The Philadelphia 76ers garnered mixed reviews in the aftermath of their Media Day. While fans definitely got a lot of information and updates as to the current status of players and the front office’s remaining plans, some of those bits were most certainly not what fans wanted to hear from them.
One of those negative updates came from Paul George, who revealed that due to his untimely knee injury that prompted him to undergo surgery over the summer, he will not be an active participant in training camp, raising the possibility that he could even miss the start of the regular season, which opens in a few weeks.
But aside from that straightforward update, George further bared that there is actually no timeline for his return, casting a huge cloud on his real progress. During Media Day, he told members of the media that he can do everything except contact work, but him hinting that he could be out indefinitely is simply a worse proposition than that.
Even worse, this places the 76ers under an unenviable position similar to what they experienced last season when they sputtered right off the gate en route to finishing with a lowly 24-58 win-loss card. Now, are the ghosts of the not-so-distant past already back to haunt them?
76ers face grim outlook with Paul George set to rewind last season’s disaster
This was the exact same pattern that the 76ers faced last season with the nine-time All-Star. George missed a huge chunk of the earlier portion of their campaign, leading to him suddenly coming back in really cold form as he struggled shooting the ball for basically the entire season.
George is a rhythm player, and his playing style requires him to get acclimated to the team’s offensive design before really getting comfortable operating as a playmaking forward. But with him already slated to miss potentially a considerable number of games early on, there is nothing that prevents that same eventuality from happening once more.
If so, George and the 76ers are screwed. Philly already has a dearth of playable options at forward, and not having someone like George who has experience functioning as an all-around hub offensively will force the coaching staff to resort to more one-dimensional options such as Kelly Oubre.
Fortunately, the 76ers are looking at a more modest schedule to begin their season. Still, there is every reason for fans to hope that Paul George returns as soon as possible, and that his “no timeline for return” tag does not hint at something more.