Again, I would go to the link to see an example of his chase-down block. And I particularly like this quote from the author.
That is nonsense. That is basketball pornography. Embiid inflicts that kind of devastation with a regularity that should be off-limits to giants; the chase-down has mostly been the province of wings.
www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26046302/10-...ding-warriors-genius
8. Joel Embiid, chase-down king
Is Embiid the greatest chase-down block center ever? Since Bill Russell? David Robinson was nimble and fast enough to earn a place in this discussion. Ben Wallace? Marcus Camby maybe? Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the top three all-time in (recorded) blocked shots, but I don't recall even Olajuwon -- one of the most athletic players of any size, ever -- pulling the chase-down with Embiid's frequency.
Look at this violence:
That is nonsense. That is basketball pornography. Embiid inflicts that kind of devastation with a regularity that should be off-limits to giants; the chase-down has mostly been the province of wings.
Those kinds of plays have a psychic value that can be hard to quantify. They inspire teammates. They demoralize opponents. They shift momentum even more than the score indicates, and the score indicated plenty on this play; Boston could have held for the last shot of the quarter, but Jaylen Brown gambled, Embiid obliterated him, and Jimmy Butler hit a buzzer-beating layup. Those plays swing segments, quarters, even games.
They also scare me given Embiid's injury history -- including knee soreness that will keep him out at least another week, per the Sixers. As I wrote here, the most fundamental argument against the "trade Ben Simmons for 3-and-D guys!" outcry is that doing so now would amount to betting the franchise on Embiid's continued health. It's far too early, and Simmons is far too good, for Philly to go there.
