Catching up with the Association

We're more than half into the 2015-2016 NBA season, and the Play-Off picture is still unclear. In the West the two top teams are the San Antonio Spurs (2) and the Golden State Warriors (1), they'll be battling for that top seed. Speeking of the Warriors, they are on their way of having a historical season, they even have a chance of beating the 95-96 Bulls RS record of 72-10! Then we have the Thunder (3) and Clippers (4), while the rest is a mystery. Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers (surprisingly!), Memphis Grizzlies, Utah Jazz and even the Sacramento Kings are scrapping their way into the PO picture. The biggest surprise would be the Blazers. Nobody expected them to be anywhere near the .500 mark at this point in the season, after losing 4 of their 5 starters last off season. But the stars of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, together with scrappy veterans of Al-Farouq Aminu, Gerald Henderson and youngsters Mason Plumlee and Noah Vonleh are solidifying themselves as a real threat to other teams. The Kings on the other hand have been a disapointment... as always. They gave away their assets to sign solid role players in Koufos, Belinelli and Caron Butler, claiming that this is going to be the season they'll turn it all around. It sure looked that way at some point, but the constant drama surrounding the irradical Vivek Ranadive, got in the way. It's really difficult to be a Sacramento Kings fan. I just feel sorry for Boogie, the best big man in the game and one of the best players in the entire league and he is losing another year of playing PO basketball. 

On the East coast the situation is quite similar. We have the two top teams; Cleveland Cavaliers (1) and Toronto Raptors (2) fighting for the 1st spot. And the seeding through 3-8 is constantly changing. Some people even say that the Eastern Conference got better than the West. It might be the case, as 11 teams are battling for the 6 remaining spots. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops.

NBA Conference Finals Preview

After a miraculous comeback by the Houston Rockets, being down 1-3 with the Clippers, they managed to scrap into the Western Conference Finals and will face the Golden State Warriors on the 19th of March. As much as I would like to see Chris Paul, Blake and DeAndre go up against Steph and Co. I can't say that I'm unsatisfied with this current matchup. 

I will say right off the bat that the Warriors are the favourites in this series, so I will turn my focus on Houston. The Rockets proved that they're for real once they completed their comeback vs. the Clipps. Now everybody is saying that the key to win is for James Harden to get to the free throw line. I disagree. Like you saw in game 5, there are other players on the Houston roster that can play some ball. So I think that Harden should focus on being the "LeBron" for his team. And what I mean by that is that he should be able to take on a playmaking role, now that they do not have a healthy point guard on their squad (Pat Beverley is injured currently). "The Beard" has to take on a bigger defensive role also, I think we all know what I'm talking about... He simply cannot sag off Chef Curry or Klay, or they'll get burned, and the series will be other before you know it. James is known for being a defensive liability, wondering around somewhere in the paint, while his man splashes a three pointer. Another key for the Rockets are their big man; Dwight. From the beginning of the Playoffs Dwight looks like his older self from the "Superman days" in Orlando, which is very promising for Houston fans. It will be interesting seeing him go up against Andrew Bogut, another defensive specialist. 

Now going to the Eastern Conference, LeBron will have to deal with the Hawks. This will be a particularly hard task for Cleveland, with Kevin Love injured for the rest of the season and Kyrie being hobbled up, it's time for the role players to step up, just like Delly did in game 6 vs. Chicago. David Blatt should go deeper into his bench and grab Mike Miller and Shawn Marion out to play some minutes. I get that their old veterans, but that's why they were brought to the team, to play in the Playoffs and bring that expierience into the game. LeBron will be LeBron, he will play his heart out, the key factor for the Cavs is staying healthy and for the role players to contribute more. To be perfectly candid, I do not believe in the Hawks. I don't know why, it's just that the fact that they do not have that go-to-guy that can close out games for you, I think it's a problem for them. Playing without a star does have its benefits, but it also carries some drawbacks. They are playing beautiful team basketball, but they already showcased their weaknesses in the previous rounds vs. Brooklyn and vs. Washington. They love to play small ball and they do so perfectly, but that just might come back and haunt them on the boards, with big guys like Mozgov and Thompson (who is a rebounding machine) they will get outrebounded. These guys handled themselves well against the powerful frontcourt of the Bulls, so they should be OK Milsap and Horford.

