Injuries again ruled the day as the Sixers formally got the ball rolling on their 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we know that for us, the biggest thing is health,\u201d Joel Embiid said Friday.<\/p>\n
From Embiid\u2019s knee to Kelly Oubre Jr.\u2019s pinkie, here\u2019s what we learned about the team\u2019s health at media day in Camden, New Jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joel Embiid\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Embiid had arthroscopic surgery in April on the bothersome left knee that limited him to 19 games last season.<\/a><\/p>\n The 2022-23 MVP is pleased with his trajectory since then, although Embiid and the Sixers are not inclined to place any exact public timelines on his next steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel pretty good,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we made a lot of progress over the last couple of months. We\u2019ve got a plan in place, try to check off all the boxes. \u2026 This is still kind of like a feel period where we\u2019re just taking it day by day. Keep getting stronger, keep getting better.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a few court sessions, so everything has been on schedule. \u2026 I think there\u2019s not necessarily an expectation. It\u2019s more about making sure everything is right and doing everything right, and then going from there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Embiid acknowledged that, as his injury-filled, unlucky history suggests, the season may not be an ultra-smooth ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think I want to be as honest as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cI think going forward, I\u2019m just going to listen to the body. I\u2019ll be honest and say it\u2019s going to be unpredictable at times, and that\u2019s OK. We\u2019ve got to work with that. We\u2019ve got to take it day by day and go from there.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think the only thing I\u2019m focused on is every single time we\u2019re on the right path, keep going. If there\u2019s something that happens in that time, it\u2019s OK. Just focus on fixing it and keep going. That\u2019s my mentality.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rookie Johni Broome <\/a>provided a bit of insight into how Embiid\u2019s looked in pre-training camp action.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s great. He practiced the other day and I had to guard him. He scored a couple in a row,\u201d Broome said with a smile. \u201cThat\u2019s what you kind of expect. You play good defense and he has better offense. That\u2019s the type of player he is, but I\u2019m glad that I\u2019m going against him in practice and I\u2019m going to have him on my side during the year. He\u2019s a great person to learn from and he\u2019s very open to talk to you about things you need to improve on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Paul George\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n George underwent a more recent arthroscopic left knee surgery than Embiid\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said he\u2019s \u201cgetting better and better, feeling stronger and feeling\u201d following that July procedure.<\/a> However, the 35-year-old forward does not expect to participate in the Sixers\u2019 weekend training camp practices. George noted he\u2019s able to do \u201cpretty much everything besides full contact.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in the weight room, I\u2019m lifting, I\u2019m working out every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m on the court. Not ready to start the full ramp-up of conditioning on court with running and stuff like that, but I\u2019m on the court, I\u2019m working out. I\u2019m doing stationary drills … one-to-two dribble moves. I\u2019m still able to move and be active on the court, I\u2019m just not ready to be a full-on contact participant right now.\u201d<\/p>\n George played in just half of the Sixers\u2019 games last year. He also tried to grind through several significant lingering injuries \u2014 knee, groin, pinkie \u2014 even when the Sixers were many games below .500. It didn\u2019t work well for him or the team.<\/p>\n Will his attitude be any different moving forward about playing with nagging issues?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a doctor, but I think just trusting my body, trusting the process going into this season,\u201d George said. \u201cThe team is allowing me to kind of be as (close) to 100 (percent) as possible, because that\u2019s what I signed up for. That\u2019s what they signed me for, to come in and be the Paul George that they went out and recruited last year. So for me to do that, I do have to be healthy. That\u2019s really it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAgain, I\u2019m putting the work in, I\u2019m putting the time in, I\u2019m seeing the progress. I\u2019m feeling more and more like myself each day, and that\u2019s the most important thing as the dates are winding down and we\u2019re getting ready for the season to start. So I like where I\u2019m at, I like how we\u2019ve progressed things, and that\u2019s the only way I can look at it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Jared McCain\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A day after suffering a UCL tear in his right thumb<\/a>, McCain was absent from media day.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s still consulting with specialists. \u2026 Still gathering that feedback,\u201d Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said. \u201cWe know Jared\u2019s going to attack this just like he did the last (injury)<\/a> and be back even better.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly Oubre Jr.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Oubre went into detail Friday about addressing the long-term finger injuries that he\u2019s previously indicated have posed challenges with his jumper.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have had surgery on my left pinkie and my thumb as well,\u201d he said. \u201cDifferent years, different surgeries. I got hurt for the first time around (the start of) COVID and the rehab process was kind of non-existent because the world shut down. So I built up a lot of scar tissue in those areas. And then in my thumb, I have a brace.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI did attack that really hard this summer. I was able to see my old therapist. Her name\u2019s Mo; shoutout Mo, she\u2019s amazing. Get some more range of motion in my wrist, in my hand, in my fingers. Get my fingers straighter. \u2026 I\u2019ve just got to put the ball in the hole and then you guys can talk about it when I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Oubre had an offseason follow-up consultation.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually saw the doctor who did it this summer, just to go over everything, let him know how I\u2019m healing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe thought about taking the brace out of my thumb. But I\u2019m going to take that out, gain some range (of motion) but lose something on the back end somewhere else. It\u2019s not really worth it. And over these years, I\u2019ve been able to compensate and my body does a good job of adapting to less flexion and range of motion.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been just figuring it out, honestly. But with this range, I have to re-write the patterns in my brain of shooting like I used to before all of these things. I\u2019m just a hooper, man. I\u2019m just looking forward to going out there and making it work. The triumph will be better than the adversity for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Andre Drummond\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Drummond had a straightforward report on the left big toe injury that hindered him for much of last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a good summer for me,\u201d the veteran big man said. \u201cI did all the necessary things to build the strength back in my foot and I\u2019m 100 percent to go. I\u2019ve looked great during (offseason workouts) and I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Drummond ventured into new territory with his rehab.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t know there was such a thing as toe yoga,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of toe yoga this summer to be able to really get that strength back in my big toe, being able to move it freely without having to tape it. \u2026 If you don\u2019t know what it is, look it up. It\u2019s definitely not a fun experience, but it worked out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Gordon<\/strong><\/p>\n The 36-year-old Gordon is back for a second season in Philadelphia.<\/a> His first ended with right wrist surgery.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI would say a couple of months after the surgery, I was really able to shoot,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve been able to shoot all summer. Anytime you have a surgery, you\u2019re always going to have ups and downs, but so far everything\u2019s been good. I\u2019m looking forward to practice tomorrow with really no limitations.\u201d<\/p>\n Kyle Lowry\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Lowry, 39, spoke with great enthusiasm Friday about mentoring Sixers youngsters like VJ Edgecombe and McCain, who he said have a \u201cpureness\u201d in their approach to the sport.<\/p>\n As far as on the floor, Lowry\u2019s last season was frequently disrupted by a right hip problem. That\u2019s improved over the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel great,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel really good. I think just being able to be on the court to help these guys the best that I can. But I know my role this year. So if I\u2019m needed, I\u2019ll be there, but my role is to help these guys. I would love to play 25, 30 minutes (per game), but that\u2019s not my role, that\u2019s not my job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Injuries again ruled the day as the Sixers formally got the ball rolling on their 2025-26 season. \u201cObviously,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":258444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,36691,36688,109867,1260,1448,3525,2830,1311,3123,30137,30138,135789,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-258443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-jared-mccain","10":"tag-joel-embiid","11":"tag-kelly-oubre-jr","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pa","14":"tag-paul-george","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-philadelphia","17":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","18":"tag-sixers-analysis","19":"tag-sixers-news","20":"tag-sixers-training-camp","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115275675834028097","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}