A. Sherrod Blakely - Celtics to view Embiid's medical records

[chambers]

The hard part is wondering if his agent is trying to control where he goes.
We'd need to see the medical history but this gives me eerie reminders of Sam Bowie.
How often has this guy been injured? At least once a year in the last few years?


I'm very weary if this guy's only been playing for 3 years, how much of that time has he been down with an injury?

I mean if he drops to #6 perhaps we could trade him to the Lakers for something like a future pick and their 7th if Smart is still around.

I'd rather take Kevin Love but if that looks like it's not happening, hopefully our docs do their diligence, then we can take Embid and give him some calcium vitamins for 12 months.

[Eddie20]

Well, some of them, anyway -

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/celtics-view-embiids-medical-records

WALTHAM, Mass. ? Only a select number of teams will get a glimpse at Joel Embiid's medical records and the Celtics will apparently be one of them, according to a league source.

Embiid underwent surgery on Friday to repair a fracture to the navicular bone in his right foot, an injury that will sideline him for at least four months.

Boston, which has the Nos. 6 and 17 picks in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday night, is expected to get some information relative to Embiid's most recent injury, but full access to his medical records is unlikely.

Sherrod isn't exactly Marc Spears (miss that guy), and the title of the article is misleading, but it's still an interesting development.  Have you guys seen his most recent mock draft?  It's so off it's hilarious.  He has Orlando taking Vonleh and Utah taking Randle.  WOW   Can I have his job?  Smart drops to the Lakers, btw.  Yeah, right.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/blakelys-nba-mock-draft-100-cs-take-chance-embiid

I can envision both happening, actually.

Jazz and Randle:

Salt Lake Tribune (Jazz beat writer) -

Instead, the Jazz seemed more focused on Randle?s 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame ? making him one of the most NBA-ready bodies to come through town for a workout this summer.

The Jazz have been impressed with Randle since last summer and came away even more so after interviewing him during the pre-draft combine in Chicago last month.

"First and foremost, he?s an absolutely great kid," Walt Perrin (vice president of player personal) said. "We had a great interview with him in Chicago. He has an extremely high motor. He?s a lot stronger than I think he even realizes. He?s got big upside."

Magic and Vonleh:

Ken Berger -

The biggest beneficiary of Embiid's injury could be Australian shooting guard Dante Exum. Word among executives is that Orlando likes Exum at No. 4, but with Embiid dropping -- how far, nobody knows for sure -- Exum might not be gone by then. The Magic's dilemma: They want a top frontcourt player to pair with Nikola Vucevic and may not be able to get one they're comfortable with at No. 12. In that case, sources say they may opt for Indiana's Noah Vonleh with the fourth pick.

Chad Ford-

They?ve been big fans of Marcus Smart, but I?ve heard neither of his workouts have been particularly strong. The Exum workout was a wow I?m told. But so was the Noah Vonleh workout. While I don?t completely rule out Smart there, I think it will either be Vonleh or Exum. Some of their choice may come down to who they believe will be available to them at 12.

[Eddie20]

Orthopedic surgeon talks about Embiid at the beginning of the show and again around the 4:30 mark:

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/losangeles/play?id=11111297

Hs bio:

http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/Bios---Physician/H-O/Robert-C-Klapper-MD.aspx

[DinoGanga]

How much money does Embiid lose if his agent steers him o the 6th pick from the 3rd?

[saltlover]

How much money does Embiid lose if his agent steers him o the 6th pick from the 3rd?

A little over $5 million, assuming he was given the max and had his options picked up all for years.

#3 pick: $19,981,026
#6 pick: $14,831,260

This is smaller than the difference between 1 and 6, but it's still a lot of money for a kid for whom this could be the biggest contract he gets.

[saltlover]

The hard part is wondering if his agent is trying to control where he goes.
We'd need to see the medical history but this gives me eerie reminders of Sam Bowie.
How often has this guy been injured? At least once a year in the last few years?


I'm very weary if this guy's only been playing for 3 years, how much of that time has he been down with an injury?

I mean if he drops to #6 perhaps we could trade him to the Lakers for something like a future pick and their 7th if Smart is still around.

I'd rather take Kevin Love but if that looks like it's not happening, hopefully our docs do their diligence, then we can take Embid and give him some calcium vitamins for 12 months.

