Sixers legends Julius Erving, Bobby Jones impressed with Joel Embiid
CAMDEN, N.J.–The Philadelphia 76ers are having a ton of success in the 2022-23 season thanks to the terrific play of superstar big man Joel Embiid. The big fella is once again having a phenomenal season as he’s leading the league in scoring at 33.5 points and shooting an efficient 54.6% from the floor.
After scoring 31 points in Saturday’s win over the Indiana Pacers, Embiid has now scored at least 30+ points in nine straight games which is a new franchise record. It breaks the tie he was in with Allen Iverson and Wilt Chamberlain for the franchise lead.
Julius Erving and Bobby Jones, two key pieces in Sixers history as members of the franchise’s last championship team in 1983, were at the team’s shootaround on Monday morning and they were asked about what Embiid is doing. Both Sixers legends were impressed with what they are seeing.
Erving on Embiid being in the MVP race
“I think he’s definitely worthy. I think he’s been worthy in the past. How it gets decided whether it’s the media vote, fan vote, the owners vote, I think the media decides and (Nikola) Jokic is formidable. He produces tremendous numbers and his team was leading the conference for most of the season. So he’s formidable, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) is formidable and Luka (Doncic) is formidable. So one of those four and it might be Joel’s time which would be poetically justified.”
Jones on Embiid’s performances
“He reminds me a lot of Moses (Malone), Joel does. He’s more focused it seems like this year, especially in the fourth quarter of knowing his role, and just like Moses of getting the ball, when the ball goes into him, it probably should not come back out. If he’s triple-teamed, sure, he does do a better job than most of kicking the ball out, but he has such an assortment of offensive skills that, and he knows it, that he can impose his will on other players and other teams and he’s doing that. So that’s fun to see him embracing that role and really leading that way.”
Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire
Source: Yahoo Sports
