Joel Embiid, who is generally guarded about his weight and health, was candid when asked about both at media day Monday.
It wouldn’t be a media day — or a Joel Embiid media availability for that matter — if the issue of health didn’t come up at least once. When asked how he feels generally, as well as how his knee was holding up, Embiid revealed he had lost “25 or 30 pounds” in the offseason.
“I still want to lose more,” he said, “but it’s a process.”
This is a stark contrast from how the big fella typically handles these types of questions. Two years ago, he joked before training camp started that he did nothing all summer and just sat on his couch.
Embiid said this started after they lost to the Knicks in the first round of last year’s playoffs. He texted Daryl Morey that the only thing he cared about was making it to the postseason healthy, something he has yet to do in his career.
It sounds like he is prepared to pace himself properly this regular season, even if that means missing the 65-game threshold for All-NBA teams and awards.
“This year there’s no agenda this year, there’s no All-Star, there’s no all-NBA, there’s none of that. There’s whatever it takes to make sure I get to that point,” he said.
He continued to reiterate that it’s a process, and he still isn’t all the way where he wants to be physically, but it does seem like this summer was significantly different for him than previous offseasons. He was also sure to point out that he was playing competitive basketball this summer, which is a first for his professional career.
Only time will tell if/how well he’ll hold up this season, but it looks like Embiid is taking a different approach to his fitness this time around.