Philadelphia is the hardest team to project in next season’s Eastern Conference. If healthy, they are legit title contenders — but “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. Paul George has had offseason knee surgery.

That was the biggest takeaway from Dotun Akintoye’s phenomenal Joel Embiid feature that ran on ESPN on Wednesday morning. The enigmatic Philadelphia 76ers superstar provided rare access and vulnerability talking about the ups and downs of his NBA career in the type of longform piece that rarely exists in today’s media landscape.

Joel Embiid has developed a reputation as a troll. But this aspect of the big man has persisted since his college days, as his coach recalled a hilarious story from his time at Kansas.

Even his most painful grief has been thrown in his face. At the start of Embiid's rookie season in 2014, his 13-year-old brother Arthur was hit by a truck and killed. The day Arthur died, Embiid ignored a series of phone calls. When he finally answered, it was terrible news.

The Philadelphia 76ers had a team meeting last season in November in Miami. During the meeting, Tyrese Maxey called Joel Embiid out for being late to team events.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid does not regret shoving a columnist back in November, which resulted in a three-game suspension without pay.