Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid is going to the NBA All-Star game

After missing the first two season of his NBA career, Joel Embiid is an All-Star in his second season as a pro. What a time to be a Philadelphia 76ers fan.

Trust the Process! Trust the Process!

For the first time in over half a decade, Philadelphia 76ers finally have an All-Star in second-year center Joel Embiid.

And of all the players who could receive the honor, no one deserves it more than Embiid.

After suffering a back injury in his lone season at Kansas, the Cameroonian 7-footer was selected third overall in the 2015 NBA Draft by then GM Sam Hinkie and immediately became one of the league’s biggest mysteries.

While many fans wondered if Embiid would even play a game in the NBA after missing the first two seasons of his NBA career because of a particularly tricky broken bone in his foot, Embiid silenced the doubter in the first game of the 2016-2017 season by putting up 20 points in only 22 minutes in a 97-103 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dubbed The Process, by himself, Embiid quickly became a force of nature before suffering a left knee injury that ultimately ended his rookie season after only 31 games, robbing him of a potential Rookie of the Year title.

And if the 2016-2017 season was Embiid’s introduction to the league, the 2017-2018 season has been The Process’ coming out party.

With his heavy minute’s restriction a thing of the past, Embiid has been a dominant force in the East in a way very few could have predicted and looked the part of a franchise caliber player. Averaging a double-double with almost 24 points and over 10 rebound a game, Embiid has averaged the second most points of any center in the NBA, trailing only Boogie Cousins, while playing the fourth best defense of any center in the league according to ESPN’s Real Plus Minus.

And it couldn’t have happened to a better player.

Embiid has brought a renewed excitement to basketball in the City of Brotherly Love through his mastery of social media and magnetic personality, and make’s everyone around him play better. Simply put, when Embiid doesn’t play, the 76ers look like a different team and struggle to win, and if that’s not the sign of a true All-Star caliber player, I don’t know what is.

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While it’s unfortunate that Ben Simmons, the Sixers rookie phenom won’t be joining Embiid in the East’s starting lineup, after finishing third in the fan vote for All-Star guards, it appears as though the Sixers will have a serious presence in the All-Star game for the next decade plus, which is a pretty incredible turnaround after spending the entire Brett Brown era Trusting the Process.