By Bob Cooney
Haven’t we traveled down this roadway before with the 76ers? No, I’m not talking about the trail that is a playoff non-run , another second round flop. And I’m not speaking of the seemingly never ending debate of what type of players need to surround Joel Embiid or who the coach should be that oversees the never-ending conundrum.
Not even talking about practice, which seems to be an after thought with the head coach anyway.
What puzzles me, and perhaps you too, is the way this organization handles, or rather mishandles, the way it deals with injuries to its star players.
Do I need to bring up the fiasco of Andrew Bynum and his wonky knee just a year after the Josh Harris-led ownership group took over the team? Understandable their hesitancy to speak on that, after trading for damaged goods. I guess….
Ben Simmons broken foot. Jahlil Okafor’s knee. Nerlens Noel knee. Markelle Fultz’s shoulder/mentality. Joel Embiid’s foot, knees, gastroenteritis, orbital bones and now thumb. All injuries that shouldn’t have been hard to explain to fans, all handled by the organization as if it was an international secret that would cause world harm if revealed.
But it doesn’t matter the frustration of fans, sportswriters, radio talk show hosts or anyone else outside the organization about the way they handle injuries. The organization won’t allow itself to be held accountable when it comes to being honest about injuries. That apparently is the choice of Josh Harris and this ownership group, for some reason. Why? I have no idea, nor do many others. And even more frightening, the players may not understand it either. Injuries are a big part of sports and often times not the fault of anyone. It seems to me that the action of hiding knowledge of injuries, may make the players feel guilt for incurring them.