Joel Embiid Deserves Better Than He Has Gotten From the Sixers

It is hard to find a more controversial figure in Philadelphia sports right now than Joel Embiid. To some, he is the most talented player they have seen in a Sixers jersey. To others, he is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the Sixers since the start of the process.

His career here has been as defined by crazy performances as it has been by injuries. There were MVP-worthy seasons, but there was also a foot injury that kept him off the court for the first two seasons of his career. He had the 7-point game, but also 2 fractured orbital bones that limited him in 2 separate playoff runs. He leads all players in NBA History in points per minute, but also has been battling the same knee injury over the past 2 seasons. An injury that limited him the the Knicks series, and held him to just 19 games last season.

Recently, we got a deeper look at the man himself. ESPN published a sprawling story about him. ESPN writer
Dotun Akintoye sat down with the big man for an in-depth interview. The piece is fantastic. It is long, but well worth the read.

Whether you love Embiid or not, it is a fascinating insight into the man who has been the face of the Sixers for the past decade-plus. It shows Embiid at his most vulnerable. A look behind the curtains for a usually very private man. There is a lot to take away from the piece.

But my big takeaway is how much the Sixers have failed this man, who had the chance to be the greatest player in franchise history.

Say what you will about Joel Embiid, but the man has at least tried to battle through his myriad of injuries. Twice, he played in the playoffs wearing a mask to protect his broken face. Twice, he battled through knee injuries that required him to wear a brace and limited his mobility.

The latest knee injury was the worst one. It kept him out all of last season, cost him most of the previous season, and limited him the the playoffs vs the Knicks.

Akintoye talked to Embiid's former teammate Nicolas Batum about what Embiid was playing through. "I saw his knee," Batum said. "I have no idea how he could even walk."

Not to mention the fact he was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy just before the series. That condition caused him to suffer migraines, blurry vision, and sleepless nights, all while playing on, as Akintoye called it, a grotesquely swollen knee.

Akintoye wrote about how drained Embiid was. The weight of the team was on him. Despite all this, he averaged 33 points per night. He dropped a career-high 50 points in a must-win game 3.

But it was not enough. The team around him did not carry their weight, and the Sixers lost the series in 6 games. By the end of most games, Embiid had little left to offer.

 "I knew I only had about two quarters," he told Akintoye. "My body just was, like, 'Nope, that's it.' There was nothing I could do. I shot probably, like, 10 percent in the fourth quarter."

Ever earlier in the games, it was clear how limited Embiid was. He struggled to get off the floor to grab rebounds. But through it all, he managed to be the best player in the series, leading all scorers in points per game and holding down the paint with strong defense.

That is where some of the mistrust in the team came in. He expressed to Akintoye a wish that the "people upstairs" had his back. He also expressed that he feels like too often he has been rushed back before he was ready, leading to some of the issues he has now.

That extends back to when he first got here. The Sixers accused him of being lazy. He was not in the best condition back then. Embiid is on the record saying he needed to change some habits, notably cutting out Shirley Temples. But he was also dealing with a foot injury that had not healed. A part of the narrative that the team ignored, leading to a rift forming between the two sides.

Now history is repeating itself, with the team trying to rush him back, and Embiid feeling like he is not healthy enough to force things.

It is easy to get frustrated when every time the playoffs come around, Embiid is injured and limited again. Between illnesses, various injuries, he has hardly ever been at 100% in the post-season.

It is also easy to forget he is human. That maybe Embiid is frustrated by that too. For us, it is a game. For Embiid, it is his life. The ESPN article let us see it through his eyes, and I find it hard not to feel compassionate for him

Now we approach another season. The two sides clearly do not see eye to eye. The Sixers have been slow to give us any news, but claim he is on track to be ready. Embiid sings a different tune. Embiid in the article sounded like a man determined to take this slow, to make sure he is right. He is not going to push things again, only for it to get worse.

Perhaps that is what is best. What purpose does rushing him back for October serve? This whole time, through all the injuries, Embiid has felt the need to force his way back, to play through it, no matter the physical or mental toll it took. Look where it got them.

It is not just the Sixers. Many in the media and fanbase put this enormous amount of blame and pressure on Embiid for things out of his control. He gets called fat, lazy, and careless. Yet the story painted in this article paints a different picture. It shows a guy who has done everything he can to be there for his team. A man who has made every attempt to fight through the injuries to be on the court.

It also adds context to the struggles he had in some playoff series. The mountain of injuries would hold back most players. And even still, he was often the best player on the court.

Maybe it is time for the team to actually have his back. For Morey to come out and say Embiid will be ready when he is ready. To give a full defense of the man who has put his body on the line. Push back against the narratives that have led to him being so heavily criticized over the past few years.

Fans could take a lesson from the story too. Remember the human being. Understand that Embiid has been through it worse than we have. It is his body being beaten up, and he is the one going through therapy now to deal with some of the pressure and backlash from the team's repeated failings. Cut the guy some slack, because as the recent article shows, the man has been through hell and back to get out on that court for the team.