Sixers head coach Brett Brown says he plans to limit Joel Embiid to under 20 minutes a night at the start of the season—“somewhere like in the teens”—which came as a disappointing surprise to the big fella.
#Sixers Embiid 'disappointed' at having minutes restriction expected to be on the teens. pic.twitter.com/zJpTnXuaLB
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) October 16, 2017
The 23-year-old, coming off a season-ending knee injury, says he feels great.
Brown hopes to lift Embiid’s playing time to around 32 minutes by January.
Per Philly.com:
Thirty or so minutes after Brown spoke, Embiid walked over to the media. He said he was excited about the season, before saying, “I hope they don’t have me on a minutes restriction.”
A reporter then told him what Brown had said.
“Ah, [shoot],” Embiid said. “I didn’t know about that. But that’s disappointing. I feel great, and hopefully that changes based on this practice and tomorrow’s practice.”
Embiid said he will lobby to remain in close games past his time limit.
“I got a voice,” he said. “They got to listen to me. … If I feel great and my body feels great and my knee is fine, I should play 30 minutes or more. I definitely have my opinion on that. They are going to hear me. We are going to discuss it.”
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