The Sixer Sense
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Are Philadelphia 76ers At Risk Of Trading Joel Embiid?

By Bret Stuter

Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Joel Embiid Is Was Safe

But the one player who was never considered for a trade was rehabilitating Joel Embiid.  In fact, quite the opposite, as Joel Embiid was rehabbing for two years, the Philadelphia 76ers have spared no expense to place his medical situation before the best surgeons and medical professionals of the planet.  Then, after his second surgery, the team has surrounded Embiid with positives – from the visits of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, an NBA veteran and survivor of a navicular bone graft surgery, who began to visit with  Joel Embiid during initial rehabilitation to the injured foot.  Ilgauskas brought a player perspective of someone who had been through it all to reassure a young Joel Embiid.  Afterwards, the team flew Joel Embiid to Aspetar Sports Clinic on two seperate occasions, to enter a full immersion therapy camp to help educate and diagnose his foot to enable him to advance to basketball related training exercises.

All of these events were above and beyond the call of what an NBA team was expected to do.  But with Hinkie, Joel Embiid was worth the effort.

Suddenly, we have a new sheriff in town.  He is Bryan Colangelo, and for the past couple weeks he’s been appearing on many of the Philadelphia 76ers media, interviewing and diagnosing the state of the Philadelphia 76ers as a team in need of veteran leadership, struggling to overcome their own youth and inexperience.  In  listening to the commentary, there is  a sense, or perhaps a bad feeling, that being one of the youngest players on the roster, with minimal basketball experience, and not playing on a basketball court in a competitive game for the past two years is a huge disadvantage going forward.

In fact, if the youth and inexperience of the team is the true problem as indicated in recent interviews, then fans must consider the possibility of the team trading Joel Embiid.  Despite the huge potential upside to be the equivalent of Jahlil Okafor on the offensive side of the ball and Nerlens Noel on the defensive side of the ball, Embiid is still just potential.   In any changing of the guard, the new regime oftentimes severs ties with the former “sacred cows” in an effort to move on with a clean slate.

Next: Hinkie bet his career on Embiid, Will Colangelo risk the same?