Philadelphia 76ers call Joel Embiid 'center of universe'

When the Philadelphia 76ers decided to use their No. 3 selection in the 2014 NBA Draft on Joel Embiid, many were shocked.

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It wasn’t that Joel Embiid wasn’t deserving of the selection considering pre-injury he was widely expected to be the top overall pick, but drafting any player with injury concerns is a pretty big risk. Add in Philadelphia had done the exact same thing the season before with Nerlens Noel and it seemed as if Philadelphia’s front office was putting a lot of trust in their medical team.

We may have a better indication as to why the 76ers decided to draft Joel Embiid though as head coach Brett Brown called the former Kansas star the ‘center of our universe‘.

“I hope that we can, ultimately, build a program where you can have the center of our universe — that I see Joel Embiid to be — sprinkled around people who can shoot the ball and let him have the space he needs.”

Well, no pressure or anything, Joel Embiid.

Currently it’s not known if the big man will be able to play this season as the Philadelphia 76ers plan to re-evaluate Embiid come late December or early January and update his recovery from a stress fracture suffered before the draft.

It’s the second time Joel Embiid has suffered a stress fracture as he also dealt with such during his time in high school, though it seems as if Philadelphia 76ers team doctors believe the injury is more freak in nature and isn’t something that will hamper the big man long-term.

For now Joel Embiid is going to be the Philadelphia 76ers’ ‘center of the bench’ which is where he’ll be sitting until he’s cleared medically to return to the court. That could be early as this season though may not happen until 2015-16.

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Philadelphia 76ers call Joel Embiid ‘center of our universe’

By Bryan Rose | Oct 9, 2014

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