The 2016-17 NBA regular season will officially come to an end on Wednesday night, and although he won't be on the court when the Sixers play their last game, rookie center Joel Embiid is a big part of the reason they've won 28 games, their most since the 2012-13 season (34) and as many as the previous two years combined.
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Sure, Embiid never played in both ends of a back-to-back and was on a minutes restriction that never climbed above 28 minutes. And, yes, he only played in 31 games – a fact that could cause him to miss out on Rookie of the Year, possibly to teammate Dario Saric. But the Sixers were 13-18 in those game and 8-2 in the final 10 before his season-ending injury.
But when he was healthy and playing, Embiid posted historic numbers despite his limited minutes and the fact that he hadn't played in three years.
More importantly, however – at least to the casual Sixers fans – Embiid put on a show every time he stepped out on the court. Hell, some nights he did it without ever putting on a uniform. Whether or not he wins ROY, he's generated more GIF-able moments than any rookie I can remember.
And that's got to be worth something, right?
With that in mind, here are the 31 best GIFs – one for each game Embiid played this year – that I could find. Thankfully, the Sixers Twitter account is great at sharing GIFs, so I was able to find a lot there. And thanks to anyone else whose tweets are embedded below.
I almost certainly am missing some, so feel free to leave those in the comments, @ me on Twitter, or shoot me an email to let me know.
[NOTE: These aren't ranked or anything like that, but I tried to group them as best I could.]
Enjoy.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
ON OFFENSE
[h/t troutrageous.com]
ON DEFENSE
DANCE MOVES
Of course, there's always this…
CELEBRATIONS
EVEN FROM THE BENCH
[h/t aminoapps.com]
THE TIME HE DID THE A.I.
THE TIME HE MET THE A.I.
HIS WEIRD LOVE AFFAIR WITH BOOGIE COUSINS
[h/t Deadspin]
Well, that puts at 30 GIFs, meaning the next one will be the last.
Fair enough.
BONUS GIFS!
[h/t ftw.usatoday.com]
[h/t barstoolsports.com]
In conclusion...
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