Check out NBA Twitter as Joel Embiid plays on any given night and you might notice a common theme.
Some fans on the platform like to talk about how the Philadelphia 76ers superstar “bait” for free throw attempts instead of always relying on old-fashioned scoring. That criticism irked NBA analyst JJ Redick, who came to Embiid’s defense as he shot free throws during the 76ers’ win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
However, as Redick raged passionately about the unfairness of Embiid’s criticism, his ESPN broadcast partner Doris Burke noticed a distinct mark on his tangent. When Redick pressed Redick on where Embiid got this criticism, he revealed he read it on NBA Twitter.
Burke quickly joked that this was Redick’s problem in the first place: He was reading too much Twitter.
“That’s your problem, you’re reading NBA Twitter.”
Mike Breen and Doris Burke hosted a mini-intervention with JJ Redick on last night’s NBA Play-In Tournament broadcast pic.twitter.com/SBnHeZONK4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 18, 2024
Good points from Redick and Burke here.
Drawing fouls against NBA-caliber defenders is a skill, something that isn’t legal against league rules as long as there’s an actual foul. It’s also just smart because you won’t always have a clean shot at the basket and getting to the lane can be integral to your team. Also, someone of embiid’s listed height of 7-foot, 280 pounds is probably getting so much offense because he’s just so big and strong and no one can reasonably guard him one-on-one. (Note: Embiid has averaged over 11 free throw attempts per game over each of the last three seasons, which easily leads the NBA.)
To Burke’s point, yes, Redick was probably reading too much Twitter. This is another evergreen lesson for us. Don’t spend too much time, if any, reading the opinions of other random people on social media.
