missed one of his free throws. He blamed himself for
committing a turnover in the final minute. He bemoaned
the team’s inability to get good offensive possessions
down the stretch. “I didn’t call out anybody,” says Embiid.
“This is what [the media] does. I listed a bunch of stuff
that happened. And that one little piece of it was every-
where. We couldn’t get anything going. It’s unfortunate,
but if, as a player, if you want to read into that, I can’t
help you.”
Even if he was singling out Simmons, so what? “I’m
always going to challenge my teammates,” Embiid says.
He believed he had supported Simmons. For years Embiid
worked more on his perimeter game—a Simmons weak-
ness—largely to space the f loor and open up driving
lanes. Besides: Embiid knew criticism. He was hit with
waves of it during his first two seasons. For his atti-
tude. For his work ethic. For his diet. The perception
of Embiid’s rehab was that it was spent eating cheese-
steaks and mainlining Shirley Temples. All this while
dealing with personal tragedy. In 2014, when Embiid
was rehabbing with the Sixers, his 13-year old brother,
Arthur, died after a runaway truck careened into a
Cameroonian schoolyard. In the months that followed,
Embiid considered moving back to Africa. Perhaps he’d
play volleyball, a sport he excelled at as a teenager. MaybeJOEL EMBIIDCHANGING OF THE GUARDS
After four seasons with Simmons in Philly,
Embiid has a new star teammate in Harden.