miss games or extended time. Having another center to take up the post would allow for some interior scoring and defense, while the players on the court would only have to slightly adjust their style with Embiid off the court.
In this scenario, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Embiid would average 34 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists per game while blocking more than two shots per game. He’d be able to continue extending his career, continue playing at a high level, and eliminate the stress he’s putting on his legs.
In the end
For the Sixers to be successful going forward, they have to limit the wear and tear on Embiid’s body and especially his legs. Moving him into a more traditional role at the center position, limiting his exposure on the perimiter where he’s handling the ball and making moves that a man of his size shouldn’t be making, and allowing him to dominate the low post should, in theory, help the Sixes to achieve their goal or get as close as they’ve ever been, to an NBA championship.
Now the question becomes, will Joel Embiid buy into the new “process” and help extend his career and improve his legacy in Philadelphia and NBA history?
