He couldn’t possibly live up to the hype. “If Embiid is healthy, it’s over. It’s over.” “Nothing matters if Embiid can play.” “I wish we had gotten Towns, but it won’t matter that much if Embiid turns out.”
Then pre-season happened. Embiid put up ridiculous line after ridiculous line; he handled John Wall in space; he turned the Polish Hammer into a Polish Traffic Cone; he asked to be introduced as “The Process,” and dropped a TTP in every interview. Even as we tried our best to keep our expectations low, we couldn’t help but gush.