This guy's potential is off the charts. Hope he can stay healthy and continue to improve. I would love to see another Olajuwon-level talent at center in the league again, as long as it's not in Utah or Dallas.
He fell like 3 times in these highlights. Seems like he's got the tools but needs to work on his lower body strength. Looked very clumsy out there
Embiid was the only one with a positive +/- in the game tonight for the 76ers in that ugly performance by that team. His presence was easily felt outside of the box score as well, completely shutting down any oops on the pick and roll. You could just see his effect on the court, vs. any other big out there. If he stays healthy, he is going to be easily HOF. Future MVP. Lock for ROY. He is already something special.
Easy to see Embiid's huge potential in his mix of abilities and agility at his size. We forget NOW, but its like seeing what people originally saw in Tim Duncan, or even guys like Greg Oden less offense but more formidable D. Health and maturity in place, he can be special. Yes. Blake Griffin missed his entire drafted year with injury, played the season after and got ROTY award.
No mention of the Hakeem comparison in a rockets forum? Embiid's footwork is reminiscent of The Dream. He's becoming my favourite player just like Hakeem did (Hakeem's the reason I'm a Rockets fan).
No Hakeem mention on purpose, seriously cuz, NO ONE can touch THE DREAM I've seen "Hakeem-like" mentions for all the young emerging and star bigs, A Davis, Towns, Okafor, etc. They do flash ability, though none of them you watch and come away saying "Dang, JUST like Hakeem". Embiid probably is less fluid than the others but actually more Hakeem like because he'll play more as a traditional CENTER by the basket instead of a PF/C
So sensitive. I know embiid's can't hold a candle to hakeem, I just see embiid has fashioned much of his game from hakeem. I see more of that in him that Ad or KAT
The second we decide there will never be a better talent than Olajuwon, they'll come along. I hope we recognize it when it happens.
I don't understand this logic. hakeem was the same age as embiid right now, and averaged a 20/12 (both 1st years playing), in 35.5 minutes per game. The stuff embiid is doing on his minutes restriction is crazy. Perhaps if he had a healthy Ralph Sampson, McCray, and John Lucas type players on the 76ers, they would be posting a similar record of 48-34. I love me some Hakeem, but you cannot deny Embiid's potential to be Hakeem 2.0. The Hakeem we remember didn't have the dominant footwork his first years in the league, that made Robinson look like a fool.
Completely false. Hakeem as a rookie was a whole different animal, and his futbol footwork was light years ahead of Embiid.
It's really not: sorry to burst your bubble. Let's go back to the tape here: Hakeem: Spoiler Embiid: Spoiler I am making the assumption that you know Hakeem of '93-'96, was a much different player than the Hakeem of '85-'91. If you look at the videos, the grace/agility, etc.: there is a clear difference. Young Hakeem did not get a complete 180 on the spin move and still looked a bit robotic. It is a testimony to his athleticism and effort that he still came into the league as a 20/10 guy, and it's really not a knock on the guy to acknowledge that he improved his game throughout the course of his career. Look at the Embiid videos. Compare them. You cannot tell me with a straight face that Hakeem is "light years" ahead of Embiid in footwork, at the same age. Take off the red-colored glasses. Joel looks every bit as developed as Hakeem does. And I'm not even referencing that fact that Embiid, currently, is hitting 3's at above 50%, even when taking more than 2.5 a game. Ridiculous. You can look at other examples. The difference is hardly there, if any. A comparable talent is staring us in the face if he stays healthy.
Embiid is the real deal. Hakeem was a better defender and quicker but embiid is also a lot taller and heavier. He's like Hakeem in Orlando Shaq body. If he can stay healthy he'll be 30/15 guy he's the big that dominant and that skilled. He's already avg 18/8 in only 23min and that's after being away from the game for 2.5 years and only really been playing basketball for around 6 years. Dudes footwork is incredible he's the best iv seen since Hakeem. Only big besides Yao and KG that can even do turnaround fadaways from 18ft out like Hakeem did.
Honestly, I don't even understand the Hakeem comparison. They're different players. Sure, their skillsets overlap quite a bit, but I think you could find a more accurate comparison for Joel. The Hakeem comp was just something used to hype him up before the draft. It's really not that accurate.
Look at the footwork. How is this not the closest thing to Hakeem we've seen since The Dream himself? No one is saying that Joel is a Hakeem clone. We all know Hakeem's skills are very hard to replicate and very unique and rare. That's what makes embiid so amazing. He's not the same player as Hakeem, but no one has been able to replicate Hakeem's very unique skills, and he is showing very similar things.
