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Joel Embiid is a competitor, he doesn’t like being told he needs to sit out a game for rest.
What he likes less is missing 39 games during the regular season, not being healthy for the playoffs, and getting bounced in the first round despite an epic effort through a sore knee. He doesn’t like always battling through nagging injuries in the postseason and never getting past the second round.
Which is why he is open to the idea of missing half of a back-to-back or sitting other nights for load management this season — just don’t expect him to go quietly. Here is what Embiid said with a laugh about forcing him to rest this season, from 76ers training camp in the Bahamas, as reported by Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“It’ll be tough… They know that if they have to punch me, slap me, take my stuff away from me [to] not to get on that court, they’re going to have to do it. I might get mad, I might curse people out, but I think it’s a relationship. We’ve been working together for years now. Now I look at the big picture, and I’ve always listened to them, but now it’s even more of the time where I should listen and see what they have to say.”
That echoes what Embiid said Monday at Philadephia media day, via NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“(President of basketball operations Daryl Morey) would tell you this: As soon as we lost last year, I texted him and I was like, ‘We’ve got to do whatever it takes to make sure that, in the postseason, I’m healthy.’
“This year, there’s no agenda — All-Star, All-NBA, there’s none of that. It’s whatever it takes to make sure that I get to that point and I’m ready to go. For basically every single year of my career, I’ve been hurt in the playoffs. I think that’s the goal. It’s all about doing whatever it takes to get there. Physically, I’m OK. I’m not where I want to be, and I know I’ve got their support and they all want the same thing. Until I’m at that point where they feel like I’m ready to go, I’m sure they’re going to hold me back. Like I said, the focus is on whatever it takes to get to that stage and be healthy. I believe, with the guys that we have and what I can bring to the table, we…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/joel-embiid-listen-load-management-145614810.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-10-04 14:56:14
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