Iverson Armband wrote:Negrodamus wrote:elchengue20 wrote:Not buying that theory at all. It's wishful thinking.
Given the evidence is way more likely he's completely cooked.
That's all he has been complaining about the past two years. Then he comes out in full uniform to do warmups and there's been videos of him doing handstands in practice. He's probably fine to play right now but the team wants one shot of him in the playoffs at 100% health.
Couple things here. First, with all due respect, Joel doing handstands in practice is hardly an indication he’s ready to participate in a full NBA game lol. Secondly, this organization is dumber than I already suspect if they really think they can deliver Joel to the playoffs not having played consistently and expect to do anything. That is absolute foolishness and it’s why Joel/FO came out some weeks ago saying back2backs were back on the table. Joel is not Jimmy Butler and damn sure no Kawhi. He does not have a plug n play type of game. He will just “show up” and lead a team to didly squat.
I'm not saying the handstands are an indication he's ready, I'm just saying he's not really restricting himself from activities if there's a real concern of reinjuring his knee; particularly if there are cameras all over the place. He's been out for a month and remains out for the next 2 games? I don't know, if I'm wanting the optics to be I'm not ready to play, I wouldn't be screwing around.
The final two points don't really matter tbh. The FO doesn't look at Embiid in terms of "is he Jimmy Butler or Kawhi". They are looking at this like "we've seen our MVP play like one or two healthy playoff rounds in his entire career; lets mitigate the risk and try to waltz into the playoffs with a fully healthy roster". They've gone every other route of dealing with his proneness to injuries; it's not surprising they're taking this approach.
Let Joel play a couple of weeks, claim knee soreness, have him sit 2-3 weeks. I don't think it matters in the end, but it's an interesting approach I guess. All they have to do is make the play-in games. I also don't think matchups matter. If they aren't able to make noise with a healthy-ish Embiid, PG, and Maxey, then what's the point of this team? Just trade PG and Embiid this offseason.
