Embiid continues to slip in the draft; risky decision for the Celtics at #6




Via ESPN
A. Sherrod Blakely says that he thinks Joel Embiid will be there for the Celtics at #6 and it will be up to the medical staff to decide whether he is worth the risk. Normally I'd say you have to swing for the home run here, but big men with foot problems scare me. Bill Walton and Yao Ming had this injury and neither were ever close to the players they were before. Kevin McHale also wasn't the same after the injury.

So yeah you might end up with a Hakeem lite player or a taller Serge Ibaka, but you also might end up with the next Sam Bowie or worse in the next Greg Oden. It's just hard for 7 footers to put so much pressure on their knees and feet. If this injury happened to Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker, I'd be less scared off, but with a 7 footer I'm not sure what to do. Ainge would have passed on Oden for Kevin Durant due to Oden's medical red flags, but it's not like Ainge has a Durant alternative this time. You're talking about Vonleh, Smart or Gordon.

My opinion might change on this, but right now I still think you have to take the risk and draft Embiid. Yeah it would suck if he ended up with a career like Oden's, but then again all the guys left at #6 could also be busts. Would hate to be the team that passed on Embiid if he ended up reaching his potential.

According to Blakely, the Celtics will be one of the teams that will get a look at at least some of Embiid's medicals. How bad those medicals look will determine whether Embiid becomes a Celtic or not.

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