NBA Trade Deadline

Last night at 3 p.m. ET was the trade deadline. It was one of the craziest trade deadline I've witnessed in my life, and it was also the 'biggest' trade deadline with a record of 37 players dealt. Now let's quickly breakdown some of them.

Houston Rockets get: Pablo Prigioni

New York Knicks get: Alexey Shved, 2 2nd round picks

This isn't really a trade that will impact the NBA in some way. The Rockets do get a mediocre backup PG, which they needed, and New York are getting Shved and some meaningless picks.

Houston Rockets get: KJ McDaniels

Philadelphia 76ers get: Isaiah Canaan, 2nd round pick

I have no idea what the Sixers are doing. I really like McDaniels and thought that the Sixers got a nice, young player for their future. But obviously they are all in on the draft and will continue to tank and stockpile draftpicks for the forseable future. The Houston Rockets made a good deal, now with KJ they have another athletic wing that will run up and down the court and defend the top players of the opposing teams. 

Detroit Pistons get: Tayshaun Prince

Boston Celtics get: Jonas Jerebko, Luigi Dantome

Another minor trade. I don't believe the Pistons will make a run at the Playoffs with Jennings out, but they still needed a wing defender and they got one in Tayshaun. While the Celtics just wanted to deal him.

Portland Trailblazers get: Arron Afflalo, Alonzo Gee

Denver Nuggets get: Thomas Robinson, Will Barton, Victor Clavier, protected 1st round pick, future 2nd round pick

It's a shame that Robinson is on the move yet again. I really like him, I liked him since his days at Kansas and still think that it's not the last we see of TRob, he will get better. There are talks about buying out his contract and letting him sign somewhere else, but that's not certain yet. Now the main guy here is Arron Afflalo, a very good perimeter defender who can spot-up and make some shots, so the Blazers certainly upgraded their bench, which is really, really bad at the moment.

Brooklyn Net get: Thaddeus Young

Minnesota Timberwolves get: Kevin Garnett

Kevin is back in Minnesota. This trade indicates a possibility that KG will stay at Minny after his retirement, probably as a part owner, or the head of basketball operations or something like that. It's very likely. Brooklyn wanted Thad Young for a long time and now they got him. It doesn't really change that much, Brooklyn will still continue to play bad.

Denver Nuggets get: Rights to Cenk Akyol

Philadelphia 76ers get: JaVale McGee, 1st round pick

This deal is really about the Sixers getting yet another draft pick...

Miami Heat get: Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic

Phoenix Suns get: Danny Granger, John Salmons, Justin Hamilton, 2 1st round picks

New Orleans Pelicans get: Shawne Williams, Norris Cole

The Dragons are going to South Beach! This is a major upgrade at the point guard position and now with Wade, Bosh and Dragic the Heat are looking good again. They might make an upset in the Playoffs watch out. With this deal the Suns clearly are taking a step back and are exiting the Playoff race and I don't blame them. They are a young team that overacheived last season, nobody expected them to be this good and now they can look towards the future. They already have the right players and a very good coach in Jeff Hornacek, now all they need is time. With Jrue Holiday out with an injury, the Pelicans needed someone at the point, so they got Cole, who is an OK player, definetely not a starter, but a good bench option.

Boston Celtics get: Isaiah Thomas

Milwaukee Bucks get: Michael Carter-Williams, Miles Plumlee, Tyler Ennis

Philadelphia 76ers get: 1st round pick

Phoenix Suns get: Brandon Knight, Marcus Thornton, 1st round pick

Wow, again, what are the Sixers doing??Trading away their future point guard? Ughhh... Anyway, Thomas is a guy the Celtics had on their radar for quite some time now and they got him. There were reports about him being a bad teammate and all, but he is bestfriends with Avery Bradley, so he will certainly like him as a teammate. The Bucks made a sneaky good trade here, sending away Knight and getting Ennic, MCW and Plumlee in return. Sanders' days as a Buck are certainly over, so now they have Plumlee, an athletic center that runs the court, so he'll fit in perfectly. Tyler Ennis is still a rook and can improve, as of now he didn't have the oppurtinity to showcase himself. Michael Carter-Williams averages numbers similar to a HOFer, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and now has a chance to play under Jason Kidd, who was also a similar type of a point guard. I am really excited about this Bucks team. Their lineup is super scary and freakishly long with guys over 6'7, giant wingspans, man, it's going to be tough for the opposing teams to guard players this big. 

