5 Reasons why Joel Embiid is a true unicorn
In today's NBA, point guards consistently grab the headlines with dazzling displays of skill. The position is rich with talent, and many of the league's most impactful stars are playmakers with the ability to shoot from the perimeter and defend stoutly on the other end.
True centers, on the other hand, are a dying breed as the league moves towards a future of positionless basketball. In comparison to 25 years ago when the likes of David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were in their primes, the NBA truly has a dearth of elite centres.
As a result, big men of Joel Embiid's ability are now termed "unicorns." The same tag has also been slapped on players such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns — who're all big men with a more diverse array of skills than most of their predecessors from yesteryear.
With that being said, here is a list of 5 reasons why Joel Embiid is a unicorn.
#5 His ability to shoot three-pointers
While he's not an elite three-point shooter by any stretch of the imagination, with a career average of 32.6% from deep, Embiid's ability to vacate the paint and space the floor by moving beyond the arc is a skill that only a handful of big men possess, even today.
It's not even a small sample size; Embiid is taking 3.4 shots per game through 56 games this season, peaking with 6 makes on 12 attempts against the Trail Blazers when he scored 29 in late December. In the same game, Dario Saric was able to score 25 points, with many of them coming from drives into the lane.