Winless for…Embiid?

Well the infamous ‘Winless for Wiggins’ Sixers Twitter account can officially be terminated. Yet again, the Cavaliers won the NBA’s lottery and were awarded with the first overall pick of the draft. Though trade winds swirled around in days leading up to the draft that the Kansas phenom was heavily targeted by the Sixers and they were willing to give up as much as their 3rd, 10th and 32nd pick to get him, no trades ever surfaced.

Instead the 76ers ended up picking Wiggins teammate, who weeks before the draft was supposed to be the face of this 2014 class. Arguably the most talented player with the most upside, reports surfaced that Joel had injury problems (back & foot) and would be getting a severe foot surgery that would keep him out for 5-8 months. Often referred to as the next Hakeem Olajuwon, Embiid had the uncanny footwork and shot blocking ability to go along with his 7 foot, 250 pound frame. Unfortunately, he was always plagued by injury and was actually shut down at the end of his Freshman season at Kansas making him ineligible to play in the NCAA Tournament that Kansas was favored to go deep in.

‘In Hinkie we trust’ has been the motto of Sixers fans since he joined with Philadelphia. It seemed to be a very long term plan considering how far this team seemed from a contender last season tying an NBA record for longest losing streak in the history of the league with 26 straight. There are two ways to assemble a championship caliber team in this league in today’s day & age. You either land a bunch of all star free agents and get them to play together (the quick fix) or you build through the draft, scouting and developing players to develop chemistry over the years (the long term fix). The Miami Heat used the quick fix and ended up winning 4 straight Eastern Conference Finals (2 NBA Finals). The San Antonio Spurs used the long term fix and have been playing for championships seemingly since Tim Duncan was drafted first in 1997.

Both techniques have proven to work and Brett Brown, who coincidentally coached under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, is using the same method that the prestigious Spurs franchise used. For Sixers fans, that is very encouraging but also very frustrating. Year in and year out playing 82 games all for a lottery pick, buying tickets and jerseys to support a team that is a record worst in the league. On the other hand if the Noel, Carter-Williams & Embiid’s of the world develop over the years and are continuously surrounded with more lottery draft picks, the ceiling of this team could be unmatched …years down the road.

This will be the second year in a row that the Sixers have used their first pick on a center who will likely miss the upcoming season. Again, leaving a lot of fans rightfully scratching their heads, but at the same time Jalen Rose of the ESPN draft night set hit on an encouraging point after Embiid was drafted. He seamlessly rattled off numerous young NBA All Star caliber players who had foot injuries early in their career, basically saying all basketball players are faced with a foot injury of some sort during their career.

All things aside, someone was going to have to take a risk drafting Embiid with a top pick because of his endless potential and the fact that the idea of a dominate big man is a dying phenomenon in today’s NBA. Some say he fell into the Sixers’ lap at 3 and some say the Sixers should have went elsewhere with the pick because the shortening of his career may be inevitable due to the injuries. The next Hakeem the Dream or the next Yao Ming? Only time will tell.