Oklahoma City Thunder gets: Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, Kyle Singler, DJ Augustin

Detroit Pistons get: Reggie Jackson

Utah Jazz get: Kendrick Perkins (will be bought out)

OKC clearly got a lot better. They upgraded their center position, and their bench which was awful ever since they traded James Harden. I just wonder if this will make any difference actually, people are already claiming that OKC will win a title now, but will they? Enes Kanter is a bad defender, but he gives them new scoring options, which they didn't have with Perk. Novak will make a couple of three's every now and then, Singler the same. DJ Augustin is a slight downgrade from Reggie Jackson, but will give them a scoring punch from the bench. Still, I believe it comes down to coaching. That is the main reason why the Thunder won't win a titler, they' won't even make the Western Conference Finals. Scott Brooks' playbook consists of a bunch of different players where all of them end the same: Iso for KD or Russ. It's terrible. Just think how good that team would be if they had the right coach...

NBA All-Star Game 2015

The 2015 NBA All-Stars have been announced and once again the fans have let me down. Picking Kobe Bryant over James Harden is simply unacceptable. It's a crime. Kobe has missed several games due to injuries, and while he did put up some great scoring displays, his team is still at the bottom of the Pacific Division. Unfortunately the number of 'Kobetards' around the world is greater then the number of true basketball fans. That's why the system has to be somehow changed, as every year 2-3 players, that are worthy of an All-Star selection, get snubbed in favor of aging stars of yesterday. Commisioner Adam Silver already hinted about changing the All-Star selections by expanding the rosters. I like that Mr. Silver is so active and wants to change things for the better, but in this case I don't think expanding the rosters would be such a great idea, as then the players would get less minutes on the court. The minute distribution would be a head scratcher for the coaches. I think that we should let the players decide themselves on who should be an All-Star. Players would vote, just like us, for the players, who aren't their teammates, and then the 5 players from each conference with the most votes are the starters. The reserves would be picked by the coaches just like now. This is just an idea from the top of my head, but I still think this is better then letting some random fans vote. And also how is that possible that the player with the most votes only receive around 2 million votes? The NBA is expanding, more and more people are watching it, but only a few care enough to vote. That's why changes need to be done.

Sacramento Kings - the most unpredictable team in the league

One year ago I wrote a 3-piece article on the Sacramento Kings; their struggle under the Maloof ownership and a new future with the new owner Vivek Ranadive. Then I was fairly optimistic about the direction the organisation was heading towards. We signed a new and promising coach, whom I really liked, in Mike Malone and picked up a new GM, Pete D'Allesandro. Shortly after some changes in the roster were made. On draft day we were fortunate enough to land Ben McLemore, who I think will be an All-Star one day, later on, in November I think, we made a trade for Derrick Williams- former 2nd draft pick who has struggled much in Minnesota and was given a second chance in Sacramento. Then we traded for yet another forward in Rudy Gay. At the time I was devastated when I heard the news, as Rudy was becoming a joke around the league, earning a reputation of being a volume shooter, instead of a good shooter. He's jack up 30 shots a game in Toronto and would refuse to look at the stat sheet after the games. Plus his contract of 19 mln$/yr was a downside too. But now looking at it in retrospect, Rudy was a steal for us. With DeMarcus Cousins being the team's first option, Rudy stepped in the role of Robin, which meant he'd have less shots then he had in a Raptors jersey. Gay had to redefine his game in Sacramento, which helped rebuild his reputation. Right now he is no longer settling for difficult, contested shots, instead his getting to the freethrow line more often. He worked on his post game and also developed as a play maker, he averages a career high 4.7 APG! I think that Rudy is having himself a career season. And he also signed an extension for three years and 40 mln$ and with the new TV deal the league will sign, this contract will be considered low for a player of Gay's caliber.

