The Philadelphia 76ers are 1-3, just lost to the Pistons, and have a bottom-10 offense to start the season with Joel Embiid and Paul George both out due to injuries. Despite Tyrese Maxey’s best efforts, not much will change until those stars return.
Embiid may be getting close, having gone through multiple 5-on-5 scrimmages, reports Shams Charania on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
“I’m told he is essentially in the ramp-up phase of his return process, of his debut process. He has completed, from what I’m told, multiple 5-on-5 scrimmages in recent days. And so the Sixers want to make sure, from a conditioning perspective, his knee his body is 100% before he makes it back out on the floor for his debut. He has workouts scheduled today and on Friday to evaluate whether he’s going to be able to make a return as soon as this weekend.”
The 76ers host the Grizzlies on Saturday, then head out west on a three-game road trip that includes games against the Suns, Lakers and Clippers. What all of those teams have in common is a big center who can bang bodies with Embiid — Zach Edey in Memphis, Jusuf Nurkic in Phoenix, Ivica Zubac with the Clippers — with the possible exception of the Lakers, but they have Anthony Davis, who has been arguably the best player in the NBA so far this young season.
The league has already fined Philadelphia $100,000 for how it talked about Embiid and their rather naked plans to load manage his knees this season with the goal of getting him to the playoffs healthy for a change. Fine or no, that goal has not changed, Charania said.
“This is all a part of what has been described to me as the new normal for Joel Embiid. That’s going to include periodic time off at different points during the season. It’s going to include routine checkups on his knee over the course of the season, and it is all part of the Sixers’ and Embiid’s new strategy this season on how to keep him healthy when he has never been, and that’s for the playoffs.”
If that means more fines, the 76ers may shrug that off as well. As the season’s opening week has shown, the 76ers need him and George healthy to have a chance against not just the top of the East, but most of the conference.
