Joel Embiid: 'Process' Nickname Was In Response To NBA Forcing Out Sam Hinkie

[RealGM Wiretap]

Joel Embiid explained why he adopted "The Process" as his nickname in response to the dismissal of Sam Hinkie in 2016.

“I remember I used to get calls about like ‘can you please tell Joel not to mention the process’ name? We’re trying to move on from it,” Embiid recalled on Draymond Green's podcast.

“I got to the league and my second year, (Hinkie) was basically forced out,” Embiid said. “I don’t wanna say names but you know I’m outspoken so I’ll say it: the NBA. I don’t know who, but I think that’s what it was.

“They basically forced him out and I didn’t like it.”

Embiid decided to pay homage to the regime that believed in him dating back to 2014.

“Around that time the league did not like The Process because it was a bunch of losing, they’re saying it was tanking, they were losing on purpose, which in the end no one loses on purpose,” he said. “If you’re not talented enough in the NBA, yeah, you’re gonna freaking lose if you’re playing against more talented players.”

“I knew they didn’t like The Process and then I was like ‘you know what? I’m gonna piss some people off’,” Embiid continued, “so that’s why I started pushing the agenda about you know what? I’m gonna support my mans because he drafted me, coming out of college before I got drafted he believed in me.”

Via Jason Kates/Liberty Ballers

[IWishIWasHarden]

It has bitten him yet, but it will one day.

[the_process]

It has bitten him yet, but it will one day.

He had to sit his first two years with injuries. The karmic price, so to speak, has been paid.

Of course, you could say he's earned karma in his favor for loyalty and persistence. So there's that.

[rzzzzz]

After Biid’s brother died a real bad hit piece came out claiming he was lazy, had angry outbursts, and of course the Shirley Temples. Sam stuck close to the big guy, convinced him to get the 2nd operation when he was ready to give it all up, and assembled a team of cutting edge physicians and physical therapists to make that navicular right, so he didn’t end up as another promising big brought down by foot problems. Cost an extra year, just enough time for Nosferatu to sick Jerry on the team, who replaced Sam with his son and proceeded to give away and misplay all those picks that Sam collected. Couldn’t get rid of Joel, though.

[Revived]

Wasn’t this obvious? Did anyone seriously wonder where the process nickname for him came from?

[BigHustle]

I for one have grown to love the big troll. Even as a Celtics fan I do love the process.

[Pickled Prunes]

Wasn’t this obvious? Did anyone seriously wonder where the process nickname for him came from?

It was obvious. What is also obvious is that this current situation had better work out. Tobias is overpaid (but underrated) and Harden is going to be overpaid by someone this summer. If it's PHI that overpays Harden then "The Process" as a concept is officially done. If Harden signs with another team it's done. All PHI can hope for is an S&T that brings back what they just traded away for Harden, depth, picks and a fringe all-star player.

Embiid is a hell of a player, but that was a whole lot of losing to be in the position they are now!

[dougthonus]

Wasn’t this obvious? Did anyone seriously wonder where the process nickname for him came from?

It was obvious. What is also obvious is that this current situation had better work out. Tobias is overpaid (but underrated) and Harden is going to be overpaid by someone this summer. If it's PHI that overpays Harden then "The Process" as a concept is officially done. If Harden signs with another team it's done. All PHI can hope for is an S&T that brings back what they just traded away for Harden, depth, picks and a fringe all-star player.

Embiid is a hell of a player, but that was a whole lot of losing to be in the position they are now!

Philly has ultimately disappointed a lot in the playoffs, but they've been relevant every year. A lot of franchises would be happy with that. If Philly doesn't win this year and keeps Harden, they'll be relevant next year too even if not a favorite.

[TheCage4]

I love how he says he won’t mention names, and then says “the NBA,” followed by, “I think that’s what it was.” So in essence, he didn’t actually name anyone, and he thinks it was the league that pushed Hinkie out, but has no definitive facts.

He should get a job as a mainstream reporter after his playing career ends.

[spree2kawhi]

I love how he says he won’t mention names, and then says “the NBA,” followed by, “I think that’s what it was.” So in essence, he didn’t actually name anyone, and he thinks it was the league that pushed Hinkie out, but has no definitive facts.

He should get a job as a mainstream reporter after his playing career ends.

Disgusting really. And stupid too. Great player, but I don’t like these egos.

[Salty1]

I love how he says he won’t mention names, and then says “the NBA,” followed by, “I think that’s what it was.” So in essence, he didn’t actually name anyone, and he thinks it was the league that pushed Hinkie out, but has no definitive facts.
LOL made my day, this other guy below should eat bum tho
He should get a job as a mainstream reporter after his playing career ends.

Disgusting really. And stupid too. Great player, but I don’t like these egos.

