Report: Embiid Broken Foot?



  • @drgnslayr Sounds like you were quite the athlete in your prime! I played, but no one would confuse me for an athlete.

    The most impressive thing I ever saw on a basketball court was at Robinson sports complex as a freshmen. I went to Robinson (KU student gym) and hopped into a pickup game. This guy was just raining threes and the post player I was guarding (mind you I’m 6’ ) wasn’t doing much so I thought I could turn the shooter into a driver. Big mistake, as I stepped forward this guy took off toward the lane, picked up the ball just inside the three point line and literally jumped over me from just inside the free-throw stripe. I told him he should really walk on to the basketball team as he was incredible, he replied I’m on the team, I’m Kenny Gregory.

    I had never seen an athlete of that calibre and a few of the guys Self recruits are even more athletic! I never claimed to be a good athlete, but this just showed me that I had never played against an elite athlete before either. I’ve had nothing, but respect for anyone on the team since. Kenny was a freak athlete who just never got it all put together for a run in the nba. I believe he had a 42" vert. Wiggins is 3 inches taller and has 2" on his vert. Incredible!!!



  • @dylans cool story!



  • Only one in a hundred “advisors” has ever actually done anything well that they give advice about.

    @jaybate 1.0 That may or may not be true but it sure feels true!



  • Does anybody think Smart’s decision to stay another year hurt his draft status? I was so sick of hearing that it did hurt it during the season! Appears they were wrong, looks like he’s going a lot higher than they thought. You think?



  • Another question, will there be cameras w/Embiid? Or, do you think someone will go up for him? Maybe Self?



  • @dylans

    Awesome story!

    I’d put my skill level down as a middle of the pack juco player. My best moments in basketball were on urban courts and YMCA lunch ball courts in America. These were the places where every now and then some big time players would flow through for a few games. From my diligence of playing all those years almost every day I was fortunate enough to be on the court with several great NBA players. I felt comfortable with my game, but matching up with these guys in simple, meaningless games would show just how far I was from their talent level. It was all worth it to be caught standing in the lane when one of these players would fly through, nearing a 4 foot vertical flight and throw the ball down sometimes knocking me down with the ball. That was some of the sweetest humble pie I’ve ever eaten!

    Having that opportunity clears up any thoughts that “I coulda been somebody…” So I found out I was somebody, just not an NBA player! ha…

    Those moments also showed to me what kind of physicality is in the game, especially with big players. For a half a year in Belgium, I had to guard a legitimate 7’1" tree that must have gone about 280 lbs. Several times he went down on top of me. It felt like a car wreck.

    Consider the speed, the height and the size of these guys and it won’t take long to understand what kind of impact damage they can have with each other, and the floor.

    I forgot to mention one of my injuries. A broken nose that kept breaking. Finally had it fixed (after retiring my game) and haven’t suffered any symptoms ever since. Besides the ugliness of it, it would suddenly burst into bleeding, like a red waterfall, for no apparent reason. That was a real nuisance for me. I recall most of the players I played with abroad had issues with broken noses. There was more contact in euro ball mostly because of lazy refs. All the eastern block countries played very rough. Makes me think Svee will be one heck of a player!



  • @drgnslayr

    Awesome! You played oversees? What countries? When?



  • For whatever it’s worth, I think this injury completely reinforces and supports Embiid’s decision to turn pro. There is a very strong possibility that this stress fracture in his foot has been present, but not symptomatic, for quite some time. Perhaps the entire season. Some folks are fully functional with stress fractures.

    It was a very wise roll of the dice to turn pro. Imagine if this thing didn’t surface until July? He almost was the number one pick. He almost got there.

    Heck, if he would have come back to KU, he could be sitting right now on campus, laid up for 4-6 months. You don’t think that thing would have flared up in our scrimmages and other workouts? Or later?

    Now, he’s still going top 10. Imagine if he came back to KU, healed from this and had another stress fracture somewhere else, or worse, in his foot or back?

    Given his health issues, turning pro was the wisest thing he could of done. This current injury actually reinforces that decision. And it may be a blessing – he could get to the perfect franchise for him. We’ll cross our fingers for the young man.



  • @HighEliteMajor

    I was thinking the same thing…this may be a blessing in disguise. It may hurt a little financially but what if he falls to the Lakers? He won’t be looked at as a savior of the franchise like the smaller markets…they can manage his minutes and grow him into a dominant center like they’ve had before.



  • @HighEliteMajor If I recall correctly, the family friend told me he was as good as gone in February, after the hyper knee & back strain. He was utterly shocked I suggested that Joel “just might” come back another year. This kid could’ve & may still be really special, but do you really think he’ll go top ten? I’ve not even a guess of the $$$ for a # 10, so if it’s not that great, I guess it’s still a possibility. Man, just think what we may have accomplished had he only stayed healthy !! If memory serves me right, you & I were about the only ones saying he was our passport to the NC early on.



