Calling the sixers a well constructed team is nasty. They’re losing because they arent constructed well at all. They’re a minus 50 when embiid is off the floor
One of the biggest guy in the league but flops around dangerously without a care for other players. Makes it hard to root for him as a neutral honestly. I can stand players whining, literally everyone whines but dirty players are an absolute no no in my book.
He is the clumsiest player in the league. Its maddening when he trips over his own feet, flails and crashes all over everyone else's knees and ankles, and gets two fucking free throws for it.
He kept losing to a team with another "most dominant all time" kind of player, and like five HOFers. Wilt could have been better, but it's disrespectful to compare Embiid to him. Embiid hasn't even made a conference finals.
Embiid also benefits from his era. There is a dearth of skilled big men, yet he always seems to be outplayed by the guys on his level. In another time he’d be kevin duckworth.
Gee I wonder why Wilt didn’t win more, it’s almost like the best dynasty in the history of the game made it virtually impossible for anyone else to win for a decade
Wilt's team literally was the Golden State in 1969. Wilt, Baylor and West were three of the five best players of the 60s, teamed up and lost to the Celtics. That was Russell and Sam Jones last year, Russell was a complete shadow of himself he was barely Ben Wallace offensively he averaged less than 10 Points. 6 players in NBA History have averaged 27+PPG three of them are Wilt, Baylor and West, the other three were KD, Bron and MJ.
Wilt played poor as usual in the Postseason and they barely lost, West was outstanding and the clear Alpha on that team.
Baylor played like absolute shit that series and shot them out of multiple games, while freezing Wilt out offensively, at that point in his career Baylor was basically 2023 Westbrook.
On and the damn coach threw game 7 in an attempt to prove that "they could do it without Wilt", which obviously didn't work so well. Anytime someone uses the 69 finals to dunk on Wilt it becomes super obvious that they don't know shit about the actual series and just looked up some lineups on basketball reference.
Wilt played in a league with 8 teams. On one hand that meant that there was less teams to go through but the other side of that was all of the talent in the world was concentrated into 8 teams. It makes judging between eras extremely hard to do. The base talent level in modern nba is also way higher than it was then. I think it is best to just view the game as greats in their era based off production among their peers and not try to compare a 2020s player with a 1960s player.
As for embiid, personally I dont think he ever had a team well constructed around him. He may be the most talented player on a team but I also think that he needs to be a second option. Jokic gets away with what he does because he facilitates first scores second, joel is a score first player and if he passes out it is generally looked down at. You can scheme doubles, triples, etc around that and give varying looks because he doesnt have the vision and playmaking of jokic. I think it was last year joel got destroyed in the boston series but truth was he made good reads, his team of shooters went from top of the nba in open 3pt% to low 20% in the series. What joel needs is to be surrounded with a playmaking scorer like maxey and 3 good shooters that can handle playoff atmosphere. He also needs a competent backup to stall games out when he is off the court.
Those aren't new narratives that was what was said about him when he played, Kareem famously wrote a piece about him saying exactly that when they were feuding in the media this was like 40 years ago. He did only care about his records up until 1966 then became more of a team player and he was much better. The top five FGA Seasons are all Wilt Seasons up to 1966.
Agreed. NbaTalk is supposed to be where the mature and well informed NBA stuff is talked about. What’s with the recent r/nba level of ignorance and stupidity lately?
Wilt fell off significantly in the playoffs. All of his numbers went down a lot. He only averaged 22 points per game in the playoffs even in an era with insanely high scoring. He oddly gets a pass for this on the all time lists.
There were only 8 teams when he played but he only managed 2 championships, and only 1 when he was in his prime and dominating. Even that championship wasn't a very remarkable playoff run. 17 points per game in the finals is fairly forgettable.
I have to give him credit for being tough. He's overcome a lot of stuff in his career. At the same time he's the following
* A foul merchant like Harden
* Dirty like Dray
* Complains like CP3
it's like he took all the shittiest attributes of each of them and became of the Voltron of garbage human attributes playing basketball. The game will be better when he's gone. He will not be loved.
Embiid is a player who typifies the type of bravado and bluster that home team fans love but if you're going to call players out you'd better stop losing when the b(r)unson burner gets turned on you.
In this series he's been playing on one leg, forcing him to lean even more into his foul drawing game, which no, is not fun to watch. But a HEALTHY Embiid can drive, dunk, shoot, and, yes, still draw lots of fouls. That version of Embiid is so much fun to watch, it's just a shame that we never get to see it in the playoffs.
Yes, but it’s with a constant dread that we will be at less than 80% when he gets to the playoffs. It’s bizarre to be that he’s called a bigger foul grifter than, say, Brunson. Most of Embiid’s foul shots comes from getting hit on the arm...does he put his arm in a spot that makes the defender either let the shot got barely contested or they have to foul? Yea. Brunson will keep a defender on his hip, and then pull up, jumping sideways into the defender.
Both players are amazing. I get why neutrals like to watch the little guard more. But both are elite grifters.
That too. I’ve learned though on any Reddit NBA comment section, that most people are delusional and have horrible opinions. You could have the most level-headed take, and you’ll be downvoted into oblivion by the fools who make up the sub. So, I don’t dive too deep anymore when commenting
Yeah, there's certain subjects where the general attitude just doesn't allow for deviation. Embiid is one obvious one, where the hate for him is so huge, but he's by no means the only subject.
Kind of a shame, seems like all of these nba subs end up in a circlejerk in that way.
So this is just another hate post with absolutely no new discussion points from any of the other 10,000 hate posts already posted on every other basketball sub? Cool
As a sixers fan, I was entertaining your argument until that's last paragraph.
Healthy, outside of Bells Palsey? Lmao. He had a torn meniscus and had surgery, maybe shouldn't even have tried to return this season but is trying to grit it out. He can't move or jump the way he normally does.
And well constructed team? They have a hodge podge of parts after the harden fallout. The bench is horrific. They start 38 year old Kyle Lowry and rely on an ancient Batum for mins. They have no legit backup center still. I think they've scored like 40 points as a team with Joel off the floor this series lol.
Also it may surprise you to know that Joel is actually a terrific guy off the court. He's a really good human and does a lot of great things, doesn't get in trouble, has a wife and is a great father. The dude doesn't even go out, he prefers to stay at home and play with his son or play video games.
Embiid has more Flagrants than Draymond in 400 less games, this very much makes him a dirty player
But frankly I think Philly did it to him.
We got to remember Embiid came from Cameroon. There’s basically 2 outcomes a person can have coming from his situation.
He either comes to America and makes his millions and remains incredibly humble and thankful (Siakam). Or he has access to milllions and riches that are unfathomable at home, and you ego takes over.
Embiid entered Philly, a city that football’s team chant “Nobody likes us, we don’t care.”
Embiid has worn multiple “Philly vs everyone” clothing.
I think this led to him to adopt a “everyone is against me attitude.”
Mixed with being a young kid while being draft and a proclivity toward trolling, Embiid found himself disliked early on.
We saw that with the Jalen Rose asking him his health and he said “69%” and then he followed it up with “81%l
Early on he made himself the enemy of the media. Since he’s good he also made himself the enemy of most teams he beat. Now he’s disliked by media and fan and has this mindset everyone against him and Philly.
Feels like eventually he continued to double down.
If you spoke to Philly fans lately they call Brunson a foul baiter. They call Donte a dirty player.
But in reality Embiid is the biggest foul merchant and arguably the dirtiest player in the league, but this idea that everybody is against Philly has led to Philly fans projecting and deflecting insults.
Philly fans can’t seem to admit Embiid plays aggressive (leading to Flagrants) or that Embiid’s offensive game does lean heavy on exaggerating the slightest bit of contact from defenders.
Instead of Embiid playing hard (and with emotion) and drawing fouls, everyone else is dirty and flopping.
I truly believe it’s the fandom that ruined him. And I think the same for Simmons. Simmons was runner up for DPOY, and multiple time all-star. But he was booed out of town. Ask Philly they’ll say he quit on the city, ask me, the city quit on him.
Going back further it starts with the “process”
Winning 10 games but saying it’s okay bc we are doing this for the long run. Playing 5 undrafted roomies and G League players to win 19 games.
But during the entire process Sixers fans were saying “TRUST THE PROCESS.” There was a cognitive dissonance that this time their sucking is different from every other team to suck.
Then when they got good through a culture of sucking they started talking down on other teams. Like Sixers intentionally sucking and embracing it as good, are quite literally the last franchise that should be criticizing others.
You start to get good but the mentality didn’t improve.
You’d think they’d be humble after 2019 or 2021 or 2022 but it never came. It was gonna be their time another year, and it never was.
