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Joel Embiid is one of the best players in the NBA, but like all professional athletes, there are still things that need to be worked on in the offseason. The Philadelphia 76ers big man's trainer Drew Hanlen identified three areas that really could be improved on from last season to make this one his best one yet. The first thing worked on this offseason is becoming a bully down low. The Sixers star is a solid player down low, but Hanlen wants him to be able to take any guy in the post and be able to bully them.
“Our big three things this summer, No. 1 was just low-post dominance,” Hanlen said to Matt Haughton of Yahoo! Sports. “Obviously he was really good in the mid-post last season, but when you look at the game where he had like 46 points, the Lakers game, and the game before when I think he had [32] against the Clippers, he was a bully down low. Our first thing is just becoming a bully on the block.
Hanlen also knows how important it is that Embiid can step out from deep and shoot the three with more consistency.
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“Our second thing is being able to consistently make threes. When he's making threes at a high clip, no one in the NBA can guard him. It just stretches the floor out so much and it opens up driving room.
Embiid also has developed a nice face-up game where he takes his defender off the dribble and drives to the basket. As good as it was last year at times he had problems turning the ball over, and Hanlen has made that a big priority to improve on.
“No. 3 is playing on the perimeter slash taking care of the ball. We noticed that he turned the ball over too much (3.7 turnovers per game) and most of those turnovers came from drives on the perimeter or drives from facing up in the triple threat in the mid-post. So our third thing is just being able to make plays while facing up.
It's good to see Embiid still working hard this offseason to improve his craft, and if these things can all become strengths, the rest of the league needs to be put on notice.
