Brookover: Embiid's arrival a stroke of good luck
It was one lucky night for the 76ers. No, not Wednesday, although serendipity did play a part in their wild come-from-behind win over the New York Knicks.
It was one lucky night for the 76ers. No, not Wednesday, although serendipity did play a part in their wild come-from-behind win over the New York Knicks.
Joel Embiid did not call his three-point bank shot late in the fourth quarter, but it counted as three vital points just the same. And Kristaps Porzingis' late-game launch from beyond the arc missed everything, a very rare occurrence that led to a frantic finish at the other end when T.J. McConnell stepped away from Carmelo Anthony and sank a game-winning jumper as time expired.
1-2-3-4-5 . . . Sixers. 10-9-8-76ers.
The Wells Fargo Center is alive again on Sixers' game nights.
Did the 76ers and their fans over-celebrate on a night when they won for just the 11th time in 36 games? Perhaps, but the fans and players have a lot of pent-up energy to expend after all those dormant seasons. Besides, this year's team has already won one more game than last year's team.
Of course, the real reason the joint is jumping again is because Sixers fans have seen the franchise savior and they believe him when he tells them to trust the process, which brings us back to one of the luckiest nights in team history.
Luck, it seemed at the time and for a long time, was something only to be cursed by the 76ers. After a year in which they finished with the second-worst record in the league, they had the second-best chance behind the Milwaukee Bucks at landing the first overall pick of the 2014 draft.
The Ping-Pong balls, however, did not bounce their way. Cleveland got the No. 1 pick and soon the Cavaliers would get LeBron James back, too. Milwaukee got the second pick and the Sixers ended up at No. 3. That was OK because this was a draft with three bona fide stars - Embiid, Andrew Wiggins, and Jabari Parker.
And then, exactly one week before the draft, the biggest and the best of those projected stars revealed that he needed surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right foot. The 76ers selected Embiid anyway and former general manager Sam Hinkie swore he could not have been any happier.
"I spotted opportunity the moment it happened, the moment it happened," he said. "The moment he got hurt, we thought we might get him."
Hinkie said the Sixers were exactly the right team for Embiid because they had the time and patience to wait for his foot to heal even if it meant he'd have to miss an entire season. The fact that he had to miss two probably cost Hinkie his job because if we had seen Embiid's immense talent last season, the Colangelos may never have made their way to Philadelphia.
Despite his immediate declaration that he was thrilled to have Embiid, it's doubtful the exiled general manager would have taken the 7-foot center with the first or second pick given the circumstances. Give Hinkie credit, however, for sticking with Embiid as the third pick. A lot of GMs would have passed given the NBA history of big men and foot injuries.
Of course, it's also doubtful that Embiid would have been there for the taking at No. 3 if he had not suffered back and foot injuries before the draft.
That's just being lucky, which is fine because a certain amount is required when attempting to build something great. For instance, there's no way the Golden State Warriors knew what they were getting when they took Stephen Curry seventh overall in 2009.
Now, the Sixers and their fans are getting a sense of just how lucky they got when Embiid fell to them in the 2014 draft. NBA rules allowed him to retain his rookie status after he sat out his first two seasons following that draft, which means he is going to win the league's rookie of the year award.
But Embiid isn't just the best rookie in this year's class. He's potentially the best player to be drafted in this decade. No rookie in this decade has averaged 20 points per game in his first season. Embiid, averaging 19.4 points per game in just 25 minutes, has a chance to do it as his minutes increase throughout the season.
Some terrific centers - DeMarcus Cousins in Sacramento, Anthony Davis in New Orleans and Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota - have been taken in the first round since 2010, but none of the three played as well as Embiid has in his rookie season with the Sixers.
Revisit the 2014 draft and you'll find that Wiggins, who was traded to Minnesota for Kevin Love, and Parker have both become terrific players. Neither one, however, has the ability to impact a game in the way that Embiid does.
According to basketballreference.com, if you project Embiid's numbers over 36 minutes, he would average 27.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game. His only weakness as a rookie appears to be protecting the basketball, especially late in games. His greatest attribute might be his attitude. He has a visible joy for the game that is clearly infectious.
Yes, the Sixers got lucky when they got Embiid. Now cross your fingers, knock on wood and hold onto that rabbit's foot to make sure he remains healthy.
@brookob