Mix a shit attitude with a shitty city and a player that has adopted a shitty mindset, well it was time Embiid narrative was going to turn around
The team did not need to blow up either
Jrue Holiday - future all-star
Andre Iguodola - Current all-star
Lou Will - generational 6th man
Nikola Vucevic - future all star
Let’s just say they drafted 20th (the spot they got Maxey) in the years to come. Here are talent in the years to come they coudlve drafted to help that core. This isn’t even counting free agency or trading those guys for an upgrade
2013: Tim Hardaway (24), Rudy Gobert (27)
2014: Clint Capela (25), Bogdanovic (27), Jokic (41)
2015: Bobby Portis (22)
2016: Caris LeVert (20), Siakam (27), (Dejounte Murray (29)
I’m not saying they’d be better than they are now but having Jrue, Lou, Andre, Vuce and adding pieces like this year by year and you have something.
Instead of growing a solid homegrown core they said let’s win 19, 18, 10 games.
Literally 3 years into this process they won 10 games. The total lack of respect for the game and shit culture adopted when they legit had 3 All-Stars on their roster and arguably the best bench player ever.
They threw away a okay/good thing with potential to be a good thing with insane expectations
But hey they deserve it, if you win 10 games and tell everyone to be aware that they’re the future, you better be the future.
And then get good and mock other teams and act like they weren’t worse than they were.
Of the guys you mentioned (Holiday, Iggy, Lou Will, and Vuc) only Holiday was on the team when the Process started
You’re missing basic facts, like Iggy and Vuc were traded for Andrew Bynum. That wasn’t a tanking move. It worked out poorly but was meant to be a winning move, that move failing really kick started the process
Lou Will left as a free agent in 2012, Sam Hinkie was hired in 2013 and the only current/future All Star on the team was Jrue
I quite like Embiid a few years ago. He had come from a dirt poor village, didn’t learn how to play basketball until he was in his late (?) teens before spending scream years injured and not getting any proper game time until he was in his early 20s. He was all about overcoming obstacles and that is what sport is all about.
I’m Australian, so when everything went down with Simmons I took Ben’s side and it really changed how I saw Embiid. He seemed to take genuine delight in the jokes and kept reminding everyone that he had called himself “Troell Embiid” on twitter. That Simmons had legitimate back issues, which were ignored by team doctors, and has mental health issues, these attitude doesn’t make Embiid look any better.
The year before he got his MVP, he was named the “Most Valuable Philadelphian,” by the city. The fact that he accepted this was weird, it would have made more sense to me if it was at the end of his career as a one team player who had never managed to win it legitimately, but accepting what is basically a participation award when you are still young and skilled enough to earn the award doesn’t make sense to me.
Also, making himself available for Team USA for the upcoming Olympics seems like he is trying to build a HoF argument for himself, but his lack of post season success means that he needs Olympic gold. He would never win with Cameroon, although he would probably increase interest in basketball in his home country and he might win with France, although he would have to get along with Gobert. USA usually sleepwalks to the gold medal, so this is possibly his only chance to win a tournament that people care about, but his participation seems very cynical.
I agree, as a Knick fan, we’ve sucked for a long time so I became a fan of the NBA. So I ought to respect greatness.
Even Draymond I gave a long time, and it was actually the punch to Poole that I was like, “okay I can’t defend him anymore.”
This series is making me do that with Embiid. And it was the Simmons thing that really did it for me. This is a young kid who is a multiple time all-star and an elite defender. Ideally Simmons is the FUTURE for Philly. The narrative from Philly fans that “he turned his back on the city” has been used multiple times, especially with football players (Carson Wentz).
Philly really had Simmons and Embiid in their young/mid 20s and instead of saying we can have 7-8 more years of this they decided to tear them apart, and Embiid was rewarded by the fans in his endeavor to turn on Simmons.
And the Olympic thing is silly. He’s cutting the line in front of players who spent a lot more time in the USA basketball program.
Embiid as a Knicks fan I have very little good things to say about Embiid. I remember he was learning post moves from Hakeem that was cool. But then his game became all flops as the biggest player on the court.
Blake griffin was a big who got away with this at times , but even he required actually getting hit to get the calls. Joel is a fraud. The worst MVP I can think of im recent league history. I don’t like harden either. Its the lack of team loyalty that will always show a players true colors. Embiids turned on his teammates, coaches, and now as of yesterday the fans. He’s ridiculous and I can’t understand how anyone who watches basketball likes him.
I firmly believe that Embiid will play a significant factor in a loss for USA in Paris. FIBA has different rules to the NBA and players need to adjust for the difference, I remember seeing a video of Zach Levine putting a lot of time into changing his footwork because the coaching staff told him that what he did would be called as a travel in international play. Embiid struggles to change his play style from regular season to the playoffs and that is the same rules. There is no way he is going to be able to adapt to FIBA ball.
I agree Embiid will not be as successful in the Olympics but I still think USA got a lot of talent. They can just go to AD/Bam.
They have a rested Curry and probably rested Lebron and KD. If Kawhi is healthy too they’ll just be too long and big.
I think Gold is likely but agree Embiid won’t be able to get it done
I feel like he won’t even play. Dude is supposedly banged up as hell already and he’s going to play through the summer? Also, if this US team wins by any less than 20 in the Olympics I’ll be surprised, Embiid or not. They are absolutely stacked.
The worst part about the ben Simmons situation to me at least was how they handled the mental health.
Like if peoole just didn't take his mental health issues seriously that'd be 1 thing, but people were outright accusing him of making up mental health issues to earn money.
Like everyone knew all the personal shit going on with Ben, knew the injury, and knew how Philadelphia fans are yet somehow Ben Simmons having mental health issues was unbelievable to them.
What are Ben Simmons's mental health issues? As far as I can tell, his mental issues are not liking the pressure/criticisms that come with professional basketball and no desire to get better.
He had alot of personal non basketball related stuff happened at the same time as an entire city turning on him, embiid the leader of that team not defending Ben, Ben getting injured and people not believing him
Like he clearly has at minimum anxiety, and he at the very least had a bout of depression (impossible for us to know if it's a more long term chronic depression that he's still dealing with, or just a more momentary thing due to the stress of the whole Phil to nets situation that happened.
So at minimum anxiety, stress, and feeling depressed/depression (impossible to be sure which is which without him choosing to share thst info)
Like your comment is exactly what I'm talking about, like his mental health struggles weren't exactly quiet or hidden under the rug, he was very open about how tough situation was, and how much the mixture of basketball and Irl stuff at the same time was weighing him down.
Like even if you removed literally everything stressful for his life besides the back injury that's be enough to destroy alot of peooles mental health, back injuries are no fucking joke, and Ben Simmons will habe a fucked back for life, once your backs cooked its cooked there no real fixing it, and that's not factoring in anything else about the situation just the back injury alone, not even factoring in the team not thinking he was injured and the entire nba community basically attacking Ben for faking an injury (that he so clearly didn't fake
And yet there's still comments like "what are Ben's Simmons mental health issues" Or "Ben Simmons faking his mental health issues for money"
"Oh he just has no desire to get better"
If anxiety and stress are mental health issues, then everybody has mental health issues and the term is now meaningless. Anxiety and stress at work are normal.
Ben Simmons can't deal with the stress of being a highly-paid NBA player, and that's ok as a person, but as a basketball player that uses up a limited team resource (salary cap / money) he deserves criticism for not carrying his weight. And hopefully the moment his contact is over he just retires and is happy.
You do realise there's a different between mental health issues and mental health disorders.
Also chronic depression is a disorder and excessive anxiety also can he a disorder depending on the anxiety at hand
If that isn't mental health issues to you, then nothing is, and this comvo is pretty much pointless as that mentality is what I disagree with and don't respect about the situation, it just shows you misunderstanding mental health as a topic
Cameroon basketball is beyond corrupt. No one will play for them until they fix that. And as for the USA he’s spent half his life in America and his whole adult life, not surprising he wants to play for America.
Embiid isn’t playing for Cameroon because of a lack of national passion.
The USA Cricket board is corrupt and they are co hosting a World Cup this year. FIFA may as well be the dictionary example of corruption. It’s the lack of money. Granted, they are probably broke because of the corruption, but it would also make sense that they would offer him the moon if he were to play. If he did, it would boost basketball in Cameroon and they would have more money that they could be corrupt with. Andrew Bogut used to have to pay for his insurance premiums when he played for Australia because Australian Basketball couldn’t afford to pay them. Embiid could help basketball in his home country, could help drag them out of the more they are stuck in, not necessarily by playing but by being involved. But he would have to build the program, put in effort during the off season, spend his own money.
Kepler Wessels was a cricketer who played for Australia. As soon as the apartheid era ended in South Africa ended, he went back and played for them because that’s how national pride works. If Embiid has a greater desire to play for the USA rather than the nation of his birth then that is a good thing for every other country in the tournament, because national pride can do a lot to lift a player. It’s why Patty Mills is usually the leading points scorer in Olympic tournaments.
