Philadelphia 76ers: 5 Areas Where Joel Embiid Has Improved

3 of 6

Dec 11, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (R) and center Jahlil Okafor (M) greet Detroit Pistons forward Stanley Johnson (L) prior to game action at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Morale

The hardest part of any injury is often keeping one’s morale up throughout the recovery. When an NBA player has to sit out of work because of their health, it’s a pretty troubling situation. They are faced with wanting to play, but their body having limitations.

For a player like Embiid who has missed two straight seasons and faced a fair amount of setbacks, it’s got to be even tougher. The injury road for Embiid has been even longer than most other players, and he’s had to do things like take trips from Philadelphia to Qatar, which is not a short trip by any means.

All throughout the recovery period, we haven’t visibly seen the whole situation taking much of a toll on Embiid, which is surprising. Sure, he doesn’t smile all that often (but that’s just Embiid), but he does often show that he’s keeping his spirits high. When the right situation arises, we do see a smile break.

We see him fooling around with players before games, and we see him active on Twitter. Recently, he’s been on social media a lot, and he’s a very funny guy, especially when he talks about basketball and the Sixers in general.

While some think this comes across as immature, I find it to be something important. For a young player who has already faced a fair amount of adversity, it’s important to remain positive, something Embiid has done a good job with.

Next: Muscle