When it was announced Joel Embiid would be missing another season due to complications with his foot and foot surgery, I was not sure how to take it.
Will he ever play? If he does, what do we do once Okafor, Noel, and Embiid play a full season together? Who is the odd man out? All this remains to be seen with a terrible 76ers season still ongoing, but one thing is for sure, Joel Embiid is making progress.
He was first seen, about a week ago (starts doing the Shmurda dance), shooting free throws looking RIPPED.
Looking like a young Nate Thurmond if you ask me.
It was announced that Joel Embiid had his boot removed several days ago, and it looks like he is practicing, somewhat, with the team now.
Boot has apparently been off for 10 days or so. https://t.co/s46WzBcHm7
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) December 18, 2015
#Sixers Brown: Embiid ‘mentally.”, leaps and bounds ahead’ of where he was a year ago at this time.
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) December 21, 2015
My first Joel Embiid quote: ‘Thank you’ for throwing him wayward basketball.
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) December 21, 2015
Embiid makes maybe 6th try over his head from half court, then yells out ‘That’s what I do.’ #Sixers pic.twitter.com/alSHl00vWN
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) December 21, 2015
Embiid breaks into laugh during shooting drill. pic.twitter.com/soUh8ntxOo
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) December 21, 2015
It’s good to see Embiid finally back on the basketball court. His mental ability was in question last year once people found out that he wasn’t rehabbing correctly, so it’s good to see him in a positive state of mind. But when this debacle of a season is over, what do the Sixers do? Do they just go into the following season with Embiid, Okafor, and Noel rotating for two starting positions or is one of the three going to be dealt?
It would be interesting to see what the Sixers do with Noel. Yes, the defensive production is amazing, but his raw offensive ability is something to keep in mind. The polished games of Okafor and Embiid can’t go unnoticed if they were to play together.
In my opinion, the Sixers are in a tough situation because if they were to deal Noel, they would be stuck with two players who have very little experience at the power forward position. They will have to figure out if they can try rotating all three come next season otherwise the Sixers will have to get on the phone and call teams to find those interested in Noel. There’s no doubt that there will be teams willing to listen.
