Philadelphia 76ers: Does Joel Embiid take too many threes?

Over the month of December, Joel Embiid took 33 threes in nine games, but is the young Philadelphia 76ers’ center spending too much time outside the paint?

Joel Embiid sure likes shooting threes.

In the month of December alone, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ burgeoning young cornerstone center has become more and more at home outside the arc, shooting 33 threes in nine games with, at times, a complete disregard for the game’s score, scheme or situation.

Even though shooting threes has always been a part of Embiid’s inside-out game, averaging a respectable three attempts per game in 2016-2017 while shooting a league average 37-percent, having a center who can be an effective scorer at all three levels of the court, especially outside the arc is an incredible chess piece in the modern NBA, at what point does it become too much of a good thing?

In the Sixers’ Christmas day game against the New York Knicks, our young Cameroonian big man shot a career-high 12 three-point shots in 34 minutes, much to the dismay of many in attendance, especially Shaquille O’Neal. Now granted, Embiid did make an impressive six of those shots in route to a 25 point performance that ultimately catapulted the team to a 105-98 victory at Madison Square Garden, but still, twelve shots seems a bit excessive from outside, especially for a center.

Scoring 18 points from downtown is a serious accomplishment that I’m sure shooters like J.J. Redick and Robert Covington would love to average on a nightly basis, positioning Embiid at the top of the key with any regularity can not only highlight his turnover issues, as no one is going to mistake Embiid’s handle for Ben Simmons anytime soon, but it also minimizes arguably his games biggest strength: his generational post presence.

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Embiid is already one of the best finishers in the entire NBA around the basket, a nearly inevitable All-Star who has All-Pro written all over him, and an absolute magician around the basket. With a cupboard full of incredible low post moves to break less athletic centers’ ankles, and a powerful bull rush that can drive through smaller centers, Embiid is a threat to score everytime he gets the ball down low, and may need to take out a timeshare at the charity stripe if he achieves his goal of becoming the most fouled player in the league.

Simply put, Embiid has the potential to be one of the best post-up centers in the league, both offensively and defensively. But if he’s so good around the basket, both scoring and rebounding, why does he take so many shots from outside?

With all of the precautions and attention paid to Embiid both on and off the court by the 76ers’ entire staff, I highly doubt that Brett Brown has given the former Kansas Jayhawk a green light to shoot at will from outside the arch.

No, from my point of view at least, it’s all Embiid, for better or for worse.

With other young big men like Kristaps Porzingis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis incorporating the three into their impressive bag of tricks, Embiid likely wants to show that he can hang with some of the best of the best, and establish himself as one of the league’s brightest young stars.

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Up to this point, Embiid’s pension for taking threes hasn’t hurt the team in any of their games so far this season, but if he hits a particularly cold patch from outside, something virtually all shooters have fallen into at one point or another, hopefully he can fall back on his inside game to continue to lead the team in scoring, and keep the winning going in South Philly.