Fans got their first glimpse of the new-look Philadelphia 76ers at Media Day and they should like what they see. They reloaded in the offseason, improving their roster dramatically around superstar Joel Embiid.
However, their success will rely heavily on his ability to stay healthy next season. Fortunately for the Sixers, Embiid has worked on his body over the summer to try and cut down on injuries.
He reportedly dropped 25-30 lbs over the offseason, which included him playing for Team USA. With his extensive leg injury history, slimming down should help his lower body with every 10 pounds lost removing 40 pounds of pressure on his knees.
In that case, then Embiid shedding up to 30 pounds would be the equivalent of 120 pounds of pressure off his knees. That should not only make him lighter but also more agile and hopefully more durable too.
How Joel Embiid's weight loss will help the Philadelphia 76ers.
Generally speaking, Embiid doesn't appear to have a game that will age well given his reliance on physicality, at least compared to Nikola Jokic. Then again, big men tend to have a longer shelf life and also a longer peak than guards or wings, given how they play.
Having him play better for longer would extend the Sixers' title window and give them more bites at the apple. They will be in a dogfight with the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks for the foreseeable future but having Embiid healthy come playoff time would give them a huge edge.
The Knicks seem fine having Karl-Anthony Towns playing at center, with rumors that they are looking to move on from Mitchell Robinson. That would leave them vulnerable on defense, especially with Towns potentially being forced to guard Embiid.
A more durable Joel Embiid will make an already talented Sixers roster even better.
Prior to getting injured in late January and missing two months, Embiid looked as though he was the favorite to win league MVP, which would have been his second straight. He also would have likely won his third consecutive scoring title.
Unfortunately for him and the Sixers, once he went down, things went south. He was ruled out for MVP due to the minimum game requirement and also failed to play enough games to win the scoring title.
Worse still, the Sixers, which had the best record in the East to start the season, finished as the seventh seed. If Embiid can play around 70 games—a high bar for him—and be healthy during their playoff run, then the work he put in over the summer to lose weight would well have been worth it.