Joel Embiid Out Next Two Games To Rest Knee

[RealGM Wiretap]

Joel Embiid will not play in the Philadelphia 76ers' next two games to rest his knee.

Embiid suffered a knee contusion on Friday.

The Sixers announced that a precautionary MRI showed no significant damage in his left knee, and held him out of Saturday's game against Atlanta.

"We're gonna be without him tomorrow, and in Milwaukee, and we'll go from there," Brett Brown told reporters.

Via ESPN

[Hipster Doofus]

Good strategy. Let him rest for a week as half the season is done already. He's been very resilient and healthy so far *knock on wood*, so some rest will help rejuvenate him for the second half of the season.

Long-term benefits, not short-term gains.

[Tiesto_Lakers]

One of the most frustrating Fantasy players in the history of the game.

[HurricaneKid]

Good strategy. Let him rest for a week as half the season is done already. He's been very resilient and healthy so far *knock on wood*, so some rest will help rejuvenate him for the second half of the season.

Long-term benefits, not short-term gains.

The big thing is to stop winning games before they lose a high pick (or two if the Lakers somehow end up top 3).

And Embiid has been babied PLENTY. He still hasn't played 30 min in ANY game, nor played a single back to back.

[luss54321]

Good strategy. Let him rest for a week as half the season is done already. He's been very resilient and healthy so far *knock on wood*, so some rest will help rejuvenate him for the second half of the season.

Long-term benefits, not short-term gains.

The big thing is to stop winning games before they lose a high pick (or two if the Lakers somehow end up top 3).

And Embiid has been babied PLENTY. He still hasn't played 30 min in ANY game, nor played a single back to back.

He could very well play most of his career with minute restrictions.

He's a 7 footer with a long history of knee, back, and foot injuries.

[Hipster Doofus]

The big thing is to stop winning games before they lose a high pick (or two if the Lakers somehow end up top 3).

And Embiid has been babied PLENTY. He still hasn't played 30 min in ANY game, nor played a single back to back.

I believe the Sixers are aiming to win, not to rely on draft picks. They'll get a very high draft pick either way, either through their own pick or the Lakers' (or both if lucky).

He hasn't been allowed to play more than he has. He started at 24 min per game. That lasted a couple of months. Then in late December it went up to 28 min per game. He'll either stay at that rate the rest of the season, or go up to 30 min per game. All as per team physician's orders.

Next season it'll be different. He'll probably start at 32 min per game right away if all goes well.

[sixerman25]

He could very well play most of his career with minute restrictions.

He's a 7 footer with a long history of knee, back, and foot injuries.

This is really not accurate. He doesn't have a long history of injuries. He had a stress fracture in his back at Kansas that completely healed after a few months but developed a stress fracture in his foot right before the draft in 2014. That was the last major injury he had. They tried to repair it with a less invasive procedure that didn't involve a bone screw, but doctors didn't like the way it looked after a year (even though Embiid felt fine). Basically there was a bit of separation in there on the imaging (which could technically be classified as new "fracture" compenent), possibly in part because he was still growing, that was concerning for long-term healing. So they made the difficult decision to redo the surgery with a screw this time around and he had to miss another season.

This new injury is the type of minor injury all players pick up from time to time. The idea behind the minutes restriction is to allow the bones, ligaments, and muscles to be exposed slowly to only enough stress that they can heal fully between games without risk of acute injury or further breakdown from accumulated wear and tear. Once he builds that base back up (remember, he also is playing at 7'2" 275lbs for the first time) he should be able to play without minutes restrictions.

[HurricaneKid]

The big thing is to stop winning games before they lose a high pick (or two if the Lakers somehow end up top 3).

And Embiid has been babied PLENTY. He still hasn't played 30 min in ANY game, nor played a single back to back.

I believe the Sixers are aiming to win, not to rely on draft picks. They'll get a very high draft pick either way, either through their own pick or the Lakers' (or both if lucky).

He hasn't been allowed to play more than he has. He started at 24 min per game. That lasted a couple of months. Then in late December it went up to 28 min per game. He'll either stay at that rate the rest of the season, or go up to 30 min per game. All as per team physician's orders.

