April 13, 2017
In Joel Embiid news, “The Process” is the Fresh Prince of Pacific Palisades, leaving Philly for a luxurious lifestyle on the West Coast. At least for a little while anyway, as the most important player on the Sixers roster rehabs the meniscus tear in his left knee.
The day that Embiid underwent minor arthroscopic surgery to fix that same tear, the Sixers announced his initial rehabilitation would take place in Los Angeles, which is where the procedure took place. In the team’s initial statement, Sixers sports science chief Dr. David Martin said that the organization anticipated Embiid “will resume basketball activities this summer.”
This was good news on the Embiid injury front.
So, based on that information, we knew Embiid was looking at a shorter rehab than he had become accustomed to after multiple foot surgeries. What we didn’t know, and now do thanks to an article written by ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan, is that Mr. Process went into the surgery believing that he was facing another long road back. Like, six months or more:
"I feel very lucky,'' he said, in his first public comments since his operation to repair a meniscus tear. "When I went into that surgery, I went in thinking I was going to have a six-month recovery. That's what they told me - six months or more. I'm thinking, 'No, not again.'
"When they did the MRI (before the surgery) it looked like my meniscus was fully torn. But when they got it in there, they realized that wasn't the case. It really turned out to be nothing, just a small little thing. So that's very good.''
That’s right. When Embiid woke up from surgery, a nurse told him that it was a minor meniscus tear as opposed to a major one.
A six-month timetable would have definitely ruled summer basketball activities out. There have recently been quite a few inquiries about/jokes made at the expense of the Sixers medical staff that I’m reticent to make — It’s difficult to know exactly what is going on behind closed doors — but this news from Embiid won’t make those go away. For what it’s worth, Embiid said in the article that he and the Sixers are “all good.”
Embiid is off crutches and it sounds like the rehab is moving full speed ahead. That is encouraging.
There are also good quotes from Embiid in the article about why he thinks he should win Rookie of the Year (his stats) and wanting to strengthen his legs this summer, and you can read them here.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
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