The Sacramento Kings took everyone by surprise this season with an unbelievably good start. The team did make some surprising off season moves (picking Nik Stauskas, replacing Isaiah Thomas with Darren Collison and Ramon Sessions) which made me shake my head, but the team looked much better as a TEAM. There was more ball movement, everybody got their touches, players finally bought in on Mike Malone's defense and as a result we started winning ball games. People started questioning whether or not the Kings could fight for the 8th seed in the West!!! But then DeMarcus Cousins (kinda a big reason for the Kings success...) was sidelined for a couple of weeks with viral meningitis. So naturally Sacramento got into a bit of a slump without their star big man, which is perfectly normal for a team to struggle without their best player. BUT Vivek thought otherwise and decided to fire Malone.

When I first heard about the firing of Mike Malone I literally got so angry that fumes started to get out of my ears and nostrils. It was unbelievable. For the first time since forever the Kings are playing good, efficient, WINNING basketball and the owner was still not pleased, claiming it was about the differences in philosophies. Well yeah, if you want to play 4 on 5 defense with one player cherry picking on the other side, and the other guy wants to play some actual defensive sets, yes I would say these two had their differences on how basketball should be played. This move was unexpected to say the least, nobody in the league thought that Malone would be fired, as he did a hell of a job with this team, he actually made them play defense. Unfortunately this relationship was doomed from the start. There have been reports of Mike and Vivek clashing, Vivek wanted to make a move for Josh Smith, Mike didn't, Vivek wanted to try out 4 on 5 defense, Mike didn't... The worst part of this whole firing is the fact that it wasn't the GM who made the decision, despite of what he says. I strongly believe that it was the owner who overused his power. Just like with the 14' draft. Most of the frontoffice people wanted to draft Elfrid Payton, which was a smart idea, since they already decided they would let Thomas go, but Vivek strongly pushed towards drafting Nik Stauskas, a shooting guard, someone who plays the same position Ben McLemore does, a guy who you drafted a year ago. Naturally, you do not want to say 'NO' to your boss and at the end they decided to go with Nik, a pick I think they'll regret in the future. 

As of right now Ty Corbin is the interim head coach of the Kings and I hope this will soon change. I don't Corbin is a terrible coach, he's much more suited to be an assistant coach. George Karl and Mark Jackson are two possible coaches that would replace Mike Malone. Karl would be a good fit for the Kings, since he already had worked with D'Allesandro in Denver when he was coaching the Nuggets, and he also is looking for an opening to get back into head coaching. Mark Jackson on the other hand has a relationship with Vivek's advisor Chris Mullin, both played for Golden State Warriors in the 80s'-90s'. He'd bring a strong presense in the locker room and could lead us to the playoffs in a year or two. But as of now, Corbin will be our headcoach, since he decided to go with Vivek's ideas of playing a more uptempo game and playing 4 on 5 defense............

The problem with Vivek is that he doesn't now too much about basketball. Saying you want to play a faster, more uptempo game is dumb and plain stupid, since you have the best center in the league on your team. Boogie isn't freakin' Anthony Davis who runs from one end to the court to the other, blocking shots and finishing alley oops, no. He plays with a different style, you throw him the ball in the low post and let him do his thing. AND OF COURSE PLAYING 4 ON 5 DEFENSE WILL NOT WORK. Seriosly, I'm glad it worked with yours kids and a bunch of other 4th graders, but this is professional basketball, don't turn us into a joke please... Vivek desperately wants to change the way basketball is played by throwing these new crazy ideas into the world, instead of playing with the pieces you have. Let the people you hired make these type of decisions, it's their job right? Ranadive is not the worst owner in the league, he's certainly not worse then the Maloofs', he just wants to make a stand, he wants the league to know him. Let's not forget that Mark Cuban wasn't a good owner from the start, he too made some bad decisions and after a couple of years he decided to let the people he hired handle the basketball related decisions. 

Another thing that made me shake my head is the latest trade rumour concerning Deron Williams being traded to Sacramento. I feel like teams now know that Vivek is experiencing the 'new-owner syndrome' where he necessarily has to make a splash with some deals and owner know that so his the first person they call when they want to dump some player on a bad contract. So the trade would look like this: the Kings get Deron Williams and the Nets get Darren Collison, Jason Thompson and possibly Derrick Williams. Now the talks had hit a roadblock because the Kings want to include Mason Plumlee in the deal also, but the Nets say no. My opinion about this trade is please don't do it Vivek. Deron is the second highest paid point guard in the league, behind CP3, but he might not even be a top15 point guard. And it's not like his contract ends next year, we'd have him till 2017! And he's not getting any younger too (currently 30 y/o), plus his ankles are extremely fragile. You could make a case that he'd find a new life here in Sacramento and that you cannot win in the West with Darren Collison as your starting point guard, but still it is not worth it. It's much better to invest your money elsewhere, like for example in Paul Millsap. He is going to be a free agent in the offseason. Or David West. We could make an offer to Indiana throwing in Jason Thompson, Derrick Williams, some picks maybe or Nik Stauskas (he won't have any room to develop with the stelar play from McLemore). So you see there are options and I think we should explore them, instead of settling for Williams. 