Next season it'll be different. He'll probably start at 32 min per game right away if all goes well.

Show me another player in the history of the game that has had anything even remotely similar as far as minutes restrictions.

Guys are on minutes restrictions for a few weeks while they get their legs under them. Not for an entire season after not having ANY wear and tear for 2 years.

I'm all for being cautious. But I refuse to believe the Dr came up with that program on his/her own. Because no Dr has ever given such a diagnosis.

On the other hand, he didn't even complete a single season in HS either because of his back. In fact, the 758 minutes he has played this season are the most he has ever played in any season. So whatever they need to do to keep him healthy is what they will do. I just feel like this is a Strasburg situation. You can put him on a pitch count but you cannot prevent an injury. He had those two ugly knee buckles in a game a week ago or so. At some point you need to let him go.

[Ballerhogger]

One of the most frustrating Fantasy players in the history of the game.

If you picked him to be reliable points.. bad idea.

[luss54321]

He could very well play most of his career with minute restrictions.

He's a 7 footer with a long history of knee, back, and foot injuries.

This is really not accurate. He doesn't have a long history of injuries. He had a stress fracture in his back at Kansas that completely healed after a few months but developed a stress fracture in his foot right before the draft in 2014. That was the last major injury he had. They tried to repair it with a less invasive procedure that didn't involve a bone screw, but doctors didn't like the way it looked after a year (even though Embiid felt fine). Basically there was a bit of separation in there on the imaging (which could technically be classified as new "fracture" compenent), possibly in part because he was still growing, that was concerning for long-term healing. So they made the difficult decision to redo the surgery with a screw this time around and he had to miss another season.

This new injury is the type of minor injury all players pick up from time to time. The idea behind the minutes restriction is to allow the bones, ligaments, and muscles to be exposed slowly to only enough stress that they can heal fully between games without risk of acute injury or further breakdown from accumulated wear and tear. Once he builds that base back up (remember, he also is playing at 7'2" 275lbs for the first time) he should be able to play without minutes restrictions.

You can go through every injury he's suffered and talk about how it's not that big of a deal, but the fact of the matter is he hasn't played a healthy season of basketball since he was in high school.

= He missed the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament due to injury
- He missed his entire rookie year
- He missed his entire second year
- His third year, already playing on a minutes restriction, after the next two game he'll have missed roughly a third of the season due to injury (32% of the games)

If that's not an injury history, i don't know what is.

[HurricaneKid]

He could very well play most of his career with minute restrictions.

He's a 7 footer with a long history of knee, back, and foot injuries.

This is really not accurate. He doesn't have a long history of injuries. He had a stress fracture in his back at Kansas that completely healed after a few months but developed a stress fracture in his foot right before the draft in 2014. That was the last major injury he had. They tried to repair it with a less invasive procedure that didn't involve a bone screw, but doctors didn't like the way it looked after a year (even though Embiid felt fine). Basically there was a bit of separation in there on the imaging (which could technically be classified as new "fracture" compenent), possibly in part because he was still growing, that was concerning for long-term healing. So they made the difficult decision to redo the surgery with a screw this time around and he had to miss another season.

This new injury is the type of minor injury all players pick up from time to time. The idea behind the minutes restriction is to allow the bones, ligaments, and muscles to be exposed slowly to only enough stress that they can heal fully between games without risk of acute injury or further breakdown from accumulated wear and tear. Once he builds that base back up (remember, he also is playing at 7'2" 275lbs for the first time) he should be able to play without minutes restrictions.

You can go through every injury he's suffered and talk about how it's not that big of a deal, but the fact of the matter is he hasn't played a healthy season of basketball since he was in high school.

= He missed the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament due to injury
- He missed his entire rookie year
- He missed his entire second year
- His third year, already playing on a minutes restriction, after the next two game he'll have missed roughly a third of the season due to injury (32% of the games)

If that's not an injury history, i don't know what is.

Yeah, he wasn't healthy in HS either...

[Pork N Chili]

He could very well play most of his career with minute restrictions.

He's a 7 footer with a long history of knee, back, and foot injuries.

