Sixers GM, Sam Hinkie, Doesn’t Know If Joel Embiid Will Play Next Season

By now we all know the story behind Joel Embiid‘s roller-coaster entry into the NBA. He was the ostensible No. 1 pick in an acclaimed 2014 Draft despite sitting out Conference play and the NCAA Tournament with a wonky back. Then he suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and fell from his pre-draft perch as the largely unanimous No. 1 pick. Philadelphia’s GM, Sam Hinkie, swooped in to snag Embiid with the No. 3 pick, and now we’re here — with many Sixers fans holding back any enthusiasm for the selection until Embiid actually trots out on the hardwood.

Much like Nerlens Noel‘s selection last summer, after an ACL tear cut his freshman college season short after just 24 games, Embiid’s future in Philly is murky. Noel worked on getting healthy and back in shape all year, but never appeared in a regular season game during the 2013-14 campaign.

Likewise, Hinkie admitted in an interview yesterday with the Philadelphia Daily News‘ Bob Cooney he had no idea if Embiid would even appear in a Sixers uniform next year. After Cooney asked if Embiid would ever suit up for the Sixers, Hinkie was comfortable telling him he had no idea:

“I don’t know at this point. Right now, he’s in Philly and visiting with a variety of our medical professionals and going through tests. He’ll get a good baseline and then we’ll put together a rehab plan. He’s still in a boot. He was shooting threes on one leg in our gym [Monday]. I don’t know how it will play out. We’ll take an approach without knowing where the finish line is. We want to know how we can be sure to put him in a position to have a long NBA career. However long [rehab] takes will be however long it takes. In my experience with this injury, a very reasonable approach that our medical professionals take is to put these hurdles in place for them to rise above and then measure the symptoms and then let’s see what happens in the days after. Is there tightness or soreness or swelling? Does the MRI or X-ray show something different? When we set that road map, no one knows [how long it will take].”

Hinkie also said that in rehabbing last season from a torn ACL, Nerlens Noel had not [sic] setbacks. Noel, of course, missed the whole season. Read into that what you will.

As Cooney suggests, we will. The biggest takeaway from the quotes stems from the leisurely pace Hinkie’s taken to rebuild the Sixers. They didn’t rush Noel back last year despite giving up their only all-star during the 2012-13 season, Jrue Holiday, to get him. In that same trade, Philly also acquired a future first-round pick from the Pelicans, which turned into this year’s No. 10 pick, Elfrid Payton, who Hinkie then turned around and traded to Orlando for Dario Saric at No. 12, a 2015 second-rounder and a 2017 first-round pick. HINKIE!!!!

Basically, Sam Hinkie is continuing to hoard draft picks, acquire big men on rookie deals, as well as last year’s Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams, without sweating the team’s win-loss record. Last year they tied an NBA record with 26 straight losses, before a win over Detroit prevented them from losing the most in league history.

Last season’s atrocious team — who started so well! — didn’t panic and trade the farm for a chance to take Andrew Wiggins at No. 1 this summer. Instead, Hinkie lucked into another pick who was earlier considered the top prospect in the draft, just like Noel, and plans to bring him along slowly.

This is a long and roundabout way of saying we don’t expect to see the Cameroonian Twitter savant on the court this season. Hinkie isn’t going to rush the rebuild process in Philadelphia. He was given a five-year window by owners Joshua Harris and Adam Aron when he was hired last summer to extend the advanced analytics he practiced under Daryl Morey in Houston and create a similar long-term winner in the East. He’s also not going to rush his top pick this year.

Hopefully all this patient plotting and draft-day maneuvering pays off because if not, Sixers fans will have suffered through some miserable campaigns without anything to justify all the ~~tanking~~ losing.