Philadelphia 76ers celebrity Joel Embiid made his preseason debut on Friday in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves and completed with 14 factors, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals in 18 minutes of play. Embiid shot 5 of 10 from the ground and exited the sport with 6:13 remaining within the third quarter.
Embiid had been ramping up his work in observe and obtained to some extent the place he may lastly see some reside sport motion earlier than the common season begins in opposition to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. With Embiid making his preseason debut lower than every week earlier than the opener, it is a good signal for his availability for the beginning of the season.
The 76ers have handled vital accidents, primarily with Embiid, in every of the previous couple of years. Embiid’s performed only a complete of 58 video games within the final two seasons attributable to decrease extremity accidents, primarily to his knees. His restricted availability has handicapped the Sixers from constructing any form of significant momentum within the common season.
Couple that with the truth that Paul George can be sidelined and is not anticipated to swimsuit up for the season opener, and you’ve got a Sixers workforce that continues to fall in need of expectations due to accidents.
Embiid’s return, although, was a sliver of excellent information for Philadelphia, and the hope is that he will be out there sufficient for the Sixers to make the most of a large open Jap Convention race. Embiid mentioned on the workforce media day that he felt “fairly good” within the lead up from the surgical procedure, so hopefully which means we’ll see him on the court docket most of the time this season.
“The purpose is to play persistently and never be within the place we have been final yr,” Embiid mentioned. “All people that is aware of me is aware of I need to play. I need to play each single sport. I have been fairly unfortunate in relation to that in comparison with most NBA gamers.”
If wholesome, the Sixers ought to be thought-about a part of that high tier of groups within the East, together with the Knicks and the Cavaliers. They’ve a ton of depth at their disposal and a trio of versatile stars in Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey. However the difficulty has at all times been about having all of them on the market collectively. Getting Embiid again is step one, and hopefully George is not too far behind so the Sixers can see what they’ve with this trio going ahead.