After a surprising great start from the Kings it seems that we're again back to the start. It's hard being a Sacramento Kings fan, it really is. But it is also exciting, as nobody knows what's going to happen, seriously nobody, we're that unpredictable. Which makes it at least a little bit fun I suppose. Well it's fun, until Boogie decides he's fed up with this and requests a trade... then the fun will be over. Oh and happy holidays everybody!

Around the NBA - I'm baack

Due to overload of work and other stuff, I haven't posted anything in a while and for that I'm sorry.

Anyway, I will shortly write about the things that happened in the NBA during the first trimester of the season; what I liked and didn't like, what surprised me and disappointed me, you know, that sorts of stuff.

The New Kings

You know I have to talk about my Kings. It turned out that replacing Isaiah Thomas with Darren Collison wasn't such a bad idea after all. The players are finally buying into Mike Malone's defense, a coach who specializes in that end of the court, but didn't show that much last season. Ben McLemore is starting to blossom after a rough start to the season. He's playing with more confidence and shoots the ball at a much higher percentage. Whereas his sub, Nik Stauskas, can't quite find the groove yet. His field goal percentage has been bad with 32.9% and he shoots just above 24% from deep, which is troubling, since the Kings selected him because of his terrific shooting. But there is still time, so there is no need to call him a bust. The FIBA World Cup really helped improve both Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins, as both players are playing on an All Star level, Boogie could even jump into the MVP race. Unfortunately DMC has been suffering from a viral infection, which caused him to miss 8 games and counting... The Kings are struggling right now at 11-13 without their star big man, but once he comes back I really think Sacramento can cause some chaos in the West and fight for that 8th seed. 

Where's the buzz in Charlotte?

The Hornets are back in Charlotte and after a great season opener everything looked goood, Al Jefferson is healthy, they signed Lance in the offseason and their jerseys are fffrrresshh. But something went wrong in the process and right now the Hornets won 6 of their 22 games. That's the team that was supposed to be battling for the top 3 spot in the East. After this slow start people started to point fingers at the new guy- Lance Stephenson, who already earned himself a reputation in Indiana. Lance was supposed to take the Hornets over the top, but he really hasn't done that much apart from making that tough 3 pointer against Atlanta. Born Ready has been averaging 10-7-5 and shooting 38% from the field and 15% behind the 3 point line... Lance seems to have lost his shooting touch in the Buzz City, opposing teams started to leave him wide open and he still bricks these easy shots. Something is not right in Charlotte, but I don't think it's all Lance's fault and I hope that they will give him some time to settle in, as there already have been reports that the team is looking to trade Lance, which is kind of a panicky move in my opinion.

The East-West problem

The Western conference once again is showing the world its superiority over the poor East. I think it is bizarre that a team placed 12th in the West would be 8th in the East and would make the Playoffs. Something has to be done about this. The PO seeding should be based on the whole league, without the division of conferences. By doing so, we'd give the people what they want, which means more competitive basketball.

Warriors are ballin'
During the offseason the Golden State Warriors replaced their head coach Mark Jackson with a rookie coach Steve Kerr. Now I wasn't sure about that move, as I thought that the Warriors played some good basketball under the leadership of Jackson, but as it turns out it was more about the organisation really disliking him, rather than his performance with the team. Right now the Warriors are the best team in the West and the best team in the whole NBA with a stunning record of 20-2. Last night they just won their 15th straight game! It's the best start in the franchises history! And the best start for a rookie head coach! Steve Kerr finally unlocked the offense in GS, the thing Mark Jackson could never do. Jackson was known for his defensive mindset, but actually the Warriors are playing much better defense under the new head coach which is surprising. It is safe to say that the hiring of Steve Kerr was the right choice.

