Joel Embiid helping Philadelphia 76ers come together

Success is its own worst enemy

In the end, the biggest enemy to success is success itself.

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But Joel Embiid is more than a social media savant, or a formidable wall of defense at the basket. He is more than points in the paint. He is comic relief for this team. He plays hard and competes vigorously, but he doesn’t take himself seriously.  And that laughter he bellows on the basketball court is infectious, and important.

In the end, players cannot be so successful that they begin to look down. Mistakes will happen. Losses will come. Assignments will be missed and tempers will flair. But its so hard to give into fear in the middle of howling with amusement.  And whenever Embiid is on the court, howling laughter is possible at any moment.

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Let’s face it. The young man began his NBA career on the bench for two seasons. While NBA fans nationwide trolled him, he laughed at them and himself. He took to publicly wooing Rihanna  and made it a punch line for the nation to laugh with him.

And he continued to laugh until he was able to step foot on the basketball court.