Joel Embiid: Brown: Embiid report is ‘wildly inaccurate’

Pierre Jackson finished with two points in limited minutes as the guard played his first preseason game after being sidelined with a groin injury. And that, at best, was their ceiling with Carter-Williams at point guard.

That scenario is just one in a long list of issues the 76ers have had with Embiid since drafting him.

The Cauldron reached out to O’Neil for comment.

“That unsubstantiated rumor is a gross mischaracterization of the events leading into the Michael Carter-Williams trade. Our organization has been and will continue to be opportunistic when deal of that nature become available”.

Fans hoped Joel Embiid would take a similar path. Hinkie drafted Embiid No. 3 overall in 2014, knowing that the 7-foot center had had back and foot injuries while playing at Kentucky.

The report details alleged dissension in the management ranks, with Hinkie’s commitment to acquiring assets running perpendicular to the player development goals of the team’s president and coach (see, trading Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams for a potential high lottery pick), but the real juicy stuff has to do with Embiid.

Embiid, 21, is still an extremely talented prospect, but this certainly isn’t a great look for him or the franchise.

Less than 24 hours after an article, which painted Sixers center Joel Embiid and GM Sam Hinkie as sources of friction within the organization, appeared on SI.com, coach Brett Brown has refuted the report, calling it “wildly inaccurate” and “wildly unfair”. Embiid was expected to come back this season but he instead had surgery on his foot again and will sit out his second straight season. Embiid hasn’t played a single second for the Sixers and is already on his second major foot surgery. The simple task of getting Embiid to consistently wear his walking boot was a challenge for the franchise, and multiple sources suggested that a few people in Philadelphia’s front office wonder whether a second surgery would have been necessary if Embiid had worn the boot as much as he was told to.

Geltzeiler added that the Sixers didn’t want Embiid to go to Las Vegas for Summer League this year, which Embiid did anyway.

The article said that Embiid refused to wear the boot in Vegas and played basketball, even dunking. The team said that Embiid’s August surgery was required because his initial injury did not heal properly.

The story said the 21-year-old Embiid, who ended up having the surgery a month later than the Sixers preferred, wasn’t following the team’s dietary guidelines.

The Sixers training staff, concerned about what Embiid was eating, stocked his refrigerator with health food each week.

“When a staffer went to restock the fridge each week, most everything was uneaten and unopened, and they were throwing out the fruits and vegetables every week”, wrote Geltzeiler. The report says that Embiid’s room-service bill was overloaded with junk food and pitchers of Shirley Temples. Before and after games, he was seen chowing down on chicken fingers and hot dogs.

Embiid’s work habits are seriously in doubt, and there are concerns about his “insubordination”.

The Sixers drafted Embiid with the third pick in the 2014 draft, less than a week after he had foot surgery.

According to a source, Saric’s father, who acts as a de facto representative for his son, doesn’t want the Sixers close to Saric.