Brown says Noel unlikely to play summer ball this year

IT LOOKS as if 76ers fans will have to wait a while longer to see Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid on the court together.

No, Embiid hasn't suffered any type of setback from his recovering foot fracture. In fact, coach Brett Brown said before last night's game against the Washington Wizards that Embiid will start playing three-on-three and four-on-four within the next couple of weeks.

The logical thought was that the two would pair at some point when the Sixers participate in two summer leagues this year in Utah and Las Vegas. But Brown sort of snuffed out that idea.

"I don't think I want to play him in the summer league," Brown said of Noel. "I don't feel like the need to do that. I think that he'll come and practice with the team. I think there's a lot of logic that you could spin it and say, 'Well, shoot, you're missing opportunities for [Embiid] and Nerlens to play together.' I think it sounds more glamorous than it would need to be. I don't believe that's a must. I see Nerlens coming in and practicing with that team and investing a hell of a lot of time this summer with Joel, but perhaps not in that environment."

As for Embiid, who Brown said started playing two-on-two Tuesday in practice, the pace of his on-court activities will increase soon.

"I think soon, like in the next week and a half, 2 weeks, we're going to progress there," Brown said, referring to three-on-three action for the 7-footer. "And even that two-on-two sounds a lot better than it is. I mean, admittedly Curtis Sumpter [a two-on-two participant] was a pretty good player for Villanova, but now he's my 11th assistant. He is great at banging people, and all that. But I think it's probably 8 to 10 days away.

"You see so much more when it's up and down [full court]. When we get to that level, then we're really cooking and a hell of a lot closer than we are today to making better assessments and projecting him out as it relates to summer league."

It's a pretty safe bet, though, that Embiid will participate to some extent in one or both of the leagues.

As for Brown, once the season ends next week, he says he will pay a visit to a future player, then return to get ready for the draft, which will certainly be a whirlwind.

"First thing I'll do is go see Dario [Saric, who is playing in Turkey] and then come back and then just immerse myself into paying attention to the draft, with all of our multiple picks, and just be a part of that," Brown said. "I really like that part of my job and the important part of our evolution."

Jason Richardson wears many sports hats. In the offseason, he is active in his son's various sports activities, while staying quite busy himself. He plays in a men's soccer league in his hometown of Denver, gets in his basketball workouts, and gets out on the golf course a bit.

Richardson is sort of new to the links, but joined a course recently and hopes to improve his play during the offseason. As for the Masters, which begins today, he has a few thoughts.

"Tiger is my longshot," Richardson said, laughing. "I think Jordan Spieth is going to win. He's killing it right now. I've been watching him the past few weekends, and he's just been killing it."

Asked whether he'd like to visit Augusta National, Richardson said yes, but on one condition: "If I can play it. I'm not going there just to look at it. I want to play it. But I don't have friends in high enough places to get me on."

Blog: ph.ly/Sixerville