It’s no secret that the Philadelphia 76ers are prioritizing the health of Joel Embiid this season. On Sunday, a team rep told Philly Sports Network that the former MVP would not play for the entirety of the preseason as a part of an ‘individual treatment plan.’ Come Monday, an in-depth look by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps provided further details on Embiid’s plans moving forward.
Discussing everything from the risky moves the team made this offseason that, on paper, are set to pay off to reacquiring Drummond, and of course, Embiid’s future game management plans and the correlation to players like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard.
Embiid has consistently spoken since the end of the season of the desire to change his approach. At the Sixers’ media day, which took place two weeks ago, he recalled a message he sent team president of basketball operations Daryl Morey following the Sixers’ postseason loss to the New York Knicks. “We got to do whatever it takes to make sure that in the postseason I’m healthy,” read the text Embiid sent Morey. That message appears to have stoked the flames of change regarding Embiid and his approach.
Part of this new resolve has led to the weight loss that Embiid cited at media day, claiming a loss of 25-30 pounds, which he quickly followed up on by stating that he still had a ways to go. In addition to the weight loss, Embiid and the Sixers have partnered to put a plan in place to maximize the likelihood of him entering the postseason healthy.
Part of that involves him missing the entirety of the preseason. The general idea appears to be maximizing his appearances, which ties into Embiid’s comments on playing back-to-backs moving forward.
“If I had to guess,” Embiid told Bontemps, “I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career.”
Such a declarative statement surely comes as a surprise, even considering Embiid’s history. However, as the NBA continues to schedule back-to-backs, including travel back-to-backs, it quickly becomes less shocking. The Sixers are scheduled to play 15 back-to-back games this season. While it’s not certain that Embiid will miss every single back-to-back, his comments certainly suggest that is at least the intent.
This will undoubtedly have ripple effects, including the likelihood of him qualifying for stat titles, All-NBA teams, and other awards. Once again, this aligns with everything Embiid has said this summer.
Embiid followed his media day comments on his text to Morey by claiming his interests this season are not in personal accolades.
“There is no agenda,” Embiid said. “There’s no All-Star. There’s no All-NBA. There’s none of that. It’s whatever it takes to make sure that I get to that point, that I’m ready to go.”
This follows years of outside speculation about Embiid’s desire for MVP awards and other personal accolades. While the playoffs have always mattered to Embiid, and the team’s lack of postseason success has always frustrated him, he is leaving no room for speculation this year.
His scheduled absences will surely be controversial, but Joel Embiid certainly appears to believe that this plan will provide him with the best chance of entering the postseason healthy. By all accounts, he has the complete and total support of the team.
Now, all that’s left is just to see if this plan actually works.
