Quotes from Joel Embiid

I'm just going to do my job, what coach wants me to do, be a defensive piece, and when needed to be a scorer, I'm going to be that.

I feel like I am the best defensive player in the league.

I had this DVD that my coach in Cameroon had mailed to me when I first came to America. It was an hour-long tape of Hakeem Olajuwon and some other legendary big men. I probably watched that DVD every single day for three years.

Having your teammates' backs - that's what I feel being a leader is.

Every time I get on the court, I want to push my teammates to be better as a leader and lead by example.

I'm starting to figure it out - figure out my spots, where I should be on the court, where I'm most effective, and how I handle double teams - and it's paying off.

One thing when I started playing in the league, I saw that a lot of guys are friendly. It's OK to be friendly, especially off the court. But on the court, I want to dominate.

I don't really care about the friendships on the court. I got my friends. I got my family, which I'm close to. I got a couple of friends that I'm always around.

The Process is never going to end. It's an ongoing thing. I don't think it's ever going to stop. As I have explained before, it's a process for making it to the playoffs, it's another one to make the conference finals, another one to actually go to The Finals and win the championship.

Basketball has given me everything, but it has to be bigger than basketball. That was the first thing that I said to Under Armour, and they were behind it 100 percent. This isn't about a shoe deal.

At some points, I wanted to quit. There were surgeries after surgeries, and I didn't really believe in myself. I didn't feel good about my body.

I'm not made of glass.

I think the concept of minute restrictions is kind of complicated. I don't think there should ever be minute restrictions. I think it should always be about how my body feels and how it's reacting.

I think it would've been a little easier if I grew up in America; they've got better conditions for basketball players. At the same time, many people have said to me that having to start playing so late helped me not pick up bad habits.

If they're going to foul me, I'm going to step to the line and make some free throws.

My very first scrimmage at Kansas, I got dunked on so hard by Tarik Black that I almost quit. Tarik dunked on me so hard that I was looking at plane tickets home. This guy was a senior. He was a grown man. I didn't know what was going on. He got his own rebound and dunked over me so hard that everything went in slow motion.

I feel like Americans don't really have any idea of what's going on in the world, especially us Africans. I feel like when they think about Africans, they think about just us running around with lions and tigers and all those other animals.

If the team needs me to recruit somebody, I'll be here. I'll be doing that.

Agents recruiting high-school players and talking to high-schoolers - I feel like those are the people who put bad ideas in kids.

It's just about working on everything, perfecting everything, like my 3-point shot or ball handling.

I'm trying to dominate, and if you dominate, you're going to be hated because you're going to talk so much stuff.

That's the whole point of playing basketball - having fun.

I always thought that the U.S. was just amazing, and it was just a dream. I thought it was Heaven. Coming here a couple years ago, you know, the U.S. is still nice, but it's not like what I thought it was going to be.

I want to be that type of guy - I want to be Kobe Bryant. I want to be Tim Duncan. I want to be Dirk Nowitzki - stay with one team my whole career.