Don’t blame the media because Joel Embiid created the drama

The favorite sport of many Philadelphia sports fans is to blame the media. If they hear something that they don’t care for, they will blame the questioner or whoever made it public. If fans are devoted to a player, anything they do or say is excusable. Those who react or discuss it are the ones who are responsible for creating the drama that ensues. It’s a tale as old as time. Unfortunately for the 76ers, Joel Embiid has taken what is already an off-season of turmoil and thrown a verbal grenade. Worse yet, when confronted about it he retreated and claimed he was joking. There was a joke Joel, that was the effort of our star players in Game 6 and 7 vs Boston.

For many, speaking the truth is a problem and it doesn’t mean they are liars. They say exactly what they mean. It’s when they see a reaction to what they say that they backtrack. That is where the deception begins. Joel Embiid sits down with Maverick Carter and was discussing “what can we expect in the future from Joel Embiid”? His answer was that “I want to win a championship, whatever it takes. Whether that is in Philadelphia or anywhere else.” It took a few hours for him to then proclaim “I was trolling”. The time to hide out behind your Twitter account is long gone.

Who exactly would Joel Embiid be trolling? Is he trolling the fan base? Why would he want to do that? More importantly, what reason would he have to do that? This fan base was completely destroyed by yet another second round playoff collapse. When the city needed their stars most, Embiid and Harden went M.I.A. in the home stretch of Game 6 at home and then disappeared in Game 7. If anyone deserves trolling it was them. Instead, the majority of the fan base seemed to rally around Embiid and turn on Harden. The consensus being that Harden was just living up to his playoff reputation while Embiid got betrayed. Why the blank check of support for Joel? It’s probably because some of his playoff collapses can be blamed on injuries. That is the only consistent part of his post season resume.

No matter how the 76ers will try to do damage control, Embiid has an eye on the door. He wasn’t trolling. He spoke the truth and then was informed that he needed to do damage control. The idea that he was trolling is more comical than his Game 6 disappearance. Embiid needs to own his statement. He realizes like many stars before him that his window yo win a title is closing here. What he fails to grasp is that most stars who want to leave to ring chase have a playoff resume where they weren’t a major reason they don’t have that ring. Joel obviously believes he’s fine enough and that somehow others have been letting him down. It’s mind-boggling. At some point the mirror calls for everyone to pay attention to themselves. You just have to look at it, you can’t troll yourself or this fan base.

The Philadelphia 76ers sat on their couches and watched the Denver Nuggets defeat the Miami Heat in the 2023 NBA Finals.

When another city gets to enjoy a championship, Philadelphia fans inevitably turn the conversation to how the local team should emulate the recently-crowned champs.

Bob Cooney put a different spin on the topic during the Cooney’s Corner segment on The John Kincade Show.

NBA teams and essentially all professional sports franchises should look for a blueprint based on previously successful teams. However, the concept isn’t always as simple as it seems.

The Sixers trudged through “The Process,” the most infamous rebuild in the history of North American professional sports, largely based on the idea that no NBA team could win without acquiring multiple superstars.

Recent NBA history, however, shows more variations of championship blueprints than the general consensus has given credit for at many points.

It’s been a decade since Sam Hinkie dealt Jrue Holiday to kick off “The Process” at the 2013 NBA Draft, but Sixers fans haven’t tasted the glory they hoped would follow a long period of deliberate tanking.

They’ve watched the Heat in the era of LeBron James and the “Big Three” pass by. They’ve watched the Golden State Warriors assemble an overwhelming roster (logically) thinking they were the best model to emulate.

However, they’ve now seen nine different franchises win the past 13 titles. Even the Golden State dynasty of four championships in eight years allowed four teams to win rings in the meantime.

What's the real blueprint for a team to win the NBA Finals?

The copy cat style of the NBA played a big part in setting "The Process" in motion. Miami assembled James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh to win two championships and advance to four NBA Finals from 2011-14.

The stacked Warriors teams continued the narrative that only an All-Star level team would ever win the NBA Finals.

The Sixers aimed to assemble superstars with top-three picks in four straight drafts from 2014-17. Unfortunately, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz unceremoniously exited the picture as key pieces of the organization.

It's been difficult for the Sixers to recover and surround Joel Embiid with unmistakable superstar talent.

Jokic is hard to replicate. You'll hear the conversations about how the league isn't dominated by 7-footers anymore, but the Serbian is able to impact the game in as many different ways as any player in NBA history.

Will Joel Embiid ever reach the level of Nikola Jokic and finally give Philadelphia its first ring since 1983?

The Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics have advanced out of the Eastern Conference in three of the past four seasons.

The subjective idea of "Heat culture" under Erik Spoelstra became a topic of conversation throughout the playoffs, but the Sixers (or any other NBA team) won't build on the idea of developing seven undrafted free agents to fill out a roster surrounding Jimmy Butler or a player like him.

They'd have as good of a chance of plucking a supporting cast of talent from Connor Thomas' men's league.

The Celtics pulled the rug out from under the Sixers in an infamous trade ahead of the 2017 NBA Draft.

However, they don't necessarily have the elite talent on the level of LeBron James or Steph Curry during their prime years.

Does anyone consider Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown top-five players in the league?

The San Antonio Spurs have been arguably the best organization in the league during the modern era with five championships since 1999. 

The coaching of Gregg Popovich became big part of their ability to maintain their spot at the top of the league through their most recent championship in 2014.

NBA teams are recycling coaches at incredible rates in recent seasons.

While Nick Nurse brings a good pedigree to the sideline in Philadelphia, you won't find too many people arguing that coaching has been the primary weakness of the Sixers in their six consecutive playoff exits.

John spoke about how the blueprints might apply in Philadelphia.

James Harden will turn 34 before the 2023-24 season begins, and Joel Embiid is now 29 in the prime years of his career without enough team success to celebrate.

His analysis of the Sixers only proved Bob's point that there is no "definitive diagram" for Daryl Morey to work with.

So, how do you build an NBA champion?

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