Delaware Blue Coats announcer Allan Wylie calls home games from the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington.
WILMINGTON - The cheers distracted Jabari Walker.
"Hold on, did something happen?" wondered Walker.
Nothing that didn't feel normal to him. But something that had become oh so abnormal to most everyone else.
"But then I'm like, 'Oh, of course. We're playing with Embiid," Walker realized.
Welcome to life in Sixers world, Jabari.
"It's so funny because we've been practicing with him and things like that. So it's starting to get kind of normal," Walker told reporters after Sunday's Blue-White scrimmage.
You might've thought you'd see Embiid in practice attire, casually shooting between the end of practice and the start of the scrimmage.
It was a surprise that the Sixers opened doors in time for people to watch Embiid participate in five-on-five practice play.
It was downright stunning that Embiid took the floor with the blue team when the scrimmage began.
As he's grown used to practicing with Embiid, Walker has learned to appreciate the Sixers star more and more.
"He's so smart. He knows what he wants. He just makes the game easy. He directs you. He puts you in your comfort spots," the newcomer said.
"He's even more of a willing passer than I thought, so so far I love playing with him."
Embiid didn't take the opening jump-ball. That was Adem Bona's job. Easy to write it off as some scrimmage nonsense. Little did everyone know that it was a sign of things to come.
Embiid played high for much of the game. Not because he was looking to shoot his beloved midrange jumper. Rather, because he was serving as the power forward in a double-big lineup.
Good offense to cleanse the soul. pic.twitter.com/Q5tPE2rOx9
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) October 12, 2025
His playing higher on the floor allows for better spacing - not just for cutters, but for the other big to lurk in the dunker's spot.
"We're trying to be a little bit versatile and interchangeable with who's down and who's up. But the reality is that Joel likes to be up, he's going to be up a lot," Nick Nurse told reporters after the scrimmage.
"So we need to continue to work on that. He's one of our best shooters, if not our best three-point shooter. That is a legitimate offensive weapon that we need to utilize. That will create space for those other guys to drive."
Part of revamping the offense is getting Embiid comfortable with more teammates instead of relying so heavily upon Tyrese Maxey.
"He's a good decision-maker. He'll play with a number of people. That's probably one of the biggest challenges. I want him to make sure that he's running stuff with Grimes and VJ. We know him and Tyrese are going to do lots of two-man game. But I want him to include the other guys, too. We want a little bit more variety," Nurse said.
Grimes and Edgecombe were not available for Friday's preseason game. They did play on Sunday.
Grimes is playing catch-up. Edgecombe, who did not practice on Thursday or play on Friday due to hip soreness, started for the blue team.
Embiid conveyed the trust he has in Edgecombe with his body language and actions. The big guy looked happy, something that could not be said often last season. He smiled when a lapse in timing between him and Edgecombe led to a turnover. He kept throwing the rookie the ball, encouraging him to initiate offense.
Edgecombe has a ways to go until he's built the level of equity that Maxey has with Embiid. For now, Embiid appears to have embraced Edgecombe as a pillar of the franchise's future.
There isn't a power forward amongst those responsible for the long-term future of the Sixers. While the public has been trying to come up with an idea for who might man that position for the team, Nurse is looking at what he already has.
Perhaps the answer, at least while Paul George is out, is no. 21.
"There's kind of an open position at the four, especially right now with Paul not being quite ready yet. There's a number of guys we're trying to work into that spot. He's just another one. What do I like about it? I mean, you probably saw today, [Adem Bona] is probably going to be more of the five. He's going to play down toward the basket and rim-protect and things like that," Nurse said.
"There's certainly some drive-and-dump-off to him. Hit Joel, Joel hits him type of situations that are high-percentage plays. I like that part. I think he'll help the rebounding, he'll help the rim protection. See how it goes."
Nurse was prepared for the excitement in the building. He knew it would be the first time the public had seen Embiid play basketball since February.
By Nurse's words, it sounds like Embiid has been participating in team workouts for weeks now.
"Today was a good progression day for him. Again, lots of running, lots of five-on-five, lots of early practice stuff, lots of drill work, lots of five-on-zero. Just lots of getting him caught up to speed," Nurse said.
"And then he went out there and did his thing. He shot the ball well, he scored well, he orchestrated the offense well. I thought he ran pretty good, as well, both directions."
There's progress to be made still. Embiid is picking up the defensive concepts they're implementing, but he has some screws to tighten on that end of the court.
Offensively, Nurse summarized it well. Embiid did his thing. It was a low-stakes environment. It's difficult to draw real conclusions from a scrimmage. But Embiid was squaring up with teammates who are fighting to establish themselves in the NBA. Even if Embiid's 75 percent is better than, say, Johni Broome's 100 percent, the confidence and force were things that still needed to be seen.
Johni Broome, in the torture chamber. pic.twitter.com/Y3EqutbggP
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) October 12, 2025
We are less than two weeks from the season-opener in Boston. A lot can happen between now and then. But Embiid did not play in the Blue-White scrimmage last season. If they know he won't be ready for the season-opener and still let him play in this scrimmage, it opens the Sixers to backlash.
It's been a helluva week for Philadelphia sports - not in a good way. But Sunday offered hope that maybe, just maybe, things will be OK.