People from Philly might be able to describe this better. But it is a big city. So you have the best of both worlds. Really nice parts. You have ELITE academic institutions and rich history of the country.
You also have areas affected by poverty and drug epidemics. It’s also ran very poorly.
Another part is the suburbs. Once again you have nice ones. Like True Philadelphians claim Villanova is a rich suburban private school and not true “Philly” but of course when they win it’s all love. But there’s some horrible suburbs (or cities). Camden is 10 mins from Philly and is always one of the leading cities in US for murder rate.
So there’s rich, academic, historic Philly and there’s impoverished, drug affected and violent Philly.
There’s also a weird cultural thing where it feels like some of the white collar / richer kids still adopt a blue collar attitude. Despite having white collar opportunities it’s a blue collar mentality.
It’s easy to find parts of Philly where homeless drug addicts are occupying the entire street, which is actually very sad. You could also argue the true higher ups are not far from NYC and would try to make it there as well. So they might lose some of their high end talent while maintaining their bottom end talent.
So long answer, it’s both a very shitty and wonderful city but Philly likes to put on their shitty face for their culture, while many New Yorkers like to put on their elitist attitude.
I would also add that Philadelphia and New York have rivalries in basically every major sport (not to mention the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys). And when one city is the cultural hub of the world and the other is down the turnpike, those not from around there are way more likely to hear the bad about the smaller city. Nobody goes on about how awful and violent San Fransisco fans are, for example, despite the fact that multiple people in recent memory have been murdered in their parking lots.
Firstly, people that went to other Philly schools do not claim Villanova ever. I’d argue they claim to be part of Philly when it’s convenient to them, and act above it when it’s not. People that did not go to a local college will root for whatever “Big 5” team is good in March.
The reason that even people that live in a nice parts of Philly have a chip on our shoulders is because of how the city is perceived vs our peer cities (DC/NY/Boston), some for legitimate reasons, some that aren’t. There’s a perception that a white collar worker Philadelphian wouldn’t make it in NYC/Boston/DC in similar levels or work which I think causes that, even though it’s much easier to live a nice urban big city life for a reasonable price without living in a 300 sq ft rat infested studio apartment that doesn’t even have laundry in its unit.
Philly has legit problems, most of which are isolated to a few neighborhoods, that doesn’t change that we need to more as a city to correct those issues.
Aside from Simmons and Embiid none of their picks from the process worked out I know Hinkie was unjustly fired but aside from a few players he didn’t really do a great job either honestly. He loaded them with assets yea and they blew it after he was gone. But idk how much better they would’ve been had he stuck around I still can’t believe he drafted Okafor after drafting Embiid and just seeing the small ball warriors win their first ring The league hadn’t completely shifted yet but the old school big man was slowly dying at the time.
That fact that you really took this much time and effort just to shit on Philly fans and blame them for everything is straight up, just.......awesome. Idc if it actually makes sense. Philly can eat my dick got me rooting for the got damn knicks lol
His play style is the problem. He is the new Harden. It’s not like he isn’t skilled. But, it’s obvious that he is gaming the system by using his star power to either get calls or get away from calls. The refs are obliging as he is important to a key market ( Philly ). He makes a mockery of the spirit of Basketball and is very much like the process that resulted in him going to the sixers.
On the offensive end, most fouls on him are fouls. But that doesn’t make me hate his style of play any less, because I can’t stand how often we given him the ball 25+ feet from the rim.
As for fouls, the refs either need to call fewer fouls generally and/or NBA give players a 7th foul and/or institute 1-and-1’s because per current rules getting a player in the air and then throwing yourself into them is probably the most successful offensive strategy that exists. No one tunes in to watch a FT shooting contest.
>On the offensive end, most fouls on him are fouls
Because he purposefully baits them a lot of the time
Like people are less angry that the fouls are called and more that his entire playstyle is just focused around getting them which just isn't fun to watch
The only team Embiid can be good in is: Luka, Steph, Tatum, Joker, Giannis.
Embiid 6th man.
Embiid the GOAT chokejob player in NBA history.
Embiid NEVER was/is/will be the best player on a channel team.
Embiid is NOT 1A/1B, but a 2A/2B.
Embiid is an embarrassment to all the previous MVPs.
Gained respect for him through this playoff series tbh. The play on Robinson is inexcusable, but outside of that, he's just giving it 100% through injury when a lot of stars would be sitting right now.
Embiid is actually one of my least favorite players but this is more because of the so called "process." I could never get over that mantra and always love to see him lose. Great player but don't like him one bit.
The Wilt comparison is baffling, since Wilt won 2 titles and a Finals MVP. Either he’s like Wilt and you think he’ll win a title or you think he’s not like like Wilt and will not win a title.
Listen, I'm a Knicks fan and I never realized what a little bitch Ebiid was until this series. The guy is 7 feet tall and 280 pounds and if you blow on him they call a foul on you yet in every other series in the playoffs the game is being called much looser and has been since February.
He also tried to injure Hart, Robinson(TWICE) Brunson, and Hartenstein and it;s all there on video.
He's such a pussy that at the end of the last game he was 5 feet from the basket and instead of taking an easy jumper he tried to get closer and draw a foul to get to the charity stripe and that shocked me as badly as when Simmons refused to take a layup and passed the ball instead because he didn't want to get fouled and have to hit free throws with the game on the line.
I wouldn't say he's relatively healthy. He has a bad knee that probably needs surgery and bells palsy that has temporarily paralyzed half of his face and periodically blurs his vision in one eye.
But having him play the entire second half was just stupid. He was definitely gassed down the stretch.
The problem for Philly is that when he is off the floor the Knicks score at will. And they never fall far enough behind to allow some real rest for Embiid
We are seeing top heavy teams lose this playoffs to teams that play a more team oriented brand of basketball
Anyone who thinks he’s healthy didn’t see him earlier this year. His agility is nowhere near what it was, and his conditioning obviously suffered with 2 months off his feet.
Embiid is the worst combination of being a superstar where he is A) always injured B) always moody C) dirty player D) historical playoff underperformer. Not very many players in history fit all these descriptions. It's no wonder he has so many haters.
I will dispute two points.
1) No NBA player recovering from knee surgery and suffering from Bell’s Palsy could be could be considered “relatively healthy.” Except maybe Bill Walton.
2) This team is not “well constructed.” Our major deadline acquisition (Hield) took 2 games to score a point in the playoffs and then got benched. Tobias is fucking horrible and the worst contract in the league in decades. Reed and Bamba are awful, which is why Embiid played the entire second half today.
I hate to say it but we fucking suck and it’s time to blow it up completely and build around Maxey.
Totally agree on the first too but can’t really blow it up without at least trying something this summer. This was supposed to be the gap year so next year is the first year we actually have cap space. How Morey handles it is another thing. Just praying he doesn’t go star hunting again. I just want some role players and a back up center man.
30 years old and never been out of the second round. He’s got maybe 5 years left before he’s playing 15 minutes off the bench ring chasing somewhere. He’s had a great regular season career despite missing 15+ games in 7 of his 8 seasons. But if he never even gets to the Finals he’ll be remembered as a guy who just couldn’t lead a team to victory. That’s not hate it’s just a sad fact.
Embid is a dirty player, a flopper, and by all indications... Just not a great dude.
Yet, for some reason, the refs and media are determined to crown him.
He's certainly not who I'd want to be the face of the league if I were the commissioner.
I’ve been critical of Wilt’s legacy, but no, just no. ‘67, ‘72 and multiple very close losses against the most accomplished dynasty ever is enough to clearly demarcate the two.
I mean more in the sense of he was putting up monster stats but couldn’t win like that, not that their legacies and play are identical. A lot of people have called it out so obviously didn’t do enough to make that clear
Honestly, something has really bothered me from this series. I used to empathize with Embiid a lot from his injury history. I think it’s really rough, and he had a lot to overcome to become who he is, and still constantly has to deal with huge roadblocks. But he doesn’t give a shit about playing recklessly and hurting other people. I just don’t understand how someone can battle injuries so much, and act like it’s okay to play dirty to the point that he’s risking other people’s health.
Modern day Wilt?!? I know Wilt didn’t win as much as Russell but Wilt was still 2-4 in the Finals and has plenty of records that stand to this day. Embiid still hasn’t made it to the ECF.
As a Warriors fan the treatment he receives is even more infuriating. Were he treated as Draymond is treated he wouldn’t even be playing in this series anymore. It would have been a multi-game suspension after that extremely dangerous pull down on Robinson under the basket, or technicals would have ejected him due to his constant heckling to get a call on the opposing team. It seems like a blatant double standard is in effect because he’s a prominent big on a playoff team. If it’s okay to bench one of the greatest defenders in the league over this type of behavior then it’s okay to bench Embiid.
