Today Joel Embiid dominates the boards of the NBA, but a few years ago it looked quite different. The Center of the Philadelphia 76ers was about to hang up its basketball shoes after its first training session at college – the ex-Rockets Center Tarik Black.
Embiid shared a story of his early college days in an article in The Players Tribune. There he tells of his first training session with the Kansas Jayhawks: “Tarik Black scored so hard about me that I almost gave up. I’ve already seen the return tickets in my mind’s eye.”
“The guy was a senior, a grown man,” the Cameroonian continued. “I had no idea what was going on. He got his own rebound and scored so hard that I was in slow motion.” What made the whole scene even worse for the then 18-year-old: The Jayhawks women’s team sat in the audience during the training – and could hardly keep up with laughter.
Embiid continued despite the embarrassment thanks to Kansas coach Bill Self. “What? Seriously?” was his reaction to the center’s retirement ideas. “In two years, you’ll be the No.1 pick in the NBA draft.” Self wasn’t quite right – the Sixers voted Embiid 2014 in third place – but it was enough motivation to continue.