The Bounce Newsletter 
| This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
NBA Hall of Famer Bob Pettit turns 93 years old today. He’s the 14th-oldest living NBA or ABA player. I was going to list all of the accomplishments of the champion and multiple MVP Pettit in this space. Then I saw his nicknames on Basketball Reference. I’d rather list those:
“Big Blue,” “The Bombardier from Baton Rouge,” “Bombardier,” “Dixie Dandy” and “Slim.” I can’t think of a much cooler nickname for a scorer than Bombardier. Happy birthday, Bombardier!
New Embiid?
Sixers’ star center no longer an inside man
For the Philadelphia 76ers to reach their full potential, they need Embiid on the court. Let me rephrase that. They need a different version of Embiid on the court. What we’ve seen so far in this season hasn’t been what they need. After winning the 2023 MVP, Embiid has played 67 games in two-and-a-quarter seasons.
To begin this season, the Sixers looked like they were going to try to redefine load management. With Embiid coming off of knee surgery (again), Philly was limiting him to no more than 25 minutes in his first six games. He was openly frustrated about the minutes restriction. But the Sixers didn’t get a chance to see if that would help him long-term, because he quickly missed nine straight games.
Now Embiid is back, and he’s played in three of the team’s last five games. It’s kind of ugly … but maybe a little effective? Just having him out there has been mostly good, but his production has been rough:
Loss to Atlanta: 18 points, four rebounds, two assists, 6/14 FG, 0/3 3FG, 6/8 FT, minus-11 net differential
Win over Warriors: 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, 5/13 FG, 0/5 3FG, 2/2 FT, plus-2
Loss to Lakers: 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists, 4/21 FG, 0/6 3FG, 8/8 FT, plus-11
He played 30, 25 and 30 minutes in those three games. As The Athletic’sTony Jones wrote about Embiid’s recent play, he’s adjusting to a new reality:
“Watching him tells a different story. The telltale sign of a player nearing the point of no longer being dynamic revolves around the ability — or inability — to get to spots. Embiid, when he’s been in the lineup, can still do that. He’s still getting to where he wants on the floor. He’s still getting the quality shots that he’s used to. He’s still creating quality shots for others.”
Tony is right. There are some positives from Embiid. His presence defensively can deter shots from even approaching the rim. His presence in the paint as a sentient, moving building eliminates space naturally. Tony started that piece talking about a move Embiid usually scores on, but the rust hasn’t allowed him to finish.
I also can’t help but notice how much Embiid is being pushed out farther and farther from the basket. Take a look at his shot distribution, starting with his MVP season in 2022-23 to the 2023-24 campaign and now so far this season.
I’m not even worried about the percentage of makes here. He’s declined severely in attempts in the restricted area, going from 31.8 percent of his shots happening there to 28.8 to now 22.2. Shots in the key outside of the RA are down from 26.5 percent to 24.7 to 15.6. And the biggest signs of his inability to get to spots consistently are the midrange and 3-point attempts.
Those shots were a combined 41.9 percent of his attempts in the MVP season. Then they were 46.6 percent of his shots in 2023-24. So far this season? 62.2 percent. Since coming back from missing nine straight, 19 of his 48 shots have come in the paint. Eight of those were at the rim. That means 60.4 percent of his attempts are outside the paint.
Embiid is still trying to work his way back into conditioning, and you hope he can regain some of the consistent mobility to get to those spots like Tony wrote about. Because you see the flashes. But the concerning trend is that he’s becoming more of a jump shooter and less of a monster in the paint. He’s clearly not going to get to the MVP-level physicalality he had. I guess him just being on the court as a jump shooter is better than not having him at all?
The last 24
Should the NBA Cup go global?
🏆 Fix the tourney? The reception to the NBA Cup has been lukewarm, especially in Las Vegas. How can the league give it some juice? Our Marcus Thompson II suggests opening it up to the world.
🤷 Why now? The Warriors have had turnover issues for years. It’s more detrimental now.
💪 Steph leading. Jonathan Kuminga is in another rotation-ousting. Steph Curry is encouraging him.
🏀 Not clutch. The Clippers keep tripping over themselves at the end of close games. On Thursday, it was a blown in-bounds play.
🩼 Big man, big injury. Zach Edey has a stress reaction in his left ankle. He’ll miss at least four weeks.
