On Wednesday, it was announced that the Philadelphia 76ers will be sitting big man Joel Embiid out for at least a week due to knee soreness. Here is the thing, though: 76ers head coach Brett Brown says that Embiid's knee soreness is nothing new.
As a matter of fact, Brown said that the team has been aware of the issue for “a few weeks now.” Uh, what?
So let me get this straight: you knew that Embiid was experiencing pain in the same knee in which he had an operation to repair a torn meniscus two years ago, and you allowed him to play?
Not just that, but remember: Philadelphia was also allowing Embiid to play through a back injury recently in spite of the center's incredibly checkered history with back problems.
That begs the question: what are the Sixers doing?
As talented as Ben Simmons is, Embiid is their franchise player. He is an incredibly gifted big man who plays both ends of the floor and can take over a game at moment's notice.
He turns just 25 years old next month, so he will likely be a cornerstone for the 76ers for quite some time.
So why is Philly throwing him out on to the court if he is hurt?
Before anyone puts some blame on Embiid, you need to understand that he is professional athlete. Professional athletes are hyper-competitive and will want to play no matter what, so if the team says it's okay, you bet he is going to get on the floor.
This isn't on Embiid; this is all on the 76ers organization for treating Embiid like a commodity than a person.
It's blatantly obvious that Philadelphia is craving a championship as soon as possible. That's why the Sixers went out and got Jimmy Butler in November, and that's why they cleaned out the rest of their assets to get Tobias Harris earlier this month. Both Butler and Harris are free agents over the summer, so there is a very good chance the 76ers will end up losing both for nothing.
This is evidently why Philly is having Joel Embiid play through knee issues, as it want to ensure itself of as high of a seed as possible in the Eastern Conference so it can have home court in the playoffs.
The problem is, the 76ers, as much as they would like to believe otherwise, are not title contenders. They are not even a top three team in the East, as the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks are all better than them. And you know what? If Victor Oladipo didn't get hurt, the Indiana Pacers might very well be better than Philadelphia, too.
I understand wanting to do whatever you can to contend, but these delusions that the 76ers seem to have where they think they are legitimate title contenders are mind-boggling.
Apparently, Philadelphia is so gung-ho on winning this season that it will put Embiid's career on the line by playing him in relatively meaningless January and February games just to try and earn a 3-seed instead of a 4.
Sorry, but that is ridiculous.
The funny thing is, the Sixers are obviously looking out for themselves and not Embiid by doing this, but they are also sabotaging themselves in the process. What if Joel Embiid gets seriously injured? Then what? The 76ers are then just an ordinary team whose future will be in jeopardy.
It's not like Embiid has been some medical marvel, either.
Let's keep in mind that this is a guy who missed his first two seasons in the league due to foot and back injuries and was then limited to just 31 games during his debut season because of knee issues.
It is very clear that Embiid is a severe injury risk, so the second that you know he is experiencing some sort of discomfort, you should sit him. Period. No questions asked.
The 76ers deciding to sideline the All-Star at this point just rings hollow. Sure, there was no structural damage in his knee, which is great, but shouldn't they have acted more quickly when they first learned about the issues?
Not only that, but Joel Embiid played in the All-Star Game, for crying out loud. Couldn't the Sixers have at least told him to sit out that game?
Maybe Embiid's knee will end up completely fine and he will be good to go for the remainder of the year when he comes back. But that does not change the fact that Philadelphia could not have handled this any worse.
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