Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Cautious approach continues concerning Simmons’ debut
PHILADELPHIA » Not that it necessarily moved him any closer to playing a game of professional basketball, but Ben Simmons had a useful medical report Monday.
According to the Sixers, the No. 1 overall pick in the last draft had “a planned MRI” on his broken right foot. No additional damage was reported.
“We’ll continue to take,” a spokesman said, “a conservative and cautious approach to his recovery.”
Simmons has not played since training camp, when he suffered a Jones fracture, requiring surgery and a lengthy recovery.
“I’m just really happy with the path and plan we had in place for him,” Brett Brown said before the Sixers-Clippers game. “I’ve said it a lot. I’ll say it again: Nobody has had more practice than us at figuring injured high draft picks out than we have.
“His path is meticulous, from what he does with his physio-therapist, to what he does with our shooting coach, to what he does in a classroom-type atmosphere, me spit-balling him with questions. On Sunday, I was in the gym and he got a lot of shots and played some one-on-one. We’re drip-feeding this slowly. We are very cautious, so that when he does come back, there is a classroom, physical thing that we have morphed into a really tight format since he’s been out.”
According to Brown, Simmons has been playing some light one-on-one with James Webb III of the Delaware 87ers of the D-League.
“It’s all nice and slow,” Brown said. “It’s not anything that anybody should read into. It’s not: Here he is. It’s not that. It’s just building him up very cautiously where we can welcome him back legitimately to the team and the court.”
••• Even in training camp, when his roster seemed crowded, it was understood that at some point Brown would solve the Sixers’ puzzle.
Few figured Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot would be a part of the solution.
But as the 76ers settled on a 10-man rotation essentially broken into two shifts, there is the first-round draft choice from France winning playing time … and helping to win games.
“In general, he is moving in a general direction in a quicker way than we expected,” Brown said. “And by and large, when I put him in that position, he has taken advantage of it.”
Luwawu-Cabarrot has surfaced as a backup perimeter player in Brown’s second unit with Nerlens Noel, Sergio Rodriguez, Gerald Henderson and Dario Saric. In a 110-93 loss Saturday in Atlanta, he played 20 minutes, 41 seconds, shot 2-for-3 and had 10 points. He scored 12 points in a recent loss in Washington.
And if the trend continues, his playing time could expand.
“He plays down-hill,” Brown said. “The decisions he makes once he is at the rim have been more sophisticated than I thought. He’s always had that athleticism, but now he is learning to drive his car in traffic.”
Luwawu-Cabarrot is just 21, but he had been playing professionally in France since 2012. The Sixers made him the 24th overall pick in the last draft, adding him to a haul that included top overall pick Ben Simmons. The 6-7 wing required some earlier D-League time, but settled into the Sixers’ rotation when Brown chose to stop trying either Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel at a forward spot.
“He is our most gifted runner,” Brown said. “He is our most athletic wing. We want to play fast. Those things matter. You go back and look at tapes. He has had key baskets in fourth periods where we have gone to him and he has responded. Maybe not late in the games, but at those times when they feel like they are still in the balance, he has come up with something that is usually driven by his athleticism and his attack mode.”
That effort has made Luwawu-Cabarrot an unlikely – and welcome – contributor.
“It’s always in my mind to give my best all the time,” he said. “They are going to put me on the court just because I bring energy. I never thought, ‘I have to play 10 minutes,’ or, ‘I have to play five minutes.’ I just do my best and see what the coach gives me.”
••• With Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor battling knee issues, Richaun Holmes, back from the D-League, is an option at center.
“I think any time you get somebody back from the D-League, you just get a bounce,” Brown said. “There is an excitement just to be back on an NBA court. And so I think that bounce and swagger you see with him back, along with some of the good things about the DLeague experience, it is good to have him back.
“He has done enough for us to pay attention to Richaun Holmes.”
••• Embiid, who will did not play Tuesday, was named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Embiid is the Sixers’ first Player of the week since Thaddeus Young in 2014. He joins Michael Carter-Williams and Allen Iverson as the only Sixers’ rookies so honored.
••• The Sixers will visit Milwaukee Wednesday and return to the Wells Fargo Center for an 8 o’clock visit from the Houston Rockets Friday night.