Heading into the All-Star break, there was a lot of drama surrounding Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid. The superstar has taken a lot of criticism all season for a variety of things from being out of shape to not being aggressive enough to being critical of the Philadelphia fan base who were being critical of him.
What Sixers fans do not know is that Embiid is at the team’s practice facility in Camden, New Jersey on a regular basis. While everybody sees him dominate on the floor and sees what a goofy and fun-loving guy he is, he puts in a lot of work behind the scenes and coach Brett Brown wants everybody to know that.
“Let me double down in a way that you all wouldn’t see,” Brown began. “If you were the security camera at our practice facility, you’re going to see him there at 12 at night, 12:30 at night repetitively. Not so long ago, we see his finger swinging on national TV and a few weeks later, he comes back, and a lot of us will be quite naïve or maybe not even played a lot of basketball to think that doesn’t affect his game.”
So while Embiid is painted as the guy who only clowns around just wants to have fun really is not the case. The guy wants to bring a championship to Philadelphia and he works hard to make sure that he achieves that goal.
That is why he fired back at the fans for booing him. He does work as hard as he can and he is trying to do everything he can to make sure that this works for the Sixers right now. He will stop at nothing to help this team win.
Did he step out of bounds with his trolling social media post of the fans on twitter? Maybe, but it does not take away from the fact that he is trying to be the best he can be every day to lead this team to bring the city a title.
“Does he step out of bounds sometimes with this instance? It’s not ideal. I can see that,” Brown continued. “Could he be better? We all could. I feel like there’s a little bit of fairness that needs to be extended to him, the ones that know really what has gone on behind closed doors at 12 midnight. The team meetings where things are spoken and said that nobody really is aware of. I’ll always want more from myself, from Ben, from Jo, I feel confident in saying what I just said.”
So a word of advice: appreciate Joel Embiid. This guy is the best center in the league and he wears the colors of the 76ers. He is working his goody too shoes off for the city to help bring that elusive title back to the City of Brotherly Love and he isn’t going to stop. [lawrence-related id=25790,25782,25772]