Joel Embiid has been a do it all for the Philadelphia 76ers this year, including lighting it up from behind the 3-point line.
So far this season he is attempting 3.4 shots from deep a game and is shooting 31.4 percent. The 31 percent from long range isn't great by any means, but Embiid has shown he can get hot and make six or seven in a game.
Head coach Brett Brown doesn't think he is taking enough shots from three though and recently talked to Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Daily News about it.
“I really want him to shoot six to eight threes a game — and so how does that happen, and he is still an interior presence, a paint-catch guy?” Brown said.
“When you look at our team, I am convinced the three-point line is where the sport is headed and will rear its head during the playoffs,” Brown said. “And our point guards don’t shoot threes.”
Ben Simmons is a driver, and when Markelle Fultz comes back from injury he is also a guy who really likes to get to the front of the rim.
If Embiid can take, and make more 3-pointers that can really open up the driving line for those guys, and make Embiid even that much tougher of a cover.
Embiid who has been a team-first guy seems willing to do whatever his coach wants him to do.
“When in that type of offense what I can do is to help set my teammates free, I will do. If it takes me to the other three-point line for Ben to attack the basket and have a free lane, that is what I am going to do. My job is to draw attention and open up the court for my team,”
It sounds like Brown and Embiid are both ready for this to start soon, so it will be interesting to watch his 3-point attempts per game over the next couple weeks and see if the attempts go up.