🙏 Horrible news. Long-time NBA big man Jason Collins has a terrible diagnosis: Stage 4 brain cancer.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
NBA Cup preview
What happens in Vegas …
We are headed to Las Vegas! The NBA Cup is in Sin City for the third straight year, and we’re down to our final four (I have no idea if the NCAA will sue me if I capitalize those Fs, so we’re keeping it real chill with the lowercase) teams in the tournament: the Orlando Magic vs. the New York Knicks in one semifinal, and the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in the other. These are the types of matchups that make you react like this:
The semifinals are tomorrow, and even with the Thunder on a roll for 16 straight wins, I truly believe we’re going to get two great games. The NBA Cup final is on Tuesday, and each player on the winning team will be awarded $500,000. Let’s preview tomorrow’s matchups and make some predictions:
Magic vs. Knicks. 5:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video: We get the phenomenal defense of the Magic against the ridiculous offense of the Knicks. Styles make fights in Vegas.
Who should carry the Magic? Paolo Banchero. He’s had two rough ones against the Knicks this season. But in his second season, Banchero dominated the Knicks. He has to get back to forcing his will, getting to the free-throw line and putting the New York frontcourt in foul trouble.
Who should carry the Knicks? Jalen Brunson. This one isn’t hard to figure out. He lit up the Raptors for 35 points and six 3-pointers in the quarterfinal. He’s going to face a tough, physical defense with Orlando. Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black are going to test him. But he succeeded against a similar Detroit defense in the playoffs.
Who is the X-Factor for both teams? Mitchell Robinson. The Magic are a really good defensive rebounding team. But Robinson keeping possessions alive on the offensive boards crushes Knicks opponents. For Orlando, it has to be Suggs. His primary job is to keep Brunson in check, but the Magic will need him to knock down some shots and push it in transition too.
Who needs this NBA Cup title shot more? This could help Orlando (15-10) finally get fully on track to what it was supposed to be this season.
Who wins? I’ll roll with Brunson and the Knicks.
Spurs vs. Thunder. 9 p.m. ET on Prime Video: I don’t ask for much, but it would be legendary if Victor Wembanyama can be healthy for this game.
Who should carry the Spurs? De’Aaron Fox. He has to handle the Thunder’s swarming defense and find his way into a big scoring night. The more he gets into the paint and makes the defense collapse, the more San Antonio can fire from 3-point range.
Who should carry the Thunder? Jalen Williams. Obviously, we could go with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but I want to see Williams exploit some advantages, assuming Wemby doesn’t play. Williams is a nightmare to match up against. He can get guys like Harrison Barnes and Devin Vassell into some trouble by getting back to what we saw last season.
Who is the X-Factor for both teams? Dylan Harper for the Spurs. He’s only a rookie, but his ability to break down the defense will be necessary in trying to solve the Thunder’s plan. For OKC, it’s Cason Wallace. He leads the league in steals and will be hounding Fox.
Who needs this NBA Cup title shot more? Obviously, the Spurs (17-7). The Thunder are as good as it gets right now.
Who wins? I’m not picking against OKC until like 2032.
He Said, CP3 Said
Did Chris Paul and Ty Lue speak or not?
Since the LA Clippers sent Paul home, there has been a lot of chatter about why this thing fell apart. CP3 spoke up about why the team has been struggling, likely in his usual grating way. It was reported that Lue hadn’t talked to Paul in weeks, which Lue rebuffed:
“We were talking,” Lue said when asked if he was on speaking terms with Paul throughout November. “How you gonna play if I’m not talking to him?”
On SiriusXM NBA Radio’s “Deals & Dunks” on Wednesday, I spoke with Chris Haynes about this subject. Haynes relayed this from CP3:
“Chris Paul did reach out to Ty Lue. I know he did text him. Ty Lue responded back, ‘Listen I don’t want to meet.’ So they did not have a meeting. Were they talking every now and then when they had to put Chris Paul in a game about, ‘Hey, go guard such and such when you get in there,’ ‘Hey, go run this play when you get in there?’” Things like that, yes. But Chris Paul wanted a sitdown with Ty Lue to discuss the things that were going on.”
Maybe it’s like a failing relationship, where you don’t ever actually discuss your problems, but legally you’re still talking to each other when one person says, “Hey, I’m going to go check the mail.” Those kinds of semantics. Regardless, Paul will either be traded or released from the team in the next month or two.
We’ll keep you updated on whether he talks to his next coach, whoever that is.