This is EXACTLY the Break We Have Been Waiting For…

This is EXACTLY the Break We Have Been Waiting For…

The Philadelphia 76ers return to the floor tonight for their annual blue and white inter squad scrimmage in which fans get a chance to look at this year’s team. But most notably, and a huge change in what we’ve seen to this point is Joabelle Embiid was not just in attendance, but active participating on the floor and looking slim. I do want to highlight exactly what we know and what we’ve seen from him, what Nick Ner is saying about some stylistic changes on this team and why I think this is the most positive update that we’ve had surrounding Joel Embiid since dating back to last year. So, let’s get right into things here. And I do want to shout out all these Sixers reporters that were in attendance. Kai Carlin posting this picture here saying, “This dunk by Joel Embiid was impressive in today’s scrimmages. Flashes to the post, loses Andre Drummond on the pump fake, and finishes with a slam. And the fact that he is dunking is an incredibly positive sign to me. The fact that he looks as slim as he does is an incredibly positive sign. So, don’t just take it to me. Let’s watch these highlights that I cut together myself.” And shout out to all these Sixers reporters in attendance. from Adam Aronson, Sixers Adam there to Austin Krell, Kai Carlin, Derek Bodner, all the guys in between. But let’s take a look at the footage on the floor. So the play question right there is that little pump fake and get by and slam by Joel. You can see the pump fake, see Andre Drummond get up and flush it down. And I know this is not the most aggressive dunk in the universe. Here’s another look at that specific play there, but the fact that he is getting up and down off the floor like that and putting the ball in to me is an incredibly encouraging sign. Little vintage Joel Embiid. Got Janai Broom in the torture chamber right here. Getting into the dribble move. Hezi pull up, step back, and a bucket there. That is the Joel Embiid. We know that is the MVP version of Joel Embiid. Now, we got a little bit of a miss here in this cycle. We can see a little mid-range shot. Joel Embiid can’t quite get it to go, but look at the way that he’s jogging down the floor. Look how slim that he looks. That is the skinniest I think we’ve seen of Joel Embiid in quite some time. And very thrilled that that is the case there. But we watch this entire flow of play as he gets another look at a shot here. once again moving down the the court. He does look skinny. Man, this is notably I think notable in in regards to Joel Embiid outlook and I do love the motion coming around and VJ Edgecom flying around setting a little bit of screen and Joel said I’ll just take it myself flushes it. That is the Joel Embiid that we do know. And this might be my favorite play of the matchup. A little twoman game with him and Tyrese Maxi and be gets broom with the pump fake and an easy layin. Once again getting up and down on the court looking completely normal. He looks like a basketball player and that is something that I think we have to take as a positive to this point. It has been radio silent on updates from the Sixers directly here and there is still a lot uncertain but this looks like a guy that is ready to play in the near future and look at this read. This is just an impressive playmaking. Nice pass to the corner knocked down by VJ Edgecom. The basketball skill is still obviously there with Joel that we know that this guy is one of the most talented players to ever touch a basketball court. It is purely the question of can his body hold up and this is a really positive sign that he’s capable of doing things. Now what is always the case with Joel is the bigger story is not exactly how he looks but it’s how his body responds and I am really curious what the answer to that question is. I’m sure Joel is very nervous and excited to see what the the question is himself. But I do wonder how much of this is essentially regular. Is this his daily routine? Is this what he’s doing in practice on a day-to-day basis? Cuz if so, we should start talking about this guy like he might be available for opening night, man. like that is now on the table after seeing this and that was something I thought was completely foreign and not even a possibility leading up to this. So, I thought it was awesome that the Sixers allowed him to play that Joel did step foot on the floor himself and I know it is not the same thing as replicating game pace, game tempo, but those skills are still there, man. And for the first time in a while, I’m feeling optimistic about the Joel Embiid outlook. We have from inside the building himself, uh Austin Krell tweeting out, “Joel Embiid played quite a bit and looked like his old self in the uh blue and white scrimmage. Perhaps as important, his body language was positive. As encouraging a day as the Sixers have had since Christmas 2024, maybe