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Sometimes it seems like the greatness of Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid gets overshadowed by his availability, or lack thereof, and honestly understandably so.
Embiid has missed nearly as many games as he’s played in his career, but when he is available, he’s one of the absolute best scorers that the game has ever seen. In fact, Embiid is the all-time leader in points per 36 minutes.
Joel Embiid named the fourth-purest scorer in NBA history
As a result, Embiid was recently ranked No. 4 on a list of the purest scorers in NBA history from Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report. The only three players ranked ahead of Embiid were Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry.
“Embiid's precision as a mid-range jump shooter defies traditional notions of what centers can do. His simple jab step leading into that jumper is as difficult to handle as about any other move in the league. His footwork in the post is impeccable,” Bailey wrote.
“Even with the injuries that have nagged him throughout his career, Embiid may be as close to unguardable as any player in the NBA when he's healthy.”
What Bailey wrote is objectively true. When he’s out on the floor, Embiid is virtually unstoppable. He’s one of the strongest big men in the entire league down low, he’s absolutely deadly from midrange and his range stretches out to the 3-point line. There’s almost nothing that he can’t do on the offensive end of the floor.
Unfortunately for Embiid, he’s been consistently hampered by injury issues throughout his career, which has impacted his statistics and the perception of him as a player. Instead of being viewed as one of the best scorers of all time, Embiid is often viewed through the lens of “what if,” as in what if he had health on his side.
While perhaps unfair, real ones recognize just how special of a talent Embiid is and has been over the course of his career.
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