[kenwood3333]

Is the NBA going to fine Embidd for this comment? I mean they fine players not leaving court in time for one game. It will be weak for the NBA to not take a stand on it.

[Johnny Bball]

How incredibly naive of Embiid that nobody loses on purpose. Hinkie's entire thing was to build a team that loses. And it was built on purpose to lose. Then coaches and medical staff helped them lose on purpose.

[IWishIWasHarden]

It has bitten him yet, but it will one day.

He had to sit his first two years with injuries. The karmic price, so to speak, has been paid.

Of course, you could say he's earned karma in his favor for loyalty and persistence. So there's that.

That's not the kind of biting I was referring to. He has a target on his back now by real people. It's just a matter of time before he gets hit in one way or another. Most likely someone won't do him any favors one day. Hopefully he doesn't need any.

[Pickled Prunes]

Wasn’t this obvious? Did anyone seriously wonder where the process nickname for him came from?

It was obvious. What is also obvious is that this current situation had better work out. Tobias is overpaid (but underrated) and Harden is going to be overpaid by someone this summer. If it's PHI that overpays Harden then "The Process" as a concept is officially done. If Harden signs with another team it's done. All PHI can hope for is an S&T that brings back what they just traded away for Harden, depth, picks and a fringe all-star player.

Embiid is a hell of a player, but that was a whole lot of losing to be in the position they are now!

Philly has ultimately disappointed a lot in the playoffs, but they've been relevant every year. A lot of franchises would be happy with that. If Philly doesn't win this year and keeps Harden, they'll be relevant next year too even if not a favorite.

Sure, but they didn't suck (I mean really SUCK) for 5 years just to be relevant. There are better ways to get more bites at the apple. It's like betting on the stock market. There was no way Ben Simmons's value would ever be higher than it was two years ago. PHI missed that opportunity. The same could be said of WSH with Beal. He is way overvalued in the NBA. SGA with OKC. I don't know that he'll ever have a better season that last year. Jerami Grant received more buzz this trade deadline than he ever will again. DET should have taken the best deal available. He is a nice 4th or 5th piece but you can't build around him.

Bottom line, sucking on purpose is the most unsportsmanlike thing you can do that doesn't involve violence... and there are better ways to build a team.

[dice]

It was obvious. What is also obvious is that this current situation had better work out. Tobias is overpaid (but underrated) and Harden is going to be overpaid by someone this summer. If it's PHI that overpays Harden then "The Process" as a concept is officially done. If Harden signs with another team it's done. All PHI can hope for is an S&T that brings back what they just traded away for Harden, depth, picks and a fringe all-star player.

Embiid is a hell of a player, but that was a whole lot of losing to be in the position they are now!

Philly has ultimately disappointed a lot in the playoffs, but they've been relevant every year. A lot of franchises would be happy with that. If Philly doesn't win this year and keeps Harden, they'll be relevant next year too even if not a favorite.

Sure, but they didn't suck (I mean really SUCK) for 5 years just to be relevant. There are better ways to get more bites at the apple. It's like betting on the stock market. There was no way Ben Simmons's value would ever be higher than it was two years ago. PHI missed that opportunity. The same could be said of WSH with Beal. He is way overvalued in the NBA. SGA with OKC. I don't know that he'll ever have a better season that last year. Jerami Grant received more buzz this trade deadline than he ever will again. DET should have taken the best deal available. He is a nice 4th or 5th piece but you can't build around him.

Bottom line, sucking on purpose is the most unsportsmanlike thing you can do that doesn't involve violence... and there are better ways to build a team.

hinkie was GM for less than 3 years...

they intentionally sucked in his first year. the process basically immediately worked before it was even "the process" by netting them "the process" in that summer's draft. embiid's injury (surely milked) motivated hinkie to intentionally build a crappy roster of youth and short-term contracts for two additional seasons, resulting in simmons. hinkie was then fired

every move over those 3 seasons made sense in a vacuum, scoring them a slew of assets that subsequent GMs squandered

the most unsportsmanlike thing you can do from a competitive standpoint is ask players not to do their best or coaches not to coach their best. that didn't happen in philly. the closest thing was convincing embiid not to play for 2 seasons. and i'm guessing that there were legitimate long-term injury concerns there

hinkie was the primary reason that the nba altered its draft incentive structure, which has done a lot to mitigate the issue. i still say they should let every team participate in the lotto, 30 "balls" to the worst team, 1 to the best, draw for all 30 slots. tanking bye-bye, best nba night of the season

[GoSixersBro]

So much copium in this thread. People choose to bootlick for Silver while simultaneously virtue signaling about sportsmanship nonsense all because this is Philly. Nobody crying about OKC and the way they've loaded and reloaded. Y'all ain't slick lmao.

