Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid is the clear leader of the team. He is the best player on the floor in most of their matchups and he is the guy who has to put the team on his back and carry them when the time comes for that to happen.
However, when it comes to building chemistry and team bonding, he is not really on board with doing stuff off the floor. He has admitted that he is a bit of a recluse normally saying that he would much rather just stay home and hang out with his girlfriend and play video games more than anything.
With he and the team inside the bubble in Orlando to resume the 2019-20 season, he has no choice, but to hang out with his teammates and build a bond with them. It is only he and his teammates and coach Brett Brown acknowledged that he has built better chemistry with them as times goes on inside the bubble.
“He and I talked a lot about that. He was the one that brought it to me saying ‘absolutely’,” Brown explained on Saturday. “It’s hard to explain the forced camaraderie because of the environment togetherness. You don’t have really anybody else. The interaction amongst other coaches or teams doesn’t happen very much. I had dinner the other night with two coaching friends who are in my campus, but in general, you’re just with each other.”
That time has forced Embiid to join in with his team and come to events away from practice to build that bond. That is the type of bond that can carry over into games and such. He even showed up to a team event for Mike Scott the other night.
“He’s doing a great job,” said veteran teammate Kyle O’Quinn. “Showing up to team events, he showed up the other night to Mike Scott’s birthday. It’s a big thing for us to have the team together. It was cool.”
All of this is good for the Sixers moving forward. There is nothing wrong with hanging out at home and being a reclusive person, but the fact that he has been able to branch out and hang out with his teammates is good for his and the team’s well-being. That bond off the floor is so important to a team.
“With Joel, we all understand, he comes in, he brings it, he practices, a game and then he goes home,” Brown added. “I’m kind of like that. This environment here is surreal in the fact that you have no choice. Here you are, you’re with each other, and I love it. I think our guys have most important appreciated each other’s company.”
The Sixers will get back at it on August 1 and they have until then to really all get on the same page and get it right before the season resumption. Embiid and Ben Simmons have been doing a lot of different things on the floor together and their chemistry has been growing. If that can stretch to everybody else, that changes a lot of things for Philadelphia moving forward. [lawrence-related id=34960,34953,34944]