I want people to say that an African basketball player is the best player in the whole world.
— Joel Embiid
There's definitely a lot of undiscovered talent in Africa. If I'm one of them and there's a few other guys in the league, that means that there must be some that are hidden.
I want to have a lot to do with winning a championship or bringing a championship back to the city of Philadelphia.
I like Meek Mill a lot. I listen to 'Dreams & Nightmares' introduction a lot. I always act crazy when the beat drops.
Everything in my life happens really fast.
When I started playing ball as a junior, I'm kind of glad that I was never good enough to be highly recruited.
I do like to be shirtless.
When I play '2K,' I'll play in GM mode. And I choose different teams. But I always trade for myself because I'm unstoppable. Literally there's no way to stop me in '2K.'
I feel like racism isn't over.
My very first scrimmage at Kansas, I got dunked on so hard by Tarik Black that I almost quit. Tarik dunked on me so hard that I was looking at plane tickets home. This guy was a senior. He was a grown man. I didn't know what was going on. He got his own rebound and dunked over me so hard that everything went in slow motion.
I found social media was a way for me to open up and show the world who I was and also keep my name out there.
On social media, I can hide behind the computer or the iPhone. Internet courage.
I feel like I am the best defensive player in the league.
All of the great big men went to college at least two or three years. I think it's a big factor. I don't know if it will always work, but I think it's the best choice.
My coaches sometimes say I'm a little bit too competitive. But I want to win, and I feel like we should win every game.
I feel like I'm one of the most physical players in the league - I love contact. I love attacking. I love going to the free throw line.
Basketball has given me everything, but it has to be bigger than basketball. That was the first thing that I said to Under Armour, and they were behind it 100 percent. This isn't about a shoe deal.
I want to get in there and jump in the stands and dive for every loose ball.
I really feel like I have the potential - and I'm not even kidding about it - I have the potential to be the best player in the league.
That's the whole point of playing basketball - having fun.
Before games and sometimes practice, I like something with a dope beat. Like Rick Ross, when he's just like, 'RUH!,' all that stuff.
You know how I learned to shoot? I watched white people. Just regular white people. They really put their elbow in and finish up top. You can find videos of them online.
Agents recruiting high-school players and talking to high-schoolers - I feel like those are the people who put bad ideas in kids.
The first time I watched basketball was in 2010.
I see a lot of athletes that don't really use social media, or they're saying the same stuff. I kind of wanted to change the game.
I feel like Americans don't really have any idea of what's going on in the world, especially us Africans. I feel like when they think about Africans, they think about just us running around with lions and tigers and all those other animals.
I'm actually really good at everything I do.
I look like I'm not listening, but I'm actually listening. I like listening to everything, observing everybody, just taking everything in, and then, in my mind, figuring out what's good for me and what's bad for me.
I think I'm a good offensive player, good defensive player. I do it on both ends of the floor.
I love being physical.
The Process is never going to end.
I think of myself as a complete player.
I'm very good at drawing fouls.
When I was visiting schools, I wanted to go and see what they got. After my visit, I knew that Kansas was good.
We're always going to be trusting the process.
At some points, I wanted to quit. There were surgeries after surgeries, and I didn't really believe in myself. I didn't feel good about my body.
One night, I went out with my teammates. I don't drink alcohol, so I wasn't drinking. This girl walked up to me; she was talking to me. She was like, 'Why aren't you drinking?' I was like, 'I just don't drink. Alcohol is nasty.' She said, 'I might have something for you.' She went and got a Shirley Temple. Then I was like, 'Ohhh, OK.'
When I was still back in Cameroon, because I didn't know English, I used to listen to French rap all the time and then a little bit of American hip-hop. And then, when I got to the States, that's when I really got into all those guys - Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, all those guys.
My life is like a movie.
I'm competitive, and I think everybody knows that if you're talking trash, you're gonna get a reaction out of me.
I started liking basketball when I was 13, but I couldn't play because my dad thought it was too physical.
I always thought that the U.S. was just amazing, and it was just a dream. I thought it was Heaven. Coming here a couple years ago, you know, the U.S. is still nice, but it's not like what I thought it was going to be.
I had this DVD that my coach in Cameroon had mailed to me when I first came to America. It was an hour-long tape of Hakeem Olajuwon and some other legendary big men. I probably watched that DVD every single day for three years.
Chinese fans are just passionate about the game. The love they have is just insane.
Having your teammates' backs - that's what I feel being a leader is.
It's basketball; it's always good to blow a team out.
I like playing on the road and quieting the crowd. I love it.
I started playing basketball so late, it just means that anything is possible.
I always think about myself as, like, a regular person. I want to be able to enjoy everything.
I'm not made of glass.
