It’s understandable that the Philadelphia 76ers want to handle Joel Embiid carefully this season, especially considering the massive contract they just handed to him.
But Embiid doesn’t appear to be much of a fan of the minutes restriction that the Sixers are going to place on him this season.
Embiid just called his minutes restriction “fucking bullshit”
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) October 17, 2017
Well, that escalated quickly.
Here’s what Sixers coach Brett Brown said about limiting Embiid’s minutes, via Philly Voice.
I don’t really know if there’s like a solid number. I can tell you if you were to choose a number, it’s somewhere in the teens. There’s a little bit of a looseness in relation to, it doesn’t have to be rigid if the game didn’t dictate some track meet. What I’ve told everybody is when you study NBA rules, timeouts aren’t as frequent, timeouts are shorter, this is like I’m coaching in the London Olympic Games again. The game moves, I can have guys at the scorers table for two minutes with no stoppage. So sometimes the torrid pace of a game doesn’t favor Jo when you get flying up and down. The minutes thing we’re going to learn more about that, there will be some minutes restriction, but it’s also a judgment of how is the game being played, not just looking at a rigid number.
And more from Embiid after he was informed about Brown’s comments.
“Oh sh*t, I didn’t know about that,” said Embiid. “That’s very disappointing, I feel great and hopefully that changes based on today’s practice and tomorrow’s practice.”
Embiid also said he would trust the team’s doctors while pushing for more playing time.
“I got a voice, they got to listen to me. It depends on how I feel, so if I feel great and my body feels great and my knee is fine, I should play 30 minutes or more,” said Embiid. “Definitely going to have my opinion on that, and they’re going to hear me. We’re going to discuss it, but at the same time I trust them, I trust the doctors, and even if I feel good, they have a plan behind it.”
The Sixers handled Embiid with kid gloves last season. Over just 31 games, he averaged 25.4 minutes a game. He played 30 minutes in a game just once, and never played on back to back nights. It turns out that this season, he’ll still be handled carefully – despite his desire to play more.