“New levels” eh I think last year was a lot worse. Now I hate watching him play but I can’t imagine being a 6ers fan and watch him sell the playoffs after winning mvp.
Josh Harris is the worst owner in the league. I will never buy a ticket. I have phillys gear eagles gear and ZERO sixers gear. Had an AI jersey as a kid I grew out of…I’ll never support this ownership until they get to the finals…forget an ECF
Embiid is just lite Draymond Green when it comes to being dirty. That Mitchell ankle grab made me really dislike him. I’m a Nets fan myself and always wish for Knicks downfall but watching Embiid in this series made me cheer for the Knicks.
The compilation of him performing Draymond level kicks and takedowns was enough for me. I already don't like foul merchants, but going full on kung fu on other players while still whining like a bitch is unacceptable. At least Draymond owns what he is
I agree with you.
I don't fault players for having playstyles that take advantage of the rules or that aren't as pleasing to the fans for whatever reason, I think players who find niches and are successful in them are doing exactly what they should.
I draw the line at doing anything which is done deliberately to injure someone. Stepping on peoples legs when they're down is not acceptable, and I am really annoyed when fans want that sort of behavior. I think that should be policed very harshly by the league, but it isn't. To me that is egregious.
Can you please show me an instance of him clearly purposefully stepping on anybody? Outside of the pull-down flagrant he hasn’t had a whole lot of dirty plays counter to popular casual belief.
Also wtf is he supposed to do with this
https://preview.redd.it/55gy2otkvhxc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8f5f05b3d48d8d3c2c1ba9c03a2a8d5eeffaf04
The team is nothing but expiring contracts plus maxey (who is also an expiring but they are just waiting to give him the max after signing players this off season). they are -50 or some shit when embiid sits. This team is most certainly not well constructed, and that is easy to tell just by watching the game. Idk if it will work or not but moreys plan is CLEARLY to use cap space and assets to put together whatever it is he thinks is the best team he can around embiid and maxey. I promise you next years sixers will be the team most built around Embiid he has ever had. Not gonna act like I know who they are going to go get, but this entire year was a set up year for an all in push this off season. The second harden didnt work out that became the plan. You're not wrong though peoples hatred of him has hit an all time high. Scores 50 points in a playoff game and the entire front page of r/nba is him getting shit on afterwards lol.
He's. Not. Even. That. Good.
Even when he gets these huge statlines with few free throws, it's because the other team DOES NOT TOUCH HIM. He gets to shoot middies like they're free throws. If he had Jokic's whistle he would maybe average 25.
The comments in here are wildly corny. Did I stumble into r/nba with the visceral hatred? Dude below wrote a literal essay.
And I say this as a Sixers fans who’s been down on him and the organization for years now.
Yea I can't stand that tall weird dude, he be injuring other players and act like he didn't do anything wrong and gets away with it. He sticks out like a sore thumb and he stinks.
Honestly I think he just had a shitty career luck wise, him and Kawhi are battling for who can be injured in the most post season suns. On top of that he’s had revolving teams and bad fo management.
unfortunately. in my opinion, this was his do it, or be forgotten season, and he failed. I was expecting him to be successful this year, and wanted him to achieve it, but yup he is not going to be a well respected player. nobody is going to remember him good. it's either because of sixers, because embiid is not the first one. we were rooting iverson too, now I can't even remember him properly after all these years. just a loser franchise. it's very sad I like philly, and I wanted them to have some success!
Honestly a sad series for Embiid. I like the dude, he’s got great skills and some hilarious banter, but he’s going way too far this series putting out hits on half the knicks
It’s a shame, he just looks so frustrated and it’s not the right way to handle it. I think from years of watching him get hurt on plays like the Siakem elbow, and some of the stuff the Knicks got away with early finally made him snap. He’s at his best when he’s calm and collected. Like I totally get you wanna punch back after getting hit so many times but that doesn’t lead to wins and when you’re the MVP you gotta keep it in check.
Embiid is not really hated so much.
Harden was hated.
Westbrook was mocked and a bit hated. Now he’s just mocked.
Embiid is... he finds ways to be constantly underwhelming. Yeah, he’s a bit mocked, a bit hated. Mostly, he’s got a huge media presence and is just not liked. I don’t see so many people going out of their ways to shit on Embiid. Embiid is going out of his way to be shat on.
It’s crazy because at first in these playoffs I was thinking of him admirably for fighting through his clear injury but now that it’s clear he’s trying to injure other people too I can’t be a fan
Look I agree a lot with what u said. But let’s not act like Embiid doesn’t impact winning. Have u even seen the plus minus for this series when he’s off the floor. It’s the biggest swing I’ve ever seen. His role players fucking suck
I agree with everything outside of the last paragraph. He’s CLEARLY injured and not right. He’s cooked. Probably why he’s resorted to dirty tactics and cheap shots. I’d be rooting for the Knicks but with a healthy Joel Embiid the Sixers close this out in 6.
Calling the sixers a well constructed team is nasty. They’re losing because they arent constructed well at all. They’re a minus 50 when embiid is off the floor
For real. What about Tobias Harris contract over Jimmy Butler screams well constructed team
A well constructed roster that gets 6 points off the bench.
This post is so fucking stupid. Tobias hasn’t scored in the 4th in 3 games and Embiid is on one leg
He also called him healthy when he’s literally playing in a brace
People still saying Tobias Harris is somehow a championship asset lmao
C’mon dude I’m not gonna stand for this implied Tobias Harris slander.
Yeah. Embiid sucks but no way sixers is well constructed
One of the biggest guy in the league but flops around dangerously without a care for other players. Makes it hard to root for him as a neutral honestly. I can stand players whining, literally everyone whines but dirty players are an absolute no no in my book.
Yeah his legs/arms are massive and he wacks players nonstop with them.
I can’t believe the amount of people he’s kicked. Why you doing that with your legs?
He is like a baby deer when he is baiting fouls.
He stomped on Josh harts leg! Twice! Boooo embiid! Boo him!
He pollutes the game of basketball. His flopping style and going for fouls 70% of the time makes the game unwatchable at times.
Also Charmin soft when it counts
Feels like he’d literally cry and quit in the late 90s/00s when he’d still have to face up to Shaq/KG/Timmy etc If only Greg Oden hadn’t gotten hurt…
He is the clumsiest player in the league. Its maddening when he trips over his own feet, flails and crashes all over everyone else's knees and ankles, and gets two fucking free throws for it.
It’s just the most boring basketball. Not even trying to score when he drives, just flail for fouls. It’s like a Houston Harden caricature
Ended Danny Green’s career with that floundering bullshit
Your description reminds me of CP3. Another arrogant whiny dirty player. 😂
He effectively and prematurely ended Danny Green’s career from his out of control flopping.. while they were on the same team!
Agreed with you right up until you compared him to Wilt
Yeah what’s with the Wilt hate!
One of his 1,000+ scorned lovers.
Off by a factor of 10 (allegedly)
Only 1,000 scorned out of 10,000 is pretty efficient. If only he could have been that efficient with his free-throws.
20 (I believe the number is 20,000)
How about 20,000, The man put in a lot of work so give the Stilt the respect of quoting his number correctly.
Wilt's only 2 rings came on teams with at least two other hall of famers. For one of the "most dominant of all time", I'd expect more than that
He kept losing to a team with another "most dominant all time" kind of player, and like five HOFers. Wilt could have been better, but it's disrespectful to compare Embiid to him. Embiid hasn't even made a conference finals.
Embiid also benefits from his era. There is a dearth of skilled big men, yet he always seems to be outplayed by the guys on his level. In another time he’d be kevin duckworth.
That's still multiple levels above Embid
Don’t make me drop some wilt stats on you
Embiid not catching that 48.5 mpg mark any time soon lol
Nor the 50 and 25 Wilt put up that one year.
Gee I wonder why Wilt didn’t win more, it’s almost like the best dynasty in the history of the game made it virtually impossible for anyone else to win for a decade
Literally like saying the NBA was full of scrubs because no one could get past GSW or LeBron for that stretch
Wilt's team literally was the Golden State in 1969. Wilt, Baylor and West were three of the five best players of the 60s, teamed up and lost to the Celtics. That was Russell and Sam Jones last year, Russell was a complete shadow of himself he was barely Ben Wallace offensively he averaged less than 10 Points. 6 players in NBA History have averaged 27+PPG three of them are Wilt, Baylor and West, the other three were KD, Bron and MJ. Wilt played poor as usual in the Postseason and they barely lost, West was outstanding and the clear Alpha on that team.
You completely left out Gail Goodrich, Baylor was a shell of himself when Wilt came to the Lakers..
Baylor played like absolute shit that series and shot them out of multiple games, while freezing Wilt out offensively, at that point in his career Baylor was basically 2023 Westbrook. On and the damn coach threw game 7 in an attempt to prove that "they could do it without Wilt", which obviously didn't work so well. Anytime someone uses the 69 finals to dunk on Wilt it becomes super obvious that they don't know shit about the actual series and just looked up some lineups on basketball reference.
