By now you’re probably familiar with the Twitter stylings of one Joel Embiid. He recruits LeBron James, hits on Rihanna and is quickly becoming the NBA’s latest adorable rookie sensation. Even more impressive: He’s building a following despite the fact that he was limited during his one year in college and will likely miss most of the regular season with a foot injury.
His latest tweet is great for many reasons.
TB to when I started playing basketball 3 years ago and right before I came to the US, I WAS SO SKINNY #chickenwings pic.twitter.com/qW7zTn7yzQ
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) August 5, 2014
1. Damn, look how skinny he was. He’ll likely bulk up even more once he gets on a steady weight room schedule.
2. He started played basketball three years ago! I know this was covered extensively leading up to the draft, but to actually visualize it is pretty amazing. He went from a scrawny Cameroonian kid who had never touched a basketball to a consensus lottery pick drawing comparisons to Hakeem Olajuwon in just a few years. You know who else was a late bloomer from another country? Tim Duncan. He was a swimmer before picking up hoops in ninth grade after Hurricane Hugo demolished the only pool in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Now, I don’t know if a great fire burned up all the volleyball nets in Embiid’s hometown. More likely someone said “hey kid, you should play basketball if you want to actually get paid.” Then he was discovered by NBA-er Luc Mbah a Moute at a basketball camp. And now Embiid is astronomically better at basketball than the majority of us who have been playing all our lives. Stupid unfair genetics.
3. #chickenwings
Still not interested in this sidelined charismatic rookie? Wait to you see what he did while the rest of his draft mates performed impressive acrobatic dunks. Embiid just chilled in his walking boot and shot skyhooks:
I challenge @JabariParker https://t.co/ihgPNBPxhU @kaj33 #skyhook #hoopsrookie
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) August 3, 2014
