By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Philadelphia 76ers rookie center Joel Embiid has been compared to a handful of players during his young NBA career, but by far the most intriguing comparison has to be that of his idol and favorite player of all time, Hakeem Olajuwon. In a recent video published by the NBA, Embiid is featured talking about Olajuwon while Hakeem notices some comparisons to his game when he watches Joel.
"Hakeem is always one of the guys I've wanted to follow," Embiid said in the video. "He started played basketball so late and he's from Africa, so we kind of have the same back stories. He's been one of my idols."
Olajuwon caught some of Embiid's game and was impressed in a vareity of aspects:
"I was very, very impressed with how he was moving," said Olajuwon. "The movement that I know…wow, I can see myself…He has the tools and the talent to be able to do those moves."
Embiid went on to talk about how he used to watch tape of Hakeem while he was still in Cameroon, at the beginning of his basketball journey that now has him as one of the best rookie centers in quite some time.
Check out the entire video below:
It’s National Mentoring month and @Sixers rookie stud @JoelEmbiid gets some sage advice from Hall of Famer Hakeem @DR34M Olajuwon! pic.twitter.com/1QrGYdKYQi
— NBA (@NBA) January 17, 2017
