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[Barkley on Podcast P] Charles Barkley says Joel Embiid is out of shape and should be embarrassed by his Olympic performance



“I think that's one of the reasons he's always injured. I don't think he's in good enough shape…You got to be a little bit embarrassed by the way you played.”

Seems a bit harsh but apparently the stats are not telling the story with Embiid at these olympics. The criticism is mounting with every game it seems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2fJhaKCb7w

by EarthWarping

28 Comments

  1. GOAT_Redditor

    Pretty sure this was recorded before the last game to be fair

  2. I agree. Zero lift on his jumps, walking up and down the court. It is embarrassing. 

  3. planetzzz1

    Chuck trashing on Joel Embiid? r/NBA is about bust so many nuts to this

  4. NedStarx11

    The biggiest winner is Philly fans.

    At least this forces Embiid to actually do SOME sort of off season work. Maybe he won’t need 6 weeks to get into shape this upcoming season season

  5. Stackedwrap69

    He literally runs up and down the quarter like a 60 year old man.

  6. Schristie007

    Embiid probably hasn’t had enough time to recover from the knee injury. Also wouldn’t hurt him if he could shed some weight.

  7. joel looks like he doesnt lift weight much anymore, he used to have definition

  8. He got injured last season because Kuminga fell on his leg. Everybody saw that, it’s available for free on youtube.

    In the 2023 playoffs he went up to block Dinwiddie and Dinwiddies trailing leg caught him on the way down causing an LCL sprain

    In the 2022 playoffs Pascal Siakam elbowed him in the face on a drive

    The 2021 playoffs was the last time he had a non contact injury that didn’t involve another player. He made a layup and hurt his knee.

    This is just plain disinformation from Barkley lol. Embiids injuries have had nothing to do with his physical condition. He’s just bigger than your meant to be as a human.

  9. GimmeaHellYea

    As a 76ers fan and Embiid defender for a while now, I’ve definitely noticed that Team USA plays out of sync when he’s on the court. It works for the Sixers (until the second round of the playoffs) because the team plays through him with complementary players that fit his game. Team USA excels on fast breaks, quick ball movement, and defensive switches. That hasn’t been Joel’s game. It doesn’t help that he looks only marginally better than when we saw him in the Knicks series which is worrisome since it appears to be more than just conditioning. There’s no lift whatsoever when he rebounds. He’ll turn jt up a notch for a few defensive plays, but I’m definitely worried about his health this upcoming season (and really every season he’s been in the league).

  10. CoachMorelandSmith

    Charles Barkley should run for president of Reddit

  11. somedudeinlosangeles

    No timestamp? OP is a low effort hack. Downvoted. Do better OP.

  12. qpwoeor1235

    Wonder what he has to say about curry and Jamal Murray’s performance

  13. RealPrinceJay

    He’s always like this after a prolonged break

    I don’t think it’s laziness, but he’s skillset improves significantly from year-to-year.

    I’ve always theorized that his off-season workouts are very skill focused but can’t be very high intensity as he and his trainers are cautious to not put unnecessary stress on his body. This summer especially, he was clearly injured still against the Knicks

    As a result, he plays like 5-10 games to get into shape and then looks great after

  14. redditnoap

    I mean he needs clearly needs some balance and agility work. You can’t just be stumbling around and falling half the game while being that slow/”heavy” and expect not to get an injury. There’s a reason Jokic never gets injured despite being slow. And people say his “footwork” is excellent for a center. If just being able to do a stepback without falling is excellent “footwork” then the entire NBA has excellent footwork.

  15. Embiid has never put 100% into strength & conditioning in the off-season. He’s never come close to achieving optimal conditioning. We hear “he can’t work on his body because he needs the off-season to rehab injuries.”. Weak excuse. Lower leg injury rehabilitation doesn’t make it impossible to drop weight, get fit, and build upper body strength. He’s way too heavy as usual, and it certainly contributes to his poor cardio, habitual injuries, and inability to recover from said injuries. If Embiid ever comes into camp looking as fit as 40 year old Dikembe Mutombo on the Rockets, I’ll know he is serious.

  16. LocoForChocoPuffs

    And if anyone knows something about being out of shape, it’s Chuck 😂

  17. BradyReas

    He starts every season out of shape so I was hoping the Olympics would help him get up to speed faster for the season lol

  18. bravof1ve

    LOL as if Embiid is gassing out after the 10 mins playing time he’s getting.

    The reality it’s a combination of Embiid coasting a bit after injury and probably not back to his pre-tear self after playing on it in the playoffs and likely just resting it after with little ramp up.

    Barkley isn’t watching these games, so none of this is worth much. He barely even watched the games he was paid to commentate on on TNT.

  19. Insufferable-Asshat

    Not a fan of someone as obtuse as Charles Barkley doing this to another athlete imo

  20. imperialmoose

    The Embiid is always out of shape noise has been getting pretty loud the last couple years. I have no opinion on it, but in the past when you heard that about players it usually proved to be true. Harder to tell now cause the internet amplifies the haters to an extreme degree.

    I do wonder if playing yourself into shape is simply impossible these days, with the game so quick and athletic. Maybe it’s just an age thing. It didn’t work for Dame last year (no fault of his), it’s never really worked for Zion, Harden used to be able to get away with it, but he can’t really any more.

  21. Ferromagneticfluid

    Chuck always speaks from experience for guys like Zion and Embiid.

    Chuck was a fatty his rookie year, Dr. J and Moses Malone got him to lose weight, and then he was playing out of his mind.

  22. He doesn’t fit the team. He’s the kind of player you build around. With the way the Olympic team is built and all the offensive talent, they just need a more well rounded center that can play defense and rebound.

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