As Joel Embiid nears return, trust in his body is the key factor

After weeks of mystery, a 1-3 Sixers start, and plenty of arguments about why exactly Joel Embiid is on the sideline, the big man cleared everything up on Friday, delivering a straightforward message at a post-practice presser.

“I think really, it’s being comfortable and trusting it. I think just being out there, I want to be at my best. I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m afraid if I do this I might do something or whatever,” Embiid said. “I mentioned it since the last surgery, I mentioned it so man times, it was probably the toughest mentally. I think mentally I’m just dealing with getting that trust back. In the past, it was just easy. But for some reason, this one is just like, mentally, trusting yourself and trusting your body. And I think that’s really what I’m doing.”

“I’m almost there. And then with the team, we’re on the same page. I listen to them, they listen to me, and see how everything reacts. Been doing pretty good, going up and down five-on-five, and today was a great session with the whole team.”

This was a shockingly honest look into what Embiid has actually been working through during the last month-plus. Friday represented a big milestone for Embiid and co-star Paul George, who both participated in a full practice session for the Sixers that included live action five-on-five. Up until now, the closest Embiid had come to that was some live action with Philadelphia staffers, in addition to the various drills he’d go through during and after practice.

By all accounts, Embiid looks good physically right now. In post-practice sessions the media has seen, the big man has moved well and thrown down a few dunks, months after his Team USA buddies chided him for never dunking in their practice sessions. Friday, he looked as slim as he has looked in years, the product of a lot of practice floor work but also some alterations to his diet to be as lean and mean as he can be.

An aside on the Olympics stuff — as we worked through Embiid’s mental hurdles, I tried to get a feel of how much this stemmed from the Olympic run, where he had his moment vs. Serbia but largely looked a bit slow and inspired questions about whether he should be there at all. Embiid didn’t show a hint of regret about the decision to play in Paris and effectively told reporters that the bar he needed to clear to be a cog in Team USA’s machine was far lower than serving as Philly’s lynchpin.

ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported he did deal with minor swelling in training camp, but Embiid having a lack of trust in his body is harder to pin down than something like soreness or swelling. It’s a moving target, a factor we’ve seen impact different Sixers players for different reasons. And for Embiid, the issue seems to be accumulation. As he has noted himself, he has bounced back from a lot of injuries, but this specific issue at this point in his life has lingered longer than he’d hoped.

And that subject brought out some rage in Embiid on Friday, as he dealt with questions about when it was decided that he’d be missing these games to open the year. Embiid has been met with fierce criticism in some corners, and he took aim at Marcus Hayes from the Philadelphia Inquirer, who wrote a story recently that drew Embiid’s ire. The gist of the beef? Embiid believes he has shown through his actions that he is willing to put his body on the line for Philadelphia, but that it was not wise to do so to open the year.

“If your body doesn’t react well, and if your body tells you one thing, I mean I’ve done it. From what I can tell you, I’ve broken my face twice, I came back early with the risk of losing my vision. Had broken fingers, still came back. So I’m not going to sit here and be like, when I see people saying he doesn’t want to play, I’ve done way too much,” Embiid said on Friday. “I’ve done way too much for this city and putting myself at risk for people to be saying that.”

“I do think it’s bullshit. Like that dude, Marcus whatever his name is, I’ve done way too much for this fucking city to be treated like this. Done way too fucking much. Like I said, I wish I was as lucky as other ones, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not trying, and I’m not doing whatever it takes to be out there, which I’m going to be here pretty soon.”

Critically, while the return date for Embiid appears to be drawing closer, the specific game is still unknown. The Sixers delivered the news that he was a full participant on Friday just moments before Embiid clarified that he would not play in Saturday’s meeting vs. Memphis, and Paul George’s absence (more on that in a moment) was confirmed shortly afterward.

“Not necessarily,” Embiid said when asked if he had a specific date in mind. “It’s unpredictable. You can have good days, you can have bad days, so I think it’d be kind of foolish for me to sit there and be like, oh I’m playing on Tuesday, when you don’t know. I played today and it reacts, you’re still getting back into game shape, still getting back to yourself.

“You need to feel 100% because I think over the years, I’ve done a lot and I’ve put myself at risk for the team, which I’m going to continue to do. But right now is the time to make sure everything is great, which is trending that way. It’s pretty good right now, everybody’s trending the right way, and so we can go on and have a long season and a great couple of years.”

The “other” returning star

There has been so much noise about Embiid (understandably so) that Paul George’s own absence has flown slightly under the radar. George was in good spirits during his first sitdown with the media since picking up a bone bruise in the preseason, and he said there’s just one final hurdle to clear before taking the floor.

“I think at this point, it’s more just cardio, getting the conditioning ready to go, so that when I do come back I’m not subject to any injuries because I’m fatigued and tired,” George said. “I had really good two days of finally being on the court and practicing and running hard, being in live action, so the knee up to this point feels really good.”

George has been spotted putting in the time to accomplish exactly that. During Philadelphia’s shootarounds, he has made it a habit to run the stairwells at the Wells Fargo Center, invoking memories of everyone’s least favorite high school conditioning ritual. He conceded that there is no substitute for the live-action he has participated in during the back half of the week, which seems to indicate that he’s very close to a return.

While working through his own process and teaming up with Embiid for some “injured guys” workouts, George has looked on as Tyrese Maxey has had to do a lot by himself. Having played alongside Kawhi Leonard in L.A., George is familiar with the unenviable task of soldiering on as the lone star. He’s encouraged by what he has seen from Maxey despite some ups and downs.

“He’s seeing every possible coverage. He’s trying to playmake, he’s trying to score, he’s trying to be the leader on the floor, it’s just a lot of hats that you have to carry and wear when you’re the solo star on the floor,” George said. “He’s going to come out of this situation a lot better, but it’s tough, especially at the point guard spot. He’s getting bigger defenders, they’re wearing him down, they’re tiring him out.”

“I think the hardest part of it all is still being the leader and still being Tyrese Maxey, and have to figure out alright, how do I get this person shots? How do I get this person an easy look? How do I score and be aggressive offensively?”

Bully ball on the way?

In the sickos-only department, Nick Nurse is slowly approaching the day when he has to put together the real rotation and not just a group holding the fort until the big boys get back. On Friday, he gave a long, detailed response on how things might shift once Embiid and George are back, and he started with a concept we teased in the preseason — Embiid/Drummond frontcourt minutes.

“I think I went in there thinking how can I get Drumm and Joel on the floor together into the season. I think there are moments where Drumm does some unique things that I just don’t think we can have him over there not playing like huge segments of the game,” Nurse said. “There’s one that probably is there, but probably getting firmed up more in my head. How am I going to do it? I did it today in practice for a stretch, several, two or three different times, in offensive breakdown and then in scrimmaging.”

Even for those of us who were in The Bahamas for training camp talking up this possibility, it was a bit of a shock for this to be item No. 1. That said, Philadelphia has been fairly poor on the defensive glass to start the year, so it’s an idea that’s not completely out of left field. Be prepared for some shenanigans when Embiid and PG finally make their season debuts.