Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie met with the media on Friday, a day after the NBA trade deadline passed. And because -- for the first time since his arrival in Philly -- the team was relatively quiet, Hinkie spent a large portion of his 30 minute press conference discussing things that had very little to do with the deadline.
But that likely wasn't a problem for fans, as Hinkie instead offered an update on injured center Joel Embiid, the third-overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft who has yet to play a game for the Sixers.
“We haven’t talked about it in great detail, but if I had to guess, I doubt [Embiid plays in summer league]," Hinkie admitted. "The first time through, he got injured and had surgery in June and was getting ready for summer league in July. This last time, he had surgery in August. I don’t see us — we definitely wouldn’t push him to be ready in July. And I’m not sure it would make a whole lot of sense at the end of the day.”
And then, he offered some hope.
“I think the goal from here is to back up and say, ‘Let’s have Joel raring to go for next season.’ But not for Salt Lake and the fifth of July," Hinkie added.
Currently, Embiid is in Qatar undergoing an intensive rehab program that the Sixers custom designed, the GM explained:
“He’s at this facility called Aspetar in Qatar that is an interesting place, and one that we’ve been looking at for six months that’s world-renowned for having some of the best sports medicine docs and rehab specialists and orthopedic surgeons and sports psychologists and dietitians and the whole gamut, sort of soup to nuts. He’s there on a fairly intense program for a few days and will be back maybe by then end of the week.
“[The program] is one that’s custom designed for him that we’ve been putting in place over the past several months and is an evaluation that kicks off the next phase of his rehab. Lots of training, lots of simple stuff to sort of look in. It’s another check before the next step. We’ve done a lot of these types of things, but maybe this one’s more popular because he’s on the other side of the globe. We sent some of our personnel with him, and he’s doing great.”
After questions arose last year about Embiid's maturity, Hinkie went out of his way to praise the 21-year-old Kansas product.
“Right now, he’s sort of kickstarted the next phase of his rehab and that’s going really well. We expect maybe in the last several weeks of the season, he might be more fully integrated into the team and traveling with the team and at all the games and the like. And then he’ll have a long summer in front of him as well, where his rehab will continue. So far, so good.
"He’s done a great job. He’s been super professional. He’s brought a whole new level of maturity to the game and to his rehab and his day-to-day approach, which I think is honestly like key-to-life, like perseverance in his day-to-day approach, how to be resilient and focus on what you can control and how to make the best decisions you can about how to best spend your energies every day.”
Embiid's eventual injection into the lineup comes with its own set of unique challenges for the Sixers. Already, we've seen how the team's offense can grind to a halt with both Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor in the game. And that crowded frontcourt will only become more hectic when Embiid is available -- not to mention Dario Saric, who was drafted 12th-overall in 2012 but has been playing in Europe ever since.
Hinkie, however, didn't seem concerned by that, going as far as to say he thinks Noel and Okafor have worked well together.
He also talked about how this, in addition to the presence of Jerry Colangelo, may -- or may not -- impact that team's draft philosophy come June. But according to the GM, they're still taking the long view.
"I think, generally, our notion will be to keep the end in mind, about what we're really trying to accomplish," Hinkie said. "And to recognize how rare it is to be able to pick at the top of the draft and how important that is, and what might happen to our team once we bring a lot of this talent together.
"One thing we talk about a lot is the old saying of 'you don't get to the moon by climbing a tree.' And being able to report progress branch-by-branch, that's not real. How do you really put the things in place that will get you all the way there? I think we'll have a wide set of options -- some of which are not in our control, so we don't worry a whole lot about them. ...
"I don't think you'll see a huge change in our mindset about what really matters. The draft, free agency is littered with mistakes of short-sighted thinking. And if we try to rail against anything, it's that."
And that type of long-term outlook extends to the drafting of players like Saric, a guy who may be the best player available but also could elect to play overseas before joining the team.
"I'd like to think we'd still take long views," Hinkie added. "We're all impatient. I think we'd all like to play deep in may and get into June. I think we'd all like to make the playoffs. My view is super critical that everybody stay rational about what our goals are and how best to achieve those. It's a little early to tell, but I can tell you how I'd vote.
"There are many stories, from David Robinson in San Antonio and his military commitment to Roger Staubach to Larry Bird to the like, that just because something isn't readily available to you at that moment, doesn't mean it's not right to acquire it."
Clearly, the Sixers GM is exercising a level of patience that is far greater than what some fans can withstand. But in his mind, it's that kind of thinking that builds winners.
"I often say this in our meetings, 'If I'm not thinking about the future, who is?' Like, whose job is that -- to think about what happens in 12 months or 36 months or, god forbid, 60 months? If it's not me, tell me who that person is around here to do it and, fine, I'm happy to listen to them. But I think that's the goal of the whole operation. How do you put all the building blocks in place so someday you can have a parade on Broad Street ... or a few?"
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