Joel Embiid is The Process. That is a figurative and literal statement — figurative because he is considered the representation of former general manager Sam Hinkie’s attempt to have the Sixers go from a laughing stock to a contender that was known as “The Process,” literal because Embiid made the executive decision to make that his nickname sometime in the last few years.
As he is wont to do from time to time, Stephen A. Smith wanted to find out why that was the case. ESPN’s famous provocateur is a well-documented hater of Hinkie’s attempt to rebuild the Sixers, so he is very much not a fan of Embiid’s nickname. He even went as far as to say it was the “one issue” he has with Embiid.
But as Embiid explained it, he viewed it as really important to identify as the manifestation of The Process.
“It’s just a long story,” Embiid said. “We’ve been through so much for the past four years, and I know people out there are like ‘That took a lot of losing.’ When we’re on the court, we want to win games. We don’t go out there to lose games and it was just unfortunate that, during the two years that I, missed we lost a lot of games.
“I just felt like I needed to embrace it because I feel like it was kind of, like, on me,” Embiid continued. “I missed two years and we weren’t able to win. I felt like I had a chance to help the team, but I wasn’t able to. So for me, I felt like I just needed to embrace it. And then I want to be the guy that kind of like brings the energy back to Philly, the basketball. You know people are so passionate here, I wanted to be that guy.”
Embiid really seems to take the fact that he’s one of the pillars for the organization seriously, which was evident long before he told Smith why he made the name for the team’s controversial rebuilding project his nickname. Whether he is able to get Smith fully on board with The Process remains to be seen, but to Embiid’s credit, he made a pretty good sales pitch.
