James Harden, Tobias Harris praise Joel Embiid for big season
PHILADELPHIA — As the Philadelphia 76ers head into the offseason, now is the time to begin looking back at the season.
One player who deserves a ton of credit is Joel Embiid, who delivered one historic season. He led the league in scoring (30.6 points per game), becoming the first center to lead the league in scoring since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000. He was the first big man to average 30 for a season since Moses Malone in 1982.
He stepped up as a leader, ensuring the Sixers did not crumble during the Ben Simmons saga and, during the playoffs, he battle through an orbital fracture, a concussion and a torn ligament in his right thumb to be on the floor.
“He’ll do whatever it takes to win,” said James Harden. “With his injury, he just continues to fight, continues to be there for his team even though he’s not 100%. Credit to him for being out there. His presence alone is a game-changer.”
Embiid did not win MVP for his work in the 2021-22 season, but he earned the respect of his peers. And he was there every single night to be sure that Philadelphia was in a position to win.
“I think just seeing Joel’s growth year after year, especially this year, the campaign he put up just in terms of being the MVP, the dominance of him night in and night out was huge,” Tobias Harris added. “Throughout the playoffs, just for him to come out and allow himself to go out there and dominate and allow me to be that voice for the team in different times, that’s kinda how we do have that partnership throughout the game.”
Harris was free to get on Embiid a bit when the time called for it, so the Sixers could get the most out of the big fella on a nightly basis.
“I could get on Joel and help him pick up his energy sometimes to help this group,” Harris explained. “I feed off his energy on the offensive end as well. How he goes, the team goes as well. I wanna say that his whole campaign this year was incredible the way he came out and played and really just gave a dominant effort on a night to night basis.”
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