If you needed any further indication that the Sixers will go as Joel Embiid goes, you only had to listen to what Brett Brown had to say Thursday afternoon, right after the center finished his first practice as a full 5-on-5 participant. Philadelphia’s head coach reasoned that the team’s poor performance in Wednesday’s game against Memphis could be traced back to how they’ve accommodated their young big man during practice sessions.
“My money that I could spend with Joel was good, but it was restricted to a half court. So we spent two days with a very large majority of our work in half court. I felt the pain of that last night; transition defense, running, we played slow, we didn’t get back, I didn’t feel like that helped us,” said Brown. “Today having Jo where we could have no sort of half court restrictions and we could actually play basketball, was excellent.”
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He’s only played 31 professional games, and a franchise is running the whole show around his availability. And the craziest part is they are right to do so.
The restrictions appear to be falling to the wayside, as both Brown and Embiid said they expect the big man to continue on a steady, upward trajectory from here on out. Barring something unforeseen, Embiid will continue to participate in 5-on-5 activities, with an eye toward being ready to go for the season opener.
Many Philadelphians would be content to put Embiid in bubble wrap until the season opener against the Washington Wizards, provided he’s getting the necessary work in during practice sessions. But that’s not the path Embiid wants to take, and he believes he would benefit from getting out and playing in a preseason game over the next couple weeks to shake off the rust.
“I would like to play preseason,” said Embiid. “Last year I think it helped me a little bit, getting in a groove. This is the most I’ve done since January, and I was extremely rusty today. I thought I was doing extremely good in 5-on-5 halfcourt, and it’s a different story when you go up and down. I would like to play preseason to get back into it and be the dominant player I want to be.”
If this is Embiid looking “extremely rusty,” the other 29 NBA teams will all be losing sleep at night.
Word choice aside, it’s probably the right mentality for him to have. As his teammates found out last night, it’s a lot different going up against a hostile opponent than it is against your own teammates, who are jostling for minutes but ultimately working toward the same goal you are.
The mood in Camden definitely shifted with Embiid fully participating, if only because his booming voice echoed around the walls of the gym. The man who Brown referred to as the “captain of the defense” took the responsibility seriously, even in a practice setting. It did not go unnoticed among his teammates.
“Jo brings competitiveness, energy, and it just picks up the whole team,” said Richaun Holmes. “When a guy that talented plays that hard, works that hard, can’t help but pick up the energy of the practice.”
“Can’t really put into words what it means to the team,” added TJ McConnell. “We’re a different team when he’s around and when he’s on the court, you can definitely sense a different energy when he’s out there. People play harder… when you add a guy like that, it’s pretty easy to add confidence to each player.”
This is just the first step in a journey that will hopefully have many, and Embiid knows there’s a lot of work left to do to get there. And hey, if things don’t work out on the basketball front, Embiid insists that tennis game you heard about is better than you might think.
“I’m a really good server,” said Embiid. “They call me the black Roger Federer.”
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