This is really not accurate. He doesn't have a long history of injuries. He had a stress fracture in his back at Kansas that completely healed after a few months but developed a stress fracture in his foot right before the draft in 2014. That was the last major injury he had. They tried to repair it with a less invasive procedure that didn't involve a bone screw, but doctors didn't like the way it looked after a year (even though Embiid felt fine). Basically there was a bit of separation in there on the imaging (which could technically be classified as new "fracture" compenent), possibly in part because he was still growing, that was concerning for long-term healing. So they made the difficult decision to redo the surgery with a screw this time around and he had to miss another season.

This new injury is the type of minor injury all players pick up from time to time. The idea behind the minutes restriction is to allow the bones, ligaments, and muscles to be exposed slowly to only enough stress that they can heal fully between games without risk of acute injury or further breakdown from accumulated wear and tear. Once he builds that base back up (remember, he also is playing at 7'2" 275lbs for the first time) he should be able to play without minutes restrictions.

You can go through every injury he's suffered and talk about how it's not that big of a deal, but the fact of the matter is he hasn't played a healthy season of basketball since he was in high school.

= He missed the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament due to injury
- He missed his entire rookie year
- He missed his entire second year
- His third year, already playing on a minutes restriction, after the next two game he'll have missed roughly a third of the season due to injury (32% of the games)

If that's not an injury history, i don't know what is.

Except sitting out for back-to-backs is not an injury...

[sixerman25]

This is really not accurate. He doesn't have a long history of injuries. He had a stress fracture in his back at Kansas that completely healed after a few months but developed a stress fracture in his foot right before the draft in 2014. That was the last major injury he had. They tried to repair it with a less invasive procedure that didn't involve a bone screw, but doctors didn't like the way it looked after a year (even though Embiid felt fine). Basically there was a bit of separation in there on the imaging (which could technically be classified as new "fracture" compenent), possibly in part because he was still growing, that was concerning for long-term healing. So they made the difficult decision to redo the surgery with a screw this time around and he had to miss another season.

This new injury is the type of minor injury all players pick up from time to time. The idea behind the minutes restriction is to allow the bones, ligaments, and muscles to be exposed slowly to only enough stress that they can heal fully between games without risk of acute injury or further breakdown from accumulated wear and tear. Once he builds that base back up (remember, he also is playing at 7'2" 275lbs for the first time) he should be able to play without minutes restrictions.

You can go through every injury he's suffered and talk about how it's not that big of a deal, but the fact of the matter is he hasn't played a healthy season of basketball since he was in high school.

= He missed the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament due to injury
- He missed his entire rookie year
- He missed his entire second year
- His third year, already playing on a minutes restriction, after the next two game he'll have missed roughly a third of the season due to injury (32% of the games)

If that's not an injury history, i don't know what is.

Yeah, he wasn't healthy in HS either...

Do you have a link for this? I can't find anything....

My point was that he isn't constantly getting injuted. He essentially had 2 stress fractures from the rigors of his college season and needed a more invasive repair and recovery from the second than originally planned. This excerpt from an article following the injury to his back at Kansas explains why they form and why he has been brought along slowly this year:

It's important to know that our bones are in a constant state of rebuilding themselves—undergoing the simultaneous, competing processes of degradation and regeneration—in response to a variety of factors, including the mechanical stress of playing basketball. The rate and amount of remodeling depends upon something called Wolff's Law, which says that as the load on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. Like muscle, bone responds to microscopic injury by repairing itself.

But an abrupt increase in the duration, intensity, or frequency of physical activity without enough time to rest can lead to pathologic changes in bone. These changes result from an imbalance between bone resorption—a process where cells called osteoclasts break down bone—and bone formation. During periods of intense exercise, bone formation lags behind bone resorption, and this renders the bone susceptible to stress fractures. In short, Joel Embiid required more rest than he was able to get.

[HurricaneKid]

You can go through every injury he's suffered and talk about how it's not that big of a deal, but the fact of the matter is he hasn't played a healthy season of basketball since he was in high school.

= He missed the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament due to injury
- He missed his entire rookie year
- He missed his entire second year
- His third year, already playing on a minutes restriction, after the next two game he'll have missed roughly a third of the season due to injury (32% of the games)

If that's not an injury history, i don't know what is.

Yeah, he wasn't healthy in HS either...

