The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 58: One-on-One With Joel Embiid

Episode Date: January 10, 2017

The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor is joined by Sixers forward and Rookie of the Year candidate Joel Embiid to discuss his nickname, the return of the big man in basketball, his desire to play point guard, and his strong social media presence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. My name is Kevin O'Connor, and I'm a basketball writer at the ringer.com. I'm here today with Joelle NB, the potential All-Star Starting Center for the Philadelphia 76ers. Jojo, thank you for joining me, and welcome to the show. Yes, sir. How you doing? So, Joel, you're averaging over 19.7 rebounds and two blocks per game so far the season. You could be the rookie of your favorite, probably are. And with your Twitter campaign, you might be an All-Star if this continues.

With the numbers you're putting up early this season and your... career. After everything that's happened the last two years, have you at all been surprised by anything that's happened so far? Yeah, I've been surprised myself, you know, before the season, I thought, you know, I hadn't played in two years and before the season, I thought I was just going to come in. And basically, first of all, I thought I was going to come off the bench and they were going to get me alone slowly. But, you know, especially my offensive game, I've gotten so much better. And I thought I was going to come in and show some flashes and, you know, show a little bit of my potential. And then the following, you all really take off. So it's been great that I just,

I had a chance to just come in and really show what I could do. You know, the funny thing is, you mentioned, you thought you might show some flashes. I think Brett Brown, really understands your potential. He calls you before Shaq with soccer feet compared you to Duncan and your third in the NBA and usage percentage. So you're being utilized like a superstar. What has Brett Brown enabling

you to be great to be yourself meant for you so far this year? I think the whole coaching staff has been doing a great job and they've put in me in a great position to succeed and you know with all the play calls and all the offense is set up and

he's been a play to really have the support and I really appreciate it. In today's NBA, there are a lot of great young bigs yourself, Miles Turner, Chris Stavs, Forzingis, Anthony Davis, Carl Anthony Towns, the list goes on. Are you happy that you're playing in the NBA at a time where there are a lot of great young big men? Because someday maybe people will look back at this time

and kind of like we do with the 90s Biggs. Oh, yeah, I mean, he's good, you know. What a like is, you know, every night you got someone who's coming at you And I like the challenge. I like playing against those type of guys because, you know, especially for example, my first meeting against call times, you know, I had a bad game. And but I like that. I went back and watched that tape and put that game on my calendar. And next thing, you know, the other day we beat them. And I had to put a good game against him. So it's still a learning experience, you know. I've been playing basketball.

I started playing basketball in 2011, so it's been about five, six years. And I missed two of those years, so I've got a long way to go. I'm willing to learn, and I want to get better. You mentioned how much you have to learn. So let's talk about what you want to become. You want to be great. You've said that before, and I think the work ethic you have has shown that. You've spoken to Tim Duncan before.

Are there any other legends or great players or great entertainers, whoever it may be that you've leaned on to get advice from? Team Duncan, that's been the main one. You know, there's some, like, here and there, you know, when I get the chance, I talk to them, man. Coach Bond is always the one connecting me. You know, I talked to David Robinson, too, when we went up to San Antonio last year.

So it's great. And every time I have a question, I always text team, and he always gave me advice last year they brought in Big Zee, Zedrona St. Gloucarskis, and who helped me a lot with my rehab, and he kind of gave the team a different approach with my rehab because the first year it was really, they wanted me to be all over the place, travel with them, and last year he came in and basically told them that I just needed to stay off my feet and kind of stay away from basketball for a little bit, and obviously it worked.

From the lessons you've learned, is there like a common ingredient for what it takes to be great? Is there something that you've learned that this is what you need to do, a special trait that people have to achieve greatness? I mean, it's all about hard work. You know, the past two years, one thing I learned, the main thing I learned is how to stay patient. My first year, I wasn't patient at all. I wanted to come back, and I kind of came back this soon.

And then my second year, I learned how to be patient. I stayed away from basketball. I just focused on my rehab. I went away in Qatar for a couple weeks. And, you know, it's just about hard work. And I was willing to, like, put in the work to, you know, my shot has gotten better, my post moves. Defensively, I kind of picked up on some stuff

while being away from basketball. Is that kind of what trust the process means to you? I mean, being patient, knowing that right, who you are right now isn't who you're going to be in year eight of your career, year nine of your career, year 20. Yeah, you know, I always. People always ask me what trust the passes means to me. To me it means that, you know, what I've gone through the past two years,

losing my brother being able to not to play basketball. And, you know, I've been taking it step by step, just walking on my game and then come back and being able to play the way I've been playing and I'm only going to get better. So it's about just staying patient and trust the process. Do you ever talk to Sam Hinkie still? Yeah, I mean, that's another thing, you know, but as a team, I feel like we're in a good situation. He left us in a good situation.

