Joel Embiid: 3 skills to work on this summer
3. Quicker decisions with the ball
Are you ready to become an NBA stats nerd? Last season, Embiid ranked fourth among all centers in average second per touch, claiming an average of 2.19 seconds. What does this mean? Comparatively, within his position, Embiid holds onto the ball for a long amount of time. Some other centers with similar times were Al Horford, DeMarcus Cousins and Nikola Jokic.
Why compare Embiid to his contemporaries? The three aforementioned centers all have significantly higher assist percentages (estimated percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted while the player is on the court) than Embiid:
| Rk | Player | Season | G | AST% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeMarcus Cousins | 2017-18 | 48 | 23.0 |
| 2 | Joel Embiid | 2017-18 | 63 | 18.0 |
| 3 | Al Horford | 2017-18 | 72 | 23.6 |
| 4 | Nikola Jokic | 2017-18 | 75 | 29.6 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/10/2018.
In other words, Embiid is holding onto the ball for quite some time and not producing as many point for his team as he should be. It could be argued that Embiid is making up for not assisting teammates by doing the scoring himself. Perhaps. More NBA nerd stuff will shed some light on this too.
Although similar to his peers, Embiid had the second-lowest offensive rating of this foursome.
| Rk | Player | Season | Age | G | ORtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeMarcus Cousins | 2017-18 | 27 | 48 | 104 |
| 2 | Joel Embiid | 2017-18 | 23 | 63 | 106 |
| 3 | Al Horford | 2017-18 | 31 | 72 | 115 |
| 4 | Nikola Jokic | 2017-18 | 22 | 75 | 121 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/10/2018.
To simplify this further, offensive rating is an estimate of points produced or scored while a particular player is on the court (per 100 possessions). We can use this metric to see if Embiid is contributing to buckets despite not assisting on too many.
The Sixers had the fourth-highest pace in the NBA last season, something that could be attributed to a league-leading turnover rate and stout defense. With all of these possessions played, it is imperative that Embiid takes advantage of them. Some hoop heads may claim that with the emergence of Ben Simmons, Embiid needs to be the recipient of ball movement, not the initiator of it.
This is a fair point, but frontcourt players around the league are revolutionizing offenses with their playmaking. Ask the Golden State Warriors how essential Draymond Green and his team-leading assist numbers are.
To remedy this, I would suggest Embiid simply spend more time running pick up with his teammates. He is a special passer for his size, and should work on team chemistry. The Sixers are running back their main core of players for next year, so this problem may can be fixed organically.
Working out with J.J. Redick, Markelle Fultz, Robert Covington and company will not only boost on-court chemistry, but see Embiid take the next step forward of his career. Watching film of Horford, Jokic, Cousins and Blake Griffin wouldn’t hurt either.