Philadelphia Sixers partner Michael Rubin, who is good friends with Bob Kraft and Meek Mill and often sits courtside during games, went on the Bill Simmons podcast this week.

The pair covered a number of interesting topics, among them:

  • Ed Snider was Rubin’s next door neighbor and originally suggested that he buy the Sixers, though Rubin was wary because he thought he would lose money
  • the concept of having one person in charge (Josh Harris in this case) makes the most sense from an ownership structure standpoint
  • he says Harris and David Blitzer are very “collaborative” in the way they operate
  • he was interested in buying the Carolina Panthers but “screwed it up and didn’t get it done” (Rubin says Jerry Richardson didn’t “desire” to sell the team to him)

Certainly the most interesting part of the discussion was when the topic turned to Joel Embiid and his off-court habits.

Exchange, after the jump:

Simmons: You’ve gotten to know Embiid pretty well. Give me one story about Embiid that would surprise people.

Rubin: The story about Jo that would surprise people is that he does not drink alcohol, and everyone thinks he does because he’s got such a big personality. Everyone thinks he drinks, and I’m super close with Jo and I’ve seen him consume alcohol twice in his life. I’ve been with him hundreds of times. He does not drink alcohol. He hates it. He’s scared of it. The two times he did drink, it scared me. I’m joking obviously, but Jo does not drink alcohol.

He used to love Krispy Kreme donuts but he’s over that. He’s very focused on his conditioning now.

Simmons: Is that a real thing now? Are we going to get 35 pounds lighter Joel Embiid this year?

Rubin: Jo is determined…. he’s on a mission. I think he’s on a mission…. Joel is a really smart and intelligent guy. I think a lot of people might underestimate his intellect. When he went through what he went through last year, he’s not just like, ‘shit we lost let’s move on.’ He’s saying that’s going to drive him like crazy to be better. And I think he also knows he’s got a body he’s got to take really good care of.

Here’s the full audio; Rubin comes on around the 56:30 mark: