BOSTON -- Joel Embiid is a hard player to not like, and it’s not just because of his dominating play, which seems to only be trumped by his seemingly always jovial demeanor.
But beyond the funny tweets and comical comments to the media lies a big man on the rise to where it seems a matter of when -- not if -- he’ll be the most dominant big man in the NBA.
And in this, his first season of playing after spending the past two seasons on the bench out with injuries, Embiid is asserting as a player attracting lots of attention both on and off the court.
This becomes quite clear after the first round of All-Star votes by fans have him currently fourth in the Eastern Conference with 221,984 votes.
“I was surprised; surprised I got that many votes,” Embiid said on Friday prior to the Sixers facing the Boston Celtics. “It shows the fans, they care about me, support me and like me.”
He is well on his way to being the league’s rookie of the year, averaging 19.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.4 blocked shots and 1.9 assists while playing with a minutes restriction to the point where he’s averaging just 25.0 minutes per game this season.
And while the Sixers have accumulated a number of big man drafted near the top of the draft board, Embiid from the very beginning was seen as a player that Philadelphia could build around going forward.
To his credit, he has lived up to the lofty expectations which was far from a given considering injuries sidelined him for his first two seasons in the NBA.
With those injuries came a growing number of skeptics who wondered what, if anything, would he do once he was healthy enough to step on the floor.
It has taken him little to no time to gain the respect of opponents, including the Celtics who sent a double team at him frequently when the two faced off earlier this season.
“That was kind of surprising,” Embiid said. “That was my first game. Since then I’ve grown a lot. I’ve learned how to deal with double teams better. I think they do that again tonight it’ll be different. I was surprised. I’m definitely going to do a better job tonight.”
If Embiid comes off sounding rather confident in his talent, well, that’s because he is.
So confident, he doesn’t believe there’s a player on the floor that he can’t defend -- that includes Celtics All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, who is more than a foot shorter (and a lot faster) than the 7-foot Embiid.
“I hope I get switched on to him,” Embiid said. “He’s fast and he’s kind of short. He’s harder but it would be a great test for me.”
Embiid knows Thomas is the Celtics’ best player, so his mindset -- regardless of the size of the foe -- is to see how he stacks up against the best.
Not being able to do that for his first two years in the league, Embiid is determined to prove to any and all foes why he was one of more coveted players in the 2014 NBA draft.
“It’s different. When you come into the league as a top-three pick or number one, whatever, it’s hard,” Embiid said. “You have a chip on your shoulder. Everybody wants to go at you. And to be able to come back on the court … it just feels good.”