CAMDEN, N.J. -- The Philadelphia 76ers received some tough news on Tuesday when the MRI for big man Ariel Hukporti revealed that he has ruptured his right Achilles tendon. He underwent surgery and the 2-year big man is expected to miss the entire season. It's a blow to Philadelphia's center depth and for a young player like Hukporti who's trying to establish himself in the league.
The Sixers brought in Hukporti on a deal in early free agency after he spent two seasons with the New York Knicks. The German big man endeared himself to the coaching staff and his teammates throughout training camp so to lose him to this injury is tough for everybody around him.
"Super tough," said coach Nick Nurse. "I mean, it's tough for anybody, but we were super
excited by what we'd seen. He was really, really active and athletic and really coachable and really engaged. We were really excited about what he could bring to the team. So, it's always a bigger blow for him personally, but certainly a blow for the team, especially this early on. Somebody that is still young. I mean, look, the coaching staff was seeing a guy that had a trajectory heading (upwards), which he'll get back to, but this kind of delays it for now."
With Hukporti suffering such a serious injury, one has to wonder what Nurse will do now the rest of the exhibition schedule. It's important to get reps in these games before things start to go 100 miles per hour in the regular season, but the Sixers also want to be careful with everybody on the roster.
"Listen, I think it's such an interesting topic, not only across our sport, but I'm sure you guys follow the NFL a little bit and they're talking about this like crazy about these guys not playing preseason, how clunky everything looks for the first month of the year," Nurse stated. "And then guys are getting hurt anyway and they're like, ‘Wait, are they getting hurt because they didn't condition themselves in the (preseason)?’ So it's interesting because everybody's talking about it across multiple sports."
For Nurse, the preseason is important as he wants his players to get some real reps in before things get going in the regular season. However, he also does need to think about other aspects as well.
"I think that it doesn't make much sense to me that you sit out all the games and all of a sudden it's going 100 miles an hour in Game 1, because the pace is even over 100 early in the year," Nurse added. "It seems like the pace to start the year is always way up there. So I think trying to find the right balance, trying to get collaboration with the guys about how they're feeling, where they are in their conditioning, are they ready to take some contact."
With three preseason games remaining, continuing with the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday and then the Boston Celtics on Saturday, one has to wonder what Nurse will do with the rotation and the factors that will be important for Nurse and Co.
"All those things weigh on what we're doing," Nurse finished. "So, I think we try to get them out there, get something going conditioning wise and handling the physicality and then be a little bit, I guess the word is cautious. Err on the side of being cautious a little bit."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers react to losing Ariel Hukporti to right Achilles rupture
