Philadelphia 76ers’ All-Star Joel Embiid decided to give this year’s No.1 overall pick in the draft, Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, a little warning ahead of NBA debut.
Embiid, who had a sit down with ESPN‘s The Jump on Friday, said that Ayton won’t have too much fun in his rookie season.
“He’s about to get his a** kicked this year,” – the 24-year-old told The Jump.
In his recognizable manner, Embiid also decided to weigh in on the comparison between him and Ayton.
“He’s going to be good,” – he added. “But when you talk about ‘He looks like Joel Embiid,’ I play on both sides of the court. I think I’m a good offensive player, good defensive player. I do it on both ends of the floor. I watched him play, and he’s got a lot of work to do. But he’s got a lot of potential. He’s going to be really good.”
If there is a player who knows how hard is to be consistent in the NBA, that’s Joel Embiid. He was drafted in 2014 but ended up missing two full seasons due to a stress fracture in his foot and two surgeries. His rookie season came in 2016, but he still didn’t manage to get through it healthy, being limited to 31 games.
It was only the last season, his fourth year in the league, that Embiid managed to catch a break. He played 63 games, averaging 22.9 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 blocks per game, showing all of his doubters wrong. Now Joel Embiid wants to go even further.
“Last year we won 52 games,” – said Embiid. “This year I expect to go 55, 60, 65. So that’s the goal. And from there, you know, I’m going to have to be a big part of that. I’m going to have to show up every night and average, I don’t know, 27 points. And I’m excited.”
