Subscribe
Follow Us
Joel Embiid knows it soon will be put up or shut up time. The Philadelphia 76ers will soon arrive in Orlando and go through their two-day quarantine before going into Training Camp 2.0 and finishing out the season.
The real test, however, will be in the postseason, when Embiid is expected to carry the load for a team that has been the best in the league at home but has long struggled on the road.
Embiid seems perfectly willing to carry his team into contention:
Article Continues Below“I know what I’m capable of, and I know what my teammates think of me,” Embiid said during a Zoom call with the media, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I know I’m capable of carrying the team, so it’s all about me being assertive. If I feel like I’m not getting the ball, I just got to talk to them and do what I have to do.
“But at the end of the day, I should never be in a position to complain about getting the ball, just because of who I am. I believe I can carry the team, and I believe being able to do that, I just got to take matters into my own hands.”
Embiid has shown he's capable of carrying that load in spurts, but not consistently enough to warrant a sense of security.
When he's motivated, he is every bit as dominant as he wants to be — but if the focus isn't there, Embiid can get caught into a play-the-part scenario that has yielded little results for the Sixers.
The Sixers are sixth in the East and could realistically battle to get as high as the fourth seed after the remaining eight regular-season games. There will be no home court advantage this season, making it all the more imperative for “The Process” to take over and make his presence felt through the restart.
