Joel Embiid‘s extensive injury history forced the Sixers to get creative with his playing schedule, which included not playing in back-to-backs for much of this season. But as the 76ers gear up for the postseason, Embiid wants no part of resting and wants to play in every game, Jessica Camerato of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays.
“We didn’t come this far to rest me,” Embiid said. “I mean, I was always complaining about playing every game and playing back-to-backs. I’m sure the fans were, too. Now that we’re here, I can understand maybe the last game before we get ready for the playoffs, but other than that, I want to play every game because that’s my first time I get the chance to do that.”
Embiid is averaging over 31 minutes per contest as the Sixers occupy the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. A healthy Embiid is imperative if Philadelphia wants a deep postseason run. Head coach Brett Brown indicated that the team will look to give its young center rest whenever possible, despite his competitive nature.
Check out more Atlantic Division notes:
- The Sixers have played well down the stretch and are in a prime spot entering the postseason. In Brett Brown‘s own words, the Sixers hope to maintain this pace for the 11 games the team has left after Thursday, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “We respect the journey,” Brown said, “and we don’t intend on letting what we built so far go easily. We are of where we’re at. We want to hold on to where we’re at. And we want to play good basketball.”
- Celtics assistant coach Walter McCarty will assume the role as head coach of the NCAA’s Evansville Purple Aces, sources tell Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports. McCarty spent most of his NBA career as a player with the Celtics but he is an Evansville, Indiana native. Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe tweets that the Celtics will not look to immediately replace McCarty.
- Emmanuel Mudiay has been the Knicks‘ starting point guard since the All-Star break but he has struggled with all facets of the game. A visibly frustrated Jeff Hornacek said the team needs to see what Mudiay is capable of over a prolonged stretch, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes. “We’re not just going to have (13 games with Mudiay starting) and make a judgment call on a guy,” Hornacek said. “We’ve seen the other guys. The other guys are coming off the bench. Trey continues to prove that he’s a guy that can really give us something. We’re trying to see and see if he can get used to our guys and we just go that way.”
Mudiay and Frank….horrible or horrible because they’re young ?
Are Derek Harper & John Starks signed anywhere ? … if they didn’t gain 50 pounds each and are both alive – that would be better choices !
Starks wasn’t a PG, but he’s my all time favorite Knick.
He did play some point when needed.
If there season is over then y can’t Walter finish the season with the C’s
Needs to recruit
Emmanuel isn’t really young anymore by NBA standards, he’s had plenty of time to prove himself, and has not done so. Frank still has a chance, but I at this point you get what you see with E, and that should not translate to a starters gig anywhere next year, and especially not in NY.
Starks + 50LBS would still be better than half the garbage that is on this Knicks team!
The knock on him coming into the league (Mudiay) was that his shot was terrible. Well, 3 years later and his shot is terrible. Obviously he hasn’t put in the gym time. Why invest in a player that isn’t investing in himself? This is my same argument for Noel. Let them go play in China.