Will Injuries Be The Theme For The Sixers This Year?
By Josh Wilson
The Philadelphia 76ers are, like any NBA team, prone to injuries and having their season slowed down by the rigors of 48 minute games of basketball. The Sixers are a team that knows this all too well.
Although they knew about his injury before they drafted him, Joel Embiid‘s injury has gotten to be a pesky talking point for all Sixers fans. Still, we haven’t seen him play a single game as a Sixer, but he’s still on the team, and his injury keeps getting worse. After missing his entire rookie year, he is now missing a second consecutive season due to the fracture of a navicular bone in his left foot.
The Sixers also acquired Nerlens Noel from the New Orleans Pelicans shortly after they drafted him, but he missed his entire rookie season with an injury as well.
Now, the Sixers smartened up, and picked up a player in this year’s draft–Jahlil Okafor–that hasn’t had much of an injury problem. But wait, why not start off the preseason with an injury?
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That’s exactly what happened, well, at least sort of. Okafor missed Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks, and could very well miss Friday night’s game against the Washington Wizards due to a sore knee.
Okafor is adamant that this is not an injury, and the staff is just being very precautionary regarding his knee. He’s confident that, if necessary, he could go out and play. And maybe that’s so, but maybe, if he risked it, he would actually injure his knee.
It wouldn’t be surprising, given the Sixers past luck with player injuries.
Noel also missed the past two games with a sore back, but it appears like he’s ready to return for Friday night and will be ready to go.
The two leading names for the starting point guard spot–Tony Wroten and Kendall Marshall–are out until further notice with injuries. Oh, and Pierre Jackson doesn’t appear like he is ready to go either, and he continues to show he’s not good for much more than getting hurt. This leaves the Sixers with a large uncertainty about who to pick to start at point guard. Do they take a young gun like Scottie Wilbekin, or stick with what they know in a guy like Isaiah Canaan?
Still, it’s hard not to think, with occurrences this early in the year, could this be a theme for the Sixers? Constant injuries that keep holding the team back from doing what they could complete otherwise?
The answer is hopefully no, but we won’t know for sure until the season really starts to kick into gear. As of right now, though, it’s looking like they’re going to start off the season shorthanded, and there’s even rumors going around saying Okafor won’t be ready for opening night.
It’s not time to panic, but it is time to be skeptical. Injuries are tough, and happen to any team, but this many injuries is nearly absurd.
Fans are hoping for the best, and hoping to hear Okafor will be ready to go, even for Friday’s game.
Next: Fans Should Not Be Worried About Jahlil Okafor
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