Joel Embiid Is The Next Shaq, At Least According To One NBA Head Coach

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For a brief moment, it seemed as if all our All-Star hopes for Joel Embiid had been dashed. On Wednesday, Charles Barkley told a morning radio show that he had a list of the NBA All-Star Game starters, and he would be announcing them on Thursday night’s edition of Inside the NBA. Barkley also added that he would select our favorite rising superstar, Joel Embiid, for the reserves.

Wait, what?!?! No!

“I can’t tell you who’s on the list, because now we’ve got to work on our reserves,” Barkley told [97.5 The Fanatic morning host Anthony] Gargano. “I think there’s an outside chance that I’m going to put [Embiid] on my all-star reserves, just because I think he’s reinvigorated the Sixers and the city of Philadelphia.” (Via Philly.com)

That makes it seem like Embiid is definitely not a starter, and he will have to wait another year to fulfill his dream of dating Rihanna, but the good news is that Barkley is, shockingly, full of it.

As Philly.com reported, “a source at Turner Broadcasting confirmed he had no such list, because the final tally of votes hasn’t yet been released by the league.” What a relief. It would be a shame for Embiid not to make it as a starter, what with all the high praise he’s receiving for his limited play this season. Hell, it’s almost too high.

First, Hakeem Olajuwon recently said he sees himself in Embiid, which is obviously a huge compliment to a 22-year-old who refers to the Dream as one of his idols. Adding to the supremely large expectations for The Process, Raptors coach Dwane Casey compares him to another all-time great: Shaquille O’Neal.

“He is physical, has size, athletic ability, like a young Shaq coming into the league and Shaq didn’t shoot it like this young man,” Casey said before Wednesday’s game at the Wells Fargo Center against the Sixers.

“His athletic ability, his quickness, his speed for his size, his ability to get where he wants to go off the dribble, he is a tremendous problem on both ends of the floor because defensively he is moving his feet to protect the rim and is also running the floor,” Casey said. (Via Philly.com)

Of course, as Casey points out, Embiid’s shooting skills and his ability to adapt to the speed of the game make it seem like Embiid could eventually be, dare we say it, better than Shaq. The Big Self-Aggrandizer isn’t going to like to hear it, but it’s certainly possible. If anything, Embiid has already proven time and again that he’s as funny, if not funnier, than Shaq has ever been.

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