Two thoughts about this, and I'm not nearly on the Embiid bandwagon as most others:

1) I don't know how much he was injured in high school.  I've seen his high school coach say that he had some pain that he played through, which means to me that either a) it wasn't that severe or b) it was the same problem (a stress fracture) that he had this year, but no one ever diagnosed it.  If it's the first possibility, then whatever -- a lot of bigs get sore, and NBA training staffs are very good at managing that pain.  If it's the second, that's frustrating for the kid, but hopefully again an NBA training staff would be able to diagnose problems early and mitigate them before they become too serious, in as much as they are problems that require physical therapy and/or rest.

2) It's also important to know that he played volleyball before basketball, which requires at least as much jumping.  This could be a bad thing (he's got volleyball injuries from a young age) or a good thing (he didn't get hurt as soon as he started playing sports) depending upon how you want to look at it.  I just don't think saying he's "only played three years" is as informative of a statement.

[michael 26]

This is great! Maybe the medical staff will find out his condition isn't as bad as expected. I would love to get Embiid!

[colincb]

Well, some of them, anyway -

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/celtics-view-embiids-medical-records

WALTHAM, Mass. ? Only a select number of teams will get a glimpse at Joel Embiid's medical records and the Celtics will apparently be one of them, according to a league source.

Embiid underwent surgery on Friday to repair a fracture to the navicular bone in his right foot, an injury that will sideline him for at least four months.

Boston, which has the Nos. 6 and 17 picks in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday night, is expected to get some information relative to Embiid's most recent injury, but full access to his medical records is unlikely.

Sherrod isn't exactly Marc Spears (miss that guy), and the title of the article is misleading, but it's still an interesting development.  Have you guys seen his most recent mock draft?  It's so off it's hilarious.  He has Orlando taking Vonleh and Utah taking Randle.  WOW   Can I have his job?  Smart drops to the Lakers, btw.  Yeah, right.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/blakelys-nba-mock-draft-100-cs-take-chance-embiid

I agree with his draft 1-5, but this is the first time all year I have.  Miss Spears too.

Interesting.  What makes you think that Orlando won't take Smart?  Vonleh at 4 seems like a bit of a reach, imho, and I never would have had the Jazz taking Randle, but we'll see.  Just curious.

See Eddie20's post a few up. Covers most of the bases.  Chad Ford has had Exum and Vonleh ahead of Smart in ORL for some time.

That would leave UTA facing a choice between Embiid, Smart (who wouldn't work out for them), Gordon, and Randle.  They're a very tight-lipped organization, but they seem to be headed for a PG or frontcourt guy or a trade down. I've had them takin Exum or Vonleh prior to the Embiid news.

Embiid would seem to be risky for most teams including UTA.  We have the luxury of being ablre to take the risk (as do the LAL and the Sixers at 10 with their 2nd pick).  At PG, this is too high for Payton, and Smart has seemingly ruled himself out.  UTA is aware of it's problems as a destination and having the Cs and the Lakers right behind in this draft them doesn't help . So I think they go with Randle at PF over Gordon at the SF. Gordon's not a name I've heard associated with them and a lot of people have concerns about his shooting. If we don't take Gordon, I think he's sliding to 10 (at best) with LAL taking Smart/Randle, Payton at #8, and CHA already having MKG.

[Celtics4ever]

Still stress fracture in foot and back, is scary to me as a fan.   Are we rushing to draft Sam Bowie or Greg Oden?  Boston has great doctors hopefully they will find out what is up.

[clover]

I'm not sure it would be in either the C's or Embiid's interest to disclose that they've given full access to the C's and the Lakers, but not to other teams in the range to pick him.

[jambr380]

I'm not sure it would be in either the C's or Embiid's interest to disclose that they've given full access to the C's and the Lakers, but not to other teams in the range to pick him.

I agree, I would rather this report didn't come at all - another team in front of them might call his bluff and take him anyway. At least it's only partial access.

[Eddie20]

Well, some of them, anyway -

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/celtics-view-embiids-medical-records

WALTHAM, Mass. ? Only a select number of teams will get a glimpse at Joel Embiid's medical records and the Celtics will apparently be one of them, according to a league source.

Embiid underwent surgery on Friday to repair a fracture to the navicular bone in his right foot, an injury that will sideline him for at least four months.

Boston, which has the Nos. 6 and 17 picks in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday night, is expected to get some information relative to Embiid's most recent injury, but full access to his medical records is unlikely.

Sherrod isn't exactly Marc Spears (miss that guy), and the title of the article is misleading, but it's still an interesting development.  Have you guys seen his most recent mock draft?  It's so off it's hilarious.  He has Orlando taking Vonleh and Utah taking Randle.  WOW   Can I have his job?  Smart drops to the Lakers, btw.  Yeah, right.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/blakelys-nba-mock-draft-100-cs-take-chance-embiid

I agree with his draft 1-5, but this is the first time all year I have.  Miss Spears too.

