What a day for those following the Philadelphia 76ers. From the announcement from the team that Joel Embiid and Paul George would miss Wednesday’s game against the Pistons to a post-practice media scrum that resulted in Sixers head coach Nick Nurse dodging questions about the superstars to the announcement that the NBA has fined the team $100,000 for making inconsistent public statements on Joel Embiid’s knee injury, there’s surely been enough drama for one day, right?
Wrong.
Not long after Charania announced the fine, he spoke about the Embiid situation on ESPN, making an encouraging and, at the same time, frustrating claim about the former MVP.
“He has participated in multiple five-on-five scrimmages in recent days, including today,” Charania said. “So that is tangible progress moving forward for Joel Embiid. We’re still not sure when exactly he’ll be back, but he is practicing to the extent of five-on-five scrimmaging.”
This is an immensely positive development, clearly. The Sixers have struggled mightily without Embiid, and questions about his availability have only increased after one negative update after another. The very idea of Embiid returning, no matter how non-specific the reporting, is something to be encouraged by.
What is not so encouraging is the team’s continued reluctance to be the very least bit transparent in this process. The Sixers have long been an organization that keeps things close to the vest, and it has paid off on occasion to their credit. However, they have not done themselves nor the fans any favors with how they’ve handled this situation.
Course correcting from making inconsistent statements on a player’s health to making no statements at all is not a solution, although it may seem like it to the organization. Nick Nurse addressed the media after practice just hours before Charania’s report and was directly asked about Embiid’s participation in five-on-five scrimmaging. With the perfect opportunity to earn some of the fan base’s faith back, Nurse instead referred to the team’s unspecific message that Embiid has “participated in portions of practice today.”
Now, this is not to single out Nurse. His job is to coach the team, not navigate verbal red tape. However, regardless of how “unfair” it may be that he is sent out to the wolves—that being us, the local media, he is the only person who has been made available for comment, and as long as that remains the case, he will continuously be asked for updates.
