Agaga Akpati
It
is not often the world of Basketball get to see “big men” who are very skilled
and have the ability to wiggle their way around the paint like you would expect
from an exceptional point guard. In the past guys, Centers and Power Forwards
who were renowned for their skills were the likes of Hakeen “The Dream”
Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki and Shaquille O’neal in the early stages of his career.
As of the time of this writing, a center wears the crown as the current Most
Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in North America.
Joel
Hans Embiid is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the
Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in
Yaoundé, Cameroon and although he had ambitions to be a sportsman, he did not
start playing Basketball until the age of 15 having originally planned to play
Volleyball. He then moved to the United States to continue his education and be
a part of a college system that had a good and reputable system of harnessing
prospective Professional Sport Players. On the 26th June 2014, Joel Embiid was
selected as the third overall pick in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Philadelphia
76ers and this was the beginning of his journey in the NBA.
After
an injury plagued start to life in the NBA that saw him miss the entirety of
the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, Embiid finally made his debut as a rookie in the
2016-2107 season where he received NBA honours as part of the NBA- Rookie First
Team Selections. The following season, he secured his first NBA All-Star and
All-NBA honours, being a starter in the NBA All-Star game and an All-NBA Second
Team selection respectively. This was as a result of an exceptional season that
saw him become the first All-Star starter for the 76ers since Allen Iverson and
the first All-Star pick since Jrue Holiday.
Subsequent
seasons were fantastic for Joel on an individual level as he put up numbers
expected of him at some point, he became a runner-up in the NBA MVP ladder. But
what was notable during this periods were the disappointing playoff runs which
saw him and his side fail to progress further than the second round of the
playoffs. Things did get better for him on an individual level as he secured
his first NBA Scoring Title in 2021-2022, averaging 30.6 points per game,
becoming the first center to do so since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000, and also the
first center to average over 30 points per game since Moses Malone in 1982. In
the 2022-2023, Embiid was awarded the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. He joined
the exclusive ranks of Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Allen Iverson, and
Moses Malone as the fifth Philadelphia 76er to achieve the prestigious title of
league MVP.
The
current 2023-2024 Season has been a revelation for the leading’s leading scorer
in point per game and he has already put up performance that has earned in more
places in the record books. Having put up several performances since the start
of the season, Embiid finished the month of December averaging 40.2 PPG, 12.6
RPG, and 4.9 APG on shooting splits of 60.6/42.3/92.1. With these numbers, he
became the first player in NBA history to average 40 or more points in a month
on 60% field goal shooting. On January 2, 2024, Embiid achieved a remarkable
triple-double with 31 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists, accomplishing this
feat in just the first three quarters of the game. In a 110–97 victory against
the Chicago Bulls, he made NBA history by becoming the first player ever to
record at least 30 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists in a game without
participating in the fourth quarter. On January 22, Embiid set a remarkable
feat by scoring 70 points, grabbing 18 rebounds, and dishing out five assists
in a 133–123 victory against the San Antonio Spurs. This outstanding
performance not only broke the Sixers franchise record for most points in a
game, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain's 1967 record, but also made Embiid the ninth
player in NBA history to achieve the 70-point milestone. As a center, he joined
the elite company of Chamberlain and David Robinson in reaching this remarkable
scoring achievement. Additionally, Embiid became the first player in NBA
history to record at least 70 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists in a single
game.
This
numbers and history tying/breakings feats are a testament to the greatness and
ability of Embiid. Being on the league’s most lethal players, both offensively
and defensively, makes him a force to reckon with on the court, especially in
the paint where his size and skills make him unpredictable and his finishing
ability allows him to make all type of shots. But just as most players tend to
have challenging spells and period over the course of their career, Joel’s is
no different. Although, he is the current MVP and Scoring Title holder of the
NBA, a good score of fans and media outlets do not shy away from expressing
their dislike and dissatisfaction towards the76ers Center.
For
every action, there is a reason for such action and with respect to the
unpleasant nature of fans reaction towards Embiid, there are reason and
instances that spur such reaction. The prominent reason has to be his overall
performance “when it matters” with the quoted clause referring to the playoffs.
Joel Embiid has never made it past the second round of the NBA Playoffs – this is
a statistics that seems hard to accept to the average basketball fan who has no
idea of how the playoffs has unfolded over the years but is aware of who and
what Embiid has accomplished over the course of his NBA career up to this
point. But that is the damning reality and this fact alone tends to put his on
the receiving end of fans backlash who expect more from the current MVP award recipient.
The exit are not the focus of the dislike, it is the nature at which his team
have exited the respective edition of the playoffs. Throwing a way game leads,
underwhelming performances at certain stages and conceding crunch time
series-winning buckets are series of instances in which his team have been eliminated
from the playoffs. These could have been avoidable with better performances
from him or his teammates.
Another
reason has to be his “flopping” as that is often the term in sports referring
to a situation where by a player tries to earn himself foul and penalty calls
by wanting contact and portraying the contact in a manner in which the opponent
is penalized thereby earning him a free throw or foul call on his opponent. It
is not necessarily a part thing and in the case of Basketball and Embiid, it is
not wrong as fouls and free throws are part of the game of Basketball. Where
the issue lies is fans is how often he gets those calls and how evidently tries
to win himself those calls. He averages the most free throw per game in NBA
history with 11.9 free throw attempts (FTA) per game. This goes to show how
often he gets the calls and how it greatly transcends to his overall point
tally at the end of each season. For someone as skilled as he is, fans would
expect him to be more flamboyant with his style of play rather than resorting
to “cheap” foul calls and high amount of free throws every game. In his defense,
free throws are part of the rules of basketball and they are a huge part of the
scoring aspect of the game as great players tend to have very high free throw
conversation rates.
Above
all, Embiid is one of the best centers the league has ever seen and barring his
injury woes, there is definitely more to come from the talented big man. Although
his current injury has sidelined his for an indefinite period, he is currently
on pace to become a back-to-back regular season MVP winner (achieved only if he
plays at least certain amount of game in the regular season). The Championship
title is also in sight as his team has certainly improved with players like
Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris recording higher point-per-games than they have
in their careers. With the right coaching and consistent performance, the title
can one again come to Philadelphia or who knows, maybe he leaves for another
franchise and has a better chance there at winning the Championship. What is
certain at this point is that he is on track to become of the best centers the
league and the basketball world has seen and there is more to come from the
towering center.
