Nick Friedel

But this is the moment for Embiid and the Sixers because if it doesn't happen right now and it ties into the same thought, when is he ever going to be able to stay healthy?

If he can do it right now and lead them through and get past Towns in the process, oh my, Philly is going to be rocking.

Layla, I'm with you, and people will always remember that he pushed to be out there and that he was trying to play a lot of minutes, but then you run the risk of this kind of stuff happening.

And you talk to any of these guys that have had major injuries, whether it's Achilles, ACLs, what happens...

in so many cases is even when you think everything's feeling good, then something else hurts later down the line.

Things are out of alignment.

They're not used to the recovery that goes into it night to night.

It just came at an awful time for Boston because

It looked like they were absolutely rolling.

Then Philly started to play better with Joel back.

Then Tatum gets hurt, and boom, it's all over with.

So you just have to be really, really cautious now moving forward with Tatum.

But that's the way it goes, and that's why there are a lot of people in the league, Layla, who want to see the schedule get shortened, whether that ever happens because the money involved

Who knows?

But it's another reason why if people are coming out to pay to watch stars play and the stars can't be out there, you've got an issue with your product.

And it's something that the league really should consider, not just with this situation with Tatum, but because of all the soft tissue injuries that we're seeing pop up here year to year now.

Marshall, that was the name that popped up immediately.

I mean, a few weeks ago when they finally made this long overdue move to get rid of Karnasovas and Eversley, it was like, okay, Matt Lloyd.

That fits.

Personally, I like Matt a lot.