Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal share joint message to 76ers, Joel Embiid
11/25/2024 03:32 PM
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has endured scrutiny since the season began. This time, it comes at the hands of Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning. The two Hall-of-Famers engaged in a back-and-forth discussion on The Big Podcast about Embiid and his inability to play back-to-back games.
“I'm an executive so I can't just be bashing these players,” Mourning said. “But I have a biased opinion. We played in an area where we played a whole lot of back-to-backs. We were hurting.
“It was more physical, so I don't know why you're not playing back-to-backs,” O’Neal said. “That's the only problem I have with it. You shoot a heavy amount of jumpers, you don't get banged up a lot in the post. Why are you not playing back-to-backs?
While the two big men declare that Embiid isn’t playing in the paint, the numbers say otherwise. For example, he took 55.6% of his shots as two-point shots. When breaking down that number, 74.9% of those were between 0-3 feet. Although some of those are dunks, the majority of the shots came as post-ups.
His physicality was too much, as he averaged 34.1 points per game. In 22 games, he had 30 points or more. However, the 76ers lost Embiid due to a meniscus tear, which required surgery. Although he came back in time for the playoffs, he rushed his recovery. Fast forward to the offseason and Embiid is playing in the Olympics for USA Basketball.
Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal don’t like Joel Embiid not playing back-to-back for the 76ers
While they won gold and rested for the regular season, Embiid missed the start of the regular season. When he came back, he looked like a shell of himself. So far, he’s averaging 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. Those numbers are low for his standards and the dominance he displays.
Not to mention, 76ers teammate Tyrese Maxey called out Embiid for a plethora of things. Being late to practice, film sessions, and many more things. That seemed to be the tip of the iceberg. Regardless, Mourning concluded the conversation with some sympathy but expectation from the former MVP.
“Maybe it's something physically that we don't know, maybe it's something going on that we don't know that the team doctors in Philly know,” Mourning said. “To tell you the truth, I'm a little biased, and you are as well. We played back-to-backs. We do what we got to do to help our team, it's as simple as that.”
The 76ers and Embiid will look to get on the same page, despite a 2-13 record to open the season.
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