Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons: All-Star Game
The National Basketball Association’s All-Star Game is supposed to bring together the best and brightest of the NBA’s current and rising talent for fans’ enjoyment. It would not be complete without Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers and his teammate Ben Simmons. In the words of Dan Favale of The Bleacher Report, Embiid is impressive because he, “checks all the boxes” one might expect of a star center. “He swallows shots at the rim. He has nifty post moves. He is deadly when operating off the bounce—a pseudo wing with the ball in his hands. He has three-point range. He’s a sneaky-good switcher” (Favale). GQ magazine called Embiid, “the future of basketball,” noting, “He showed why he’s the most mythical of all the unicorns in the NBA’s stable…bulky enough to dominate in the post, smooth enough to shoot the elbow jumper (or the deep three), and somehow coordinated enough to have developed a lethal Dirk Nowitzki impression” despite being nearly seven feet tall (Skipper).
While some have protested that “Embiid commits a crap ton of turnovers” that still does not discount the fact that in...
Even his personality is both engaging and resilient. Born in Cameroon, Embiid did not even speak English seven years ago (Skipper). Now Embiid has a huge Twitter following, thanks to his humorous online courting of the singer Rhianna, cumulating in a fake “date” Embiid live-tweeted, in which he listened to Rhianna’s songs and downed his favorite drink, the nonalcoholic Shirley Temple (Skipper). He has also had the good grace and the positive mindset to rebound from a number of injuries which could have deterred a less optimistic athlete. Embiid could not play his first two seasons after going pro due to injuries but has made up for lost time in the games he has played in subsequently (Skipper). A player with as much personality as well as talent has a clear place in the All-Star Game.
Similarly, Ben Simmons has distinguished himself as a multifaceted player. Mike Prada of SB Nation called him, “NBA’s ultimate mad scientist,” and an idiosyncratic genius of a player. While many All-Star games have been decried as…
