Some of Joel Embiid‘s finest basketball of his career has been seen recently. The big man from Cameroon has been leading the Sixers to the third-best record in the East while averaging an astounding 33.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.
Hakeem Olajuwon chose to attack JoJo while being one of the favorites to win the first-ever Michael Jordan Trophy.
The Sixers’ captain was recently criticized by the Houston great for making so many threes. The Dream asserts that given Embiid’s size advantage, the latter should be making better use of it.
Why would he be making 3-pointers? Olajuwonasks. Every night, he has the upper hand, and if I have the upper hand, I’ll exhaust you. And threes? That is comforting! When I’m worn out, I give in. When you’re striving to win, you don’t give in. You don’t begin the game by settling down!
It s not the freaking 90s or 80s: Joel Embiid
Joel is not one of those athletes who choose to remain silent in the face of criticism. Nothing different about this circumstance.
The five-time All-only Star’s comment in response to the Hall of Famer’s assertions was that the game has changed over the past several decades.
The current scoring champion challenged the senior men’s basketball intelligence while focusing on Olajuwon. The 280-pound stars added:
It’s ironic that you can’t win this way anymore when you have old people who are constantly talking about posting up, needing to spend time in the paint, and other such things. They must not have any basketball intelligence because it’s not the freakin’ 1990s or 1980s like it used to be.
JoJo’s shooting from beyond the arc
Joel doesn’t settle for threes, despite what Keem claimed. Only 10% (1.1 3P per game) of Embiid’s 33.6 PPG (average points per game) come from beyond the arc.
The four-time All-NBA selection makes 3.2 attempts from beyond the arc, which does not negatively impact the 76ers in any way.
His effectiveness is also not that poor. Embiid outperforms other prolific 3-point shooters like Jayson Tatum, Jordan Poole, Luka Doncic, and Fred VanVleet with a 3-point shooting percentage of 35.2%.
This article first appeared on The SportsRush with the title “These old men may not have any basketball IQ: Joel Embiid Claps Back at Hakeem Olajuwon For Criticizing the 7-footer For Shooting 3.”
