The Philadelphia 76ers will enter the 2021 NBA playoffs as the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference. Friday night’s 122-97 drubbing of the Orlando Magic solidified Philly’s place atop the East, and while their ultimate goal of winning a championship is by no means achieved, the Sixers’ star player celebrated the accomplishment after the game by shouting out the polarizing experiment — as well as the architect of said experiment — that got him in Philly.
During his postgame press conference, Joel Embiid, who was obviously in a pretty good mood over how things played out on the evening, made it a point to say the rallying cry “trust the process” right as he left. He then realized he wanted to praise former Sixers executive Sam Hinkie, and made the last thing he said before leaving “Sam Hinkie knew.”
"Trust the Process." – @JoelEmbiid pic.twitter.com/TnNIe7HR3r
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) May 15, 2021
Embiid, of course, got the nickname “The Process” after coming to Philly amid their years-long rebuild that saw some really down years, all with an eye on eventually getting to a point where they are doing things like competing for the 1-seed and being viewed as a championship contender. While Hinkie has plenty of detractors for how he went about this, Embiid has vocally supported him over the years, so it doesn’t come as a big surprise that he heaped praise on Hinkie despite him resigning five years ago.
