Detroit Pistons: Embiid is franchise’s latest foe, and he’s just getting started

Thanks to his dominating (and unapologetic) performance on Saturday, Joel Embiid has cemented himself as the Detroit Pistons’ latest foe. In five career games against Detroit, he’s averaging 30.0 points and 11.2 rebounds.

Like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James before him, Joel Embiid has quickly become Public Enemy No. 1 for the Detroit Pistons.

Embiid’s 39-point, 17-rebound game against the Pistons on Saturday should serve as a wake-up call to Detroit. The 24-year-old center is certainly in Andre Drummond‘s by head now. There’s no debating that.

But he should be on the mind of everyone in the Pistons’ organization.

Saturday was Embiid’s fifth career game against Detroit. In those five contests, he’s averaged 30.0 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game on 53.3 percent shooting.

Embiid has an offensive rating of 115 (points produced per 100 possessions) and a defensive rating of 97 (points allowed per 100 possessions) when facing the Pistons. They’re 1-4 against “The Process” in his young career.

Statistics don’t always tell the whole story, though, and that’s the case here with Joel Embiid. It’s the way that he’s manhandled this ball club that should strike fear in the hearts of fans.

Embiid’s charismatic, yet unapologetic, personality are throwback traits from a bygone era.

He has the low-post skill of Hakeem Olajuwan, embarrassing opponents on the block with jab steps, ball fakes, favorable positioning, and sheer basketball IQ. And then there’s the mind games that he plays so well.

The trash talk reminiscent of Michael Jordan, the ability to get under your skin like Bill Laimbeer, and the occasional, stare-down dunk that hearkens back to Scottie Pippen obliterating Patrick Ewing.

Embiid has it all, and to make matters worse for the Detroit Pistons, he’s just getting started. He hasn’t even entered his prime yet, despite already being a top-ten player. Simply put, Joel Embiid hasn’t reached his ceiling, if he even has one.

It didn’t matter who the Pistons threw at him on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center. Drummond, Zaza Pachulia and Jon Leuer couldn’t match Embiid’s intensity, let alone his skill.

Yes, the officiating was atrocious, but that excuse only goes so far. Embiid coerced Drummond into several stupid fouls, and quite literally, took him out the game in the first quarter.

You have to play through that kind of stuff. The Bad Boys and the Goin’ To Work Pistons endured similar challenges, and they prevailed. This current group (if they want to be successful) will have to do the same.

I don’t have an answer as to how Detroit can stop Joel Embiid going forward. Personally, I’d seek to double team him immediately once an entry pass is headed his way. Two guys need to be smothering him as soon as he catches the ball.

But then you risk leaving a player like J.J. Redick or Robert Covington wide open. Maybe that’s a risk worth taking.

All I know is that something has to change before Embiid and the 76ers visit Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 7 in front of a nationally televised audience. Schematically and mentally, Dwane Casey and his Pistons have to better.

They may have found their next-great villain in Joel Embiid. But don’t call this a rivalry for the Detroit Pistons. At least, not at the moment.

For this to be akin to Bird, Jordan, and James in years past, the Pistons will have to land the next punch – something they haven’t done in over a decade.