As if by habit, Brown refuses to declare Simmons, Embiid ready for summer league
PHILADELPHIA >> The Sixers established a policy of tolerance and patience, then stood by it and swore by it and swung it around in pride.
They would be the noble protectors of all injured players, never willing to use one in a basketball game unless healthy enough for the cover of a fitness magazine. They would dismiss their critics, ignore the standings, tolerate losing and brainwash followers. They would never realize that they were being frozen by their own ideas. But that’s what happened. And that’s why, for the first time Monday, Brett Brown gave an early hint that the Sixers might not be whole when next season begins, either. That’s because he would not declare either Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons available for — ready? — the summer league. The. Summer. League. Not available. Either of them. “I think it’s too early to make that judgment,” the Sixers’ coach said, before a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center. “I hear the question. I think that’s certainly stuff that we’re talking about. But in relation to giving a definite answer, we’re not even close to being there yet.”
Simmons broke his foot in training camp and was originally projected to be lost for three months. But three months passed, then four. And then he was declared out for the season. Embiid was injured in January, claiming a bruised knee that he’d later declare hyperextended. Then he was found to have a small meniscus tear. Then he, too, was declared out for the year.
By then, the Sixers were protected by their own reality. A season that at one point provided a cascade of optimism was effectively over, so few would argue with their extreme caution. Besides, they had nicely built a small constituency of believers in their building process who could be counted on to provide enough public cheerleading to counter any criticism.
But the Sixers have become so dependent on the option to mothball players that it has become a sad addiction. They have become so immune to any counter-argument about declaring players unavailable that they are proud to do so months in advance.
Though Brown did not declare Simmons and Embiid out until training camp, there was no reason in the first week of March to do anything but insist they play in the summer. At least, Simmons should have had the obligation. Embiid, who technically will be heading into his fourth season and who has had enough practical success to have been a sturdy AllStar candidate, might have opted out of summer play. But he, too, could use the conditioning.
Yet Brown dismissed the idea with the blissful unawareness of a smoker tapping on his third pack of cigarettes before lunch.
If Simmons and Embiid are kept off the Sixers’ summertime rosters, they will not likely be ready to contribute fully at the beginning of next season. And that will provide the Sixers with the option to handcuff them with minutes restrictions. The loose risk, then, is that the Sixers will begin next season slowly enough to compromise their playoff chances before Christmas.
Eight days ago, Simmons required an injection of marrow into his healing fracture. “He is likely to resume normal training by the end of the week,” read the Sixers’ prepared statement. Yet when asked about that Monday, Brown had no answers. “I don’t know when that timeline started,” he said. “For me and him, it is more about communication, talking about the summer and what we are going to do with that more than being on a court.” And while a Sixers’ spokesman later stressed that Simmons has been on his feet and lightly working, the Sixers have hypnotized themselves into believing that just talking with players about being on the court is a sign of progress.
On some levels, the Sixers’ plan is sensible. Their medical experts have advised extreme caution with potential young stars, from Nerlens Noel to Jahlil Okafor to Embiid to Simmons. But there was Brown Monday, as he was during a 30-point loss to the Pistons Saturday so desperately low on centers that he was down to D-League forwards on his five-spot depth chart. Meanwhile, 6-11, 245-pound Tiago Splitter, a six-year veteran on an expiring contract who had hip surgery more than a calendar year ago, was not being pressured into action.
He’s 32 and a fill-in. He can’t rate the same caution as Simmons and Embiid. Or does he?
“He does, actually,” Brown said. “He does. He’s just not ready. It’s not erring on the side of caution. He’s just not ready.”
Policy, after all.