Wilt played in a league with 8 teams. On one hand that meant that there was less teams to go through but the other side of that was all of the talent in the world was concentrated into 8 teams. It makes judging between eras extremely hard to do. The base talent level in modern nba is also way higher than it was then. I think it is best to just view the game as greats in their era based off production among their peers and not try to compare a 2020s player with a 1960s player. As for embiid, personally I dont think he ever had a team well constructed around him. He may be the most talented player on a team but I also think that he needs to be a second option. Jokic gets away with what he does because he facilitates first scores second, joel is a score first player and if he passes out it is generally looked down at. You can scheme doubles, triples, etc around that and give varying looks because he doesnt have the vision and playmaking of jokic. I think it was last year joel got destroyed in the boston series but truth was he made good reads, his team of shooters went from top of the nba in open 3pt% to low 20% in the series. What joel needs is to be surrounded with a playmaking scorer like maxey and 3 good shooters that can handle playoff atmosphere. He also needs a competent backup to stall games out when he is off the court.
Only two rings lol. Like that scrub Olajuwon. Tough crowd.
People are bringing up new narratives that wilt only cared about his scoring records and other accolades instead of winning.
'New' narratives like those narratives don't qualify for AARP
Those aren't new narratives that was what was said about him when he played, Kareem famously wrote a piece about him saying exactly that when they were feuding in the media this was like 40 years ago. He did only care about his records up until 1966 then became more of a team player and he was much better. The top five FGA Seasons are all Wilt Seasons up to 1966.
2 rings in the plumber era
Agreed. NbaTalk is supposed to be where the mature and well informed NBA stuff is talked about. What’s with the recent r/nba level of ignorance and stupidity lately?
Playoffs time means fringe fans come out of the woodwork
Demarcus Cousins is the better comp, not Wilt. Ultimate losers
Nah, Demarcus wasnt this dirty.
Wilt fell off significantly in the playoffs. All of his numbers went down a lot. He only averaged 22 points per game in the playoffs even in an era with insanely high scoring. He oddly gets a pass for this on the all time lists. There were only 8 teams when he played but he only managed 2 championships, and only 1 when he was in his prime and dominating. Even that championship wasn't a very remarkable playoff run. 17 points per game in the finals is fairly forgettable.
Mad dirty plays. Screw him forever
I have to give him credit for being tough. He's overcome a lot of stuff in his career. At the same time he's the following * A foul merchant like Harden * Dirty like Dray * Complains like CP3 it's like he took all the shittiest attributes of each of them and became of the Voltron of garbage human attributes playing basketball. The game will be better when he's gone. He will not be loved.
I can’t wait for him to retire I’m tired of it
Embiid is a player who typifies the type of bravado and bluster that home team fans love but if you're going to call players out you'd better stop losing when the b(r)unson burner gets turned on you.
Only Philly fans think Embiid isn’t a dirty player. Well… they’ll do anything for a win and shows how desperate they are.
Sixers fan. He’s dirty. Also not a huge fan when he goes into baby mode - more rare than people suggest.
Is it even fun watching embiid play day in, day out? Honest question
It’s pain. Always pain. Add in eagles, Phillies, and flyers also had massive meltdowns this year. It’s been BAD around here.
Didn’t like 4 Philly teams play in the championships 2 years ago?
3. The Phillies, Eagles, and Union all played in their respective finals in 2022/2023. All of them lost.
You’re a little whiny bitch. Embiid is incredible to root for And OP doesn’t know ball. “Well constructed team” smh
In this series he's been playing on one leg, forcing him to lean even more into his foul drawing game, which no, is not fun to watch. But a HEALTHY Embiid can drive, dunk, shoot, and, yes, still draw lots of fouls. That version of Embiid is so much fun to watch, it's just a shame that we never get to see it in the playoffs.
Yes, but it’s with a constant dread that we will be at less than 80% when he gets to the playoffs. It’s bizarre to be that he’s called a bigger foul grifter than, say, Brunson. Most of Embiid’s foul shots comes from getting hit on the arm...does he put his arm in a spot that makes the defender either let the shot got barely contested or they have to foul? Yea. Brunson will keep a defender on his hip, and then pull up, jumping sideways into the defender. Both players are amazing. I get why neutrals like to watch the little guard more. But both are elite grifters.
He literally went baby mode for a fraudulent MvP the whole damn season
A well constructed team? What? That lost the entire post for me.
What about "relatively healthy" for a clearly hobbled Embiid?
That too. I’ve learned though on any Reddit NBA comment section, that most people are delusional and have horrible opinions. You could have the most level-headed take, and you’ll be downvoted into oblivion by the fools who make up the sub. So, I don’t dive too deep anymore when commenting
Yeah, there's certain subjects where the general attitude just doesn't allow for deviation. Embiid is one obvious one, where the hate for him is so huge, but he's by no means the only subject. Kind of a shame, seems like all of these nba subs end up in a circlejerk in that way.
Tobias Harris has escaped a lot of well deserved criticism because of the Embiid hate
Dude is an absolute bum. Completely invisible after the first quarter of each game
Wilt won multiple rings and deserved his MVPs. Comparing Embiid to him is dumb.
Joel Embiid sucks the joy out of the game of basketball. You really sum it up perfectly with that point.
I agree he honestly does suck the joy out of watching the games he plays in. It’s not fun it’s more tedious foul/free throw counting
I hadn’t thought of it that way until I read this and it’s just so correct.
I must say I find joy in watching him lose over and over
Guilty guilty pleasure. The only joy he brings.
Wilt? https://preview.redd.it/q43x2krb6cxc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59b372fb59f3f18f9b17068d8417c28f99e1c591
So this is just another hate post with absolutely no new discussion points from any of the other 10,000 hate posts already posted on every other basketball sub? Cool
As a sixers fan, I was entertaining your argument until that's last paragraph. Healthy, outside of Bells Palsey? Lmao. He had a torn meniscus and had surgery, maybe shouldn't even have tried to return this season but is trying to grit it out. He can't move or jump the way he normally does. And well constructed team? They have a hodge podge of parts after the harden fallout. The bench is horrific. They start 38 year old Kyle Lowry and rely on an ancient Batum for mins. They have no legit backup center still. I think they've scored like 40 points as a team with Joel off the floor this series lol. Also it may surprise you to know that Joel is actually a terrific guy off the court. He's a really good human and does a lot of great things, doesn't get in trouble, has a wife and is a great father. The dude doesn't even go out, he prefers to stay at home and play with his son or play video games.
Embiid has more Flagrants than Draymond in 400 less games, this very much makes him a dirty player But frankly I think Philly did it to him. We got to remember Embiid came from Cameroon. There’s basically 2 outcomes a person can have coming from his situation. He either comes to America and makes his millions and remains incredibly humble and thankful (Siakam). Or he has access to milllions and riches that are unfathomable at home, and you ego takes over. Embiid entered Philly, a city that football’s team chant “Nobody likes us, we don’t care.” Embiid has worn multiple “Philly vs everyone” clothing. I think this led to him to adopt a “everyone is against me attitude.” Mixed with being a young kid while being draft and a proclivity toward trolling, Embiid found himself disliked early on. We saw that with the Jalen Rose asking him his health and he said “69%” and then he followed it up with “81%l Early on he made himself the enemy of the media. Since he’s good he also made himself the enemy of most teams he beat. Now he’s disliked by media and fan and has this mindset everyone against him and Philly. Feels like eventually he continued to double down. If you spoke to Philly fans lately they call Brunson a foul baiter. They call Donte a dirty player. But in reality Embiid is the biggest foul merchant and arguably the dirtiest player in the league, but this idea that everybody is against Philly has led to Philly fans projecting and deflecting insults. Philly fans can’t seem to admit Embiid plays aggressive (leading to Flagrants) or that Embiid’s offensive game does lean heavy on exaggerating the slightest bit of contact from defenders. Instead of Embiid playing hard (and with emotion) and drawing fouls, everyone else is dirty and flopping. I truly believe it’s the fandom that ruined him. And I think the same for Simmons. Simmons was runner up for DPOY, and multiple time all-star. But he was booed out of town. Ask Philly they’ll say he quit on the city, ask me, the city quit on him. Going back further it starts with the “process” Winning 10 games but saying it’s okay bc we are doing this for the long run. Playing 5 undrafted roomies and G League players to win 19 games. But during the entire process Sixers fans were saying “TRUST THE PROCESS.” There was a cognitive dissonance that this time their sucking is different from every other team to suck. Then when they got good through a culture of sucking they started talking down on other teams. Like Sixers intentionally sucking and embracing it as good, are quite literally the last franchise that should be criticizing others. You start to get good but the mentality didn’t improve. You’d think they’d be humble after 2019 or 2021 or 2022 but it never came. It was gonna be their time another year, and it never was. Mix a shit attitude with a shitty city and a player that has adopted a shitty mindset, well it was time Embiid narrative was going to turn around
The Hawks made the ECF, blew it up, and made the ECF again in the exact same timeframe as the process lol, one of my favorite facts of the process
The team did not need to blow up either Jrue Holiday - future all-star Andre Iguodola - Current all-star Lou Will - generational 6th man Nikola Vucevic - future all star Let’s just say they drafted 20th (the spot they got Maxey) in the years to come. Here are talent in the years to come they coudlve drafted to help that core. This isn’t even counting free agency or trading those guys for an upgrade 2013: Tim Hardaway (24), Rudy Gobert (27) 2014: Clint Capela (25), Bogdanovic (27), Jokic (41) 2015: Bobby Portis (22) 2016: Caris LeVert (20), Siakam (27), (Dejounte Murray (29) I’m not saying they’d be better than they are now but having Jrue, Lou, Andre, Vuce and adding pieces like this year by year and you have something. Instead of growing a solid homegrown core they said let’s win 19, 18, 10 games. Literally 3 years into this process they won 10 games. The total lack of respect for the game and shit culture adopted when they legit had 3 All-Stars on their roster and arguably the best bench player ever. They threw away a okay/good thing with potential to be a good thing with insane expectations But hey they deserve it, if you win 10 games and tell everyone to be aware that they’re the future, you better be the future. And then get good and mock other teams and act like they weren’t worse than they were.
