The Philadelphia 76ers have not exactly managed to stand out this season. Touting a 16-12 win-loss card through their first 28 games, no one would have them penciled in as definite feel-good stroies so far, although the team has arguably done relatively well when taking into account the fact that they’ve already had to deal with numerous injuries right from the get-go.
Joel Embiid has missed considerable time, but he has also appeared in 12 of their 28 outings. He has not played in back-to-backs and had already been sidelined due to injuries and a minor illness, but this is still more than what people probably expected out of him at this juncture. Embiid and the 76ers have made some workarounds to cope with his declining physicals, but the tough part is that those adjustments have yielded some irreversible concessions.
Already on the wrong side of 30 with the most extensive track record of injuries among his contemporaries, Embiid has become a near non-factor when it comes to rebounding and rim protection. His vertical presence has been reduced to almost zero, albeit by design, but it will certainly cost the 76ers when the playoffs begin.
The 76ers cannot possibly fix this huge Joel Embiid issue, and it’s bound to doom them in the playoffs
As some people have pointed out, it will be very difficult to work around Embiid’s sheer lack of mobility when the playoffs come around. Sure, the games do tend to slow down in the postseason, but from a game-planning aspect, this issue will be something that opposing teams will look to exploit as much as possible.
So far, the 76ers are the eighth and fifth-best team in the league when it comes to defending in the restricted area and in the paint, but that is not something they can attribute to Embiid, who has missed more than half of their games. Embiid has the fifth-worst defensive rating among the team’s regulars, and that does not even give justice to his deficiencies on that end.
Embiid simply cannot be trusted to fare well when it comes to guarding opponents that are zeroed in on exploiting his lack of foot speed. He absolutely cannot be involved in switch-heavy schemes, and even traditional coverages will not work unless the 76ers overwork their other players surrounding Embiid.
This lack of mobility, which impacts both their defense and overall rebounding, will be something the 76ers will have to deal with moving forward. Unfortunately, there is no apparent fix for this problem, and the ball is now on Nick Nurse and the coaching staff’s hands to come up with a viable workaround, lest them doom themselves when the playoffs roll.