Carter-Williams contributes for Sixers despite playing through pain

IT WASN'T so much a lesson that 76ers coach Brett Brown was trying to teach point guard Michael Carter-Williams the past two nights, it was more as if he was helping him realize something.

Monday in Cleveland, MCW played only 20 minutes, limited by a shin injury he had suffered in Atlanta on Saturday. Brown said he had thought of giving his lead guard the night off but decided to go with him. Once it became apparent he wasn't close to 100 percent, Carter-Williams was relegated to the bench from about midway through the third period on.

So the popular thought before last night's game against the Denver Nuggets was that the Sixers would be a bit shorthanded. But Carter-Williams was there and played just under 34 minutes and scored 15 points, to go along with 12 assists and eight rebounds. He assisted on seven of the team's first nine baskets.

"I think playing through pain is part of the game and I'm going to do my best until I physically can't go anymore," MCW said. "That's what my teammates deserve, so that's what I'm going to do."

He is a welcomed sight, as the team is 0-20 without him through his first two seasons.

"I feel like you're either there or you're not," Brown said. "Otherwise, you hurt the team. [Monday] night, Larry [Drew II] came in and we were down 13, and Michael was limping around. We got it to down three, but we had battled back from 20. You just want healthy people, able bodies, energized minds. We're not at a stage where we're just going to beat somebody up to have our better players on the floor. If he is not close to 100 percent, then it's just not fair to him or the team."

Today is the end of Larry Drew II's second 10-day contract, so the team either must sign him for the rest of the season or lose him. Right now, he is the only backup to Michael Carter-Williams. It would seem to be a no-brainer, but you never know when it comes to player-personnel decisions with the Sixers.

"I think he's been an A-plus," Brown said. "I think that Larry has done everything that we have asked him. When you come into an environment late and then how are you going to fit into the group? His welcoming card, his thing that just triggered the whole sort of team embracing him, is that he passes. He really passes.

"Young guys run for him, big guys post for him. He's the son of a coach [Cleveland assistant Larry Drew] and he's got a bit of a coach's mind internally, where he understands time, score, rotations, pick-and-roll. He's been really good in all ways."

That would seem to indicate Drew will be sticking around. In 12 games, he has averaged 3.8 points and 3.8 assists. He had seven points and five assists last night.

It seemed to be an innocent question, but for some reason, it seemed to catch the 76ers off guard. When asked for an update on Tony Wroten, who is out with a torn ACL in his right knee and said last week he needed surgery, Brett Brown said, "I'm not sure."

He then looked to public relations director Mike Preston for assistance. Preston said Wroten "was scheduled for a procedure [yesterday]." Pressed for more, Preston said they didn't know more.

On Twitter last night, Wroten posted a picture of a hospital band on his wrist and the words "Be Back Stronger" headlining the picture.

The team then sent a release after the game that Wroten had indeed undergone successful surgery by Dr. James Andrews in Gulf Breeze, Fla.

Blog: ph.ly/Sixerville