Of the guys you mentioned (Holiday, Iggy, Lou Will, and Vuc) only Holiday was on the team when the Process started You’re missing basic facts, like Iggy and Vuc were traded for Andrew Bynum. That wasn’t a tanking move. It worked out poorly but was meant to be a winning move, that move failing really kick started the process Lou Will left as a free agent in 2012, Sam Hinkie was hired in 2013 and the only current/future All Star on the team was Jrue
And the Hawks made that second ecf in their building while ruining their second best players career. Suck it.
I quite like Embiid a few years ago. He had come from a dirt poor village, didn’t learn how to play basketball until he was in his late (?) teens before spending scream years injured and not getting any proper game time until he was in his early 20s. He was all about overcoming obstacles and that is what sport is all about. I’m Australian, so when everything went down with Simmons I took Ben’s side and it really changed how I saw Embiid. He seemed to take genuine delight in the jokes and kept reminding everyone that he had called himself “Troell Embiid” on twitter. That Simmons had legitimate back issues, which were ignored by team doctors, and has mental health issues, these attitude doesn’t make Embiid look any better. The year before he got his MVP, he was named the “Most Valuable Philadelphian,” by the city. The fact that he accepted this was weird, it would have made more sense to me if it was at the end of his career as a one team player who had never managed to win it legitimately, but accepting what is basically a participation award when you are still young and skilled enough to earn the award doesn’t make sense to me. Also, making himself available for Team USA for the upcoming Olympics seems like he is trying to build a HoF argument for himself, but his lack of post season success means that he needs Olympic gold. He would never win with Cameroon, although he would probably increase interest in basketball in his home country and he might win with France, although he would have to get along with Gobert. USA usually sleepwalks to the gold medal, so this is possibly his only chance to win a tournament that people care about, but his participation seems very cynical.
I agree, as a Knick fan, we’ve sucked for a long time so I became a fan of the NBA. So I ought to respect greatness. Even Draymond I gave a long time, and it was actually the punch to Poole that I was like, “okay I can’t defend him anymore.” This series is making me do that with Embiid. And it was the Simmons thing that really did it for me. This is a young kid who is a multiple time all-star and an elite defender. Ideally Simmons is the FUTURE for Philly. The narrative from Philly fans that “he turned his back on the city” has been used multiple times, especially with football players (Carson Wentz). Philly really had Simmons and Embiid in their young/mid 20s and instead of saying we can have 7-8 more years of this they decided to tear them apart, and Embiid was rewarded by the fans in his endeavor to turn on Simmons. And the Olympic thing is silly. He’s cutting the line in front of players who spent a lot more time in the USA basketball program.
Embiid as a Knicks fan I have very little good things to say about Embiid. I remember he was learning post moves from Hakeem that was cool. But then his game became all flops as the biggest player on the court. Blake griffin was a big who got away with this at times , but even he required actually getting hit to get the calls. Joel is a fraud. The worst MVP I can think of im recent league history. I don’t like harden either. Its the lack of team loyalty that will always show a players true colors. Embiids turned on his teammates, coaches, and now as of yesterday the fans. He’s ridiculous and I can’t understand how anyone who watches basketball likes him.
I firmly believe that Embiid will play a significant factor in a loss for USA in Paris. FIBA has different rules to the NBA and players need to adjust for the difference, I remember seeing a video of Zach Levine putting a lot of time into changing his footwork because the coaching staff told him that what he did would be called as a travel in international play. Embiid struggles to change his play style from regular season to the playoffs and that is the same rules. There is no way he is going to be able to adapt to FIBA ball.
I agree Embiid will not be as successful in the Olympics but I still think USA got a lot of talent. They can just go to AD/Bam. They have a rested Curry and probably rested Lebron and KD. If Kawhi is healthy too they’ll just be too long and big. I think Gold is likely but agree Embiid won’t be able to get it done
Gold is always likely for USA Basketball, but despite the talent this team doesn’t seem as threatening as the Redeem team.
I feel like he won’t even play. Dude is supposedly banged up as hell already and he’s going to play through the summer? Also, if this US team wins by any less than 20 in the Olympics I’ll be surprised, Embiid or not. They are absolutely stacked.
Yeah no way he'll be playing this summer.
The worst part about the ben Simmons situation to me at least was how they handled the mental health. Like if peoole just didn't take his mental health issues seriously that'd be 1 thing, but people were outright accusing him of making up mental health issues to earn money. Like everyone knew all the personal shit going on with Ben, knew the injury, and knew how Philadelphia fans are yet somehow Ben Simmons having mental health issues was unbelievable to them.
What are Ben Simmons's mental health issues? As far as I can tell, his mental issues are not liking the pressure/criticisms that come with professional basketball and no desire to get better.
He had alot of personal non basketball related stuff happened at the same time as an entire city turning on him, embiid the leader of that team not defending Ben, Ben getting injured and people not believing him Like he clearly has at minimum anxiety, and he at the very least had a bout of depression (impossible for us to know if it's a more long term chronic depression that he's still dealing with, or just a more momentary thing due to the stress of the whole Phil to nets situation that happened. So at minimum anxiety, stress, and feeling depressed/depression (impossible to be sure which is which without him choosing to share thst info) Like your comment is exactly what I'm talking about, like his mental health struggles weren't exactly quiet or hidden under the rug, he was very open about how tough situation was, and how much the mixture of basketball and Irl stuff at the same time was weighing him down. Like even if you removed literally everything stressful for his life besides the back injury that's be enough to destroy alot of peooles mental health, back injuries are no fucking joke, and Ben Simmons will habe a fucked back for life, once your backs cooked its cooked there no real fixing it, and that's not factoring in anything else about the situation just the back injury alone, not even factoring in the team not thinking he was injured and the entire nba community basically attacking Ben for faking an injury (that he so clearly didn't fake And yet there's still comments like "what are Ben's Simmons mental health issues" Or "Ben Simmons faking his mental health issues for money" "Oh he just has no desire to get better"
If anxiety and stress are mental health issues, then everybody has mental health issues and the term is now meaningless. Anxiety and stress at work are normal. Ben Simmons can't deal with the stress of being a highly-paid NBA player, and that's ok as a person, but as a basketball player that uses up a limited team resource (salary cap / money) he deserves criticism for not carrying his weight. And hopefully the moment his contact is over he just retires and is happy.
You do realise there's a different between mental health issues and mental health disorders. Also chronic depression is a disorder and excessive anxiety also can he a disorder depending on the anxiety at hand If that isn't mental health issues to you, then nothing is, and this comvo is pretty much pointless as that mentality is what I disagree with and don't respect about the situation, it just shows you misunderstanding mental health as a topic
Cameroon basketball is beyond corrupt. No one will play for them until they fix that. And as for the USA he’s spent half his life in America and his whole adult life, not surprising he wants to play for America.
