THE BIG FIVE have overcome a lot and endured much criticism for such young men.
Perhaps it will make them stronger as they enter their first Sixers training camp Tuesday.
Joel Embiid has been through the most: injury, embarrassment, death. He was raw in college, rushed into the NBA, rushed back from an injury, and so spent the last two seasons watching the Sixers lose in historic fashion.
Fire tempers steel, and all have faced fire: skinny 22-year-old Nerlens Noel; doughy 20-year-old Jahlil Okafor; enigmatic Dario Saric, 22; buff Ben Simmons, 20; and Embiid, the 22-year-old giant from Cameroon.