Joel Embiid and the process of maturation with the Philadelphia 76ers
JOEL EMBIID KNEW how he looked in the oversize, full-body, white, hazmat-style jumpsuit. Of course he knew how it looked for a 7-foot-2 man to wear something like that, and a mask and gloves, onto the airplane from Philadelphia to Orlando, Florida, when the NBA restarted its season in July.
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But that was kind of the point. He had made no secret of his misgivings about restarting the NBA season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He'd talked about it on videoconference calls with reporters and in private conversations with
Brooklyn Nets guard
Kyrie Irving. He'd voted against it when the National Basketball Players Association held its call with the Sixers.
"Nobody knows the complications in your body in the future, if you get it," Embiid explained. "Nobody can tell you that."
But when the players ultimately elected to play, in a vote of team representatives, Embiid had a choice to make: Sit out or show up to play.
"If I didn't think we had a chance to win, I wouldn't have gone," Embiid said.
The giant personal protective equipment suit was his form of protest. Of calling attention to himself and the misgivings he and other players still felt.
But there was something else he couldn't say to anyone but his closest friends and advisers back then. Something he hadn't even told the Sixers, yet:
His girlfriend, Anne de Paula, was eight months pregnant with their first child.
"We tried to keep it a secret," Embiid said. "Because people have bad intentions and bad energy. ... So it was very hard for me to go. I just wanted to be there with her and for him. I only went [to Orlando] because I really thought we had a chance to win."
There are people who will read that quote, or see the rather hilarious clip of Embiid walking around in the personal protective equipment, and question his commitment. Embiid knows that. Or rather, he has learned that while riding the ups and downs of the fame cycle these past few years.
But fatherhood has a way of clarifying one's priorities. And as soon as he learned he was about to become a father, Embiid started feeling a new sense of purpose.
"Everything that you always thought about life changes," Embiid said.
He wanted his son, Arthur, to be proud of him one day. Anything that helped him do that is what mattered now.
In 2017, at the height of his popularity, when the NBA world and especially the city of Philadelphia were in the honeymoon stage with the effervescent leader of the Sixers, Embiid mentioned he expected the affection and attention would be short-lived.
"People always want something new," he said then.
It was an astute observation about the modern media cycle, but also of human nature. At the time, Embiid and the Sixers seemed like the NBA's next big thing. He was funny and fresh. His skill set was dazzling. His potential seemed unlimited. And the charming story of the team that took tanking to its ideological extreme seemed to be working as Embiid and teammate
Ben Simmons blossomed into superstars.
But that was three years and three playoff disappointments ago. Contemporaries such as
Anthony Davis and
Giannis Antetokounmpo have won the championships and MVP awards for which Embiid seemed destined. Last season, Embiid didn't even make the All-NBA team, despite statistics that compared favorably to his previous campaigns. This season, Philadelphia wasn't even picked to play a Christmas Day game.
"It comes down to winning," Embiid said. "If you don't win, you don't get respect. The league doesn't respect us as much anymore because we didn't live up to the hype we were on the way to three years ago."
He is not protesting this. He is processing it.
Sometimes things are that simple. The challenge for a curious soul like Embiid is to keep it that way. To trust in the only voice that never wavered: his own.
WHEN EMBIID WAS a child in Cameroon, his father was everything he wanted to be one day. Great at sports. An accomplished military commander. A loving husband and father who provided a good life for his family. He appreciated that at the time, of course. But when he became a father himself this fall, it took on a new meaning.
"I've always wanted to get to this point when I would find the one to want to have a family with," Embiid said. "Now that I have, I want my kid to see his dad just being at the top of his game.
"I want to have him come to games and be like, 'Wow, Dad is so good,' so he wants to be better than me."
That's how Embiid always saw his father, Thomas, growing up in Cameroon.
"He was in the army, but he also played sports," Embiid explained. "And he was one of the best at his sport, which was handball. I always went and I watched him play. Seeing that, and how people treated my dad, made me want to be better than him. So I want my kids to come see me and set the bar really high."
What Embiid is describing is something rather universal: The desire to be the best version of yourself to set a good example for your children.
Yes, he wants that for himself too. He wants to make good on his enormous potential and what he has promised to Philadelphia fans who stood by him and the team along their long journey through "The Process."
But, said Embiid's longtime trainer and friend, Drew Hanlen, now he wants that for his son too.
“
Arthur has redefined a purpose for Joel that's bigger than himself.
