Embiid learned how to shoot by watching 'regular white people'

Despite having logged zero minutes in the NBA, Joel Embiid is one of the league's most fascinating characters.

The Cameroonian big man opened up about his circuitous journey to the NBA in an illuminating profile with Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. Within the piece, Embiid shared a story of how he gained his form.

"You know how I learned to shoot?" Embiid says. "I watched white people. Just regular white people. They really put their elbow in and finish up top. You can find videos of them online."

Embiid came from a middle-class background in Cameroon, but he never took any interest in basketball until he was 16 and saw Kobe Bryant help the Los Angeles Lakers win the 2010 championship. He didn't follow the typical development curve of most NBA players who shoot into the league after many years in the AAU circuit.

The gregarious center also shared with Jenkins stories about drinking Shirley Temples (which stirred up a controversy about his rehab), and how he is the human embodiment of deposed 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie's famed "Process."

"I think a lot about what I went through and how it prepared me to be a better man," Embiid says. "I really feel like I'm The Process, like The Process is about me."