Joel Embiid Promises He’ll ‘Be Back Even Better And Stronger’ After The Sixers Were Eliminated

The Sixers believed this was supposed to be the year that everything came together and they finally became contenders to, at the very least, win the conference. Joel Embiid had finally gotten a taste of playoff experience, Ben Simmons was not a rookie anymore, and the front office made some win-now moves in trading for Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. LeBron James was out of the East. The Celtics were struggling. For a team like Philly, the stars looked to be aligning perfectly.

Unfortunately, that didn’t quite work out. While they wanted to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and maybe even the NBA Finals, a miracle Kawhi Leonard shot sent them home earlier than planned.

For Embiid, it was an extreme disappointment. The big man cried after Leonard’s shot went in, to the point that he was consoled by Raptors center Marc Gasol. Now that he’s had some time to reflect, Embiid has a more optimistic approach. He made a post on Twitter guaranteeing that he and the Sixers will come back stronger next season.

Beyond that, Embiid decided it was time to change up his profile picture.

Embiid accepting the result and moving on to get better is the first step towards further improvement. It also helps he’s getting advice from great big men like Gasol. Sixers fans have to be excited knowing that Embiid isn’t settling for just a slight improvement. He wants everything, and that drive is why he’s the centerpiece to the organization. Even though the Sixers have questions about the futures of players like Butler and Harris, they will still have Embiid holding everything down and getting better. At this rate, it’s hard to not see him and the Sixers eventually making that leap he wants so bad.