AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Joel Embiid's range from beyond the arc is one of the things that makes him so difficult to defend, but he didn't develop his shot the traditional way.
- Joel Embiid wrote about his journey from Cameroon to the NBA in a recent piece for The Players' Tribune.
- In the story, Embiid describes how he developed his shooting range - searching YouTube for "WHITE PEOPLE SHOOTING 3 POINTERS."
- Embiid is now a career 32.7% three-point shooter during his time in the NBA.
Joel Embiid might be the most entertaining player in the NBA.
Between his dominance on the court, his constant trolling on social media, and his habit of dunking on random strangers on courts across Philadelphia, you'd have a tough time finding someone having more fun with the game of basketball than Embiid.
In a recent story for The Players' Tribune, Embiid revealed how he developed his game, and specifically, his range from three. As Embiid writes, when he came over to America from Cameroon to play basketball, he was very competitive, but his skills were extremely raw. He would run three-point drills with a teammate after practice, and after losing too many times, decided he needed to make a change.
"So I'm chilling one night, and I go on YouTube, and I'm thinking I'm about to figure this shooting thing out. I go to the search box like….
HOW TO SHOOT 3 POINTERS.
Nah.
HOW TO SHOOT GOOD FORM
Nah.
Then the light bulb went off, man. I typed in the magic words.
WHITE PEOPLE SHOOTING 3 POINTERS."
Embiid concedes that he might have been playing into a stereotype, but he couldn't deny the results.
"Have you ever seen a normal, 30-year-old white guy shoot a three-pointer?" Embiid asks. "That elbow is tucked, man. The knees are bent. The follow-through is perfect. Always. You know how in America, there's always an older guy wearing like EVERLAST sweat-shorts at the court? That guy is always a problem. His J is always wet."
And so, thanks to YouTube's search function, Embiid found his film to study, and after trusting the process a bit, the results began to show. He started catching his teammate in drills, and his newfound range helped his overall game.
In the NBA, Embiid is a career 32.7% three-point shooter - not bad for a big man that dominates under the basket and came in second place in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
As Embiid puts it, his life is like a movie - going from living in Cameroon watching Kobe play on his television to playing against Bryant during his final season in the league. You can read his entire piece for the Players' Tribune here.