7. Joel Embiid
Let’s go through what we know about Embiid:
- He is the most important player on a borderline playoff team in the Eastern Conference; Philly has a +8.5 net rating when he’s on the court and a -5.2 when he’s off.
- The general consensus among people who know stuff about basketball is that if he stays healthy, his floor is the best center in the NBA and his ceiling is the best player in the league.
- More than 30 months after being drafted, he still has not played his 82nd game in a Sixers uniform.
- Unless they waive him, Philly will be on the hook for the entirety of a five-year max contract extension that kicks in this summer, one that could become more expensive if Embiid makes First Team All-NBA this year – a very real possibility.
- If Embiid plays in 75 percent of his games over the course of the deal, they will be positively giddy as they sign check after check after check.
That’s a lot to process for the living embodiment of The Process. Some might look at his best-case scenario and put him at the top of a list like this. Others might want to wait and see him play a full season’s worth of games before even considering him in the top 20. I’m splitting the difference.
If we knew he was going to more or less be healthy for the length of his deal, it would be tough to keep him out of the top five, but even with the injury concerns, he has to finish above both Towns and Porzingis, neither of which has been the two-way player Embiid already is.
One last thing that we do know for sure: If he stay healthy, every NBA fan will be better off for it. He is a star who is tailor-made for the social media culture we now live it. Embiid embraces every ounce of it. Here’s hoping he continues to do it in a uniform and not a suit.