This Is a Dumb Sixers Column

I’m not sure what the point of this science-and-fact-hating, rub-some-dirt-on-it take from Bob Brookover is. He seems to have both a problem with Joel Embiid’s bone bruise and the process through which the Sixers and most NBA teams handle injuries. Here is someone yelling at something they think might be a passing cloud or just some steam from a nearby by exhaust vent WHO CARES LET’S JUST YELL AT SHIT:

No denying that. The process introduced by former general manager Sam Hinkie was about a lot more than losing games in hopes of winning at the draft lottery. He was heavy into sleep studies, nutrition, and sports medicine, which, by no means, makes him the Lone Ranger in the second decade of the 21st century. The 76ers have obviously clung to all those beliefs that Hinkie held so sacred, which is fine.

At some point, however, the 76ers must throw their most talented players into the deep end of the pool and see if they can swim when one of their limbs does not feel exactly right. Playing in some level of pain is part of being a professional athlete, and a really important part at that.

So when does that time come for Embiid? When do the 76ers let him out of the bubble wrap and rely on him to tell them when he can and cannot fight through pain?

Few things:

1. I’m truly baffled by the anti-science takes in sports media. It’s called progress. Sure, there’s bunk pseudo science out there, but if studies have shown that X leads to better Y, then I’m all for limiting Z if the end result is Joel Embiid throwing down a monsterious dunk and waving his hands in the air as the huddled masses chant trust the process! I suck at algebra, but I think that made sense.
2. Brookover follows Angelo Cataldi in his seeming disdain for babying players. But the reasoning behind this thinking is clearly logical. Why on Earth would you risk injury to a franchise player during a season when the best possible outcome is a playoff berth and nothing else? In three years, when the Sixers are in the NBA Finals, no one is going to look back and think, “Boy, I wish they would’ve rushed Embiid back from injury that February.”
3. You want an example of throwing science out the window and putting players on the field perhaps to their detriment: The 2011 Phillies. Charlie Manuel pitched his studs into oblivion. Within three years, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt* would be out of baseball, and Ryan Madson would miss three full seasons (!!!). It was hard to hate anything about going for another World Series, but the effect was that two of the game’s greats had their careers end way sooner than they should’ve. So why would you argue for throwing a rookie on an upstart team into the “deep end” where, at best, he’ll be able to flail about for a little while in an impressive show of endurance while watching the Cavs do can openers off the high dive? IT AIN’T MAKE NO SENSE!
4. Brookover is part of a breed of privileged sportswriters whose insight and access is overshadowed by their need to churn out copy on a daily basis. A column in support of the Sixers’ patience is no fun. A column yelling at the moon (now it’s the moon!) about newfangled thinking and the state of things in the NBA… well, that’s way more inflammatory and biting, even if it serves no other purpose than to show just how out-of-touch mainstream sports writing is.

*Oswalt already had some injury issues that season and I think hated the game, so I’m not sure his retirement had anything to do with Manuel’s overuse. Dude just wanted to tractor (v.).