I hate the fact that I’m writing this, because it seems like a topic a radio host would bark about, like a piece of manufactured outrage coming straight off the assembly line.

But let’s write it anyway, and I’ll start with a rhetorical question:

If the Sixers knew that Joel Embiid was dealing with knee soreness for a few weeks, then how can you justify allowing him to play in the All-Star Game?

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You can’t. There’s no good explanation.

If your superstar player, the cornerstone of your franchise, and the most important guy on the team is dealing with knee soreness, then nothing about the All-Star Game helps you, the Philadelphia 76ers.

Embiid is now out for at least a week, and here’s what Brett Brown said about Joel’s knee and the ASG on Wednesday:

“We’d all be making a mistake, and it’s a natural dot connector, and it shouldn’t be, to think that had anything to do with it. In fact, when you speak to the medical people, one of the things that at times exacerbates it is time off. You know to keep your core, your quads, etc. strong, and just try to have some level of maintenance, is really in a prescribed area, their recommended area, and maybe time off actually did more harm than good.”

If that’s the case, he can do light maintenance work without playing in the All-Star Game, right? And if time off “exacerbates” the issue, then why is he being held out of game action for a full week? That doesn’t make sense to me. You are saying that the meaningless basketball game was not a problem, but now he is missing multiple games that actually do count. 

More Brown:

“But the bottom line is, nobody needs to read into anything here. This is an NBA athlete that has some soreness in a knee, that has had an MRI, and we all should move on. We’ll miss him obviously, playing wise, but it’s not anything that isn’t completely pointed toward keeping him ready, and especially ready when it matters most at the end of the year.”

I tried to take measured approach on the most recent Crossing Broadcast, which Russ and I recorded last night, making the following points, after the jump:

  1. No, it’s not reasonable to expect star athletes to lock themselves in their houses, wrapped in protective layers, just sitting around and playing Fortnite all day. They have lives to live and money to spend. What did you do when you were 23 years old?
  2. Yes, being part of the All-Star weekend festivities is important to NBA players as a personal achievement and meaningful career showcase item. They want to participate.
  3. Yes, all coaches and general managers need to walk the line between keeping their players happy and doing what’s best for the franchise. Sometimes correct execution of the former automatically results in the latter.

To that final point, how does Embiid respond if you tell him, “sorry man, we want you to take it easy, no All-Star Game for you.“? Does that piss him off to the point where it’s actually detrimental moving forward? Does he hold a grudge? Or does he understand, throw on street clothes, and sit on the Team Giannis bench instead? Does he limit his Charlotte weekend to shirtless karaoke but axe the 23 minutes and 11 seconds of jogging up and down the court?

As it stands, Joel has played 54 games at 33 MPG through February 21st. He is well on pace to shatter career highs in minutes and games, even if he misses the next 3-4 against Miami, Portland, New Orleans, and Oklahoma City. He will finish this year cresting career numbers of 63 games played at 30 minutes per.

The problem with Joel is that he’s always shown a bit of frustration with how he’s been limited over the years, which is understandable considering how much he had to go through just to see the court in the first place. Last season, it was always a push and pull with the medical and coaching staff as he was rested multiple times and held to a minutes restriction in the early part of the schedule. Joel often spoke about being consulted personally and wanting to have a say in his own medical decisions, asking the staff to trust how he felt about his own body, instead of simply being dictated the terms of participation.

You might remember when Embiid called his minutes restriction “fucking bullshit” in October of 2017.

Said Joel at the time:

 “I wish I was playing more minutes. I think I’m ready for more than whatever number they have. But I don’t know. I wish I was playing more, but we’re gonna see how that goes.”

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“I always think I have a voice. I’m sure they’re listening to what I have to say, too. But them making a decision on what they think, then that’s bullshit.”

It was a notion he reiterated several times throughout the season, the idea that he himself needed to be part of the process, the idea that nobody knows his body better than he does.

That’s always been the complication, because he’s a passionate guy who wants to play and wants to compete, to the point where he’s jumping into crowds and almost killing famous actresses. However, that energy and overuse can sometimes be counterproductive, to the point where it’s doing more harm than good. Remember when he played 49 minutes in the triple-overtime Oklahoma City loss, then missed the next three games? The Sixers lost all three of those, plus the next one in his return to action. That was the key issue in a five-game losing streak, the mismanagement of Embiid, which now looks poor in hindsight.

So I understand where everybody is coming from. Brett Brown and Elton Brand want to keep Joel Embiid happy, and if they felt like the All-Star game didn’t impact the knee at all, then fine. It’s important for players to have that moment in the national spotlight and feel rewarded for their hard work and effort.

But if you knew your most important player was not 100% heading into an ultimately meaningless exhibition at a critical juncture of your season, then the optics of allowing him to participate just look pretty bad overall.

It’s hard to justify.