Joel Embiid - King of Twitterland

Joel-Hans Embiid, the 3rd overall pick of the 2014 Draft hasn't even played one minute in the NBA but he already proved that he has the most game out of that draft class. And by 'game' I mean his smooth talk he tried to use on Twitter to lure Kim Kardashian and Rihanna on a date. With Embiid's recent tweets he established himself as a jokester, a loveable, fun-to-be-around guy. In this post I present to you the Best of Joel Embiid.

It all started on July 1st, when Joel smartly tried to use his recruiting skills to convince LeBron to play with him in Philly.

@KingJames hey bro hope you're having a good day...... Want to join us in philly?? Peace
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 1, 2014

After a day of silence from LeBron...

Been a day.. still waiting for @KingJames to answer me like (TAPE DELAY GUYS) how can you do that to me? @espn pic.twitter.com/LkeGQLrszQ
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 3, 2014

I hope i'm not gonna get fined already with those Lebron's tweets is it legal to recruit over twitter @NBA ?
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 3, 2014

Day 3: still no answers............
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 4, 2014

Embiid does not wait

He probably DM'd me but I dont read my DMs so I'm gonna go ahead and block him pic.twitter.com/PunjHSiQRI
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 4, 2014

Y'all gotta stop mentioning him..... he doesnt have to see that LOL
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 4, 2014

He even tried to get a hold of his agent

What's Mr Rich Paul's twitter account? That might be his agent. Whoever finds it, gets a hug. I need to holla at him (idk if that's English)
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 4, 2014

WATCH THE THRONE. THE LION KING is coming!!!! @KingJames #EMB11D #TogetherWeBuild
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 7, 2014

We even got some 'bromance'

Bro I miss you 😚😚😘😘😁😁😜 @22wiggins
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 7, 2014

Haters gonna hate

This is a crazy world... People are so mean
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 7, 2014

He even took a shot at Drake once LeBron announced his decision

Where are you going next? @Drake
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 11, 2014

At least you tried...

I guess my recruiting skills didn't work
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 11, 2014

@ScHoolBoyQ yo my boy instead of man of the year, make a song with rookie of the year ok? I asked drake but he said "NO".. I was mean to him
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014

He already made friends with TDE member, rapper Schoolboy Q

@ScHoolBoyQ hahaha my boy
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014

And then the 'flirting' began

Hey I want you to come slide in my DMs @KimKardashian
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014

Have a nice day!

Oh I didn't know you were married sorry @KimKardashian just saw it from the fan's tweet... have a nice day
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 16, 2014

C'MON MA

This has to stop. Mom is questioning me if I really wanna date 40 or 50 years old women. IT WAS A JOKE. I'm focused on rehab and basketball.
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 17, 2014

Moving on...

BREAKING NEWS: Moving on from kk to Rihanna
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 22, 2014

Hey baby holla at me!! Dinner at giorgios at 930pm @rihanna????
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 22, 2014

More:Embiid’s reaction“You know in life, you need to experience new things and I just thought that I should shift my attention to a new girl
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 22, 2014

SOURCES: Rihanna is considering JOEL EMBIID’s offer
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 22, 2014

That's all I gotta say......@rihanna repping the @Sixers and my jersey number #EMB11D ( got this from JD) pic.twitter.com/QVsqP7SvGs
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 23, 2014

He's just joking around

S/O to all the (I don't wanna say dumb but I'm gonna go ahead and say it) "DUMB" people who think that I'm serious. Not a mean guy tho.
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 23, 2014

Oh, Joel... I have do admit, you became one of my favourite basketball players, just with your tweets. But stay away from Rihanna, we all saw what happened to JR Smith, right? Joel's career can turn out in two scenarios; 1. Injuries will stop him from fulfilling his potential , 2. He becomes the second Hakeem Olajuwon. I'm rooting for scenario number two. If Embiid turns out to be half as good a player as he is a jokester/troll, he will be successful. We miss players like Joel, players not afraid to say/write what they please, of course he is clearly joking, but still, has anyone ever done that? Joel won my heart and I wish him good luck in the NBA... and with the ladies.

Stay true Embiid, stay true

"Be yourself, show some personality"
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 7, 2014