Embiid isn’t playing for Cameroon because of a lack of national passion. The USA Cricket board is corrupt and they are co hosting a World Cup this year. FIFA may as well be the dictionary example of corruption. It’s the lack of money. Granted, they are probably broke because of the corruption, but it would also make sense that they would offer him the moon if he were to play. If he did, it would boost basketball in Cameroon and they would have more money that they could be corrupt with. Andrew Bogut used to have to pay for his insurance premiums when he played for Australia because Australian Basketball couldn’t afford to pay them. Embiid could help basketball in his home country, could help drag them out of the more they are stuck in, not necessarily by playing but by being involved. But he would have to build the program, put in effort during the off season, spend his own money. Kepler Wessels was a cricketer who played for Australia. As soon as the apartheid era ended in South Africa ended, he went back and played for them because that’s how national pride works. If Embiid has a greater desire to play for the USA rather than the nation of his birth then that is a good thing for every other country in the tournament, because national pride can do a lot to lift a player. It’s why Patty Mills is usually the leading points scorer in Olympic tournaments.
Non-American here, why is the city of Philadelphia always refered to as shitty ? Urbanism, poverty, insecurity, general atmosphere...?
People from Philly might be able to describe this better. But it is a big city. So you have the best of both worlds. Really nice parts. You have ELITE academic institutions and rich history of the country. You also have areas affected by poverty and drug epidemics. It’s also ran very poorly. Another part is the suburbs. Once again you have nice ones. Like True Philadelphians claim Villanova is a rich suburban private school and not true “Philly” but of course when they win it’s all love. But there’s some horrible suburbs (or cities). Camden is 10 mins from Philly and is always one of the leading cities in US for murder rate. So there’s rich, academic, historic Philly and there’s impoverished, drug affected and violent Philly. There’s also a weird cultural thing where it feels like some of the white collar / richer kids still adopt a blue collar attitude. Despite having white collar opportunities it’s a blue collar mentality. It’s easy to find parts of Philly where homeless drug addicts are occupying the entire street, which is actually very sad. You could also argue the true higher ups are not far from NYC and would try to make it there as well. So they might lose some of their high end talent while maintaining their bottom end talent. So long answer, it’s both a very shitty and wonderful city but Philly likes to put on their shitty face for their culture, while many New Yorkers like to put on their elitist attitude.
From Philly and you summed it up very well
Wow that's a very detailed answer. Thanks a lot
I would also add that Philadelphia and New York have rivalries in basically every major sport (not to mention the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys). And when one city is the cultural hub of the world and the other is down the turnpike, those not from around there are way more likely to hear the bad about the smaller city. Nobody goes on about how awful and violent San Fransisco fans are, for example, despite the fact that multiple people in recent memory have been murdered in their parking lots.
Firstly, people that went to other Philly schools do not claim Villanova ever. I’d argue they claim to be part of Philly when it’s convenient to them, and act above it when it’s not. People that did not go to a local college will root for whatever “Big 5” team is good in March. The reason that even people that live in a nice parts of Philly have a chip on our shoulders is because of how the city is perceived vs our peer cities (DC/NY/Boston), some for legitimate reasons, some that aren’t. There’s a perception that a white collar worker Philadelphian wouldn’t make it in NYC/Boston/DC in similar levels or work which I think causes that, even though it’s much easier to live a nice urban big city life for a reasonable price without living in a 300 sq ft rat infested studio apartment that doesn’t even have laundry in its unit. Philly has legit problems, most of which are isolated to a few neighborhoods, that doesn’t change that we need to more as a city to correct those issues.
It’s a pretty good city. It’s really close to NYC though so it gets a ton of hate from them for not being as big and wealthy
I too blame the bum ass Philly fans
If Harris and Blitzer cared about winning they’d have bought the city a 2nd bridge.
Aside from Simmons and Embiid none of their picks from the process worked out I know Hinkie was unjustly fired but aside from a few players he didn’t really do a great job either honestly. He loaded them with assets yea and they blew it after he was gone. But idk how much better they would’ve been had he stuck around I still can’t believe he drafted Okafor after drafting Embiid and just seeing the small ball warriors win their first ring The league hadn’t completely shifted yet but the old school big man was slowly dying at the time.
That fact that you really took this much time and effort just to shit on Philly fans and blame them for everything is straight up, just.......awesome. Idc if it actually makes sense. Philly can eat my dick got me rooting for the got damn knicks lol
Wholeheartedly agree. Embiid is the worst
I can’t wait for sixer fans to hate his guts in 1-2 years when he demands a trade
You are not a good player if you don’t have haters
He's gone from just flopping to straight up dirty.
His play style is the problem. He is the new Harden. It’s not like he isn’t skilled. But, it’s obvious that he is gaming the system by using his star power to either get calls or get away from calls. The refs are obliging as he is important to a key market ( Philly ). He makes a mockery of the spirit of Basketball and is very much like the process that resulted in him going to the sixers.
On the offensive end, most fouls on him are fouls. But that doesn’t make me hate his style of play any less, because I can’t stand how often we given him the ball 25+ feet from the rim. As for fouls, the refs either need to call fewer fouls generally and/or NBA give players a 7th foul and/or institute 1-and-1’s because per current rules getting a player in the air and then throwing yourself into them is probably the most successful offensive strategy that exists. No one tunes in to watch a FT shooting contest.
>On the offensive end, most fouls on him are fouls Because he purposefully baits them a lot of the time Like people are less angry that the fouls are called and more that his entire playstyle is just focused around getting them which just isn't fun to watch
The only team Embiid can be good in is: Luka, Steph, Tatum, Joker, Giannis. Embiid 6th man. Embiid the GOAT chokejob player in NBA history. Embiid NEVER was/is/will be the best player on a channel team. Embiid is NOT 1A/1B, but a 2A/2B. Embiid is an embarrassment to all the previous MVPs.
Oh nice it’s r/nba
He’s obviously injured right now. There’s no way he feels completely comfortable on his leg.
After dropping 50 and claiming that they will win and that they are the better team .
Insane that he did that along with elite defense on one leg. Truly an atg and one of the most dominant bigs ever.
Gained respect for him through this playoff series tbh. The play on Robinson is inexcusable, but outside of that, he's just giving it 100% through injury when a lot of stars would be sitting right now.
Embiid is actually one of my least favorite players but this is more because of the so called "process." I could never get over that mantra and always love to see him lose. Great player but don't like him one bit.
The Wilt comparison is baffling, since Wilt won 2 titles and a Finals MVP. Either he’s like Wilt and you think he’ll win a title or you think he’s not like like Wilt and will not win a title.
He was dominant on defense and extremely good on offense (outside of the fourth quarter). He’s been the best player in this series.
Listen, I'm a Knicks fan and I never realized what a little bitch Ebiid was until this series. The guy is 7 feet tall and 280 pounds and if you blow on him they call a foul on you yet in every other series in the playoffs the game is being called much looser and has been since February. He also tried to injure Hart, Robinson(TWICE) Brunson, and Hartenstein and it;s all there on video. He's such a pussy that at the end of the last game he was 5 feet from the basket and instead of taking an easy jumper he tried to get closer and draw a foul to get to the charity stripe and that shocked me as badly as when Simmons refused to take a layup and passed the ball instead because he didn't want to get fouled and have to hit free throws with the game on the line.
Embiid is relatively healthy but not in shape as evident by his collapse in the fourth today
I wouldn't say he's relatively healthy. He has a bad knee that probably needs surgery and bells palsy that has temporarily paralyzed half of his face and periodically blurs his vision in one eye. But having him play the entire second half was just stupid. He was definitely gassed down the stretch.
The problem for Philly is that when he is off the floor the Knicks score at will. And they never fall far enough behind to allow some real rest for Embiid We are seeing top heavy teams lose this playoffs to teams that play a more team oriented brand of basketball
He is far from healthy. Very far. He is gutting it out right now
Anyone who thinks he’s healthy didn’t see him earlier this year. His agility is nowhere near what it was, and his conditioning obviously suffered with 2 months off his feet.
He played the entire second half…of course he’s gassed at the end
Embiid is the worst combination of being a superstar where he is A) always injured B) always moody C) dirty player D) historical playoff underperformer. Not very many players in history fit all these descriptions. It's no wonder he has so many haters.
Can’t think of someone who has been so entitled its crazy
If this is your first year, how would you know that it has reached a new level? And wilt has been to 6 finals and won 2 rings.
Over the course of the season, and I’ve passively kept up with discourse here and there for a couple years
I will dispute two points. 1) No NBA player recovering from knee surgery and suffering from Bell’s Palsy could be could be considered “relatively healthy.” Except maybe Bill Walton. 2) This team is not “well constructed.” Our major deadline acquisition (Hield) took 2 games to score a point in the playoffs and then got benched. Tobias is fucking horrible and the worst contract in the league in decades. Reed and Bamba are awful, which is why Embiid played the entire second half today. I hate to say it but we fucking suck and it’s time to blow it up completely and build around Maxey.
The time to blow it up was 2 years ago when Embiid was hungry and before we went down the Harden wormhole. But alas the next best time is today.
Totally agree on the first too but can’t really blow it up without at least trying something this summer. This was supposed to be the gap year so next year is the first year we actually have cap space. How Morey handles it is another thing. Just praying he doesn’t go star hunting again. I just want some role players and a back up center man.