longer. And that is a huge positive sign with Joel directly there. Now, one of the other stars that did stand out today was his backup in question in a Dembona. And Adamson tweets, outside of Joel Embiid, the star of the blue and white scrimmage has been a Dembona. He’s been everywhere on both ends. Athleticism has been overwhelming. Now why I think this is notable is we got this quote coming from Nurse after the fact as Adam tweets out Nick Nurse seemed optimistic talking about the idea of Joel Embiid and Adm Bona playing together. He said that in those lineups Embiid is the four and Bona is the five highlighted the high low passing rebounding and rim protection as areas where that pairing can thrive. Now, this is an idea that really excites me because if we’re going to be realistic about ourselves or about the outlook for Joel Embiid, there are things that are going to translate into the twilight years of his career and things that are not. The things that I am sure are absolutely going to continue with him is that touch on the jump shot right there. The basketball IQ that he has, the scoring instincts and skills as a basketball player there. What I what he will continue to lose is really the defensive side of the ball. And what was the most concerning part about last year? What he looked like on the floor. And as a reminder for what that was for Joel Embiid, that it was across his 30.2 minutes per game, averaging just 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, just 29.9% from three, 44.4% from the field. It did not look like the Joel Embiid, the MVP version that we expect. But what stood out to me the most more than anything last year was the lack of defensive impact that he did have. that it has been true for the larger part of Joel Embiid’s career that regardless of the four players around him, if he is on the floor, that is going to be an abovea defense. That has been true. It does not matter if it’s George Nyang or Furkon Corkmas or whoever else, Marco Bellinelli, all these poor defenders that he’s been able to elevate around him. It has just been effective because he’s been that dominant and that much of a tone setter, an anchor. That is why the big man is so important. guy like Rudy Gobear catches plenty of hate, but there’s a reason why you surround him with anybody and that you can framework some sort of defense. Joel had a little bit of that instinct and honestly I I there were stretches of his career where I’d make the argument that he was a better defender than Go Bear directly that thought he was more switchable to the perimeter certainly for stretches. I don’t know how much of that is left in the tank and I think the honest answer is probably not a lot. the fact that you can supplement him with a guy like Kade Dembona who can can do the things like skying to challenge people at the rim being active getting up there and snatching rebounds that’s gonna be very important. I also thought it was very relevant that a Demona playing for team Turkey this summer playing next to Alper and Shingun getting a chance to learn what it’s like to play with another big man on the floor. Now, obviously, Shenun and Embiid’s skill sets are not directly similar, but this is clearly something that Bona has been prioritizing since he got drafted in the Sixers that I love this quote from the PHY PHY guys after the game. As Bona says, quote, “That has been my goal since I got drafted at some point to be able to share the floor with Joel. I’ve been working towards developing my game to be able to complement his game while I’m on the while I’m on the floor with him.” And I love this mindset from Bona. By all accounts, this is a dude who just checks every single box from a personality, a work ethic, a guy that you want on your team. And I’m very excited to see what his role can look like in year two. I thought he really came on strong during the second half of the season. He was one of the guys that really benefited benefited from what a wayward season that it went and just making the most of the chances on the floor. And now he has a chance to do that on a team that could matter here. He has a chance to be an impact player. And I do think this makes a lot of sense. I think that you’re going to have to play through things a little bit. And Dick Nurse had a little bit of a comment on the overall style as well. So to pull that up here that Nurse said this coming from Keith Pompei that it said how is Joel Embiid adapting to playing in this pass happy free flowing uptempo style and Nurse says quote there’s probably a little bit more movement and cutting and all that kind of stuff but he has adapted. Dick Nner said again it’s a bit of a departure from the way he plays. So there’s been some kind of ups and downs and there’s been some kind of some kind of back to that which is pretty good. That’s the hard part about it. It’s like you come down, you don’t run anything, and then you run a Joel Tyrese screen