Aimee
PHILADELPHIA — As word spread through NBA inner circles that Kansas prospect Joel Embiid suffered a foot injury, the Philadelphia 76ers wondered if his misfortune was just the break the downtrodden franchise needed.
“I sniffed opportunity,” Sam Hinkie, the team’s president and general manager, said Friday. “The moment he got hurt, we thought we might get him. We might be just the organization with just the set of owners, and we might be the one to do it.”
When the 7-foot center was available at three, the Sixers pounced, even though he could miss up to a full season because of a broken foot.\The 76ers are used to big men sitting out the season. Former All-Star center Andrew Bynum never played a second because of bad knees in 2012-13. And rookie Nerlens Noel sat out all of last season because of a torn ACL.
Noel, the No. 6 overall pick out of Kentucky, was antsy to play toward the end of a 19-63 season. The Sixers refused to rush him, not wanting to risk additional injury in what was always
