Does Joel Embiid Need a Ring To Validate His Regular Season Dominance? | JJ Redick and Tim Legler 

Its the definition of being great to be great when matters most

“bEgGiNg” or advocating for something that he craves as someone who had a serious chance of finishing 2nd in 2021, 2022 & 2023?

Do you think that folks say he is not as physical because of his soft touch and free throw/jumper ability? You said “mash-mode” so it had me thinking about that perception.

😢

You’re the king stiffler 💯

💯

He has not been underwhelming wtf?? He put on a masterclass VS the Raptors last year. Embiid and the Sixers have been held back because Doc Rivers was the head coach

Does the lack of playoff performance mean we shouldn’t appreciate what he does well in the regular season?

@@Jeter112 the raptors......bro my raptors have zero answers for joel. We get it he can feast on teams without centers....wow so impressive. He folds. His stats go down i the playoffs. Facts

Honestly Giannis had 1 run prior and he choked a 2-0 lead. He wasn't good in the bubble and he's been an early exit otherwise. Jokic is the same mostly, him and Murray lit up the bubble and otherwise he's out in the first or second round. Durant is the same outside of the Warriors. Very few players just stack conference finals appearances.

Switch their teammates and Run and dunk man would be getting bounced every 1st round…

It's because they don't call as many fouls in the playoffs. 1/3 of Embiids points are off FTs.

@@goatstatusj5112 Uh no. Joel has routinely scored horribly in the playoff because he SHRINKS. He regularly averages around 20 points per game. Nice regular season stats big boy, you're garbage in comparison when the games matter.

@@goatstatusj5112 Giannis, Simmons, Harris and Jimmy win versus Kawhis raptors so don’t give me this narrative lol

​@@harrysmithson6349Oh 100% those teams would have been dynastys

Would top 10-15 range be fair at least?

@@fortynights1513 If he gets to conference finals as the best player on the team. Maybe then we can consider him Top 15 in the league. Until then he is just like Lillard, Harden, Mitchell, Booker, Gobert, KAT....and other playoff chokers that put up empty numbers.

@@AVAXIIBooker has been to the Finals and performed great. He also dominated in last years playoffs. Nuggets were just the better team. I don’t think he should’ve been mentioned.

@@AVAXIII don’t think empty numbers is the right term. If you are the best player on teams that have a winning regular season record, your stats aren’t empty. If you can’t translate your game to the playoffs then you might not have an argument for best player in the league, but it shouldn’t disqualify you from having been good.

@@imnotblindbutiloveblindfol8449 Booker is great unless it's a must-win playoffs game. When he's in that position, he usually lays an egg.

Steph from 2015-2018 ngl!

Yeah, when basketball becomes serious in playoffs his foul fishing is not working. His scoring advantage or difference over other top players is boosted with 6-8 extra free throw opportunities per game. Take them away and he's just average Joe (Joel) 😂

@@krisadhikari7Joel has done this twice 😂

Injuries and health have been a problem pretty much every year

@@krisadhikari7 what are you talking about

Giannis has never been to a game 7 in the finals. Do you mean game 6?

You're right about the hyper-extended knee, but every one's body is different. You can't legitimately say it was a serious issue or that it was thar painful after the fact either. Especially based on his play. It might have looked serious to you but might have been something that needed some iceyhot and a rub down for him.

@@MeBihhhh Yes, my error. The series ended at Game 6. Thanks for the correction.

@@kaydee1485 One of the official NBA physicians said on TV that it didn't look like Giannis could play in the forthcoming Playoffs. I wasn't making an independent, amateur statement. If you go back to the videos of the six Playoff games, there were moments when his left knee buckled when he tried to take off on it. You're right, physiques aren't all alike. Giannis may have extraordinarily stretchable ligaments. Nevertheless, it was evident that he was playing through pain during moments in that 6-game Championship series.

Can't compare that to jeol teraing his lcl last year and or the year before messing up his orbital these guys haven't played with the injuries joel has stop it

Ducking good teams? He gave the Celtics 30 and the t wolves 50😂 mfs just find ways to hate on that man

True, so many times during the reg season he's led 76ers to 10-game winning streaks but then nowhere when it matters most

He ducked playing in Jokic's house last year after the Joker played injured in his. He can't always avoid playing the best but he ducks when he can - to focused on mvp - doesn't love competition - not hate - just fact @@marc-anthonyrodriguez6447

The fact that he chose to play for Team USA in the next Olympics just proves the "soft" mindset that we always attach to him, if he went to Cameroon or even France and said that he wanted to beat USA, now maybe we would start to change the narrative. I guess we never will...

