Jalen Brunson on Embiid: “Joel is unfairly discussed. He is the one player where I played against him I’m like damn this dude is dominant. Me seeing now ‘Oh Joel hasn’t got past the 2nd round or Joel hasn’t done this’, Joel has done some crazy things. MVP, the numbers he puts up, all that stuff.
by FultzShoulder
31 Comments
Embiids reputation among players vs the fans is jarring.
These dudes really think they’re mistreated. Embiid is talked about completely fair. Insanely dominant player when healthy and often isn’t. That’s it.
The 4th quarter of the 2020 NBA All Star game was very eye opening, the best players in the world knew back then that a healthy Embiid is unstoppable…
The fact that Embiid is so individually dominant is what invites all the (perfectly fair) criticisms about his foul baiting playstyle, conditioning, and leadership. This ain’t NBA2K. Those factors are important and they are within his control.
Good guy Brunson defending superstar players against slander.
Dude is one of the most dominant players in this era
when he’s healthy
which is “never” when it comes to the playoffs.
how much he is to blame for never ever ever ever being healthy depends on how much ya wanna get on the haterade.
I personally think if he didnt’ flop around and flail around and fall every 2 seconds, he might not have so much wear and tear. That and getting in shape and losing weight
One thing I’ve noticed in the difference between fans perception vs players perception is that fans hold team success to a higher standard than most players. Players care more about your actual skill even if it doesn’t always lead to success
Also, Kobe’s most successful season on the Lakers was 2005-2006.
Joel needs one good run and he’ll have a redemption arc like Dirk
People in here acting like Embiid gets fairly treated amongst fans. The wildly different views about him between players respecting him and fans saying he isn’t a max player and the Sixers need to trade him and build around Maxey are wild
It’s been funny seeing all the “it’s a team sport” when Tatums finals stats are discussed but it’s embiid fault he hasn’t gotten past round 2.
Embiid for all his injuries (that hes always played through in the playoffs), has never had a great team assembled.
He played well against the Knicks so I won’t knock him this year
Going into the series considering how much I heard Embiid was a playoff choker I thought this would be an easy series for the Knicks.
Then the 1st first quarter of game 1 happens and Embiid had like 14 points in 12 minutes. Right then I literally thought the series was over, we couldn’t stop him.
When he is at his best Embiid is the most unstoppable player in the NBA right now. The problem with him is getting him to play at his peak for 40 minutes a game for 16 wins in the playoffs
It’s wild seeing people in here say “the players respect him, so clearly the fans are dumb for not!”…
How many times have we seen nba players give the absolute dumbest possible takes about basketball? Not saying Brunson is necessarily like that, but yall should probably take what players say with a wayyy bigger grain of salt
What’s unfair about facts? He hasn’t made it past the 2nd round. He doesn’t dominate quite as hard in the post season as he does in game 48 of the regular season. Maybe his style of play isn’t conducive to winning a championship? Nobody is out here saying he sucks at basketball/has no talent.
Contrast this with Embiid liking Twitter posts for weeks after the Knicks series ended complaining about the fouls Brunson gets lol
Doesn’t matter if he gets gassed every playoffs
Recruiting
I am telling, all people care about is scoring.
So much of Embiid’s so-called “fraudulence” would be absolved if he even had a at least one ECF appearance. Everybody knows he’s a generational player but winning the regular season MVP and never even making it past the 2nd round is basically begging for criticism. Yea he has freak injuries and nobody is even asking for a ring or even a finals appearance at this point but for once in his life he needs to stay healthy and drag whatever team he has to the CF in the already weaker east
generational flopper
Embiid is an impressive player however without the ability to be healthy in postseason and his impact in the playoffs is quite limited, it’s hard to rely on him for a deep run.
It’s a fair criticism, his FO was also terrible for a while.
Honest question; has Embiid ever lost a playoff series as the better team? I know we all love to shit on him for not making East finals but I cant recall his team ever being the better team and losing outside of the hawks series years ago?
Both unethical foul merchants
He’s either injured, out of shape, exhausting himself by falling on the floor all game, and/or settling for mid range jumpers in the 4th
Then there’s Al Horford
Eventually teams figure out over a series how to play him
Fans get too caught up in trying to tear down superstars. Nice for Brunson to offer perspective
Im slowing starting to sour on Brunson’s personality. You can’t talk shit on Gobert for winning a regular season award because he got iso-ed by Luka in a conference final and then turn around and say people unfairly judge Embiid for his post season? If he’s going to judge Gobert’s regular season on post season events, then why does Embiid get a pass?
I think LeBron was right when he said too many guys in the league care too much about 1v1.
Imagine if Embiid just followed through with his shots and really pushed his weight around like prime Shaq and not flop at every opportunity.
The numbers would be insane.
I want to like Embiid but the flopping is ridiculous.
He’s embraced being a heel and goes at it with fans/fanbases. Add in that he can get pretty reckless out there (has injured his fair share of players) and it’s not all that surprising that the fans get on him.
No one can deny his talent/skill/dominance but his health has become a serious concern. Can anyone really see him making it through a full playoffs-finals run? That sparks some of the more wild convos about him (trading him, focusing on maxey, etc) that people perceive as unfair.
I dont hate embiid because he’s a bad player. I hate embiid because he’s a dangerous player. That guy is either really clumsy or injuring other players on purpose out there.
Rooks so fine