Joel has his first game of the season tonight. He’s already missed nine games plans to miss at least 13 more with back to backs. With the poor play of the team during his absence, the Sixers and Joel need to do everything possible to keep him healthy and on the court this season.
What’s Wrong With His Knee?
Last season, Embiid had to miss a lot of time with a knee surgery which he came back from for playoffs. After electing to take the surgery route, we were under the impression that this would heal him better long term. Now, with a mystery knee injury, he missed even more time because of possibly the same lingering injury.
Whatever the injury is, I wish the team would just tell us what happened. The secrecy and lies are getting old and even the league took the side of the fans when they fined them 100k. Can they just tell us the truth?
Sixers Are Bad Without Embiid
They’ll probably never tell us about the knee, so we have to live with not knowing. Unfortunately for fans, when Embiid does miss time with these injuries, the rest of the team does not play well at all. In those nine missed games, the team went 2-7. Somehow, with a terrible Easter Conference, they’re still not too far separated from the top teams. Even though that’s the case, they need to find a way to win more games without Embiid.
Obviously Paul George had an injury too, but even with him and Maxey, they couldn’t beat the Suns or the Clippers. Small sample size, but still. Bottom line, they need a better win% without Embiid or else they might miss the playoffs.
Chemistry Issues
Even if/when the Sixers do make the playoffs, how will they look? Embiid can do his thing in the regular season and win games, but he does not do that as much in the playoffs. In order to do so, he’ll have to get time with his team in the regular season.
The injury bug has hit the Sixers pretty hard and now that Embiid is back in, Maxey will miss multiple weeks with an injury. This does not help their case for chemistry. 10 games into the season and the new big 3 (Embiid, Maxey, and George) have not played in a single game together – and they won’t for at least a few more weeks.
Realistically, this team could play only half of their games together with a healthy roster. If that’s the case, we need to hope that these players develop some quick chemistry and/or their talent can carry them through the playoffs.
Room for Hope
Even if things don’t go well this year, the core of this team should still have a few years together to build this chemistry. Nobody wants to see this as a building year, but if they can’t get the job done this year, they will still have plenty of time to gel together. Embiid’s health should be prioritized over everything else, though. Hopefully playing in some games will help with his conditioning and the load management will keep him healthy.
Photo from Mitchell Leff Getty Images
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