“Joel Embiid has made one free throw for every minute Kyrie Irving has played this season!”: The Philadelphia big man has on an average spent 3 minutes per game at the line
Joel Embiid is having one of the best offensive seasons of his life – with one caveat.
There is no denying Joel Embiid’s offensive arsenal. He can give you buckets from anywhere on the court. Something unconventional for a big man, Troell is one of the few big men who can genuinely trouble you from the get-go. It’s not only his shot-making abilities but his passing and footwork do a lot of damage too.
While Joel plays like a modern-day Hakeem Olajuwon, one facet of his game does not resemble him at all. It draws comparisons to a teammate of his, James Harden. Trolled viciously for getting to the line by flopping, Harden seems to have affected the big man, not in a positive way. While it works for Philly, it makes for that particular asset to stick out like a sore thumb.
On average, Embiid has been taking 12 FTs a game – making 9.8 of those. If he played like Shaquille O’Neal and got hacked constantly, these numbers could be justified. But the fact of the matter is he spreads the game and sells a lot of his shots. The league may view them as completely legal actions to gain an advantage, but fans do not seem to like it.
Joel Embiid and James Harden are a nightmare to defend against – one wrong touch and it is a trip to the line
With the acquisition of James Harden, opposition teams must be shaking in their sneakers. Already notorious because of Embiid, Harden piles on to the misery of making sure there are double-digit free throw attempts from both. The duo attempted 37 free throws in a win against the Knicks, an absolute horror show in terms of defense against them.
To put into context, a combined effort by the both of them would make for 6 hours and 15 minutes of free throws – that’s close to 8 games worth of minutes, dedicated to just making free throws. Kyrie Irving has played double the minutes the Philly duo has spent just taking free throws.
While that statistic shows what a travesty it has been to see limited minutes for Kyrie, it also highlights how flat the league’s top scorer has been. To put things into comparison, LeBron James averages 5 lesser free throws a game, and he’s got a better PPG right now. LeBron flops way too often too but averaging 12 FTs a game is borderline ridiculous.
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