joel embiid

76ers rookie Joel Embiid has been shamelessly running a vigorous Twitter campaign to rack up All-Star Game votes, and nobody is going to slow him down. Not even Heat center Hassan Whiteside.

Without calling out Embiid by name, Whiteside told the Miami Sun Sentinel that the voting system, in which retweets count as votes, is a “gimmick” and “a popularity thing.”

“People are going to vote for who they like,” Whiteside said. “It’s more of a popularity thing. … It’s more so a gimmick. I look at guys and they just do stuff to win the fans over, make jokes on Twitter to get people to vote for them. It ain’t got nothing to do really with talent.”

How did Embiid respond? Simply by sharing the love.

Oh and also by voting for himself again.

Embiid’s whole Twitter campaign began when he said his crush wouldn’t date him until he became more famous and made an All-Star Game.

Since then, he’s gotten plenty creative, even mock retweeting a vote by president-elect Donald Trump.

When former Sixers president and GM Sam Hinkie voted for his 2014 first round draft pick, Embiid went nuts.

Embiid has not only gotten support from 76ers teammates on Twitter, but also Hall of Famer Allen Iverson, Angels star Mike Trout, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz and receiver Jordan Matthews, and rappers Meek Mill and Lil Dicky.

Here’s the rundown.

In the newest voting update released Thursday, Embiid was fourth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players with 457,300 votes, only a few behind Kevin Love for third.

Whiteside dropped out of the top 10, but we know he regained at least one more vote thanks to The Process.

[Miami Sun Sentinel]

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.