Hinkie gamed a bad system that rewarded the worst teams, or at least gave them the best odds at said reward. Sorry half the teams are run by owners who'd rather achieve treadmill playoff exits as long as they see profits instead of acquiring a superstar the only way possible when your city isn't a destination. As a Sixers fan who watched 38-42 wins seasons for over a decade from the 2001 Finals run, the Process was the best thing that has happened to Philly basketball since 1983.

[dougthonus]

Sure, but they didn't suck (I mean really SUCK) for 5 years just to be relevant. There are better ways to get more bites at the apple. It's like betting on the stock market. There was no way Ben Simmons's value would ever be higher than it was two years ago. PHI missed that opportunity. The same could be said of WSH with Beal. He is way overvalued in the NBA. SGA with OKC. I don't know that he'll ever have a better season that last year. Jerami Grant received more buzz this trade deadline than he ever will again. DET should have taken the best deal available. He is a nice 4th or 5th piece but you can't build around him.

Bottom line, sucking on purpose is the most unsportsmanlike thing you can do that doesn't involve violence... and there are better ways to build a team.

Lots of teams have sucked for more than five years and have no path to even relevancy. I'm not claiming that what Philly did was worth doing or worth repeating or worked out amazingly to date, but it didn't work out awfully for them. They have a chance to win the title this year and have had chances in previous years.

Maybe any of those teams wouldn't get more for their players later, though if the 76ers win this year with Harden it will be awfully hard to suggest that they could have done better for Simmons, however the counter argument for teams like OKC and Washington is that what are they going to trade those guys for? Draft picks that probably won't be so great? Maybe that would be fine for Washington if they go rebuild (and suck for five years), but what the heck would OKC do with a bunch of mediocre draft picks?

[MegaK]

Knicks need to hire hinke. There is no team that needs to trust the process like the Knicks. Bro!

[Pickled Prunes]

Philly has ultimately disappointed a lot in the playoffs, but they've been relevant every year. A lot of franchises would be happy with that. If Philly doesn't win this year and keeps Harden, they'll be relevant next year too even if not a favorite.

Sure, but they didn't suck (I mean really SUCK) for 5 years just to be relevant. There are better ways to get more bites at the apple. It's like betting on the stock market. There was no way Ben Simmons's value would ever be higher than it was two years ago. PHI missed that opportunity. The same could be said of WSH with Beal. He is way overvalued in the NBA. SGA with OKC. I don't know that he'll ever have a better season that last year. Jerami Grant received more buzz this trade deadline than he ever will again. DET should have taken the best deal available. He is a nice 4th or 5th piece but you can't build around him.

Bottom line, sucking on purpose is the most unsportsmanlike thing you can do that doesn't involve violence... and there are better ways to build a team.

hinkie was GM for less than 3 years...

they intentionally sucked in his first year. the process basically immediately worked before it was even "the process" by netting them "the process" in that summer's draft. embiid's injury (surely milked) motivated hinkie to intentionally build a crappy roster of youth and short-term contracts for two additional seasons, resulting in simmons. hinkie was then fired

every move over those 3 seasons made sense in a vacuum, scoring them a slew of assets that subsequent GMs squandered

the most unsportsmanlike thing you can do from a competitive standpoint is ask players not to do their best or coaches not to coach their best. that didn't happen in philly. the closest thing was convincing embiid not to play for 2 seasons. and i'm guessing there were legitimate long-term injury concerns there

hinkie was the primary reason that the nba altered its draft incentive structure, which has done a lot to mitigate the issue. i still say they should let every team participate in the lotto, 30 "balls" to the worst team, 1 to the best, draw for all 30 slots. tanking bye-bye, best nba night of the season

The sucking started before hinkie and remained after he left. It became part of the culture, which is the part of the formula he missed. But the bottom line is that to ask fans to pay to see a team that isn't trying to win is unconscionable. That goes for home and away. It doesn't just detract from the tanking team fan experience. Why should a MIL fan want to see them play HOU or DET? We are to the point where even good team have at least a dozen BS home games.

And yes, I understand that the players are trying to win while they are on the floor. That clearly isn't what I'm talking about. If it wasn't for lottery balls Lillard would be back on the court. I am a POR fan and have lost all respect. I hope they land a nice pick, get that NOP pick, trade Dame for a few more and start working on winning again. If they plan on tanking next season they can do it with one less fan.

On lottery reform, I'm with you. First, they need to disentangle it with making the playoffs. I like your 1-30 idea. I also like something where the worst 7 teams get lottery balls, (7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 depending on record). Then they pick the winner and the remaining teams, plus the team with the 8th worst record get one more ball... etc. In that way every team would have the possibility of moving up a maximum of 6 spots but the worst team could fall 29 spots.

What if they had teams pick in order of record (no lottery) worst team first but the team with the absolute worst record picked 30th and then 1st in the second round. I think that might inspire teams to put their best team on the floor.