The Sixer Sense
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Breaking Down The Joel Embiid Situation

By George Kondoleon

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June 13th was just like any other day in Philly. Birds were chirping, sun was out, lines filled in to Geno’s and Pat’s. Everything was normal. Then Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the bomb of all bombs onto Sixers fans who were hoping for a nice, quick rebuild.

So there it is, Joel Embiid suffered some sort of setback. Of course this instigated mass panic among Sixers fanatics.

Not only were Sixerheads freaking out, different reports and speculations came out that Embiid is probably set to miss all of next season already. Others say Embiid isn’t hurt at all.

So what do we believe? We are going to breakdown some of the most popular theories behind Embiid’s injury.

The Smokescreen Theory 

This theory is awesome but unfortunately created by us fans who are still in disbelief. The Sixers sit one position ahead of the Knicks in the draft and could gain some possible leverage from leaking news that Embiid has suffered a setback. This would create panic in the Knicks organization if prospect D’Angelo Russell isn’t in the picture when the Sixers pick at no.3, as they might pick Kahlil Okafor. The Knicks have coveted Okafor all year long, so for them to miss out on their guy when they’re one pick away (see 09 draft, Steph Curry), would be a huge disappointment. Maybe Hinkie is doing this just to trick the Knicks into mortgaging some future picks to move up one spot and taking Okarfor, right? Wrong. The possibility of the situation playing out is slim to none, and for the Knicks to fall for it seems even more farfetched. Let’s get back to reality.

Joel Embiid is hurt and he’s the new Greg Oden

Right from the start, reports flew around that Embiid is going to miss next season as well, crushing the hopes of fans who wanted to see their promising star prove his value. This is what the Hinkie haters love to hear. He messed up and took a chance on an injured big man who never saw the court. Marking Joel Embiid as the next Greg Oden is such a blasphemous insult that somewhere Dikembe Mutombo is shedding his first tear. Embiid’s setback is a cause for concern so critics of the rebuild will have their field day. All of the reports of Embiid missing his second straight season are feeding more content for the non-believers to continue to criticize the way the Sixers are trying to get back to a competitive franchise.

The Media Overreacts (Again..)

This is the theory I’m going to start believing. Joel Embiid suffered a setback, but as Embiid’s former coach at Kansas Bill Self explains, according to cbssports.com, “he hasn’t re-injured anything”. This is the key thing to remember. A setback is not an injury. Joel Embiid went in for a scheduled appointment with his doctor, and the doctor explained to him that the healing process wasn’t going as planned. Good? No. Devastating? Also no. Joel Embiid has been impressing coaches in drills and practices, so he is healthy enough to be participating in basketball related activity. As Hinkie said in his statement to the fans, will visit various doctors and probably will get different opinions from a lot of the. You can see the statement at sixers.com. So there it is. Embiid isn’t re-injured and he’s definitely not guaranteed to miss next season yet.

Patience is a word you usually can’t sell Philly fans on, but now is the time to do it. Don’t overreacted Sixers fans and let time run its course. The media has blown this news out of proportion, but let’s hope all is well and Joel can suit up for the season opener at the start of the season.

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