The Philadelphia 76ers battled through a year filled with injuries and adversity in the 2023-24 season as Joel Embiid missed two months due to a meniscus injury and other key pieces missed time as well.
Coach Nick Nurse led the Sixers to a 47-35 season despite Embiid missing so much time, De’Anthony Melton missing a ton of time, and Robert Covington, Nic Batum, and others missing pockets of time. The rigors of the 82-game season can be tough to work through for any NBA team, really.
Nurse hopped on “The Draymond Green Show” and was asked about any changes the league could make to the regular season and he said he’s here for it as Green suggested possibly shortening the season:
I think I would be in favor of that. I don’t know how it all works out logistically, monetarily, all that kind of stuff, but I certainly agree with your point. Like, here’s what I would say is you go back and say ‘Oh, man back in the early 90s, these guys played all 82 games’, but it was like you dribbled down they throw it in the block and two guys stand—you know—there was a lot of standing around. It was not anywhere near what it is now. Everybody kind of can do everything now. Right? Everybody has to guard everybody. Everybody’s got a guard on the perimeter. Everybody’s gotta guard the 3. There’s a lot more transition. So I think the activity level and and just in general, like if the pace is twice as fast, it means we’re doing twice as much probably, right? So the chances for injury and all that stuff should be twice as great as well. Right?
To Nurse’s point, the players in the league right now do so much. Embiid does so much on the floor in terms of being able to protect the basket, switch out on a guard on the perimeter in the pick-and-roll, be a playmaker on offense, and handle the ball. Eventually, that is going to wear on a guy.
Should the NBA shorten the season? Probably, but that’s not likely to happen. Embiid, Nurse, and the Sixers will have to find a way to deliver the big fella to the postseason as healthy as possible.
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