Joel Embiid graciously checks on Pascal Siakam’s wrist after Pacers vs. Sixers
Cameroonian brothers keepin it real
I was friends with two Central African brothers growing up and this was basically every exchange between them.
I’m friends with two Australian brothers and believe it or not, this is basically how every exchange between them is too lol
Except they also call each other “cunt”.
In an affectionate way.
In 2022 Siakam had a foul on Embiid in the playoffs, I remember fans here vocal on how Siakam was dirty and intentionally trying to injure Embiid.
Its so obvious that Siakam and Embiid are on good terms but in that moment the hate train for Siakam was crazy.
Imagine the wonders Embiid and Siakam could have done for youth basketball in Cameroon if they got a legit shot to suit up together
I mean, they did have a few chances to do it. Missi is playing for the national team, Mbah a Mboute did too. I’ll never forgive these two for never even doing it once. Could have legit changed an entire generation’s outlook on basketball. Especially Embiid.
And before people come at me, he and I have weirdly similar history (in terms of when we moved to the US, at what age, naturalizing etc), so I understand the complexities of identity etc. I still think declaring for the US was weak as fuck. Especially how he went about it.
I was under the impression lack of funding or willingness to cover insurance played a part in Siakam and Embiid not suiting up? It always seemed like Siakam wanted to do it. I believe Mbah a Moute helped discover Siakam as a basketball talent. Probably a connection to the home team there too
You’re correct about Mbah a Mboute. Fun fact: all three of us are from the same neighborhood, actually. His (Mbah) crew is still out there scouting talents from the region, a genuinely great guy. Probably our most beloved basketball player, as crazy as it sounds.
I heard the thing about insurance but could never get a credible source for it in Cameroon so I can’t speak to it, unfortunately.
I think I did hear something about it as well unfortunately
Mbah&
Embiid&
Siakam&
Pascal&
SwolePalmer.
Cameroon basketball is insanely corrupt. Don’t blame anyone for not playing for that organisation.
Embiids whole adult life is in the US. To each their own but identity can mean different things to different people.
As a Cameroonian I am wondering if you would have considered it worse if Embiid played for France or the US
A thousand percent. In fact, I personally gave up on Embiid the moment the French rumblings started and he applied for citizenship. Cowardly shit. I’ll die on this hill. Fuck France always (except Wemby, he’s cool, see my pp).
Yeah I feel that. I think it’s something that is interesting as someone who is Anglo-Caribbean how the English have done better to manage PR among the former colonized nations even if there is similar brutality. I did think it was dope though that OG was suiting up for team Nigeria instead of the UK until he pulled out from the team camp in 24. I’m always rooting for good players to be able to develop the African and Caribbean teams either like Norm for Jamaica or VJ on the Bahamas and hope the Thompsons and possibly Scottie can play for Jamaica
Yup. And I hate that some of these feelings have been co-opted by the worst people to some extent (see: Argentinian soccer team) and I try to be careful in not denying other immigrants’ lived experience. But man, if you’ve got the opportunity to define an entire generation of kids’ outlook on a sport, the magic of perseverance, hard work, just by wearing a jersey, you’ve got to do it. But nope, man got too scared of his shadow and and grabbed the easiest medal he could get, even as a footnote in the whole affair. It sucks.
The problem is that the players get massively used and exploited when they do play for these organisations. As soon as you play once you have the whole country trying to use you. It’s really sad by Africas corruption problem is killing millions of people, until they can get a handle on it, basketball organisations will continue to be exploited, and it’s not something that one player can just fix.
I was going to say, wasn’t Embiid essentially “shopping” his services like some kind of Basketball mercenary?
It sucks as a raps fan knowing Siakam has never balled out for his home country, but I can understand and appreciate it if it was wanting to let others shine since he already has a spotlight.
But Embiid essentially said “I want to win, who’s gonna give me the best chance?” which yeah reeks of soft, but its Embiid so not surprised.
Thank god we’ll always have this!
Edit: appreciate u/IgnatiusReillysCap for providing additional context for Joel’s decision, and helps shine a different more humble light on the situation.
I mean, what he actually said is he wants to represent his son’s country.
