The big storyline for the Philadelphia 76ers all offseason was the status of Ben Simmons and his trade request. That situation has turned more into a saga and it has carried over into training camp and it has cast a pall over the team a bit.
That is an issue that won’t be resolved any time soon, but the other storyline has been the health of Joel Embiid. The big fella suffered a small lateral meniscus tear in his left knee during Round 1 against the Washington Wizards and it affected him a bit the rest of the way in the playoffs.
As the team entered the offseason, Embiid opted not to have surgery and instead, he went through a rigorous rehab and a lot of hard work to strengthen his knee back to normal.
“It’s been fine,” said Embiid on Monday at media day. “I’ve just been working out all summer. It’s been fine, no problem. I’m getting back to where I was and I feel pretty good.”
It does help that Embiid has taken the steps to take much better care of his body. The big fella has done things such as hiring a nutritionist and understanding what it takes to be great in this league. The fact that he is in better shape makes it easier to recover from injuries.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Embiid beamed. “Even when you look at last year. I stayed healthy. There has been freak accidents and it happens. Me learning where to land, that caused my knee to swell up, but thankfully, it was nothing. I think it does work and you saw the year I had last year. Now I need to take it to the next level and be better so we can win something.”
Embiid will be looking to lead the Sixers in an even bigger way as Philadelphia looks to continue on their championship quest.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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