People got very excited last week when the Sixers’ game against the Rockets this Friday was flexed to national TV, thinking it meant Ben Simmons was poised to return. Brett Brown quickly shot that down. Before that, I made a guess that Simmons’ return would be right after the All-Star break, and a report made vague hints at the same idea.

We’re now just about three and a half weeks away from the All-Star break, and a full month from the Sixers’ first post-ASB game. The Sixers are very cautious not to give any kind of timeline at all for Simmons. But why? Brett Brown addressed that:

“We’re drip feeding this slowly. We’re very cautious, but I think it’s meticulous. I think it’s very, very well planned out so that when he does come back it’s not just hit with a bunch of new things. I feel like there’s a classroom, physical, skill thing that we’ve morphed into a really tight four months since he’s been out. We’ll walk it down, but it’s not like we’re going to be cramming a week before whenever they tell us he’s ready.”

Simmons had a scan on Monday that revealed his healing is going just as expected. He’s been playing one-on-one with 87er James Webb III – not the guy Simmons stepped on to break his foot, thankfully – but Brown said that’s “nothing to get excited about.”

So we’ve got some one-on-one at 80%, a clean scan that shows appropriate healing, Simmons traveling with the team, and doing pre-game on-court workouts. The team is in no rush to bring Simmons back or even hint at any kind of timeline. But that’s because there isn’t one. His recovery and transition into being game ready is not a trackable linear measure.

Where does that leave Simmons? Recovering, frustratingly at his own pace, with no inkling of when he’ll return. Isn’t sports science fun? [I’m still sticking with my Feb. 24th prediction.]