”- Trainer and friend Drew Hanlen on Joel Embiid's son
"Arthur has redefined a purpose for Joel that's bigger than himself," Hanlen said. "We've been talking a lot about legacy lately.
"Joel's checked off a lot of the individual accolade boxes: All-Star, All-NBA, et cetera. But to be known as one of the greats, you have to be able to help your team win championships. And he hasn't done that yet."
In the past three years, there have been loads of what Hanlen calls "justifiable excuses." Three seasons ago, the Sixers made the playoffs and earned some respect for beating the
Miami Heat in the first round, before bowing out against a superior
Boston Celtics team. Two seasons ago, they were well on their way to beating the eventual-champion
Toronto Raptors in the second round of the playoffs. But Embiid got sick, never regained his strength and was last seen weeping as he walked off the court following
Kawhi Leonard's bounce-of-God 3-pointer from the corner in Game 7. Last season, Simmons suffered a knee injury during the seeding games in Orlando, and the Sixers didn't stand much of a chance against Boston in their first-round playoff series.
"But no one really cares about the justifiable excuses," Hanlen said. "All that matters is, 'Did you get the job done, yes or no?'
"The honeymoon stage of The Process is over, and now it's all about getting results. We can't be on our way anymore. We have to arrive."
Not just for Embiid anymore. For Arthur, whom Embiid named after his younger brother who was killed six years ago at age 13 when a runaway truck crashed into his schoolyard.
SURE, IT WAS a silly protective suit Embiid wore on the flight to Orlando. But he was also showing up -- despite all his misgivings -- because he felt the Sixers had the talent and opportunity to win a championship. And he'd shown up in the best shape of his career.
Hanlen flew out from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to train Embiid for that playoff run, forming their own little protective bubble, and they went about as hard as they had ever gone before.
"I think we went 35 out of 37 days before he went to Orlando," Hanlen said. That was in addition to the on-court work Embiid was doing with his longtime skills coach, Sixers assistant Chris Babcock, and the extra conditioning he did playing tennis with his friend Jonathan Sacks.
"I've never seen someone go from zero to 60 like Jo can," Sixers general manager Elton Brand said. "Once he's focused and locked in, he becomes that guy. And coming into the bubble, he was in amazing shape."
There were no mentions of this transformation on social media, however. No videos or photos to show off how much work Embiid had put in to get ready for the season restart or to counter the narrative that he needed to be in better shape.
"I don't post my workouts," Embiid said. "I don't need to show off to people, 'Look at me, I'm working out. Look at this picture, this is me working out every single day.'"
“
I barely use social media these days.
”- Joel Embiid
Actually, Embiid's social media has been rather tame this year, outside of the occasional tweet about soccer or the launch of his new signature shoe from Under Armour, the Embiid One "Omen," which is an homage to his journey from Cameroon to the NBA.
"I barely use social media these days," he said.
He used to be on Twitter all the time, trash-talking opponents, asking Rihanna out on dates, goofing around with fans or cheekily fawning over former teammate
Jimmy Butler's success in Miami. "Tro-elle Embiid," he called himself. And he was the best kind of troll -- a playful one.
But trolling is only endearing when you back it up IRL (in real life), and Embiid had enough self-awareness to realize he and the Sixers hadn't yet.
During Butler's run to the NBA Finals last season, there was no pretense or agenda behind his tweets. Tro-elle was just excited for his friend's success.
"Jimmy and I are still very close," Embiid said. "I've learned a lot from him. The way he carried himself and had everything set up around him. He had his own routine, his own weight room guy, massage therapists, a chef, a nutritionist. I was around him and just watching it, and kind of using it as an example."
As such, Embiid hired renowned nutritionist Louise Burke to help him transform his body so he would have more energy at the end of games and could weather the rigors of the NBA season.
Embiid said he and Butler still watch each other's games all the time and share notes and observations.
"He watches all of our games." Embiid said. "If you asked him, he would tell you he doesn't watch. But there's only a couple guys that he likes to watch, but he will watch our games just to make sure that he follows me and tells me what I need to do. And I do the same for him."
Butler's advice, Embiid said, is very consistent.
"He was always telling me to be more aggressive," Embiid said. "At times, when everything wasn't going right and I wasn't getting the ball, he would call me and be like, 'You are the best player. You need to be aggressive. You guys are not going to win if you are not aggressive.'
"'You need to want the ball, you need to command it, and they need to give it to you. That's just the mentality that you got to have. You've got to lead those guys.'"
