“To be honest him, I think they might overprotect him,” Rudy Gobert said while shrugging his shoulders after Tuesday’s shootaround. “If you’ve got a player [and] you want him to get better, you want him to play against the best defenses, the best inside defensive players.”
Gobert didn’t hide his feelings about Embiid, the No. 2 overall pick in 2014, missing a one-on-one as he gets doctor-recommended rest against Utah (5-5). Embiid has played only 39 games in his career, which has been marred by injury, and the Sixers (5-4) would rather exercise caution than put out their 20-point, 10-rebound center against Gobert, the NBA’s leading shot-blocker.