I’m as critical of Embiid as you’ll find among 76ers fans, but its abundantly clear that Arthur is this dude’s entire fucking world and it’s not the slightest bit surprising that was the driving force behind his decision.
I never saw this additional context, thanks for letting me know! I still feel its a bit odd, but at least this helps ground it out a bit more than what I had known up until today. Thank you!
Don’t get me wrong - I think the mercenary piece is still true, too, to an extent. I just believe the ultimate decision came down to Arthur and not winning (or at least not solely winning).
Ehhhh. This doesn’t explain or justify the ouvertures to the French federation, and yes, they were made. There is a paper trail of the whole thing. The US just jumped in at the right time and now we’re served this Arthur story (a good one, to be fair).
My kids will be Americans too and I would expect them to want to represent the US one day, I’ve prepared myself mentally for this. But me? You’d have to stuff my mouth with so much gold and the GDP of the UAE to boot for me to even consider wearing that jersey. I guess they did. 🤷🏾♂️
I’m not saying his sole guiding principle from the start was what Arthur would want - before the US seemed a viable option, it seemed it was France (where he is a citizen) versus the country he grew up in. Once the US entered the fray, that naturally changed the calculus.
I understand that you would play it differently, but of course, that doesn’t mean that him wanting to represent his son’s country is invalid.
He broke Joel’s face with an elbow.
while we were up a million points (thanks doc)
That series was insanely toxic for two just decent teams.
1st thing that came to my mind, and I’m one of the sixers fans who thought it was dirty. Ill just go fuck myself
You can be friends and still fire off a cheap shot in the heat of the moment. Hell I’d say its almost more likely. You guys are close so you know its no hard feelings, but that loss matters a lot more when its a friend so emotions get involved.
Man, Joel doing that added a week to Pascals recovery!
Just a lil payback for when Siakam tripped Embiid back in 2019
When is Embiid gonna avenge his broken orbital by Siakam
At least this one didn’t seem intentional lol
It kinda seemed intentional cause embid did the airplane legit right before lol
Hhaha true
Embiid should punch Doc for keeping him in up 29 with 4 minutes to go in G6 of playoffs
Still pisses me off he was in that game up 30 points with like 4 minutes left.
Better make it two weeks, just to be safe.
That draft lottery is gonna be a wild day for the Pacers and their fans. Sixers fan can relate.
I wonder what the Pacers will do if they get the #3 pick and it’s Cam Boozer still on the board?
Assuming the other two were taken; they take Boozer lol.
They’d take Boozer and play him off the bench for now? Or they’d start a big lineup with Zubac, Boozer, and Siakam?
76ers fans can relate to that part of it, too. VJ seemed duplicative of what they had with Maxey and McCain (and to an extent Grimes). While I don’t love the exact way they went about recitfying the situation, the fact remains that high in the draft take the best guy and figure that shit out later.
Don’t even wanna think about it.
Our front court is already kinda goated:
Zubac - Siakam - Walker - Furphy - Toppin - Huff
Skill-based answer would be to replace Huff, but in practice IDK.
With all due respect to the fellas, Walker is in a contract year, Furphy can’t walk, Huff can’t consistently execute plays/schemes/reads…a top 3 pick with franchise player potential is eating their minutes for breakfast. Factor in that the pick puts the Pacers over the apron and there’s a good chance Walker(or god forbid, Obi) isn’t on the team after the trade deadline next year.
Walker is a tank commander, Furph has barely shown anything and tore his ACL, Toppin is having foot issues which is scary as hell.
You take Boozer in a heartbeat and figure out the rest later.
goated lol
Zubac - Siakam starting duo is really good.
When Toppin replaces Siakam in the Pacers’ starting lineup, the net rating stays high. Defensive rating drops a bit, but offensive rating skyrockets.
One of the revelations from this season is that Siakam - Walker - Furphy = very good small ball front court.
Huff = worst of the bunch, but his PnR/PnP game should really help stabilize TJM’s 2nd unit.
Obviously “goated” was hyperbole, but this front court is fixing to be BY FAR the best of this Pacers’ era & that’s without/before Boozer.
Huff is the easy answer for next year.
Toppin will be there until Zubac is due his extension in 28-29. Because you can’t pay Zubac 30+mil and pay a backup center 15 mil while also paying 2 maxes.