Do you have a link for this? I can't find anything....

My point was that he isn't constantly getting injuted. He essentially had 2 stress fractures from the rigors of his college season and needed a more invasive repair and recovery from the second than originally planned. This excerpt from an article following the injury to his back at Kansas explains why they form and why he has been brought along slowly this year:

It's important to know that our bones are in a constant state of rebuilding themselves—undergoing the simultaneous, competing processes of degradation and regeneration—in response to a variety of factors, including the mechanical stress of playing basketball. The rate and amount of remodeling depends upon something called Wolff's Law, which says that as the load on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. Like muscle, bone responds to microscopic injury by repairing itself.

But an abrupt increase in the duration, intensity, or frequency of physical activity without enough time to rest can lead to pathologic changes in bone. These changes result from an imbalance between bone resorption—a process where cells called osteoclasts break down bone—and bone formation. During periods of intense exercise, bone formation lags behind bone resorption, and this renders the bone susceptible to stress fractures. In short, Joel Embiid required more rest than he was able to get.

When he went down and missed the tourney when he was at KU it came out that it was an ongoing issue that had plagued him in HS as well. I can't find any specifics but I'm not going to look real hard.

There are two types of injuries. Acute injury is a single isolated event causing an injury. A broken bone or torn tendon fall under this category. Rehabbing sucks but a player can generally come back from these types of injuries. Then you have the chronic injury: knee tendinitis, foot pain, back pain. These you just don't ever heal from. PT has come a long ways and they can be managed, but if you are a big with a bad back, knees or feet, you are likely going to continue to have ongoing issues. Now the back issues may very well all be tied to a single stress fracture that is now healed. And the navicular foot injury may have been surgically fixed. But if you are saying they are but he is still on a minutes restriction years later I'm going to tell you I think you are leaving out something substantial.

[sixerman25]

Yeah, he wasn't healthy in HS either...

Do you have a link for this? I can't find anything....

My point was that he isn't constantly getting injuted. He essentially had 2 stress fractures from the rigors of his college season and needed a more invasive repair and recovery from the second than originally planned. This excerpt from an article following the injury to his back at Kansas explains why they form and why he has been brought along slowly this year:

It's important to know that our bones are in a constant state of rebuilding themselves—undergoing the simultaneous, competing processes of degradation and regeneration—in response to a variety of factors, including the mechanical stress of playing basketball. The rate and amount of remodeling depends upon something called Wolff's Law, which says that as the load on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. Like muscle, bone responds to microscopic injury by repairing itself.

But an abrupt increase in the duration, intensity, or frequency of physical activity without enough time to rest can lead to pathologic changes in bone. These changes result from an imbalance between bone resorption—a process where cells called osteoclasts break down bone—and bone formation. During periods of intense exercise, bone formation lags behind bone resorption, and this renders the bone susceptible to stress fractures. In short, Joel Embiid required more rest than he was able to get.

When he went down and missed the tourney when he was at KU it came out that it was an ongoing issue that had plagued him in HS as well. I can't find any specifics but I'm not going to look real hard.

There are two types of injuries. Acute injury is a single isolated event causing an injury. A broken bone or torn tendon fall under this category. Rehabbing sucks but a player can generally come back from these types of injuries. Then you have the chronic injury: knee tendinitis, foot pain, back pain. These you just don't ever heal from. PT has come a long ways and they can be managed, but if you are a big with a bad back, knees or feet, you are likely going to continue to have ongoing issues. Now the back issues may very well all be tied to a single stress fracture that is now healed. And the navicular foot injury may have been surgically fixed. But if you are saying they are but he is still on a minutes restriction years later I'm going to tell you I think you are leaving out something substantial.

Except the minutes restriction is an extra cautious approach to PREVENT another injury. It's not like he's in too much pain between games or that his prior injuries are not healed. It's all by design and as far as we know he has no lingering discomfort in his foot or back. It's not a chronic injury at this point. This was the plan coming into this season and if anything his minutes were ramped up faster than originally anticipated. They are constantly monitoring his body and who knows, he might get into the 30's before the end of the season.

[ChokeFasncists]

Rest more, shut him down for a while. He needs to get healthy.