and roll. There’s a lot of great stuff that happens out there. I just think we’re trying to get a little more variety. And I do see the vision for what a framework of this team could look like. And while we’re still getting fired up right now, let me roll those Joel Embiid highlights again. But think about what a team could look like with Embiid. I’m not saying be the point guard, be the guy that runs an offense, but with the young bodies, the young guards doing a ton of motion around him. We’re talking Jared McCain moving all off ball, VJ Edgecoming around, Tyrese Maxi. These are guys with active legs and strong just energy on the floor that when you surround a guy like Joel, that makes a lot of sense to me. Like there’s this play that’s going to come up in the near future where I think VJ Edgecom sort of shows it in a major way that you can see the way that he’s motioning off Joel directly. And look at this. VJ gets the ball and this is a first on the miss shot here. Watch when they jog down back down the court the second time sort of the motion. Now, I don’t love ultimately the shot that it does land in this specific play as it is sort of just like a bailout Joel Embiid mid-range jumper, but there are going to be stretches where that’s the offense and we’re going to have to live with that. Now, here we go. We got the ball. Dominic Barlo with the board. Passes it off to VJ Edgecom and you can see this little twoman action. Joel gets the ball. VJ Cutting just running circles around. This is a little bit of an extreme example, but you get the premise that I’m speaking. And then he goes in, sets a screen on Drummond, and Be hits the shot. I don’t think it’s going to look exactly like this. and Maxi Embiid do it extremely well with this type of twoman game. But I do think having Embiid as sort of the stable part of the offense and all the motion surrounding him that saves a lot of wear and tear on him and there’s just ways to maximize the offense to levels that we have not seen in several years with Joel. So I’m really encouraged that we’re actually seeing him on the floor right now. This is music to my ears to actually look at him playing basketball and we get passes like that that he’s always going to be able to execute. Look at this kick to the corner. VJ Edgecom knocks it down. There is talent around Joel in a way where he does not have to play the hero ball version of himself. That has been true for stretches. And sure, there will still be the throwback games with Joel where he’s got it going, where he can take on all these shots. But the fact that you have different options for what the offense can look like, I think is incredibly encouraging. And the biggest note to me is simply the fact that he is just on the floor. This is not ramping up. This is not checking boxes. This was him playing basketball right in front of our very eyes. That is live video evidence right there that this guy is not nearly as far away as what I think a lot of people are making it out to say. So Joel Embiid, welcome back, man. Happy to see you back there on the floor. That is a really reassuring just sign for things to come this year. There’s still a lot more questions. There will be injury flare for injury flare-ups. There will be weird things that happen. The knee’s not going to be ready to go for all 82 on or on a nighttoight basis, but this is a huge step in the right direction. And I’m fired up for what this could mean for the Sixers as a whole. So, do want to hear from you guys in the comments if you’re with me. I’ve seen a couple of the comments saying comparing it to the Ben Simmons three-point jumper. I just don’t think that’s fair for a couple different levels here. For starters, we’ve seen Joel Embiid be a highle NBA player in a way that we never saw Joel Embiid take step. I mean, we never saw Ben Simmons take steps to apply those three-point shots to his direct game. We’re not asking for Joel to add something or refine his skill set or change something about himself. We’re hoping for him to be healthy, and that was a sign of what we saw in that video here. So, I don’t think it’s quite on the same level, but let me know where your guys’ head is at at in the comments. As always, appreciate you guys for tuning in, and we are one day closer to Sixers basketball being in full swing. So, we’re going to be on top of things from start to finish right here on Sixers Digest. The best way to be following along is by tapping that subscribe button below, dropping a like on this video. I’ll be back talking with you next time. Peace.

This is EXACTLY the Break We Have Been Waiting For…

For the first time in the months Joel Embiid has been spotted playing live basketball. Sean Barnard breaks down what to make of his performance at the Sixers’ Blue vs. White scrimmage today and some comments about the team’s style of play by Nick Nurse.

#nba #sixers #philadelphia76ers

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