@@marc-anthonyrodriguez6447he literally ducked the heat on Christmas

Barkley and Malone went to the finals the year they won MVP and led their teams to 62 and 64 wins respectively Embiid isn’t even close

@@anshkaushik7920 I know it's considered popular these days to be a contrarian who goes against the grain, but that's a dumb comment you just posted. Those players' careers have more in common than they do differences. Think about it.

😢😢😢. Malone and Barkley won their respected conferences and had 1 finals appearance during their MPV season. He won last year, how deep in the playoff was he in?

Malone at least made it to 2 finals and faced the greatest player ever. Same with Barkley (though he only made 1 finals).

@@Tehui1974Naw Embiid has had way more underwhelming performances in 2nd round & 1st round match-ups

💯 and *EMBIID* needs to keep that same energy HE gave Jokic. His sneak diss game was the real MVP

⁠@@jesstiss222exactly. People wouldn’t be so negative around him if it weren’t for his big mouth. He deflected criticism by bringing up Jokic’s MVP, then referenced Giannis’ failure speech recently. Somehow those are the tame moments compare to him putting Simmons and other teammates under the bus.

Joel has missed 20% of Philly's games, but ALL of the games he sat our were away games against winning teams.

I HATE U JOKER FANBUMS SO MUCH MAN UGH

He didn't have to "Steal" the mvp last year. The media said it over and over, they weren't gonna give it to Jokic because they didn't think he deserved 3 straight mvps. That's literally the only reason Embiid got his MVPity award. Everyone knows it. All he had to do was duck Jokic the 2nd time they would have played, cry all year about how he doesn't know what he has to do to get a mvp because he "tries so hard", have coaches and teammates non stop last year say he's the mvp, and have people in the national media use race has a reason to give him the award. That's it, nothing crazy.

​@@limitedbom2206tbf jokic also load managed the last month. Don't love it either but flopbiid was kind of destined to win it last yr

@@limitedbom2206is it going to be a pity award when Embiid wins it again this year? Say what you want about playoff success, that has nothing to do with the MVP award.

He has to perform away from home in playoffs. He can't just sit if he doesn't like the matchup. He will never win sh1te

That game was tied even if he misses it’s not guaranteed they win in OT

It’s not about him demanding the ball. It’s him losing all of his efficiency because his foul baiting and flopping doesn’t work nearly as effectively in the playoffs. Even if he demanded the ball more he would still be super inefficient compared to his regular season stats. That’s the issue. Not how many shots he takes. That raptors series is the perfect example because even if kawhi missed that shot and the sixers won the game, embiid still played TERRIBLE that series. He literally averaged 17 points on 37% from the field…

jokic literally JUST proved his. let’s not talk and forget like he wasn’t in the same place as embiid last 2 yrs

@@offense_a_byproduct_of_truth And unlike Embiid, Jokic never had an all nba or even an all star teammates (Millsap and Jordan were all stars before joining the nuggets) while Embiid always had at least one (even two in 2019 with Simmons and Butler but none in 2018). Even this season, Maxey will surely be an all star while Murray still waiting his first one appearance.

@@robert-surcouf First off i’m sick of you nuggets fans disrespecting jamal murray to praise jokic. murray is a top 10 pg in the league despite all star appearance. second, we not gon act like maxey just developing gets to make the list of “great” teammates. y’all keep acting like harden is so great bc he’s a former mvp..yet none of you would trade murray for harden lol and final, we gonna stop mentioning teammates as a negative for jokic and a positive for embiid where jokic has grown up with murray both drafted there, and has had the same coach his entire career. embiid has never had that kind of consistency..which is the kind you need to win championships. jokic has one of the most tenured coaches in the league. he’s only known 1 system. meanwhile embiid has had to live thru trash philly front office and the doc rivers era. so pls dont make comparison without the full context

@@offense_a_byproduct_of_truth I don't deny Murray greatness and i also think he's a top 10 pg but unfortunately for him, we don't have seen him made a 70 games in a season since 2019 (2023 was his best with 65) because of health issues which is the first reason why he had never been all star and i see him as a Butler 2.0 (good in regular season, great in playoffs). Maxey being an all star just means that Embiid has at least a top 30 (maybe top 20) player as a lieutenant. Only Harden superfans will trade Murray for him (mostly because of behaviour issues) but if you asked 8 months ago to nba fans which teammates they want as lieutenant between Harden or Murray, Murray will not be picked by many. If we talk about the supportive cast in general, the 76ers have a decent record without Embiid while the nuggets are not even a play in team. What separate Embiid and Jokic is that the latter could bring a better chemistry whoever the teammates will be and improve the team level. Rivers is indeed the most overrated coach in nba history but until the nuggets win the title, most of nba fans had not see Malone as clearly better than Rivers.

