Joel Embiid made his on-court return for the Sixers’ Game 3 first-round series matchup against the Heat. It was Embiid’s first game since March 28, when he suffered an orbital fracture in his left eye and a concussion. To prevent further injury, Embiid sported a league-approved protective mask, which involved a lot of effort to construct, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne details.
A battery of tests was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania to make sure the mask would protect Embiid’s injured face. Shelburne writes that a “group of independent doctors from the league spent the past 10 days agonizing” about the mask and its safety. Embiid’s agent even reached out to retired NBA champion Richard Hamilton, who was famous for wearing a mask during his career.
“They [the Sixers] did everything possible,” Embiid said. “They were like throwing stuff at it to make sure it could withstand it.”
Check out more notes from the Atlantic Division:
- By their own admission, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have gone from not speaking to being the closest of the friends. As the Raptors hold a 2-1 series lead over the Wizards, the only goal their goal is to bring a championship to Canada, the duo said to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an in-depth interview.
- The Knicks have received some heat for passing on Donovan Mitchell in last year’s draft. Former Knick David Lee recalled Mitchell attending his annual camp in Chappaqua, New York, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes.
- Joe Tsai agreed to buy a 49% stake in the Nets and while he has yet to publicly comment since the purchase, the expectation is he will try to take the organization global, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. “Mikhail [Prokhorov] and Joe are both committed owners and they’ll be hands-on to a certain extent,” general manager Sean Marks said. “The fact that Joe saw something that he liked in Brooklyn, saw something that he liked with the Nets organization, I think there’ll be a great partnership between the two.”
In all fairness to the Knicks, while I wanted Mitchell instead of Frank, who would have expected him to be this good.
I remember the Knocks being really high on him. That was the spot I thought he could go, in terms of being as early as he could get drafted. I didnt think he’d get past 10 or 11, but the trades kind of effected that. He was the person I most wanted to draft before the draft at 14 for the Heat, so I was hoping he’d fall. When we were at 13, and Denver was picking, I thought it would happen, until the trade…still, i didnt think he’d be this good this soon, and i honestly felt like Frank had a lot of similarities, but was bigger, making hk and the right choice for the Knicks…its still way too early to judge Frank, considering the things he does well. You get Bridges in this next draft, and you’re good
This reason is one of many I would pass on Doncic too. Never know about those you Euro guys especially when they’re too inches too short. If you’re going to be an outside shooter who’s too slow to stay in front of his man you better be 6-11, 6-10 minimum.
Hes a guard…also, he is much more polished than Frank was. Totally different scenario. I agree that I dont like guys that cant play defense, but this dude is clearly a top prospect, and should at least be a rotation 2 guard
I think you’re probably right, offensively they will try him there and he’ll probably get burned by the quicker two guards in the league.
Then they will have to play Doncic as the back up three man, come off the bench for 15 minutes and be…. Wally Szczerbiak.
Again, I dont see the comp at all. He was more of a 4/3. Doncic is more of a combo guard. He has also shown he can at least compete on defense at times, so the right organization could help him in that regard, with his size, and he might be better suited at that 2 spot instead of at PG. Lonzo Ball, just last year for example, looked like he’d be a terrible defender, and that was about the only thing he did well this year, so it’s way too early to decide this guy is trash, when everything he has shown is the opposite. I at least wouldnt say hes the 2 guys you keep mentioning. Hes at least a Reddick, Belinelli or Korver (Korver after the weight loss. I’m aware of the comp between him and McDermott, but Korver is different the last several years)
Nobody’s saying he’s trash, unless you think Wally Szczerbiak and Doug McDermott are trash. Harsh words serviceable guys but not a top 5 pick guy. 15 to 20. But not trash…trash is guys who can’t play. It’s just a bad word to use there’s got to be other ways to describe a guy specifically about his skills.
But I’ll give it to you and we’ll see where it goes…. you’ve got good basketball knowledge I read your stuff all the time. You sound like you know the guy so we’ll go with that. No problem. My angle is I’m just not into the Euro guys as much.
Szczerbiak never played guard in his life. He was a #8 pick that worked out.
I rarely bet on guys to light the world on fire, but if he lands in the right position, he should be a good offensive player at least. I saw him in Euroleague last year, and he is better than that now