Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid IS Back And On Track

Joel Embiid‘s Return is the key To 2016, and the latest word is that he’s good and ready to go. So the Philadelphia 76ers are back and on track.

There are few reasons to find Philadelphia 76ers president and general manager Sam Hinkie braving to sit in front of microphones and give updates. But the one consistent reason in recent months is to provide an update as to the status of future Philadelphia 76er Joel Embiid. Since the third pick of the 2014 NBA draft, Joel Embiid has defined the process — that patient long-term view of building a championship that makes sense when you think about it, but has become the point of much consternation, vitriol, and derogatory comment from analysts, fans, and NBA executives.

In the plan of building a long-term winner, the goal is oftentimes confused by the un-doctrined — persons who believe the team is trying to lose in order to maximize their position in the NBA draft. But the opposite is the reality. It is the team’s goal of taking that longer term approach, of drafting players who will not join the team for several years but who will be the best chance of fitting a role on a championship team, that makes them sink in the present. Joel Embiid is one such player. His is the type of projection that makes even the detractors give pause. And so, it is only fitting that the process of Sam Hinkie, the master of odds and converting players from an NBA roster into future assets, has lashed himself to the mast of Joel Embiid’s future. If Embiid pans out, the team has found its keystone — a future great to build around. If he fails to achieve up to his projection, the team remains in rebuild mode, perhaps to the point of a change at the general manager position.

So when the news of Joel Embiid rehabing at Aspetar Clinic in Qatar surfaced, there were plenty of questions as to the why, the what, the when, and the how. And so, Sam Hinkie stepped up to the microphone to assuage the building concerns of the uncertainty of the team’s star prospect.

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"“We’re obviously excited about him and have always been excited about him because he has rare gifts and he has a real chance to have a fantastic NBA career. “That’s obviously been delayed due to his injury, but he’s doing great. He’s doing great on all the things that matter for him, which is like how do you focus every day on trying to get better and how do you take the steps that you can take to get all the way back and to give yourself the best chance you can. He’s at this facility called Aspetar in Qatar. That is an interesting place and one we’ve been looking at for six months that’s world renowned for having the best sports medicine docs and rehab specialists and orthopaedic surgeons and sports psychologists and dietitians. The whole gamut, sort of soup to nuts.” -Hinkie interview on Friday’s edition of Comcast SportsNet’s Philly Sports Talk."

And so, the words arrived right on cue, and the message was not exactly well received by the fans. Skeptical of the player’s return that has been promised for two years and continues to evolve, the patience of the team’s front office is crashing against the corral reef of a fanbase that has heard it before and seen nothing delivered. It’s a dangerous place to swim, or sail.

But the picture is worth a thousand words , and so the image of a Joel Embiid shooting threes before the Pistons game sold an image of a young man back and on track.

The investment in Joel Embiid has been substantial. But the course of his injury has demanded that kind of investment. A foot injury is a difficult place to heal on anyone, but place that foot under a 7’2″ basketball star, and you have complicated the matter substantially. We have gone into detail about that second surgery, the use of sport medicine in the healing process, and the assembly of world experts in determining the need for the second surgery. Even after surgery, the team knew that Embiid would need a year of rehab before he could play NBA style basketball. And despite the encouraging reports, the team has held fast on the time-table.

Next: Philadelphia 76ers Experiencing A Dip In The Road

While the team experiments on the current big men roles of Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor, they can throw much of it out the window in 2016. Joel Embiid, if he delivers even a fraction of his projection, will seize the power forward position and claim it as his own. We may be stuck waiting until the 2016-2017 season begins to witness it, but I believe it will be worth the wait. Sam Hinkie is the ultimate odds maker when he trades players. Right now, he is holding on Embiid. I simply am following suit.