Even MJ and Bron were called great players who couldnt win early in their careers

We literally played Boston 3x by the first week of December. Tired of this rhetoric.

@@svenstubesya and took two Ls thanks for reminding me

@@ryanlebard3787 and yet I'll wake up tomorrow and all I'll see is Ez ScHeDuLe, fRaUd MvP, fOuL mErChAnT

Shaq couldn't make free throws dumbass so wth you means hints hack a shaq lol wth

To be fair, plenty of Jokic fans were giving excuses as to why he got swept in the 2nd and gentleman’s swept in the 1st round in his 2 MVP campaigns, while Giannis was out there winning his chip.. and they were valid excuses - his team wasn’t healthy.. Similarly, Embiid’s excuse so far has been his own injury history.. can’t give him credit for what he hasn’t won, but can’t knock him for any more than being an injury prone all-world player right now..

Jokic just did it a few months ago.. Embiid has a 3 year window to do the same

Joel is like the Patrick Ewing of this era. Giannis is like the Magic of this era and Jokic the Bird of this era. This isn't a comparison based on playstyle but based on standing in the league. Joel Embiid is like the 7th best player in the league (you could argue in the regular season he is top 2) but in the playoffs he is not top 10 right now). Jokic and Giannis are like Bird and Magic were in the 80s, constantly battling for being the best player in the league. Joel is not in their class even if he performs better in the regular season and has the backing of the refs and the media.

Thank you! The lack of understanding how injuries play a factor with big men is wild in these comments

He had torn ligaments in his knee lol.. he probably shouldn’t have even been playing on it.. call him injury prone all you want.. I’d agree.. but all that other stuff is disingenuous

It is Embiid who famously begged for mvp - so he brought this all on himself. If you cry about not being awarded mvp you better win!

@@matthewbecker964 I don't have a problem with anyone criticizing him for that but to me it's just dumb to keep belaboring it and bringing it up over and over, and to just act as though that's all there is to players. Again, it's not the criticism I think is dumb, it's the constant dismissing of everything and never stopping to enjoy or appreciate anything of players. I hated Kobe as a player, as a Sun fan it was my duty to hate Kobe, and I have criticisms of Kobe's game and leadership at times, but that also didn't stop me from appreciating his game and marveling at some of his performances. You can be both critical or players and celebrate them as well. It doesn't need to be either/or.

Dude u trippin embid can't stay off floor always falling down so imagine leaning on prime shaq for 40min he foul out bet

Booker and embiid are the only ones Who are inconsistent in playoffs, everyone else play the same or better

Yeah but with jokic it was never because of him. Jokic actually plays better in the playoffs. He always played great. He didnt have the help.

That was stupid, Jokić overperformed his averages every year in the playoffs.

Because when he played him the first time, there wasn’t a question as to who the best player on the court was.. what more needed to be proven? That being said, he better play in Denver this year lol

It was a travesty that he won MVP over Jokic. So embarrassing for the voters.

@@gbmbg114 He played in Denver once in 7 years. What are we talking about. Please don't compare choker to a champion

@AVAXII .. he all I can do is say what I see when they DO play.. now tell me what you saw when they played last season.. who was better? I’m not even saying that Embiid is better than Jokic right now.. he has a lot to prove.. but so did Jokic before he won.. and that was just a few months ago lol.. and before he was a champion, in both of his MVP seasons, Embiid won more regular season games, was a higher seed and went further in the playoffs than Jokic.. and he cooked him head to head.. it makes sense why Embiid broke through for an MVP last season.. that’s all I’m saying I’m not hating on Jokic though.. he’s nasty and after his playoff run last year, he’s cemented as an all time great.. after this year, so will Embiid

@@gbmbg114 It is simple. One plays better in playoffs than in regular season. He did what has never been done before. He won a chip and a finals MVP. He dominated every single matchup they threw at him. The other guy chokes in plyoffs, his numbers drops big time, and he only went past one round all these years. I don't think choking in playoffs makes you an all time great, but i might be wrong. Don't compare that choker to a champion.

If philly could somehow get either Pascal Siakam or OG Anonuby they would match up good with anybody out east