Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid is finally reaching levels we knew he could

Previous inconsistencies have paved the way for Joel Embiid to dominate at a level that should have the Philadelphia 76ers dreaming big.

Since he debuted in 2016, you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody who didn’t believe Joel Embiid had the talent to one day be the best player in the NBA. The overpowering size and agility. Precise footwork. A soft shooting touch. It all made for a tantalizing package at both ends of the floor.

Unfortunately, reaching that level of greatness didn’t come as easily as the foundation for it. Don’t get it twisted, Embiid has been incredible since entering the league. He’s a three-time All-Star with two All-NBA nods and All-Defensive Team selections with career averages of over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game.

And yet through Embiid’s rapid ascension to rival any seven-foot contemporary, it always felt like he was leaving something on the cutting room floor.

Conditioning issues plateaued his game when he needed to elevate it. Questionable shot selection had one of the league’s top post players and physically imposing interior forces drifting further and further from the basket.

To watch a player who professed a desire to “be the best to ever do it” sell himself short of his potential was maddening, even if he didn’t bear the entirety of that responsibility with the spacial nightmare the Philadelphia 76ers trotted out last season.

Embiid couldn’t break through even further with so much pushing him down. But being truly great even amid a subpar situation is to leave no doubt that you’re doing all you can to help the cause. With every long jumper or sign of fatigue, the player Philly believed could lead the franchise to a title wasn’t reaching that level.

“He’s the toughest player in the league to match up with,” Charles Barkley famously said of Embiid last December. “But we don’t talk about him the way we talk about Luka, Giannis, Anthony Davis, James (Harden). We don’t ever say that about him. It’s frustrating for me.”

Through 12 games of the new season, that script has certainly been flipped. The Sixers are 8-4, good for No. 2 in the Eastern Conference. Embiid is driving that bus with some of the most complete basketball in recent memory, averaging 26.6 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.4 steals per game.

His outside shooting habits haven’t changed, with only two fewer mid-range jumpers than restricted area attempts. He’s gone about justifying those shots as best anyone can, shooting 38.7 percent on over three 3-point attempts per game while canning an absurd 58.7 percent of his mid-range looks, the second-best mark among players taking at least four a game.

Seriously, how could anyone hope to stop a player displaying a shooting touch like this one?

Along with the benefits of additional shooting provided by Philly over the offseason, Embiid has leveraged his hot touch to bully his way into 9.3 free-throw attempts per game, fourth-most in the league. He’s knocking them down at a stellar 86.0 percent clip.

Rare are the players whose impact lands on near-equal footing at both ends. Embiid’s work around the basket has him entering that conversation.

Opponents are shooting 10.1 percent worse within six feet of the rim with Embiid as the closest defender. His presence is a deterrent to many. Test him and he can cover plenty of ground to recover and block your shot, as he demonstrated on Precious Achiuwa in the final minutes of an overtime victory over the Heat Tuesday night.

Embiid shot 16-of-23 to finish with 45 points against Miami, 35 of which came after the first half, along with 16 rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Perhaps he should’ve ensured Philly’s business was taken care of earlier in a game that was missing the Heat’s two All-Stars and several notable others, but Embiid had plenty working against him as well.

The Sixers were missing starters of their own in Seth Curry and Tobias Harris. Ben Simmons fouled out in less than 32 minutes after attempting just two shots as did Tyrese Maxey. Isaiah Joe and Dakota Mathias wound up sharing the backcourt in overtime. Miami made 19 triples with three players surpassing 20 points, led by Tyler Herro’s 34.

Losers of three straight, the Sixers were on the second night of a back-to-back and playing their third game in four nights. Whereas such circumstances may have been an excuse for Embiid to fold in the past, he wound up using it to springboard one of the best outings of his career, sending the game into OT with a game-tying jumper before scoring 11 of Philly’s 17 points in the extra session to secure a three-point victory.

“In the first half, I just felt like I was going through the motions,” Embiid said after the game. “In that third quarter, being down 12 at one point, I just felt like I needed to take matters into my own hands and just decided to be aggressive.”

The season is still far too young. We first have to ensure it actually plays out. But on a team with the second-most wins in the league boasting a top-five defense, Embiid is on his way towards the discussion for both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.

An anchor to an elite defense. Someone who can control the entirety of the offense. A leader who ensures the winnable games are taken care of.

Embiid is checking all those boxes in just 32.0 minutes a night. Whether that helps bring the Sixers a championship might come down to whether Daryl Morey pulls the trigger on a trade that would put them in an objectively better position to do so.

Until then, Embiid will remain hell-bent on doing all he can to push his team to the top regardless of who stands alongside him. For the first time in his career, that pursuit and the success it has so far brought looks an awful lot like the fantasies so many of us were consumed by several years ago when envisioning what his best could look like.

“The Sixers had Embiid and the Heat didn’t,” wrote The Athletic’s Derek Bodner, “and on some nights that will be enough. Recently, those nights have become increasingly common.”

Without much else in his control, that’s all Philadelphia ever wanted.