Philadelphia 76ers: “Troel” Joel Embiid is back and out for blood

When news broke that the Philadelphia 76ers‘ two All-Star game representatives – save, of course, the ever pleasant Doc Rivers – would be out of the game due to contact tracing, it felt like just another blow to the fanbase from he who should not be named (aka Adam Silver).

Sure, the All-Star game is an objectively pointless venture, and being held out of action may have prevented the duo from suffering an injury, but it would have been cool to see how Quin Snyder would have used Ben Simmons in a game and how Rivers would have used Joel Embiid alongside players like Bradley Beal.

AEW star Shaquille O’Neal certainly wasn’t happy about how things went down, as he wanted to see Embiid take the first step in winning the MVP trifecta – the All-Star Game MVP, the Finals MVP, and most importantly of all, League MVP.

But hey, it’s cool. If Joel Embiid’s social media activities post his removal are of any indication, the league may have just lit a fire that could hotshot the Philadelphia 76ers to the moon… or at least the NBA Finals.

“Troel” Embiid is back, and the Philadelphia 76ers should be stoked.

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There’s no doubt about it; Joel Embiid’s professional, “no BS” attitude has been a big reason for the Philadelphia 76ers’ success so far this season.

After being bopped from the Disney World Bubble in a straight sweep by long-time rivals, the Boston Celtics, Embiid took the game into his own hands and vowed once and for all that he would never let this happen again. Fresh off the birth of his son, Embiid hired a personal chef, got his body in the best shape of his basketball-playing career, and returned to the court a new man.

And thus far, the results have been better than anyone could have imagined.

Measuring in at a real 7-foot, 280 pounds, Embiid is averaging 30.2 points and 9.4 rebounds a game while stealing a career-high 1.2 balls per game. He’s hitting a career-high 41.6 percent of his 3 point shots per game, averaging 11.6 free throws a night, and has near-singlehandedly transformed the Sixers’ offense from a rudderless ship into one anchored around having the best big man in the NBA in the paint.

It’s not a coincidence that Embiid leads the Sixers in usage rate (34.1) and that the offense becomes disorganized when the Big Fella is off the court.

But if there’s one ever so slight criticism some have levied against Embiid through the first half of the 2020-21 NBA season – outside of his occasional DNPs –  it’s a perceived lack of fire versus his old self.

Simply put, Embiid used to be one of the fieriest personalities in the NBA both on and off the court. He’d troll players like Lonzo Ball, Andre Drummond, Myles Turner (etc.), and really anyone else who got in his way, all the while talking smack both on and off the court to try to get in the heads of his opponents.

While this attitude left Embiid haters with plenty of ammo, it also made Embiid a true (red, white, and) blue Philadelphia treasure like the Liberty Bell, Pat’s King of Stakes, and the First Unitarian Church, which will also be one of the best places to catch a show.

If you happen to miss the guy who would jog down sidewalks Rocky-style or dunk all over unsuspecting hoopers at local area courts, I can’t fault you. That player single-handedly brought back winning basketball to the City of Brotherly Love and put the city on his back like his own. But if his recent social media activities are of any indication, that you may be in for a treat.

To paraphrase John Wick, I’m thinkin’ the old Joel Embiid’s back.

Now, as you may have noticed if you’ve been watching the Sixers so far this season – and dating back to the NBA Bubble – Embiid takes his health very seriously. He wore a hazmat suit to the airport back in July, was reportedly angry about Seth Curry’s mid-game removal from MSG that sent half of the team into COVID protocol, and has been sitting comically far behind the basket to avoid having to wear a mask on the bench.

So naturally, when a guy who has taken our current global pandemic that seriously has to attend an All-Star game he had little interest in attending and is then pulled from it after a league-approved barber lands him – and Ben Simmons – in COVID protocol once more, it’s going to unleash a dormant desire to troll that Embiid has largely avoided so far this season.

Yup, there’s no doubt about it, Embiid is indeed back, and the rest of the league has to take notice.

Whether Daryl Morey is able to land another star player like Kyle Lowry/Victor Oladipo, trades for a roleplayer like Nemanja Bjelica/George Hill, or even just scours the buyout market for players like P.J. Tucker, the 2020-21 season will largely be defined by Embiid’s on-court accomplishments. If he can continue to average a 30-10 double-double game-in and game-out while Simmons and Tobias Harris continue to put up 20 points of their own, the Sixers will surely finish with a top seed and make a deep playoff run in route to a presumed Eastern Conference Finals appearance against the Brooklyn Nets.

If Embiid returns to the court with a newfound fire to go with his physical transformation – which will probably happen on Friday, assuming he has a negative test – the rest of the league will have one heck of a force to deal with whenever the Sixers happen to fall on their schedule, one with a personal grudge against a league he believes has done him wrong.

Embiid’s career-high is 50 points. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the Washington Wizards when they take the court against the 76ers on Friday night, as 50-plus points may very much be in play versus the not-so formidable center duo of Moritz Wagner and Robin Lopez.

Is the old Joel Embiid back? No. For all of the nostalgia some fans feel for the post-Process, pre-Elton Brand-era of Philadelphia 76ers basketball, I doubt we’ll ever see “The Process” pining for Rihanna ever again, for more than one reason. But if Embiid can pair his old school fire with his newfound on-court abilities, we very well could be looking at the best 7-footer in NBA history, as Max Kellerman so adamantly declared not too long ago on First Take.