By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Almost two and a years after the team selected him with the third overall pick, Joel Embiid will take the court for the Philadelphia 76ers in a regular season game for the first time. The man who asked to be called the Process will be carrying all the hopes and dreams of a franchise that his twice-surgically-repaired feet can handle.
With 2016 first overall pick Ben Simmons sidelined until at least January, this season is largely about determining whether Embiid is a true franchise centerpiece worth shaping an entire roster around, and more crucially, whether his body can hold up under the rigors of a NBA schedule. We obviously won’t have those answers after 48 minutes tick off against the Thunder, but we’ll finally be able to start collecting data in the quest to find out.
Head coach Brett Brown announced at practice Monday that Embiid will play 20 minutes, consisting of four 5-minute stints. The team has not yet announced how many minutes Jahlil Okafor will be playing, but Brown said Richaun Holmes will receive the rest of the playing time at the center position. Additionally, Dario Saric is all systems go despite catching an elbow from Embiid the other day in practice.
It’s unfortunate that Okafor isn’t back up to full speed for this matchup, in particular. When the Thunder have Steven Adams and Domantas Sabonis both playing, or they roll out their Stache Brothers line-up with Adams and Enes Kanter, it would actually make for a good time to try Embiid and Okafor together.
Speaking of those Thunder, while the Warriors dropping a 3-1 lead in the Finals has become a meme, Oklahoma City blowing that same 3-1 lead to Golden State one round before has not been mentioned nearly as much. That series loss predated the blowing up of the Thunder’s core, with Kevin Durant signing with Golden State in free agency, and management trading Serge Ibaka to Orlando for Victor Oladipo.
Russell Westbrook saved the collective psyches of Thunder fans by signing an extension in the offseason, and this is firmly his team now. Countless fans and analysts are curious to see what Westbrook unchained looks like now that he doesn’t have to defer to Durant half of the time. Could he average a triple-double? Could he win MVP? Could he dunk so hard that he rips a hole in the time-space continuum, allowing him to go back and prevent the James Harden trade from ever happening? All of these things are on the table.
Clearly, stopping Russ should be priority 1, 2, and 3 for the 76ers. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much success at it last season, as Westbrook triple-doubled in both games against the Sixers, putting up a 21-point, 17-rebound, 11-assist line in Oklahoma City, and 20/15/10 and Philadelphia. With Cam Payne currently out with a foot injury, former second-round pick Semaj Christon is the lone back-up point guard following Oklahoma City’s release of veteran Ronnie Price. That means Philadelphia should expect full-throttle Westbrook for as many minutes as he can handle.
Oklahoma City doesn’t might Westbrook’s high usage because even when he misses, they have a plan. The Thunder led the league last season with an offensive rebounding percentage of 31.1%, a number that has been high again at 26.2% in this preseason. Adams and Kanter are among the best offensive rebounders in the league; they’ll be a true test on the glass for Embiid, Saric, and the rest of the big men.
Containing Westbrook and denying second chance opportunities are far and away the two keys to a competitive game for the Sixers. Danny Chau of the Ringer recently wrote a good piece on the expanded role for Steven Adams within the offense, but I feel he may find his newfound floater tough to execute in the face of a 7’3″ Cameroonian goliath. The Thunder also don’t have much in the way of spacing, as Ersan Ilyasova and Kyle Singler coming off the bench are probably their best three-point options. But when the Sixers point out the opposition lacks spacing, there are three fingers pointed back at them. Or something.
Regardless of the outcome Wednesday night, as long as Joel Embiid gets through his 20 minutes healthy and we have a few new vines of him and Dario to fetishize, I think Sixers fans will be happy. The NBA is back, buckle up!
Projected Starters:
Philadelphia
Sergio Rodriguez
Gerald Henderson
Robert Covington
Dario Saric
Joel Embiid
Oklahoma City
Russell Westbrook
Victor Oladipo
Andre Roberson
Domantas Sabonis
Steven Adams
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