After earning Most Valuable Player honors in 2022/23, what sort of individual goals does Joel Embiid have for the ’23/24 season? According to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required), the Sixers‘ star center wants to make a case for Defensive Player of the Year and would like to become more of a play-maker in Nick Nurse‘s offense.
“Make those passes and making it easy for everyone else,” Embiid said. “I think, this whole year, that’s going to be my big focus — to just try to get as many assists and trying to get my teammates involved as much as possible. … I never liked just being an [isolation] player. I don’t think that’s the right way to play, and I don’t feel that’s the right way to win. I like this system.”
Embiid’s season got off to a slow start on Thursday in Milwaukee, recording more turnovers (seven) than assists (six) in a game the Sixers lost by a single point, prompting Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer to suggest that the big man looked like the player most affected by James Harden‘s absence.
However, there were some encouraging signs in the road loss, Pompey notes. Tyrese Maxey looked excellent as Philadelphia’s new starting point guard in Harden’s stead, racking up 31 points and eight assists, while minimum-salary free agent addition Kelly Oubre scored 27 points on 9-of-11 shooting (5-of-6 three-pointers).
Here’s more on the 76ers:
- Following up on The Philadelphia Inquirer’s recent report about the Knicks‘ interest in Embiid, Ian Begley of SNY.tv hears from sources that the MVP’s desire to remain in Philadelphia hasn’t changed. As for the reported package that New York is willing to part with for Embiid, one source tells Begley that the Sixers and people close to Embiid “didn’t take it seriously.”
- According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, Sixers officials learned that the Clippers made Terance Mann available during their efforts to acquire Jrue Holiday from the Trail Blazers, which is one key reason why Philadelphia has insisted on having Mann be part of any package for Harden.
- In another article for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mizell takes a look at the work Maxey put in ahead of the season to prepare himself to take over the 76ers’ lead guard role, with Harden’s status up in the air. “My confidence is really high,” Maxey said. “I feel like, mentally, I prepared for whatever it is.”
- Kyle Neubeck of All PHLY makes 10 Sixers-related predictions for the coming season, forecasting another 50-win year, a P.J. Tucker trade, and a 25+ point-per-game season for Maxey. Neubeck also predicts that Harden will end up playing no more than 10 more games for Philadelphia.
Oubre looking like quite a signing for Philly – minus the irritating ref help for Dame last night the 76ers would have won.
Also, I think Oubre will be a big deal for the Sixers, a wing capable of creating his own shot. I guess Harris is technically playing the wing but, past time they had an actual SF not a guy out of position that could do this… Iggy in 09? And 3/4ths of a season of Himmy Butler.
Probably the most important position for a championship roster has been neglected by the Sixers for the longest time.
It’s the Linebacker position equivalent from the Eagles draft until recently.
All the true contenders had very good play out of the 3. MPJ/Gordon, Middleton, Wiggins, LeBron (more of a 4 at this point I agree)Kawhi, LeBron, KD all the teams that win have had guys that can score or create their own shot from the 3. The weren’t just like I can only stand in the corner if I dribble it’s over kind of guys.
That being said, is Oubre = championship? No but it’s better than what the alternatives have been outside of Himmy for the last 12 years.
Oubre must have put in a ton of work to look this good so far. Best of luck to him!
Oubre has always had good games, his problem is consistency. I hope he does well in Philly, I like the way he plays and was rooting for him on the warriors. Let’s see how Philly fans feel after he spends a few games with a 2-15, 0-5 from deep line…
Oubre looked like a player that really matured over the offseason.
He just might have turned a corner in his career, but itll take alot more than 1 game to.convince me of that. Hes had several great games in his career thus far, but hes always struggled to be consistent.
Another encouraging sign for the 76ers was that Oubre also looked very committed on the defensive end of the floor. I was honestly pretty impressed with his effort level on the defensive end of the court, and this could bode EXTREMELY WELL for Philly moving forward.
On a less than positive note, Embiid struggled with turnovers when passing out of his dribble, YET AGAIN…It doesn’t seem like he’s made any progress with the weakest part of his game, and if that continues, and they’re stressing he be more of a playmaker, it could lead to some trouble.
Lol the 76ers aren’t getting Mann…
Jrue is a winner, Harden is a quitter…
Getting Conley and change from Minnesota might be the best deal they can get for Harden.