Finally Some Good Joel Embiid News, Doctors Happy With Progress
The Sixers have pretty much been adrift at sea since Joel Embiid went down with a meniscus injury. They have fallen from the 3 seed, all the way down to the 7 seed. The play on the court has hit a new low we haven’t seen since they were trying to lose games.
Mostly, it has been radio silence from the Sixers when it comes to Joel Embiid. No updates, leaving many of us to fear the worst. But last night, Nick Nurse finally gave us some good news. He told reporters that Joel Embiid’s doctors are “Happy with the progress,” he made.
It is not much. We still don’t have a target date for his return. Ramona Shelburne reported they hope he will be back for the season’s final week, but the Sixers still haven’t told us anything. It is something though. We can see land at the edges of the horizon. There is a chance if we just keep paddling, and manage to stay afloat, we might eventually reach dry land.
Team Struggling Without Joel Embiid
Embiid missed 21 games so far. They are 8-13 in those games. Even with the reinforcement they got at the trade deadline, the team has been nowhere good enough without the big man. Tobias Harris has been MIA most nights. Buddy Hield has struggled to adjust to his new team. Tyrese Maxey is the only guy you can say has been consistent night to night.
Nick Nurse Has Not Target Date Yet
“I think there’s always stages of how these things progress,” Nurse said before the Sixers faced the Charlotte Hornets. “Everyone wants to know ‘Well how long is it going to be?” And they give a wide range because of that because everyone heals differently. We’re just trying to take it as it comes, get him healthy and get him back when he’s ready to go.”
Nurse also said they are “pretty confident” they will have Embiid back for the playoffs. Before that would be ideal though. At this rate, the Sixers will probably be in the play-in. There is a half-game between them and the 6-seed, but also a half-game between them and the 8-seed.
They do have a 4 game cushion between them and the 9 seed. So they should be able to avoid having to win two games in the play-in tournament. But the way they are playing grants no confidence they can work their way out of the play-in tournament overall.
Joel Embiid Needs Time To Work Out The Rust
That means they won’t have a full 7-game series for Embiid to work his way back into playing shape. At most, they will have two games. In their current position, they would play the Heat, at home, with the winner getting the right to play the 2-seed in the first round. If they lost that game, they would then play the winner between the 9 and 10 seeds.
The sooner they get Embiid back, the better. Not just because he would obviously make them better, but because they need to give him time to work out the rust.
This season once looked very promising. With Joel Embiid on the court, they were at times the most efficient team in the NBA. Embiid himself was having one of the best seasons we have seen in modern NBA history. He averaged over a point per minute while getting more assists than usual with fewer turnovers.
Now, it looks like a disaster. But the news that Doctors like his progress might be the life raft that we have been waiting for. Their next game is against the Heat on Monday night. Winning that would give them a 1.5-game cushion between them and the 8 seed.
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A Cup of Coffee: 10 Philadelphia Sixers Players Better Known With Other Teams
Nikola Vucevic
Vucevic has had a nice career between the Magic and Bulls. But he started out as a rookie that Doug Collins refused to give too many minutes to. The next offseason after being drafted, he was part of the now infamous deal for Andrew Bynum. He went on to make two All-Star games. Bynum never played a minute for the Sixers.
Kwame Brown
One of the most famous NBA busts had a cup of coffee with the Sixers. The Warriors sent him to the Bucks as part of the Andrew Bogut trade. The Bucks cut him soon after though. He signed a 2-year deal with the Sixers, but played in only 22 games and was cut before the second season of his contract. He nearly had as many personal fouls (37) as he did points (41) while with the Sixers. It was the last chance in the NBA he ever got.
Glenn Robinson
The Sixers tried so hard to find the second scoring option behind Allen Iverson. One of the guys they tried, was Glenn Robinson. He was very good with the Bucks, usually averaging over 20 points per game. He was not bad with the Sixers, but he was not that same guy. He played just 42 games here and averaged 16 points per game. He was injured for his entire 2nd season here and then got traded.
JaVale McGee
McGee is perhaps best known for his frequent appearances on Shaqtin a Fool. Its gave him a bit of an unfair repuation. Did he make some bone headed plays in his career? Yes. But he was also a 3-time champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and a physical presence on defense.
His time with the Sixers was know memorable at all though. The Nuggets shipped him here, along with a first round pick, and the rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum, as a pure salary dump. He played just 6 games here.
Toni Kucoc
Kucoc won 3 NBA Finals with the Bulls, was 6th Man of The Year in the 1995-1995 season, and won pretty much every award you can as a Basketball player when over in Europe. He was a significant piece of the Bulls second run of 3 straight championships. But he did not get much time with the Sixers.
He was decent in the 1999 -2000 season, averaging 12 points per game. But the next season he was part of the trade that landed the Sixers Dikembe Motumbo. In the end, he played in only 80 total games here, averaging a little over 8 points per game.
Dwight Howard
Obviously we don’t forget he played here. It is too recent. But he will be one of those guys where we look back one day and go “Oh yea, he did play here.”. Howard was probably one of the best backups for Embiid. He only lasted one year here. And like so many backup bigs before him, he disappeared in the playoff.
Chris Webber
Not sure if anyone forgets his time here, so maybe it doesn’t quite fit the brief. But Webber is a superstar, who had a disappointing cup of coffee in Philly. Webber was supposed to come here and finally be the guy to be AI’s Co-Star. It never quite worked out. He was injured for parts of his first season, had a decent first full season here, but then was benched in year 3.