We drive picks and all the young guys we got, so we'll be fine. And then, Biden, he's a great GM too, and I'm sure he's doing his job, and he's going to figure it all that, and eventually we're going to be good. And the way Hinkie kind of built the team was analytics-based. Did you ever talk stats with him or you went to stats at all? No, really. You know, I understand that part, but, you know, I just, the main thing I can control is how hard I work and what I walk on. So I just focus on basketball.

And obviously, you know, the coaches always tell us the stats all the time. But it doesn't matter if you don't put in the work. You mentioned the other day that you want to be a point guard by the end of your career. you're dead ass serious about that, but I have to ask anyway. Are you serious about wanting to be a point card by the end of your career? Yeah, dead ass. I'm really serious. You know, I think I feel like I can, I'm willing to learn and I feel like I can do anything on a basketball court and if I had someone to teach me how to be a point guard, I think I can't. Obviously, guarding other point guards would be kind of tough. But, you know, if I get the chance to do,

that that's what I want to do. When Nerlans know well, you guys ran a high pick and roll with Robert Covington, and I think he popped in the play. You drove, is that new? I mean, that's happened twice in the last week, where you've been the ball handler and Covington set the screen in a pick and roll. Is that something Brett Brown installed, or is that just playing within the flow of the game? It's just the flow of the game.

You know, we do it all the time in practice, and I work on that, too, that type of is of situation. So it's just the floor of the game. and then my teammates understand my game and I understand the game still and he's just the floor the game the way they're guarding or the way we play

he just goes on and like Bob said that pick and roll and I used it and I think I missed a shot but he's great and I'm thankful for my teammates to have that trust in me so it's a change of topics here

you're a social media star maybe one of those popular NBA players on all social media you put yourself out there in kind of a way that not a lot of players do. Yesterday you had the hashtag NDA vote, Joelle and Bede, with the tweet from Donald Trump. If Trump read that, what do you think he was thinking? I mean, you know, he's the new president of the United States.

So, I mean, it feels great to have his support. But I was surprised. I didn't know where that was coming from. So when I saw his tweet, I was like, surprised. That's why I said, wow. And then I just tweeted it. And it was great to have his support. I mean, he's shitting on all.

Schwarzenegger, but he does support Joelle and B. A lot of people weren't following you on social media back in your Kansas days, but I remember you going on your webcam playing video games. I don't know if this was Twitch.com or what site it was. But what is it that you enjoy about having such a strong social media presence? You know, I like to be a regular guy. I like to act like I won and I'm a regular guy. I like to think that I'm won, even though I'm an NBA player.

So to be able to do stuff like that and kind of like connect with all the fans and just enjoy my time or just walk around the city and just enjoy just take pictures with fans or sign autographs is great. And I like to do that. I just want to be a regular guy. I just want to be regular and just have fun and just be funny. Just be happy. Does that help you stay grounded? Oh, yeah, definitely. I just like, you know, when you get to this stage as an NBA player,

I see some other guys, you know, they kind of change. And I wouldn't change for nothing. You know, I want to be that guy. Do you have any guilty pleasure TV shows that you watch? Oh, yeah. Probably one is Vampire Diaries. That's my favorite show ever. I love that show.

The reason why I asked is because a couple of years ago, you sent out a tweet saying, Spoiler Alert, in a shocking turn of events, Andy Dorfman has chosen Joel Unbeat over Josh and Nick. Hashtag the Bachelor. Do you watch The Bachelor? It's okay if you do. We get people at the Ringer that watch The Bachelor.

We have a Bachelor Party podcast. hosted by Juliet Littman if you want to listen to it I don't know well if would you go on The Bachelor if someday in the future if they ask you to me if it means that a lot of girls I have to choose between a lot of girls yeah would you be there for love or would you be there for them

all to slide into your DMs I mean just not just slide into the DMs I'm not looking for love right now no I'm too young you know I'm only 22 years old I'm just trying to have fun that's good that you're honest about that that last question here. Who is your secret crush?

We're going to see if I become an all-star. We're going to figure it out after. But I'm excited. You know, the fans I've been supportive and they show me so much love. And hopefully they keep doing that. And I'm going to keep putting the walk on the court. So if I get the chance to be able to be an all-star this show,

it would be great. And we're going to find out. and we're going to find out pretty soon. Who's my crush? About a month away. Let's get him in the game and we'll find out his crush. I know he wants us to find out too. Yep.

Thank you for joining me on the show today, Joelle Embed. You can follow him on Twitter at Joelle Embed and you can follow me at Kevin O'Connor NBA. Thank you. That's it for today. Thank you for listening and thank you again to Joel and Beed for joining us on The Ringer NBA show. You can read our NBA content at the ringer.com.

If you like the podcast, give us a rating on iTunes, share it, and don't forget, trust the process.