  • @globaljaybird

    Noel had and ACL tear, which could be considered equally or more serious than what Embiid has, and he fell to #6 in the draft, but he did not have nearly the upside Embiid has. I will guess Embiid drops to 4 but likely no lower than 6, although the Lakers at 7 could be an interesting place.



  • @HighEliteMajor Could it be an old soccer or volleyball injury?



  • @drgnslayr Guarding a 7’1" guy never would’ve happened for me. I lacked the heighth and weight. So are you tall or strong? Good lower body strength would really help in those situations (like Black, Graves, or Charles Barkley).

    I’m glad to hear at least one of your injuries has been taken care of. The nagging injuries of youth are always going to be there though. My knee has never been the same since I got clipped in football and I was just a deeep bench player who really didn’t get the wear and tear of a full time player!

    Keep up the posts you always have an interesting take on the game. I almost always agree with what you have to say and you generally articulate it better than I would.



  • @dylans

    I don’t have height. I’m a footer… a 6 footer! But I was a big guy and played like Charles Barkley. I could leap pretty good. I didn’t have a problem stuffing with my hand, but much harder with two.

    My problem was I had height until the middle of junior high. So I started out as a center, then moved over to PF. I never obtained the right skills to be a perimeter player. Average shooter, average ball handling. I was a post guy, including back to the basket. But I loved playing the post. I always loved physical play. Growing up, we played a game called “baskfoot” which meant tackle basketball on a concrete court. I grew up on city courts. It was fun playing… it was fun rapping BS and then having to prove yourself. It was real fun watching others do the same. There was always tough competition. This was the crowd that lived to play. Guys defended their reps. Some courts you couldn’t even get on until you developed a rep first. That meant hanging out at the court, getting out there between games and showing what you got. Some guys never got in games. There was a court reputation, too. The court rep helped establish the players’ reps (and vice-versa). Sometimes the guys from one court would visit another. They better win because everyone is going to know what happened. The news eventually turned into folklore.

    The best times were games at night, on a full moon (or close to it). We called that “moon ball” because the moon (on a clear night) gives off plenty of light. You had to learn how to play at night. Your 3d perception completely changes (is reduced).

    This was all about swagger. And you had to carry swagger with you. What took you a long time to build (rep) could be discounted and humiliating within a single game. This is what took so many guys to the next level. They didn’t have fancy gyms to work out in, or coaching. They had NBA school on the tube. Everyone mimicked their idols. I’ll never forget when Doctor J took the ball under the rim and seemed to change his flight pattern to bring the ball back under on the other side for a score. I saw a guy do it on asphalt and chain net every bit as good as the Doctor did. He had achieved one of the bigger reps.

    I spent 20 years in Europe. I sought out city courts all through Europe during those years (until my knee gave out). It was cool… but never reached the same level as in the USA mostly because the cultures didn’t match our inner-city culture. Guys earned reps over there, but they didn’t have much swagger or animation.



  • @VailHawk - It would be real cool if Embiid did land in the right spot. I am not up to speed on NBA rosters, but I was kind of thinking the 76ers are a rebuilding franchise that is putting together a lot of pieces.

    @globaljaybird Right, the “Embiid is the key to KU’s assent” thread from last October. I was also thinking about the Randle Miss May Define KU’s Season thread – imagine if we got Randle, not Wiggins. Greene/White played the 3? I think we would have been much better. But that’s all irrelevant because we didn’t get him – just interesting (at least to me) to speculate on.

    @KansasComet - Just might be. Probably part of the process that led to it. Just never know. Stress fractures can lay dormant, until an aggravating event. Pretty crazy how a guy this talented may never even really play, or could be a hall of famer, solely because of the way his bones heal themselves.



  • All chatter I’ve heard is Embiid won’t fall past Orlando. However, his agent is picking and choosing with whom to share medical reports, and the word is he’s trying to steer JoJo to Boston. While I’m all for Embiid falling into a favorable situation, this seems underhanded and slimy. I haven’t been a fan of the way Embiid has been “handled” at all, and this just reinforces my beliefs that he has surrounded himself with the wrong people.



  • @icthawkfan316 If you were an agent, what would you do? For example, remember Eli Manning refusing to play for the Chargers based on the GM/management situation? I do think it’s difficult, but if you can get your guy to a good situation and a chance at a better career, is that not part of your job description? Maybe more precisely, keeping him out of bad situations. But I see your point too. You don’t like it being manipulated.

    When I heard the foot fracture thing, the first thing is that I thought it was that it was all a ruse to get him to drop – but I do look for the conspiracy stuff in a lot of these things.



