The Philadelphia 76ers suffered a major blow when first overall pick Ben Simmons fractured a bone in his foot. The timetable for his return is currently, unofficially, set at three months.
That does not necessarily mean that the forward will come back that early. According to team president Bryan Colangelo, the Sixers will be extremely cautious with his situation:
#Sixers B Colangelo: 'In no way will we rush him back.' Cites Embiid situation.
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) October 2, 2016
#Sixers B Colangelo: 'We're still at the ground floor as an organization. This might slow things down for Ben and for us.'
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) October 2, 2016
This is the right move by the 76ers organization. They were not expected to come close to competing this year, anyway. Simmons’ injury hurts in that he loses valuable development time. But it’s not significantly hurting the on-court product right now.
The best case scenario for the 76ers is that Ben Simmons heals fully and that the injury is not a recurring one. The Sixers can help make that a possibility by not rushing him back right away.
That could potentially mean missing his entire rookie season, although it seems unlikely given the timetable for his injury. Then again, Joel Embiid missed two full seasons (with various injuries) before finally getting ready to play in his first NBA game.
