Making the early case for Sixers star Joel Embiid’s Hall of Fame candidacy
Embiid has put together what appears to be another MVP-caliber season. With that in mind, the Inquirer's Keith Pompey looks at how he stacks up against other legendary big men.
LOS ANGELES — Joel Embiid is destined to get an all-expenses paid trip to Springfield, Mass.
The 76ers have produced their share of basketball stars and even several players who achieved legend status. Nearly two dozen players with ties to the organization have been enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
James Harden, one of the league’s Top 75 players, will undoubtedly be added to the list.
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And even though Embiid has just 361 games on his NBA resumé, he’s also one of the league’s all-time greats.
He is the only player in league history averaging at least 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 blocks for his career. Take blocks out of the equation and the only players to average 26-11-3 are Embiid and Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Pettit, and Elgin Baylor.
And he’s currently third all-time in Sixers franchise history with 26.7 points per game, behind only Chamberlain and Allen Iverson, yet another Hall of Famer.
Standing 7-foot-2 and 280 pounds with guard-like skills, Embiid is unique for the center position. He can dominate in the paint, he can step out and bury three-pointers, and he is blessed with great footwork. The Sixers also run their offense through Embiid in the high post when Harden doesn’t play.
Maybe you can compare him to Hakeem Olajuwon, but Embiid has a bigger frame than the 7-foot Olajuwon, who played at 255 pounds. Embiid’s long-range shooting and ability to replicate any move separate him from Olajuwon.
No one could stop Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s trademark skyhook. Abdul-Jabbar was a great athlete, but he wasn’t as versatile as Embiid. The same can be said about Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O’Neal, two other Hall of Fame centers.
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That’s not a knock on them. The emphasis wasn’t on post players handling the ball and shooting three-pointers during their eras. But Olajuwon, Abdul-Jabbar, and O’Neal have all led their teams to multiple NBA championships. Ewing never won a title, but his New York Knicks did reach the NBA Finals twice.
They lost to the Olajuwon-led Houston Rockets in seven games in 1994. Then in 1999, they lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs led by Hall of Fame post players David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
When discussing his candidacy, Embiid’s critics will likely mention that he hasn’t advanced beyond the second round in five postseason appearances as a member of the Sixers. However, there are plenty of Hall of Famers without NBA titles or Finals appearances, and a lot of that has to do with their supporting casts.
And there are plenty of Hall of Famers who haven’t dominated like Embiid has in recent seasons.
He’s second in the league in scoring at 33.6 points. This comes after Embid won last season’s scoring title by averaging 30.6 points.
In the process, he became the first center to win a scoring title since O’Neal in 2000. He also was the first center to average more than 30 points in a season since Hall of Famer Moses Malone averaged 31.1 points as a Houston Rocket while being named the 1982 MVP. Embiid, a native of Cameroon, is also the first foreign player to lead the league in scoring. He finished as MVP runner-up the past two seasons, losing both times to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić.
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But what separates Embiid from a lot of this era’s elite scorers is his ability to dominate on both ends of the floor. The 28-year-old is a solid rim protector and three-time All-Defensive second-teamer.
His versatility was on display in Tuesday’s 120-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. Embiid finished with 41 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks before exiting the Clippers’ arena floor of chants of “MVP ... MVP ... MVP.”
Once you consider all of that, you’ll realize Embiid is destined to be enshrined in Springfield.