Lots of people have opinions on Sixers top draft pick Joel Embiid, but Villanova coach Jay Wright has first-hand knowledge of the 7-foot Kansas center, gained by studying him on film and then watching him last season as the Cats beat Embiid’s Kansas team.
This quotes are contained in Bob Cooney’s article in the Daily News:
“I saw him in high school and I thought he was a project. Then I watched him on film getting ready to play them and then in person, and I was shocked how much he improved from high school. I thought, ‘Wow he’s a pro.’ After we played them, I thought that he’d be a first-round pick this year. Late in the season, I was even more impressed from how much he improved from when we played them. In 2 years, it is amazing the amount of improvement that he’s made.
“With big guys, the first two things you look for are feet and hands. He has them both. Probably the third thing you look at is their ability to learn, how quickly do they pick up concepts?
“Certain guys, you show them something one time and they get it. Others, it’s going to take a lot of repetition. From what I’ve seen of him, the way he gets that, the way he shot the ball later in the season, he didn’t have that in the beginning of the season against us. You see how quickly he picks things up.”
