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76ers' Sunday Morning Shootaround: Rookies of the Year

In this edition of the Sunday Morning Shootaround, Joel Embiid speaks a little French, Charles Barkley plays Rick Mahorn in Family Feud, and the Sixers' rookie class learns how to eat bread in a fancy restaurant.

By Roy Burton
Last week, Casper Ware was taught the proper way to butter his dinner roll. Seriously.
Last week, Casper Ware was taught the proper way to butter his dinner roll. Seriously.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

I'm not entirely sure what a "Phoot Shoot" is, but at an event of some sort last week, Joel Embiid spilled the beans about his "date" with Rihanna.

While none of it actually happened, Embiid does make a good point in the midst of his tall tale: If you drop in a little French while wooing a woman, then there's virtually no way you don't close the deal. I wouldn't know this personally (I took Spanish in high school), but Dave Rueter told me last month this right before he went on stage at karaoke night and sung "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads.

During the same Phoot Shoot, Embiid also sang a little Miley Cyrus, expressed his love for Jennifer Lawrence, and basically wished for world peace.

He also became BFFs with Andrew Wiggins:

I hope Michael Carter-Williams isn't the jealous type.

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The Delaware 87ers - a team that's been in existence for about two hours - will have a mascot by the end of this month. The Philadelphia 76ers - a franchise that has been in the City of Brotherly Love for more than 50 years - will not.

There's a very good chance that the Sevens... Sixer this whole thing, but I'm crossing my fingers in the hope that the mascot is more "Rutgers Scarlet Knight" than whatever the hell this Commonwealth Games monstrosity is supposed to represent.

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Huge hat tip to The 700 Level's Andrew Unterberger for posting this clip of the early '90s Sixers playing Family Feud at an event benefiting the Special Olympics. Here's a running diary of my thoughts:

0:02 - Dear Ahmad Rashad: Why did you ever divorce Claire Huxtable? She's 66 years old and still as fine as summertime wine. SMH...

0:32 - Pretty sure this was Charles Barkley's first time in a suit and a tie since he was drafted.

0:47 - Harold Katz: The man who destroyed the Sixers back in 1986, but who also founded Nutrisystem. I guess those two things cancel out.

0:53 - Barkley calls Manute Bol the ugliest player in the NBA... with Manute standing 15 feet away.  That's not something a team leader does, Chuck. I bet you and Rick Mahorn probably ate alone at McDonald's back in the day ala Dwight Howard and James Harden.

(Bol is a better man than me: If I had a Dhalsim-like wingspan like Manute did, I probably would have caught Barkley with a right cross.)

1:23 - Pretty sure that was Jayson Williams as part of Team Bump - glad to see that he's out of prison and trying to put his life together.

2:07 - Barkley complains about the officiating, making this no different than the other 1,196 games he's played in his career.

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[Insert outrage about the 2006 NBA Dunk Contest here]

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Four Sixers' rookies (two of whom were on crutches) and Dave Chappelle doppelganger quasi-rookie Casper Ware attended the NBA's Rookie Transition Program last week. Sarah Lyall of the New York Times was also in the building, and she spent a good portion of the day tweeting out gems from the various consultants that the league brought in to educate the young players.

The program was filled with some things that the rookies already knew...

And other things they may not be aware of just yet...

Chris Andersen must have slept through that presentation back in 2001.

This is extremely important for everyone - not just first-year NBA players: Your body soap and your face soap should be separate and distinct entities.

The part about proper eating etiquette may have been the best:

Is chicken not food? Have we been lied to all of these years? Speaking of being lied to...

Be careful out there, kids.

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