  • @HighEliteMajor Yes I remember Eli doing it. Elway did the same thing. So yes it happens in other sports for other athletes. But the point of the draft is to make the worst teams better. The NBA isn’t “all in” for that anyway, otherwise they wouldn’t have the draft lottery, which hasn’t discouraged teams from tanking and doesn’t reward the worst teams with the best picks. So needless to say, I have a problem with the NBA’s process on various levels.

    So, how are the poor teams, especially the smaller market teams, ever supposed to improve? How are the “bad situations” ever supposed to be fixed, if not through the draft? Being a minor conspiracy theorist myself, I don’t think the league wants them to improve. They’d be happy if the Finals every year was Lakers vs. Celtics. Heaven forbid a team like Milwaukee ever gets back to the Finals. We might see some of the worst officiated basketball in the history of the league if they were ever to make it to their conference finals.

    Anyway, yeah I don’t like it being manipulated. I don’t like the idea that information can be withheld from certain teams. It should be available to all. I think that’s a different distinction than saying “if you draft me, I’ll holdout/won’t sign”. That’s what Elway & Eli did. They didn’t say “we’ll go to the combine, but uh…San Diego can’t come”. And in Eli’s situation, the Chargers did draft him, and the Giants had to pay with extra picks to get him (with which the Chargers obtained Shawn Merriman & Nate Kaeding). So at least the Chargers were compensated for Eli’s refusal to play there. Same with the Colts who drafted Elway. The teams in Embiid’s situation are not being given the same consideration.



  • @drgnslayr Very cool. What city in the US did you learn your swagger? And what were you doing in Europe, were you playing ball for pay or other work? I’ve always wanted to spend some time in Europe, but haven’t found the spare change to make it over there yet, maybe some day… But for now seven mile beach in Negril Jamaica is calling my name it’s been 5 years or so and I’m getting the itch. Hopefully this winter I’ll get a little sun, I’ve just got to plan around the KU ball schedule!



  • @icthawkfan316 I agree in that I’d like to see other teams get better. The NBA is really the league where the power stays with just a few teams.

    NBA champs since 1980? Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Spurs, Heat? One season of Sixers, Mavericks, and two from the Rockets? What am I missing?



  • @HighEliteMajor Not missing anything. The Lakers & Celtics themselves have close to half of the NBA titles period.

    Of course this is somewhat easier to explain in basketball, since a single player has much more effect on the outcome of games than in any of the other major sports. So if a franchise lands a generational talent, they should be able to achieve a modicum of success. Cleveland here is the big exception, never being able to put enough talent around LeBron.

    Free agents and marquee coaches will most likely always gravitate towards the major markets also. This is another factor that explains the championships being clustered between a few teams.

    Given this, the only way poor teams can get better is to catch lighting in a bottle with a draft choice, and quickly surround a star with adequate supporting cast.



  • @drgnslayr Thank you, drgn, for giving us your personal synopsis. It certainly gives me great perspective, as I realize how thoughtful and heartfelt your posts often are. I also truly root for every kid that comes through KU. Many are on a mission, chasing a pro-playing career dream. The physical stresses they endure are significant. Some examples for readers are what Rush, Rodrick Stewart, Kaun, Sherron, Reed, Selby, Tyshawn, Elijah, Releford, and Embiid all went through physically. You + our players certainly have my respect.

    I still play full court ball, but almost every month now, I toy with the idea of walking away from the game. Thought about tennis (son competes seriously), but that is even harder on the knees! What’s an old combo guard to do (when he cant play russrob-D someday…?). Already had Achilles repair 5yrs ago, but came back 100%, but what’s next…? (who knows!).

    RCJH



  • @dylans

    I grew up in the Midwest. Born in Kansas. Then had opportunities to go on to bigger places and my pursuits to find ball wherever I went. LA when I was young, sometimes Chicago and even Detroit. The only time I felt threatened (ever) was in Detroit.

    What took me to Europe was a job, representing an American sportswear company. I visited all kinds of schools and teams throughout Europe and I sold them basketball, American football and baseball uniforms. That was great until the manufacturer had liquidity issues. Then I moved on to MMA and worked with a company that was involved in MMA just about everywhere in the world (except America).

    Playing ball over there never paid for much of anything for me. Quite a few meals, all travel relating to playing, and basically beer money. I was in the second division… never playing for those top teams. But it was still fun, kept me in shape and made me lots of great ball friends. I had my real job so the pressure wasn’t on to make a living playing basketball.

    I came back to the US about 5 years ago and met my future wife the night I returned.

    My favorite places in the world to play basketball… Amsterdam, near Vondel Park, Paris-Berlin-Rome-Athens had some good places but I’d have a hard time explaining where they are at. And Chania, Crete, right beside their big stadium. I spent a year there playing. Those Cretan guys were tough and had more pride than anyone else. You could go into the mountains and visit small villages and hardly find a male, because family feuds always ended in bloodshed. They fought off a complete air assault from the Germans in WWII with simple farm guns, making the Germans put more resources into taking Crete. The Germans always had problems in Crete. They’d cut off Cretan heads in the main squares to instill fear and power. What they didn’t know was that just pissed them off and would make them retaliate. The Cretans finally captured a big guy in the German military and killed him, too.

