That was the biggest takeaway from Dotun Akintoye’s phenomenal Joel Embiid feature that ran on ESPN on Wednesday morning. The enigmatic Philadelphia 76ers superstar provided rare access and vulnerability talking about the ups and downs of his NBA career in the type of longform piece that rarely exists in today’s media landscape.

Philadelphia is the hardest team to project in next season’s Eastern Conference. If healthy, they are legit title contenders — but “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. Paul George has had offseason knee surgery.

Of course, things come down to whether Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey will be on the floor healthy, but ESPN's Kendrick Perkins believes there's a bigger problem in Philadelphia: a bad culture. He issued a warning to the Sixers when it comes to Maxey:

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid does not regret shoving a columnist back in November, which resulted in a three-game suspension without pay.

Embiid said in the piece that he began therapy last year at the urging of Jameer Nelson, whom the Sixers recently promoted to assistant general manager. The story mentions that Embiid and Nelson have become good friends, which is a pretty big deal when you see the way Akintoye describes how guarded the big man is and how tight he keeps his circle.

Uncover the reality 76ers fans dread to face, as NBA ESPN analyst Tim McMahon shares insights that could reshape your understanding of the team's future.

Iman Shumpert says this is the most important offseason of Joel Embiid's career, urges the 76ers star to get completely healthy