Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid wants to be like Mike

It’s hard to really appreciate just how good Joel Embiid is at basketball.

His stats? Incredible. His impact on the game? Well, just check out many players opposing coaches surge into the paint when Embiid is cooking. And even off the court, Embiid has endorsed Mountain Dew, Hulu, and the Shirley Temple, at least unofficially.

But one aspect of Embiid’s game that deserves more credit is the ability to consistently get better and build upon his game year-in and year-out.

That’s right, since first taking the court for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016, Joel Embiid has expanded his shooting out to well beyond the arc, improved his passing, and most surprisingly/crucially of all, become one of the NBA’s premier clutch minutes scorers thanks in no small part to a burning desire to be like Mike in more ways than one.

Joel Embiid has become the Philadelphia 76ers’ mid-range specialist.

Joel Embiid, Allen Iverson, Wilt Chamberlain; what do these three players have in common?

Well, for one, the trio have all been the best player on the Philadelphia 76ers. The trio are the only three players in franchise history to score 30 or more points in six straight games and will surely join his compatriots in the Hall of Fame when he hangs up his Under Armours.

In an era where centers are criminally undervalued and players like Andre Drummond are playing for the vet minimum, Embiid is one of the few players who has transcended his position and entered the uppermost echelon of the NBA’s hierarchy.

Why? Because he doesn’t really play like a center, not on offense anyway.

You see, Embiid is a shooter, a scorer, and a facilitator. He can hit shots at an above-average clip from anywhere in the halfcourt, score on anyone in the ISO or in the Embiid ISO – aka triple-teamed in the paint – and had the highest assist percentage of any player on the Sixers’ roster, which is both a massive improvement over his early-career efforts and a low-key problem Philly should probably address at some point in the not too distant future.

After averaging over three turnovers per game in each of his first six NBA seasons, largely due to his big man handles, Embiid has gotten the number down to 2.8 and has largely left his days of getting trapped into ugly turnovers in clutch situations with a newfound appreciation for mid-range spin moves and fadeaway Js.

This style, reminiscent of a bygone era of basketball past, is actually by design, at least according to his postgame comments following a 19 point win over the San Antonio Spurs sans Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Derrick White. When asked about his burgeoning offensive game, Embiid mentioned a desire to improve his offensive game following some poor showings in the playoffs, specifically watching the tape of elite ISO guards like Michael Jordon and one of his all-time favorite players, Kobe Bryant.

When you watch Embiid’s game as of late, those influences become pretty easy to identify, albeit in a 7-foot 280-pound body.

Where Embiid was once tasked with driving into the paint with handy foes all reaching for the ball, Embiid has largely taken up the practice of T-ing up his defender, dribbling himself into an adventurous spot, and either driving in for some BBQ chicken or pulling back for an open mid-ranger over top of typically smaller defenders.

While it’s not always pretty, Embiid is hitting 40.1 percent of his 6.4 mid-range attempts per game and has made blanketing his supreme talents all but impossible.

First Joel Embiid dominated in the paint before opposing teams adjusted. Then he expanded out his shot to 3 point range to help accommodate Ben Simmons’ game and became an analytics darling scoring the majority of his points either in the paint or from beyond the arc before, you guessed it, teams adjusted. So now, what did the Philadelphia 76ers’ best player do? He whipped out some old tape of MJ and Kobe and became an increasingly lethal mid-range scorer. Maybe he too will one day hold up the MVP award before his playing days are done; I certainly wouldn’t bet against it.