On the Beat: Embiid Ramps Up Rehab Overseas

Regardless of what continent Joel Embiid is on, his health remains one of the Sixers’ top priorities.On Friday, during a half-hour media session with reporters at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Sam Hinkie confirmed that Embiid is currently in Qatar, an Asian peninsular country located along the Persian Gulf.  There, in the town of Doha, he is continuing his rehab from  off-season surgery on his right navicular bone.  The right foot operation was the big man’s second since turning pro.  “He’s at this facility called Aspetar,” detailed Hinkie, who called the self-described “orthopedic and sports medicine hospital” an “interesting place,” and one the Sixers have been studying for six months.[[{“fid”:”47843″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{“height”:”196″,”width”:”665″,”class”:”media-element file-default”}}]]Hinkie said Aspetar is “world-renowned and known for having some of the best sports medicine docs, rehab specialists, orthopedic surgeons, sports psychologists, and dieticians; the whole gamut, sort of soup-to-nuts.”In terms of the specifics of Embiid’s “fairly intense program” at Aspetar, Hinkie explained, “It’s one that is custom-designed for him that we’ve been putting in place over the last several months and it’s an evaluation.  It kicks of his rehab, his next phase of it.  Lots of training, lots of simple stuff.  It’s another check before the next step.  We’ve done a lot of these kinds of things.  Maybe this one is more popular because it’s on the other side of the globe.  But we’ve done a lot of these.  We sent some of our personnel with him, and he’s doing great.”The extent to which the Sixers have devoted intellectual capital, financial resources, and manpower to Embiid’s recovery only further underscores his significance to the organization, both in the short-term and long-term. “We’re obviously excited about him, and have always been excited about him, because he has rare gifts and he has a real chance to have a fantastic NBA career,” said Hinkie of the third overall selection of the 2014 NBA Draft.  “He’s doing great on all of the things that matter for him, which is, how do you focus on every day to try and get better?””We expect maybe in the last several weeks of the season, he might be more fully integrated into the team and traveling with the team and at all of our games and the like.  Then, he’ll have a long summer in front of him where his rehab will continue.  So far, so good.  He’s done a great job.  He’s been super professional.”At this stage, Hinkie has “doubt” that Embiid will get the go-ahead for summer league play; however, the team hasn’t discussed the possibility in “great detail.””We definitely wouldn’t push him to be ready in July, and I’m not sure it would make a whole lot of sense at the end of the day,” Hinkie said.  “We start with the end in mind often.  I think the goal from here is to back up and say, ‘Let’s have Joel raring to go for next season.'”Embiid is scheduled to return to the United States by the end of this week.