National Basketball Association

36 Minutes of Philadelphia 76er Joel Embiid Was Worth Waiting For

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The fans of the Philadelphia 76ers waited two years for the arrival of Joel Embiid to the NBA? Oh yeah. 36 minutes of Embiid is spectacular.

Forget the detractors, the nay sayers, and the disbelievers. Push aside the heartbreak Philadelphia, and feast your eyes on 36 minutes of Joel Embiid

He is the native son of Cameroon, all 7-foot-2 and 252 pounds of him. He has traveled the globe and endured over two years of intense training and rehabilitation. Many said he would never play in the NBA.

@EliotShorrParks Embiid will never play in the NBA. Hinkie is completely at fault on that miss

— bill bratsky (@BillBratzky) April 7, 2016

At times, even Joel Embiid own belief and courage was strained, sometimes to the breaking point. But through it all, former president Sam Hinkie poured all he could into Joel Embiid. He sought and provided experts from the medical field, the best of sports medicine, and the best in international rehabilitation. Considering he had one year of NCAA basketball, limited basketball background, and a two-year hiatus from competitive play, why did so many believe he could be somebody special in the NBA?

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Because he can. The path of Joel Embiid was not one any other player could take without the talent of Embiid himself, and without the pure belief in the player exhibitted by Sam Hinkie. Ultimately, both forces have served to make him the player he is today. Who is that player?

He is a wunderkind. In his first competitive NBA game after two years absence from the sport, he has delivered all that the Philadelphia 76ers fans could hope for. And that was just one game. While some point to it as an anomaly, it’s more akin to an express train building momentum.

He played just 22 minutes in a very competitive game. But let’s peek at his 36 minutes numbers, shall we?

At 36 minutes, Joel Embiid scored 32.7 points. pulled down 11.5 rebounds, and blocked 3.3 shots. While he shot just 37.5 percent from the floor, he did not sit on layups nor alley oops, but engaged a complete arsenal of shots. His 33.3 percent from three-point range is incredible for a center, and his 87.5 shooting from the foul line is simply the precursor to what is to come.

Let’s put that into perspective. At this pace, he’s as good if not better than the combined might of Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor?

Why yes. Yes he is. And that is just one game. That is per 36 minutes.

Don’t put any stock in the detractors any longer. They’ll discount his NBA arrival as “just one game”. Place your stock in the fact that it was just his first game in over 2 years. And he nailed it better than hoped for.

Just 36 minutes of Joel Embiid? Yes, that’s all the fans of the Philadelphia 76ers have for now.

But just try and convince him he wasn’t worth the wait, I dare you.

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