Interesting.  What makes you think that Orlando won't take Smart?  Vonleh at 4 seems like a bit of a reach, imho, and I never would have had the Jazz taking Randle, but we'll see.  Just curious.

See Eddie20's post a few up. Covers most of the bases.  Chad Ford has had Exum and Vonleh ahead of Smart in ORL for some time.

That would leave UTA facing a choice between Embiid, Smart (who wouldn't work out for them), Gordon, and Randle.  They're a very tight-lipped organization, but they seem to be headed for a PG or frontcourt guy or a trade down. I've had them takin Exum or Vonleh prior to the Embiid news.

Embiid would seem to be risky for most teams including UTA.  We have the luxury of being ablre to take the risk (as do the LAL and the Sixers at 10 with their 2nd pick).  At PG, this is too high for Payton, and Smart has seemingly ruled himself out.  UTA is aware of it's problems as a destination and having the Cs and the Lakers right behind in this draft them doesn't help . So I think they go with Randle at PF over Gordon at the SF. Gordon's not a name I've heard associated with them and a lot of people have concerns about his shooting. If we don't take Gordon, I think he's sliding to 10 (at best) with LAL taking Smart/Randle, Payton at #8, and CHA already having MKG.

Orlando
Since they have picks 4 and 12, I think they'll go for a big man (Vonleh) instead of a PG (Smart), and use the 12 to target Payton. There simply won't be many PF options left at 12, except maybe Saric, but then you would have to deal with the possibility of him refusing to go to Orlando. So it basically comes down to who they would prefer, Vonleh/Payton or Saric (if available)/Smart.

Utah
I don't think they'll grab Smart because they have Burke at the 1 and Alec Burks and Hayward at the wings. Favors played a lot better at the center spot last year, which is why I doubt they'll even risk taking Embiid. I feel Randle fills a gaping need at the PF spot and has had strong workouts with many teams, including the Jazz. I do think they would prefer Vonleh here, but the Embiid injury slide caused a domino effect that will prevent that.

[Snakehead]

I'm not sure it would be in either the C's or Embiid's interest to disclose that they've given full access to the C's and the Lakers, but not to other teams in the range to pick him.

I agree, I would rather this report didn't come at all - another team in front of them might call his bluff and take him anyway. At least it's only partial access.

It's easy for us to say "oh draft him anyways".  Actual GMs have jobs to keep.  They have to really live with the ramifications of draft busts.  They wouldn't be eager to do that.

Even if we would draft Embiid, it's a risk no matter what.  There are other quality players to be had.  That's with all the information.  So I don't think this would tip anything off.  The plain fact is that it's been done before so, yeah.

Do we remember how far Sullinger fell?

[Ogaju]

sounds like there is a lot of chess being played here to avoid an epic fall by Embiid.

There are two scenarios at play here.

1. The Embiid team wants to steer this kid to the Lakers or the Celtics.

OR

2.The Embiid team wants to preserve his status as one of the top three picks in the draft.

If the first scenario is the case then everything that has happened since the beginning of the month could be orchestrated. The disclosure of the foot injury, the surgery to the foot. These are all bound to ensure that he falls out of the top three picks, and backdoor discussions with the Lakers and the Celtics could calm there fears and allow them to draft the kid.

If the second scenario is the case, then the timing and disclosure of the foot injury was really beyond the control of the Embiid team and this last decision to allow just the Celtics to view his medical records is announcing to the world that they want him to go to Boston, so that the top three teams may 'smell' conspiracy and take Embiid anyway.

I doubt the NBA draft has ever been this much of a chess game.

Which is it?

[footey]

I'm not sure it would be in either the C's or Embiid's interest to disclose that they've given full access to the C's and the Lakers, but not to other teams in the range to pick him.

Exactly.  Might just anger the Orlando's and the Jazz into taking Embiid, intuiting that their willingness to share that information with other teams indicates the prognosis is positive.

Plus, agents' ability to keep a team from drafting his client has limited effect.  E.g., Yi refused to deal with Milwaukee, but ended up getting picked by them (to their regret) anyway.

This notion all started by a tweet from Simmons, who just said that he "heard" that Tellum wanted to direct Embiid to Celtics or Lakers.  Pretty irresponsible to float that out there unless he had confirmed sources. The craft of journalism is so poor these days.