Embiid Talking Playoffs

The 76ers have long been the butt of the NBA's joke inventory.

As well they should.

The team hasn’t won more than 20 games since 2012.

And it’s not like that wasn’t by design.

RIP Sam Hinkie.

Yes, the 76ers made losing basketball games an art form the past three years. Hinkie saw to that by trading away every useful body for draft picks. Dude then used those draft picks on guys who were either hurt, like Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, and Ben Simmons, or playing abroad, like Dario Šarić.

Let’s not forget that Hinkie traded away Michael Carter-Williams after he captured Rookie of the Year honors.

But the days of tank-a-palooza are done in Philly.

Now the 76ers are actually trying to win basketball games again. While the team isn’t much better at it, they've improved greatly from last year.

A big reason for their resurgence into hoops relevance is Joel Embiid. Despite missing his first two seasons, dude's looking like a ROY in 2017.

While Embiid is a joy to watch on the court, he's an even better off-the-court personality. Full marks for his trying to be an All-Star for the sole reason of scoring a date with Rhianna.

Good luck with that.

But this doesn’t mean Embiid isn’t focused on his job at hand. Dude wants to play some late-April basketball.  

After helping the Sixers capture their 10th victory of the season -- thanks, Brooklyn -- the former Kansas Jayhawk brought up his crew's chances of making the playoffs.

There's still a minor detail that Philadelphia's still seven games out of a spot, of course.

While they'd no doubt draw the Cavaliers in the first round, it'd still be a dream come true for a club that hasn't had a sniff at the Larry O'Brien hunt since 2012, so any playoff game is better than none.

Maybe Hinkie was right after all.

They just had to trust the process.