Sixers' Joel Embiid drops weight, wants to be healthy for playoffs - ESPN

CAMDEN, N.J. — Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid said he has lost «25 to 30 pounds» this offseason and he's entering his 11th NBA season with one goal — to have the first fully healthy playoff run of his career.

«I still got a ways to go. I still want to lose more, but it's a process» Embiid said Monday of his conditioning. «As soon as we lost last year, I just texted [76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey] and I was like, 'We got to do whatever it takes to make sure that in the postseason I'm healthy.'

»So this year is all about [that]."

For all of the accolades Embiid has achieved throughout his career with the 76ers — an MVP award, seven All-Star selections and five All-NBA teams — the two things that have consistently eluded him and the franchise as a whole are a deep playoff run and Embiid making it through the playoffs healthy.

Embiid was on pace last season to become the second player in the history of the league, along with Wilt Chamberlain, to score more points than minutes played. But a knee injury limited him to 39 games and left him at less than 100 percent for a first-round series loss to the New York Knicks in six games.

But after Embiid helped Team USA claim a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, he showed up at media day on Monday looking slim, and with the message that his days of focusing on individual awards are over.

«There's no agenda, there's no All-Star, there's no All-NBA, there's none of that,» Embiid said. «It's whatever it takes to make sure that I get to that point and I'm ready to go because… basically every single year in my career, I've been hurt in the playoffs. So that's the goal, and it's all about doing whatever it takes to get there.»

The plan, like it was last season,