    At that time some of the fiercest basketball was being played in the south. Greece and Italy were good places, and I know Spain was good (but I didn’t spend enough time there).

    Today… I think I’d go to the former Yugoslavia. My wife is Serbian so we pay attention to athletes in that area. These people are tall and athletic. Right now, there are several good players from this region playing down in Wichita. I believe their is a guy 6’10" and one taller. I need to find out more info on them. I heard one has an offer from a big school, maybe Arizona.

    @ralster - I’m completely envious. Sometimes I have that feeling… to get out on a court and dribble between my legs and go up for 360-degree collapse. My vertical today is probably about 6 inches. I never touched a ball again after going down in the mid-90s. My only remaining swagger is in play when I’m reaching out for a hand rail so I don’t fall down. But seriously… I’m not quite that bad but have a hard time getting on the ground to play with my 1 yr old son.

    I keep thinking about what sport would do him right. He’s just like his old man… about a 30 lb 1-yr old. He looks better in a muscle shirt than I ever did! His mother said football is out. Sometimes I think basketball and tennis should be out. These days I’m thinking soccer and baseball, but it will be his choice to make. All we can do is guide him. Fortunately, my trophy cabinet that was stuffed with basketball trophies has gone missing! I really don’t know which move was the culprit. I never really liked trophies anyways beyond the very moment they were awarded. After that, my trophies always went into boxes and stored in the attic. I never liked looking backwards.



  • @drgnslayr Heading to Amsterdam in a couple of months. I will look for your court -can you give me another hint other than the park name - of course I won’t be playing-those days ended in my mid thirties.



  • I’ve read the surgeon’s report on Embiid. I’ve evaluated Embiid’s attitude with this surgery and there’s no reason why Embiid can’t go #1 and no lower than #3. The idea he goes no lower than Orlando is about right. Tellum is pushing for Embiid toward Orlando as a high pick and Boston as a solid safety net. I think Embiid will likely be much like Pierce only under different circumstances.

    Pierce’s story proves GMs and critics wrong because GMs were burning Williams’ phone off the hook to learn of any injury to Pierce, only to learn there were no injuries. Pitino got the pick of a lifetime that just kept giving and giving to the Celtics. Pierce was clearly a top 3 pick and arguably #1 pick in his draft, but what do the “experts” know.

    I see Embiid with Philly, Orlando, or Boston at this point. Tellum is playing this situation really well. The surgeon’s report is huge and should help GMs make a decision with Embiid. It’s a huge game of draft poker. Tellum is experienced and knows how to play the game. He will work wonders for Embiid and save his career. I see some teams pissing their pants when Embiid lands and recovers from this situation. Many are overreacting. Heck even Sasha Kaun says he’s still playing with the same stress fracture. It’s not the injury that is the problem at this point, it’s simple perceptions and “risks.” It’s a risk worth taking on a highly talented player.



  • @drgnslayr Thank man. It’s cool to hear about your experiences. I was born in Arizona, but blessed to end up in Kansas at 3 years old and have spent the last 32 years here. Four years in Lawrence and the rest in a small town in SW Kansas. I don’t really enjoy big cities; the amenities are fantastic, but as a general rule the people suck. I used to think I liked people, but as I met more a-holes I discovered I just like decent people and I know about enough. I would like to meet more interesting indiviuals such as yourself, but it’s not going to happen in this neck of the woods. I am fairly outgoing, hold three jobs, one is public service and it doesn’t make me like people more, one leaves me in isolation wanting more human contact, my main job puts me in front of the same good people once a week. I truly enjoy the good people I deal with not so much the others… such is life.

    Thanks for sharing your experiences it’s been eye opening and a fun trip. Hopefully I’ll get to visit some of the places you’ve lived someday, but I’ll probably live all my days in a small town in SW Kansas (if the water holds out, but that’s another story), travel the world as much as I can afford, and will definitely die a Jayhawk.



  • @JayhawkRock78

    “Heading to Amsterdam in a couple of months. I will look for your court”

    I’m working right now… but later this evening, I want to see if I can make time to grab a beer and sit down to Google Earth and go searching out some rims.

    If that works out okay I think I can post the urls!

    @ValiHawk -

    “Awesome! You played oversees? What countries? When?”

    Let’s see… I was playing in Southern Holland and Northern Belgium in the mid-90s. My first experience goes back to the mid-80s on Crete. Chania was the town, not too far from a US Navy installation at Souda Bay. Sometimes we’d get a few sailors to practice with. At that time, Americans were put on a pedestal there when it came to basketball.


Log in to reply