It’s been a weird week for the casual NBA fan flipping from game to game on League Pass.
The options have dwindled as about 75% of the league has gone idle for the teams that have advanced to the knockout stage of the NBA Cup continue the tournament. It’s given teams like the Sixers something of a second All-Star break. Philadelphia is currently enjoying four straight days off this week, and will have four more consecutive off-days after they play the Atlanta Hawks on Dec. 14.
This quirk in the schedule
is a great chance for teams to lick their early-season wounds. Nick Nurse has said this break comes at a good time as the Sixers are not only getting injured players back on the court, but newly returning players are seeing their minutes restrictions increase.
It’s just as fair to say though that this scheduling change is a cause for more early-season wounds in the first place. Over two thirds of the league has already played at least four back-to-backs this season. The Sixers are right up there towards the top of the league having played five. Only the Hawks, Warriors, Cavaliers and Mavericks have played more.
Teams are so grateful for this rest because of how hard they have to go to start the season in the first place. The busy schedule combined with how much faster the game has gotten has people across the league concerned about the higher risk of injury that invites.
The rise of soft-tissue injuries — specifically calf strains that can lead to the dreaded Achilles tear — across the league doesn’t feel coincidental. Giannis Antetokounmpo is obviously the latest big name to succumb to said injury. It’s something the Sixers have had to deal with this year. VJ Edgecombe, only 20 years old, has already missed three games this year with a calf strain and is one of the players Nurse is slowly trying to increase the minutes restriction of. His workload feels like a leading suspect for the strain — Edgecombe was averaging 37 minutes a night before suffering it.
This break in the season is now a couple years old now, but it’s still taking some getting used to. Nurse was even asked ahead of their final game if guys start to lose focus because of the extended time off. Nurse actually pointed out that the Sixers, winners of three of their last four, don’t want to stop playing games because they feel they are in a rhythm.
It also doesn’t feel like a coincidence though that last year’s cursed Sixers team had by far their best and healthiest month when the season slowed down in December. They went 9-3, getting the most appearances from Joel Embiid during that time.
This year, the Sixers head into it as healthy as they may ever possibly be. They’re currently only without Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford. As Tyrese Maxey pointed out after a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Sixers still have some figuring out to do when it comes to acclimating guys like Embiid and Paul George, and the few game reps they get to do so are precious.
Two-week long stretches of only practices could go a long way for that cause. It’s essentially a second training camp. Starting the season with such an intense grind, only to bring it to a grinding stop less than two months in, hardly feels like it’s worth the trade off.
