Joel Embiid’s “minutes plan” is not your mom’s low carb diet. You don’t count points and then stop when you hit a certain number. You don’t get prepackaged granola bars in the mail.

Maybe that was the case last season, when the plan was a restriction that included hard numbers and zero wiggle room. This year there’s flexibility and fluidity, which you saw on Wednesday night when Embiid played 27 minutes in the 120-115 loss in Washington.

It was the main topic once again at Thursday’s practice session, where Brett Brown reflected on the usage of his 148 million dollar center.

“I think it’s a good example, last night, for all of us to understand why there could be a tremendous variance in minutes,” the head coach told reporters. “We all come back and look at a box score that says he played ‘X.’ I sat down with the sports science people this morning and they’re very thoughtful in how they come up with this decision, in relation to the loading. And you can judge the loading scientifically in blocks. There was only one section in his loading, his chunk of minutes, that they viewed to be higher – it was a torrid pace up and down. The other times he came in, it was played at a reasonable pace.”

That’s especially important considering the fact that Embiid has little game fitness. His overall health is something different entirely.

“Therefore,” Brown continued, “when you study his body of work, and especially the 24 minutes of real-time rest that he had at the end of the third, and when I put him back in in the fourth, in their judgment that warranted that he could play the last four or five minutes of the game. It all equaled a number that kind of surprised all of us, none more so than Jo. But the collaboration and communication I had with our doctors and sports science people behind the bench, it was a good routine and good rhythm. I get excited to think about two things, that we still have his health at the forefront, and then, selfishly, for me and the team and Jo, you’re able to get maybe 8 more minutes than you thought you were gonna get.”

I love a good sports science discussion.

Seriously though, this thing is playing out better than most people expected and I think we’re getting some clarity to boot.

During last night’s game, Brown said he was keeping an eye out for visuals that might indicate that Embiid was running out of steam.

“There’s a gut feel that I don’t need any piece of paper to tell me,” Brown said. “I get it. It happened in the third period last night; there was something that went on that made him gravitate to the perimeter more. I think that’s one of the things I noticed, when it’s sort of a three-point line to three-point line world, instead of rim to rim, and him getting deep catches and really wanting the ball in the block. It’s hard. For an NBA big, you start going rim to rim, versus a perimeter guy, it’s a difference of several feet. You accumulate that over the course of the game and that’s a hard life. I think that’s one of the signs I see in my judgment that fatigue might be creeping in.”

Embiid said Thursday that he felt great following the season opener. He didn’t expect to play that many minutes, but admitted that his game isn’t quite there just yet.

“There was a couple of stretches where I was a little bit tired, Embiid said. “But it’s all about pacing myself, which can be bad because I didn’t think I was as active as I usually am, especially defensively. It was kind of frustrating a little bit.”

The 7’2″ center says things will “come together” when he gets in shape.

He isn’t sure right now whether he’ll play in back-to-backs to begin the season. The Sixers play in Toronto 24 hours after the home opener.

“I have no idea,” Embiid said of his availability. “I’m actually going to ask them that question, but hopefully I get to play back-to-backs. Yesterday I played and my body feels good today. My knee feels amazing. If I had to play today, I feel like I would play depending on how I feel. I feel like I’m ready.”

 

Holding on to the ball

The Sixers committed 17 turnovers in the loss while Washington gave the ball away nine times.

Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz only threw it away once, but Robert Covington and Jerryd Bayless had a pair passes deflected and stolen in game’s final minute.

That was the first topic Brown addressed with the team on Thursday morning.

“You go to the problem areas initially, which really was a turnover discussion and the ability to really lock down and guard your man, as simplistic as that sounds,” Brown said. “From day one we’ve talked about turnovers, offensively, and blow-bys, defensively. It was an appropriate time this morning to hit those two areas. When I first sat with the team on opening day, it would have been the second sentence out of my mouth, these two areas that we’re going to focus on. It was appropriate today. Both of those areas hurt us. And then we talked about the good things. This was the most encouraging opening day that we have had, that I have had since I’ve been here. I think the base is in place and we will grow from that.”

Jon has it right:

 

Having a down night

One guy who looked “off” on Wednesday night was 6th man Dario Saric, who finished with 3 points on 1-5 shooting in 23 minutes. He added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.

He was asked to do a variety of things, first playing alongside Amir Johnson with the second team, then getting usage as a stretch five when the Sixers went to a fourth-quarter small ball lineup.

“He had a down night,” Brown said of Saric. “It’s gonna happen. I think hes done well coming off the bench. The last few preseason games he had some of his best games I’ve coached coming off the bench, recently. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. I don’t personally think it does. But I think he understands his role, maybe throwing him a curveball in putting him at the five from time to time may have put him off guard positionally, although I think he’s versatile enough to change a game at that five spot. I think he’s sort of something we have in our back pocket we can use. Maybe some of those things factored into it but I dust it off as just one of those things that happens over 82 games.”

Richaun Holmes is still out with a fractured wrist and was the only player on Thursday’s injury report. Jahlil Okafor, who dealt with a gastrointestinal issue earlier in the week and did not play last night, was not listed.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2VNxmn0lNA