![]() ![]() “For him to do the stuff that he does at his size is ridiculous,” said Norm Roberts, who coached Embiid as an assistant at Kansas.ĭuring Embiid’s lone college season, Roberts envisioned him developing into a “Tim Duncan-type guy,” an early sign of Embiid’s high ceiling. He’s a 7-footer who plays like a guard, so you know what? Let him do it.” ![]() ![]() “But this is a guy who can bring the ball up for us, he can run pick-and-rolls, and there are very few bigs who can do that. “Everybody was saying: ‘Get him on the post! Get him on the post!’ ” Rivers recalled in an interview. But Rivers said he resisted their pleas to shape Embiid into more of an old-school center. Their argument was that he was too big and too skilled at the basket to be messing around near the 3-point line. In fact, he averaged fewer than one dribble per touch until Doc Rivers was hired as the team’s coach before the 2020-21 season.Īt the time, Rivers said, he heard from fans who wanted Embiid to stop drifting to the perimeter. As a first-year player during the 2016-17 season, he averaged just 0.78 dribbles per touch. “I think he thinks he is a guard,” 76ers shooting guard Tyrese Maxey said of Embiid.Įmbiid was not always so comfortable handling the ball. Philadelphia leads the series, 3-0, with Game 4 on Saturday in Brooklyn. Enter Embiid, whose improved polish as a ballhandler - and his affection for the craft - has made him even more potent as the 76ers face the Nets in the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. ![]()
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