Everyone else is on team control or makes no sense to dump unless you get a crazy trade offer.
If they get Boozer the whole game changes. I’d actually be in favour of Huff because he stretches the floor. Good problems to have.
Furphy done after his rookie contract He can’t hang
He was actually looking really good this year, but he just can’t stay healthy. Likely done bc of health.
Boozer and Siakam can easily play together. Siakam can guard up comfortably and both are good enough shooters. They’re also insane mismatch hunters, Hali is going to thrive.
Trading back one or two might work. Personally think Siakam would be tradeable, he doesn’t fit their timeline. He’s 6 years older than Hali.
I do think trading back is best if they want to win in the next year or two. But it shortens their window a bit.
Trading back is a terrible idea lmao you take the potential franchise defining player, let him develop with minimal pressure.
Trading away that opportunity because his position is the same as your 2nd best player (right now) has gotta be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard lmao
Could you imagine a team with a good center passing on wemby hahaaa
Also Siakam and Boozer are very flexible players, it’s not like trotting out 2 six foot guards, they’re both mega talented all round 6’9” forwards.
Their pick protection almost definitively states they are not interested in prospects #5 - #10
We have pretty much everyone locked up for 2 years after this year on decent contracts. Prolly not gonna make any big moves like trading P and roll with this squad til then regardless of who we draft
They can only pick between #5 -#9 bcuz of the zubac trade. They quite literally gambled their pick thats why they would be more nervous than other teams lol
It’s the other way around. If the pick is 5-8, it conveys to the Clippers. If the Pacers finish with a bottom-4 record, they have a ~50% chance of keeping the pick.
Ur right my fault i definitely read it wrong
No worries, it’s getting to the point where you need a PhD just to keep up with all the asset management, that’s why there’s tankathon.com for all your schadenfreude needs
Nah. We used our pick on Zubac while also retaining the ability to pick 1-4 if we get some lottery luck. I’m not stressed either way.
Take boozer and let him learn from siakam…
Oh it’s no question. They take him happily. He’ll get 20 minutes a night off the bench and Pacers will play him as a small ball center or pair him with Huff. He’s so skilled they might even use him at the 4 with Siakam at the 5 for stretches.
My guess is he would become the 6th man in year two and then likely the starter in year 3 when Siakam is possibly gone / aged out of his prime. Or they find a way to play them together. I would trust Rick to figure it out.
There is a very clear top 3 in this draft. No matter who you have on your team you’re taking one of those players in the top 3.
They take Boozer and trade Obi. This draft pick isn’t going to start for the Pacers next season regardless of who it is, at least not at the start of the year, so they need to take the best player available ignoring position. The real value of this pick is 2-3 years from now when Siakam’s contract runs out and the team will be looking to retool on the fly to keep the window open.
They might take Wilson tbh, he fits their playstyle like a glove. But you always take BPA with a pick that high, and figure the rest out later
Well you probably take the third best prospect in the draft who has insane advanced numbers,
“Hope you feel better, glad you weren’t out there to break my face again bro”
Another RECKLESS and DIRTY act from Embiid. SHAME!!!
Damn embiid clearly reinjured it with this dirty play, gotta sit for another 6 weeks
It’s on film Silver you can’t fine us!
FWIW, last night’s injury report said LEFT wrist sprain, and Pascal seems to be genuinely protecting his left wrist here for whatever reason.
A violent and malicious act. Pascal gotta sit the rest of the season after this just to be careful.
Those 2 would be awesome playing next to each other
I do it in 2K sims sometimes :)
I know Joel ain’t talking shit bout injuries 😂😂💀
Embiid: This damn hand is fine, where’s the injured part?
Pascal: I’m fine but shhhh! carlisle will kill me if I tell anyone
Joel stop blowing our cover. We need that #1!
The nba is no different than politics. We all sit here and bicker, while they line their pockets and laugh alllll the way to the bank
Who writes these titles? Graciously?
Well considering Joel is clearly teasing Siakam for his “injury”, I thought the sarcastic tone of the title was pretty obvious
Was sarcasm man
It’s called a joke, non-autist humans make those occasionally.
Oh! Haha, hilarious! That probably explains why I missed all the fun