To paraphrase Nick Nurse from just about any point last season, let’s get all the health stuff out of the way first.
As Media Day got underway, the health status was unsurprisingly the biggest focus for both of the Sixers’ highest-paid players. Both Joel Embiid and Paul George were very positive addressing the media about their respective injury statuses, and also very vague.
The most important part of Embiid’s situation is that he is very much in a “feeling out period.” He said he’s progressed a lot over the past couple of months. There isn’t any expectation on being ready for the start of the season or anything like that, but the focus is more on making sure everything is done right and everything feels right.
He admitted to doing on-court work, some of which the team has captured on social media, but didn’t provide any further detail on how much he’s doing out there. While that does leave his status for opening night in a similar situation to last season, Embiid does feel that the situation is different.
“At this time last year going into training camp, I didn’t really know what was possible and what I was going to be able to do,” he said. “This time is a different story — mentally, I feel better.”
He was also asked about the possibility of changing his style of play to preserve his body, and it doesn’t seem like a part of his plan going into this year.
“That’s tough,” he answered. “You think about it, but then at times you can’t get out of yourself.”
He’s always seen himself as a dominant, vital two-way player and can’t see himself taking anything off on either end of the court.
“That doesn’t suit me, I don’t think I’ll ever be OK with that,” he said. “If it’s got to be that way it’s definitely going to be an adjustment, but I don’t see that happening.”
George provided slightly more detail on where he’s at in his recovery. He suffered another left knee injury that required surgery back in July.
“This next couple of weeks is very important leading into the season,” he said. “I do feel better. I do feel good. A lot better than I did last year, which is saying a lot.”
He said he’s good to go for everything except full contact, noting that he’s been in the gym and the weight room for the last three weeks as much of the team has. Perhaps even more importantly was the fact that he’s been able to do these things and the swelling has gone down.
“There’s been no swelling, actually, the swelling has been going down as I’ve been ramping up. So that’s the best possible news,” George said. “But, I don’t think there’s a timeline. It’s kind of just how the body is doing as we’re ramping up the work.”
President of basketball operations Daryl Morey reiterated that for both of those guys the priority is about getting their bodies right, rather than accelerating a timetable to get on the floor.
“We’re not getting into the expectations game,” said Morey.
The first update from Jared McCain, who tore a ligament in his thumb a just a day before, actually came from Andre Drummond.
The backup center was asked about how the standard or intensity has changed from last season, and he revealed that the team had been playing no-foul pickup games during their pre-training camp sessions.
“Well, I was, I think, two days late to our preseason camp, and when I got back here, we’ve been playing pickup with no fouls, so I learned the hard way coming back,” Drummond said, “I’m getting my ass beat up there. I’m like, is anyone calling fouls? There’s no whistles, that we’re just playing. So for me, I love that kind of stuff, so it took me a day to adjust.”
While Drummond feels that style was a necessary change for the team, it may have come at a cost. The increased intensity and physicality may very well be what caused McCain’s injury.
“ We needed this type of, type of game and type of atmosphere, because it gets messy,” he said, “obviously seeing Jared go down, and it’s not the best thing to happen, but you know, it’s a part of the game when you play tough.”
If there’s any comfort regarding McCain’s injury, it was the words Morey.
When asked how the team as a whole can avoid injuries, he said, “Well, frankly, some injuries are flukey, right? Jared’s couldn’t have been more flukey. You’re going to have those.” He went on to reiterate the team’s update from the day prior, that McCain, the team, and doctors are still working on finding a best treatment to that injury.
