2019 NBA Playoffs: Player power rankings

No. 8: Joel Embiid

When fully healthy Joel Embiid is a singular talent at the center position. He is Shaquille O’Neal with a face-up game. He destroys opponents at the rim with ferocious blocks. His energy pumps up his teammates and home crowds.

If center is the most important position defensively, Embiid is one of the league’s best while not giving up anything on the offensive end.

Watching Joel Embiid on the basketball court is incredible, and one never walks away from a game he was in and doubts who is Philadelphia’s best player. From dunks to hook shots to jumpers his offensive repertoire is refined.

The list of players to put up 27 points and 13 rebounds per game in a season over the past 30 years is Embiid and O’Neal. That’s it.

Yet if that is the case, why are the Philadelphia 76ers not the best team in the Eastern Conference? They have a quartet of players who made the postseason top-40 other than Embiid, and the league’s collection of bruising centers all reside in the Western Conference.

Embiid’s injury history has to be concerning, keeping him out of 18 regular season games and threatening his status for the start of the playoffs. Last year he came back from a face injury to dominate the Miami Heat, then was shut down by Al Horford and Aron Baynes of the Celtics.

With so many mouths to feed in the Philadelphia starting lineup, can Embiid elevate his team to postseason success? That’s something he still has to prove.