The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Joel Embiid Is Heading For Beast Mode

By Bret Stuter

Mar 7, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Nerlens Noel (left) and center Joel Embiid (right) share a laugh during warm ups before a game against the Atlanta Hawks at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 7, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Nerlens Noel (left) and center Joel Embiid (right) share a laugh during warm ups before a game against the Atlanta Hawks at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 4, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Former Houston Rockets Hakeem Olajuwon acknowledges the crowd during Los Angeles Clippers timeout in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Los Angeles Clippers won 117 to 101. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
May 4, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Former Houston Rockets Hakeem Olajuwon acknowledges the crowd during Los Angeles Clippers timeout in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Los Angeles Clippers won 117 to 101. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports /

Hakeem Says

Now for the story of the video from Embiid’s perspective, as recorded by the Sporting News’ DeCourcy:

"When I was 15, that’s when I had the thought that I wanted to play basketball,” Embiid said, sitting on an end zone bleacher at Allen Fieldhouse. “My dad wasn’t really — he was against it. But I had my uncle talk to him, and he finally convinced him to let me play basketball. And then I started playing. “When I started playing basketball, my coach back in Cameroon the first day he gave me a video of Hakeem Olajuwon. He told me to watch it every day. After practice, after every practice, I’d watch every move he did — and I’d just keep doing that. I just fell in love with his game, his footwork, how he moves. I was so proud — I wanted to be like him, because he’s African, moved from Nigeria to the U.S. I just felt if I had the chance to come here, I would try to do the same thing.” At the beginning it was kind of difficult for me, because it was so physical,” Embiid said. “Back home, it wasn’t the same. At Montverde, we had really good players like Dakari Johnson, we had so many guys. I think we had more than five pros on the team. I think that’s how I got better, playing against them every day. But it was hard at the beginning. “When I got here, I wasn’t known, so I didn’t have any offers. I was just like, ‘If anybody recruits me, I’m just going to go there and try to get my degree.’ And then in summer I played AAU, and I think I did pretty good. So I started having offers. I had a chance to have my mentor Luc, he was helping me a lot. I started watching NCAA games, and I liked Kansas. And even Luc liked it, because he played against them when he was at UCLA. He was like, ‘Man, that school is for bigs,’ that I’m going to develop over there, they get bigs to the NBA.”"

But Hakeem never said quit, so Joel Embiid never did.

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