Interesting discussion after last night’s Sixers game, which aired on TNT.

The crew was discussing big men and Joel Embiid, the gist of the conversation centering on how Joel’s name isn’t popping up consistently when fans and media talk about the NBA’s best players. Charles Barkley touches on that before amending his prediction that Philly will go to the NBA finals, and that starts around the 9:00 mark of this clip:

Part of the conversation:

Charles Barkley: When we criticize these guys, they think we’re the ‘get off my lawn’ old guy. Joel Embiid, now Giannis is on a whole other level right now, so let’s just take him out of the equation. But Joel Embiid, LeBron, Anthony Davis, James Harden, those guys we’re saying, ‘they’re the best player, they’re in the conversation.‘ Giannis is the MVP favorite, then you got Anthony Davis, LeBron, Luka (Doncic) is right there, we talk more about Luka than Embiid. And Embiid is, in my opinion, he’s the toughest player in the league to match up with. But we don’t talk about him the way we talk about Luka, Giannis, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, we don’t ever say that about him. It’s frustrating for me, because I picked the Sixers to get to the finals.

Ernie Johnson: How are you feeling about that pick?

Barkley: They ain’t got no chance. They ain’t got no chance Ernie.

That’s a take, though I think we’d all agree that the Sixers are not playing to the level they’re capable of playing, at least through the first 25% of the season.

I like what Shaq had to say:

“We’re telling you you can be great; you’re not playing hard enough. 22 (points) ain’t enough to get you to the next level.”

It’s the difference between good and great, Shaq’s argument. Everybody knows that Joel Embiid (and Ben Simmons) have more to give, so personally I don’t think these guys are off base.

Do you?