The Sixer Sense
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Like 2016 Jahlil Okafor, 2017 Joel Embiid Knee Ends Season

By Bret Stuter

Nov 2, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie (far left) watches as center Joel Embiid (21) walks out of the tunnel on crutches prior to a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 2, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie (far left) watches as center Joel Embiid (21) walks out of the tunnel on crutches prior to a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 2, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie (far left) watches as center Joel Embiid (21) walks out of the tunnel on crutches prior to a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 2, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie (far left) watches as center Joel Embiid (21) walks out of the tunnel on crutches prior to a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Philadelphia 76ers Are Protecting Their Investment

The Philadelphia 76ers have taken a unique approach in the handling of Joel Embiid. He was drafted third in the 2014 NBA Draft despite a full medical history of reasons why he should fall out of the top ten. The team hired the best sports medicine expert in the field in David T. Martin. The front office knew the team had “their guy” and began to unfold a championship infrastructure as he rehabbed.

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    • But Joel Embiid did not heal according to plan. In fact, the foot that defined his NBA Draft slot threatened to derail his NBA career before it ever happened.

    What followed was some of the shrewdest quick action by any professional sports team.  The team scheduled a second surgery, and then rehabbed Joel Embiid under very restrictive monitoring and conditions.  His foot healed, and is healthy today.

    Aspetar Fixed The Way Embiid Trained And Played

    But Joel Embiid did not just work a treadmill.  The team sent him to Aspetar Clinic in Qatar where he was immersed in reeducating his body how to train and perform, and monitoring his stress points and body movements.

    But a knee injury can undo all that expensive re-education.  The human body will compensate for pain in one area of the body by rerouting the workload to healthier muscles. If you have ever had a sore back, you know just how quickly the body does this.

    To a professional athlete like Joel Embiid, this can be very perilous.  His body, at 7-foot-2, generate far more torque than a 6-foot-4 player.  A sore knee will cause Joel Embiid to transfer more stress to his feet to compensate.  On that alone it makes perfect sense to shut Embiid down for the remainder of the year.