The Philadelphia 76ers are in panic mode after losing Ben Simmon’s to a season-ending injury followed by an early game exit of Joel Embiid.
The Process of the Philadelphia 76ers may again have to wait for another year to realize. The team just can’t seem to strike gold even if they have all the pieces to compete. Unfortunately, the team doesn’t have problems against rivals or other teams. Instead, they struggle to keep healthy.
Both the star players of the Sixers have been injury-prone. It took them almost three years to get to where they are now. Unfortunately, the short legacy may just crumble yet again.
Philadelphia 76ers struggling to keep healthy
Last week, the Sixers lost Simmons to a potential season-ending injury to his knee. He suffered a subluxation in his left kneecap. In other words, Simmon’s kneecap was dislocated but popped right back where it’s supposed to be. However, a loose body on the knee has to be removed with surgery.
Based on past injuries such as this, a long timetable is needed. It should take Simmons more than a couple of months to get his knee back to shape. As such, he’s definitely out for the season unless by some miracle he heals fast in time for a deep Playoffs run by the team.
With Simmons possibly out for the season, the 76ers have to lean on Joel Embiid more. Unfortunately, the team may have to look somewhere else as the big man failed to finish his game with the Blazers. The game videos didn’t show which play caused the lower-body injury to the big man.
However, it was apparent that Embiid limped through an apparent ankle injury. Fortunately, he was able to walk out of the gym on his own. As such, it could just be a minor ankle sprain. If it is, the 76ers may have gotten out of a pickle.
Line up change experiment
Since Ben Simmons is out, Al Horford will have to slot back in the starting five. When the bubble started, Brett Brown experimented and placed Simmons in the power forward position. That left the point guard spot open for Shake Milton to fill in. Now that the four-position is open again, Horford will have to figure out how to work with Embiid. Brown knows this which led him to say,
“We need [Horford] more than we’ve ever needed him.”
Their run together on offense hasn’t exactly been the best. Their flow stagnates with two bigs that don’t space the floor too well. As such, the paint gets clogged with two fewer shooters on the floor. Brown will have to figure out how to work the offense with these two guys. Otherwise, they will get outrun and outgunned by opposing teams in the Playoffs.
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