On Friday afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers confirmed what most of us had lengthy suspected: The left knee of Joel Embiid, their celebrity middle, just isn’t wholesome sufficient for him to proceed enjoying this season.
The NBA’s schedule will go on, and the Sixers nonetheless have roughly six weeks of video games to minimize the stretch. However now that the Embiid domino has fallen and we’ve some readability about his well being, we all know Philadelphia’s season can also be over.
Nonetheless, Philadelphia is tinkering with its roster, looking for hidden expertise, buying and selling for Jared Butler and signing Lonnie Walker IV. At 20-38, the Sixers are three video games out of the tenth and last Japanese Convention Play-In spot heading into Saturday night time’s nationally televised matchup with the Golden State Warriors. It doesn’t matter what occurs on this last run of 24 video games, this can be a misplaced season for the Sixers.
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However this misplaced season could be a one-off, a blip, an anomaly. That’s the excellent news.
If you’re a Sixers fan, that is definitely a bleak second, so it’s understood in case you scoff on the sentiment above. But when the Philadelphia entrance workplace handles its enterprise within the offseason, if Embiid can garner the right therapy and rehabilitation for his knee to return again because the MVP-level participant he was two years in the past and if the Sixers can retain their first-round draft decide, which is top-six protected, so as to add a dynamic younger expertise, the trail is there for a return to prominence within the Japanese Convention.
That’s a prolonged record of ifs and, given what we noticed from him along with his well being, Embiid is the largest. Nonetheless, on this bleak state of affairs, it’s potential to search out optimism.
The Memphis Grizzlies are the precedent right here. Keep in mind once they misplaced star level guard Ja Morant in January 2024 to a season-ending harm? Keep in mind once they misplaced a bunch of starters and rotation guys round him for lengthy intervals? The 2023-24 Memphis Grizzlies set an NBA file utilizing 33 gamers. They used an NBA-record 51 completely different beginning lineups. They’d a whopping 578 mixed video games missed due to accidents and had been some of the injured groups in league historical past.
They completed 27-55, thirteenth within the West, 19 video games out of the ultimate Play-In spot. They collected the No. 9 decide within the 2024 NBA Draft. Then they took Zach Edey, who has turn out to be an influence starter this season. Ja Morant and the opposite lacking elements of their rotation returned wholesome. Heading into Saturday night time, they’re 38-21 on the season, within the third spot within the Western Convention, and are a contender to make a run deep into the playoffs.
That may very well be the Sixers. However these are a number of the steps that have to be taken, as a result of the Sixers equation is a bit more murky than what the Grizzlies had been coping with. At the beginning, the Sixers have to lose. I wrote this in a column final week imploring Philadelphia to close Embiid down for the rest of the season. I’ll repeat it right here and shout it from the rooftops: Philadelphia must lose as many video games as potential down the stretch.
The Sixers solely maintain their first-round decide, which is in any other case owed to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder if they’re within the draft’s prime six. The Sixers are at present within the sixth spot within the lottery order. In the event that they keep there, their odds of protecting the decide can be 45.8 p.c.
The Sixers are three video games behind the Toronto Raptors for the fifth-best lottery odds, which is notable as a result of the groups play one another twice extra this season. If Philadelphia had been to complete with the fifth-best lottery odds, its probabilities of protecting the decide would skyrocket to 64 p.c.
So, the Sixers have to lose. They need to shut Paul George down, which must be a simple promote as a result of he’s already coping with an injured finger. They need to shut down All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey, and clarify to him that is for the higher good of future Sixers groups. They need to be rolling into video games beginning Jalen Hood-Schifino, whom they signed on Friday to a two-way contract, at level guard.
At this level, each loss is a win. Each win is a loss.
If the Sixers maintain their decide, the potential expertise on the roster heading into subsequent season has an opportunity to be formidable. Maxey is a star and has blossomed into some of the offensively gifted guards within the league. Philadelphia ought to get Jared McCain, whose season resulted in December due to a meniscus tear in his left knee, again within the lineup, which might be important. The rookie had already made his mark as a weapon shooter and a three-level scorer. He and Maxey might make for an offensively imposing backcourt. What the Sixers have performed effectively is draft, and amid the chaos of this season, their younger guys have developed surprisingly effectively.
Justin Edwards has began 9 video games and, at minimal, has established himself as a pleasant rotation participant. Adem Bona has had stable moments on the middle spot. He’s a backup, however his athleticism, capacity to play above the rim and talent to guard the rim defensively give him a excessive ceiling for enchancment.
However that is all a home of playing cards if Embiid, and to a lesser extent, George, don’t get again to kind. What we’ve seen from each gamers this season has been troubling. Embiid’s capacity to blow up off the dribble and off the ground had been each severely diminished. As a result of he’s so expert, he was in a position to rating at a excessive charge with a food plan of jumpers. He was nonetheless artful sufficient to attract fouls. However, the opposite stuff that really made him particular as an all-around participant simply weren’t there.
At his finest, Embiid is an apex rim protector, and he couldn’t try this this season. At his finest, Embiid can guard on the perimeter and he merely couldn’t transfer laterally. These attributes made him a singular two-way powerhouse, and it’s a giant cause he’s been an MVP in his profession. However this season he couldn’t play wherever near that stage. If the Sixers are going to return to prominence by subsequent season, he must be wholesome. In any other case, this temporary respite might flip into the brand new regular. No person related to Philadelphia needs that.
A wholesome Embiid, with a franchise stage level guard reminiscent of Maxey, mixed with George and McCain represents a major stage of expertise, it doesn’t matter what the rest of a roster seems to be like, particularly within the usually depth-starved Japanese Convention.
If the Sixers maintain their decide, they may add yet another important expertise. Then, you’ve got the summer time to work out the kinks of the roster with a stable base.
The steps must be taken. However this season doesn’t must be the brand new regular. Just like the Grizzlies, it may be a momentary velocity bump.
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(Photograph of Joel Embiid: Michael Reaves / Getty Photographs)
