PHILADELPHIA, PA – FEBRUARY 24: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers gestures after scoring a three-point basket for his career high 49th point during the second half of an NBA basketball game against of the Atlanta Hawks at Wells Fargo Center on February 24, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Sixers defeated the Hawks 129-112. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Joel Embiid has embraced a Jeopardy contestant’s wrong answer as his new nickname, shedding “The Process” for “Do-a-180”.
If you’ve paid even the slightest bit of attention to the NBA over the past decade, you’ve heard of The Process. The euphemism for the Philadelphia 76ers dramatic and controversial rebuilding strategy was adopted as a rallying cry by their fans and taken as a nickname by Joel Embiid, the prized star that process delivered. He even went so far as to trademark it.
However, not everyone is an NBA fan and it appears that ubiquitous phrase didn’t work itself into everyone’s brain. On an episode of Jeopardy this week, a contestant was given this answer in the Current Sports Nicknames category: “Joel Embiid in 2019 won the trademark for this nickname of his that also describes the 76ers strategy of improving the team”
His response, “What is do-a-180?”
The response is actually reasonable, given the apparent lack of background knowledge. Incredibly, neither of the other two contestants even offered up an answer. It’s just another example of how distorted the reality of social media is, compared to offline life.
Embiid, for his part, seems to have gotten a kick out of it, posting about it on Instagram and changing the display name on his Twitter account to “Joel “Do a 180” Embiid???” He also shared a video of himself from his younger days doing a less-than-stellar 180.
Embiid has some extra time on his hand as he recovers from a shoulder injury that has held him out of Philadelphia’s past three games. The 76ers are eager to get “Do a 180” and his 23.3 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game back onto the court as soon as possible as they fight for playoff position without the injured Ben Simmons. It’s a rocky time right not but they just need to trust their ability to turn things around. A hundred eighty degrees.