At the beginning of the small-ball era, the role of the center forward in the lineup gradually became blue-collar, and few teams built teams with the center as the core.
Fortunately, with the advancement of the small-ball era, the center forward players are also adapting to the development of the times, improving the projection range and foot flexibility, and the top center has regained its former dominance.
Embiid is one of the representatives, so who is stronger, Embiid or O'Neill? The US media "fadeawayworld" also gave a comprehensive comparison, the result was 5-1 one-sided, and the gap was too obvious.
Tie: Basketball IQ and scoring ability
Both are the top interior players of their time, and both are the absolute offensive core of their teams on the offensive end, although they are different in style, but they are unstoppable.
Compared with O'Neill, Embiid in the small ball era has more comprehensive ability, not only proficient in low-level technology, projection is also a good play, O'Neal although there is no stable projection ability, but in terms of low-level technology and footsteps is completely crushing Embiid, dominance In terms of dominance, the two are not at the same level.
In terms of basketball IQ, the two are also top big men, O'Neal knows how to avoid shortcomings to give full play to personal advantages, 4 championships is the best evidence, Embiid has both offensive and defensive, and even sent 4.3 assists this season, which makes the two draw again in this one.
Embiid wins: Defensive
This is the only aspect of the eight comparisons in which Embiid won, which does not mean that O'Neill is not defensively strong, averaging 2.3 blocks per game and more than 2 blocks per game in 12 seasons throughout his career.
But Embiid has done a better job of this, with Embiid having better foot mobility than O'Neal, at least in the small-ball era, and Embiid showed that.
He can switch to the outside to play with the small defender, or he can play against any traditional center forward on the inside, in other words, O'Neal's defense is not bad, but it is definitely not worth coming up with a big book, but Embiid's defense is completely commendable, one of his killer skills.
O'Neill wins: Athleticism, key ball, leadership, influence and one-on-one ability
First of all, look at athleticism, key balls and one-on-one three aspects, in fact, Embiid's performance in these areas is already good enough, it is completely the top level of the league's active duty.
Especially on the key ball and one-on-one side, Embiid has become one of the most difficult scorers to limit on the job with a variety of scoring methods inside and outside, as well as skillful foul making skills, averaging 29.9 points per game to rank first this season.
But the problem is that Embiid is only the top of the active duty, and O'Neill's three abilities are the top level in history, and his huge body and exaggerated flexibility do not match at all, coupled with terrible balance and explosiveness, allowing O'Neill to kill all sides on the inside.
As for both leadership and influence, O'Neill completely crushed the current Embiid, but this is somewhat unfair because Embiid's career is far from over.
Even so, O'Neill's achievements and honors seemed like a mountain to Embiid, and he wanted to surpass O'Neill in both aspects.
Embiid not only has to win at least 4 championships, but also further shows his dominance, even changes the rules and play of the sport to a certain extent, and the accumulated honor can finally make himself into the top ten of history, and it is possible to truly complete the counter-overtaking of O'Neal.
Therefore, after a comprehensive comparison, in the 8 ability confrontation, the two were tied in 2, and in the end O'Neal defeated Embiid 5-1.
Fortunately, Embiid's career continues, and he has just entered the peak of his career, at least 6-8 years to accumulate honors.
However, as mentioned above, O'Neal is a huge mountain, and Embiid is undoubtedly very difficult to climb, but for a 28-year-old center, it is a great recognition to be able to compare with O'Neill.