The Philadelphia 76ers won Tuesday night, and typically, that wouldn't be big news for the worst team in the league, but it was their 10th win. The win doesn't change the fact that this season has been an awful one for the 76ers, but at least they don't have to deal with the embarrassment of having single-digit wins.
This offseason will be a big one for the 76ers because it seems like they are done with tanking and actually want to show improvement in their win-loss record. A lot of improvement could be made through free agency and trades, but the biggest key for the 76ers is somebody that they already have on their roster.
That would be Joel Embiid, who was the third overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft but has yet to play an NBA game. The 76ers believe that Embiid has the tools to be a superstar in the NBA, but he has not gotten the chance to prove it yet because he has broken his foot the last two years. The team is confident that the 22-year-old center will be back stronger than ever next season, as they are encouraged by his progress.
The 7-footer got back from his second trip to Qatar recently where he did some state-of-the-art rehab work on the foot. Head coach Brett Brown called the trip for Embiid fantastic, as he is now able to do a lot more basketball wise than before. The only thing that Embiid is not able to do at this point is take contact and participate in full-court scrimmages, but it seems like that may be coming soon, too.
The 76ers are clearly going to be very cautious with Embiid considering that he is very injury prone, but this recovery seems to be going about as well, as they could have hoped. Reports say that Embiid is working out vigorously, and the plan is for him to be ready by training camp of the 2016-17 season. Philadelphia has basically already ruled out playing Embiid in the summer league next year as a way of preventing a preseason injury, but barring a setback, he should be ready for next season's opener.
The 76ers will have to figure some things out in their frontcourt heading into next year to give Embiid the proper amount of minutes, but they should be able to do so. It is hard to get too excited about the prospect of Embiid playing in an NBA game, but this time it feels realer than it has in the past because of all of the positivity surrounding his recovery.