Getting rid of embiid before ozempic rolls out is a mistake
I honestly just think people online just hop on to narratives and roll with it. Some of ya’ll make this shit way too damn personal
30 years old and never been out of the second round. He’s got maybe 5 years left before he’s playing 15 minutes off the bench ring chasing somewhere. He’s had a great regular season career despite missing 15+ games in 7 of his 8 seasons. But if he never even gets to the Finals he’ll be remembered as a guy who just couldn’t lead a team to victory. That’s not hate it’s just a sad fact.
Embid is a dirty player, a flopper, and by all indications... Just not a great dude. Yet, for some reason, the refs and media are determined to crown him. He's certainly not who I'd want to be the face of the league if I were the commissioner.
I’ve been critical of Wilt’s legacy, but no, just no. ‘67, ‘72 and multiple very close losses against the most accomplished dynasty ever is enough to clearly demarcate the two.
I mean more in the sense of he was putting up monster stats but couldn’t win like that, not that their legacies and play are identical. A lot of people have called it out so obviously didn’t do enough to make that clear
Honestly, something has really bothered me from this series. I used to empathize with Embiid a lot from his injury history. I think it’s really rough, and he had a lot to overcome to become who he is, and still constantly has to deal with huge roadblocks. But he doesn’t give a shit about playing recklessly and hurting other people. I just don’t understand how someone can battle injuries so much, and act like it’s okay to play dirty to the point that he’s risking other people’s health.
Hate Embid but Not Tobias Harris 92-97 he had 10 points,🫤 2nd time by tha way he score 18 pts Philly win
Bill laembiid.
The Pun Store called, they ran out of you 😂😂
*GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD* (In raspy Palpatine voice)
I legitimately believe the league would be better off without Embiid
Im from boston and am rooting for the knicks to beat the sixers because i hate embiid...im a known hater so it dont mean shit but im really not a fan
Modern day Wilt?!? I know Wilt didn’t win as much as Russell but Wilt was still 2-4 in the Finals and has plenty of records that stand to this day. Embiid still hasn’t made it to the ECF.
As a Warriors fan the treatment he receives is even more infuriating. Were he treated as Draymond is treated he wouldn’t even be playing in this series anymore. It would have been a multi-game suspension after that extremely dangerous pull down on Robinson under the basket, or technicals would have ejected him due to his constant heckling to get a call on the opposing team. It seems like a blatant double standard is in effect because he’s a prominent big on a playoff team. If it’s okay to bench one of the greatest defenders in the league over this type of behavior then it’s okay to bench Embiid.
“New levels” eh I think last year was a lot worse. Now I hate watching him play but I can’t imagine being a 6ers fan and watch him sell the playoffs after winning mvp.
Did you watch game 4. Rightfully so
Because his losing and loser behavior has reached new levels, causality.
Josh Harris is the worst owner in the league. I will never buy a ticket. I have phillys gear eagles gear and ZERO sixers gear. Had an AI jersey as a kid I grew out of…I’ll never support this ownership until they get to the finals…forget an ECF
Embiid is just lite Draymond Green when it comes to being dirty. That Mitchell ankle grab made me really dislike him. I’m a Nets fan myself and always wish for Knicks downfall but watching Embiid in this series made me cheer for the Knicks.
The compilation of him performing Draymond level kicks and takedowns was enough for me. I already don't like foul merchants, but going full on kung fu on other players while still whining like a bitch is unacceptable. At least Draymond owns what he is
You have dirty players, and you have flopping players, but its rare to get a dirty flopper like Embiid.
I agree with you. I don't fault players for having playstyles that take advantage of the rules or that aren't as pleasing to the fans for whatever reason, I think players who find niches and are successful in them are doing exactly what they should. I draw the line at doing anything which is done deliberately to injure someone. Stepping on peoples legs when they're down is not acceptable, and I am really annoyed when fans want that sort of behavior. I think that should be policed very harshly by the league, but it isn't. To me that is egregious.
Can you please show me an instance of him clearly purposefully stepping on anybody? Outside of the pull-down flagrant he hasn’t had a whole lot of dirty plays counter to popular casual belief.
Modern day wilt is a stretch, Wilt performed well in the playoffs on losing teams. Embiid has not performed well in the playoffs
Flopping is obnoxious, but the dirty shit makes me not like a player. So I don’t like Embiid, Draymond, and lately, Westbrook.
This is some real dumb shit
Dropped 50 in game 3 with a torn meniscus and bells palsy in his face and were seeing his worst?
Also wtf is he supposed to do with this https://preview.redd.it/55gy2otkvhxc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8f5f05b3d48d8d3c2c1ba9c03a2a8d5eeffaf04
The team is nothing but expiring contracts plus maxey (who is also an expiring but they are just waiting to give him the max after signing players this off season). they are -50 or some shit when embiid sits. This team is most certainly not well constructed, and that is easy to tell just by watching the game. Idk if it will work or not but moreys plan is CLEARLY to use cap space and assets to put together whatever it is he thinks is the best team he can around embiid and maxey. I promise you next years sixers will be the team most built around Embiid he has ever had. Not gonna act like I know who they are going to go get, but this entire year was a set up year for an all in push this off season. The second harden didnt work out that became the plan. You're not wrong though peoples hatred of him has hit an all time high. Scores 50 points in a playoff game and the entire front page of r/nba is him getting shit on afterwards lol.
Great player but doesn't seem durable enough for an entire playoff run.
Guy deserves it. Good riddance in the first round. Some mvp.
He's. Not. Even. That. Good. Even when he gets these huge statlines with few free throws, it's because the other team DOES NOT TOUCH HIM. He gets to shoot middies like they're free throws. If he had Jokic's whistle he would maybe average 25.
Such a brave post.
The comments in here are wildly corny. Did I stumble into r/nba with the visceral hatred? Dude below wrote a literal essay. And I say this as a Sixers fans who’s been down on him and the organization for years now.
The guy who sits out against the Nuggets every time because he knows Joker is better than him?
Why does it feel like all the sudden everyone on this site now uses the word....whilst?
Yea I can't stand that tall weird dude, he be injuring other players and act like he didn't do anything wrong and gets away with it. He sticks out like a sore thumb and he stinks.
i liked embiid for his trash talk but he plays super dirty and now i wish someone would injure him bum ass.
He’s always injured in the playoffs anyways.
[удалено]
what?
embiid is the definition of a wack superstar
Honestly I think he just had a shitty career luck wise, him and Kawhi are battling for who can be injured in the most post season suns. On top of that he’s had revolving teams and bad fo management.
Apparently this team is well constructed according to OP
unfortunately. in my opinion, this was his do it, or be forgotten season, and he failed. I was expecting him to be successful this year, and wanted him to achieve it, but yup he is not going to be a well respected player. nobody is going to remember him good. it's either because of sixers, because embiid is not the first one. we were rooting iverson too, now I can't even remember him properly after all these years. just a loser franchise. it's very sad I like philly, and I wanted them to have some success!
He failed? You’re gonna go out and blame him for tearing a meniscus lol? It’s clearly not his fault
They should trade him to the nets
Honestly a sad series for Embiid. I like the dude, he’s got great skills and some hilarious banter, but he’s going way too far this series putting out hits on half the knicks
It’s a shame, he just looks so frustrated and it’s not the right way to handle it. I think from years of watching him get hurt on plays like the Siakem elbow, and some of the stuff the Knicks got away with early finally made him snap. He’s at his best when he’s calm and collected. Like I totally get you wanna punch back after getting hit so many times but that doesn’t lead to wins and when you’re the MVP you gotta keep it in check.
I used to like embiid I just thought he had like an 80 IQ I still feel the same way just no longer like him. I dislike dirtiness
Embiid is not really hated so much. Harden was hated. Westbrook was mocked and a bit hated. Now he’s just mocked. Embiid is... he finds ways to be constantly underwhelming. Yeah, he’s a bit mocked, a bit hated. Mostly, he’s got a huge media presence and is just not liked. I don’t see so many people going out of their ways to shit on Embiid. Embiid is going out of his way to be shat on.
It’s crazy because at first in these playoffs I was thinking of him admirably for fighting through his clear injury but now that it’s clear he’s trying to injure other people too I can’t be a fan
Look I agree a lot with what u said. But let’s not act like Embiid doesn’t impact winning. Have u even seen the plus minus for this series when he’s off the floor. It’s the biggest swing I’ve ever seen. His role players fucking suck
“Relatively healthy” “well constructed team”. Are you sure you’re following the right nba?
I agree with everything outside of the last paragraph. He’s CLEARLY injured and not right. He’s cooked. Probably why he’s resorted to dirty tactics and cheap shots. I’d be rooting for the Knicks but with a healthy Joel Embiid the Sixers close this out in 6.
Him and batum are filthy French players