Hinkie: Embiid's second rehab will have new approach

Now that Joel Embiid has had surgery, the 76ers will try to find different ways to rehabilitate his right foot, general manager Sam Hinkie said Wednesday.

Five doctors were involved Tuesday in bone-graft surgery to repair the navicular bone in Embiid's foot. The recovery time for the 7-foot center is five to eight months. But Hinkie confirmed Embiid would miss the entire season.

"One of the things that we have in our favor is that we have a new set of people that we can throw at this problem and they can be involved," Hinkie said. "They have a new approach to it."

Among the new people are David T. Martin, the Sixers' director of health and performance research development, and Todd Wright, the team's assistant coach/head of strength and conditioning.

"We have some new people [involved in Embiid's rehab] - that's step one," Hinkie said. ". . . We are trying to learn every day ways which we can do things slightly differently."

The former Kansas standout was selected third in the 2014 draft and missed what would have been his rookie season after undergoing surgery in June 2014 to repair a stress fracture in the same bone. A setback in his recovery process led to the second operation.

There are different circumstances for Embiid from last summer's surgery. He remained hospitalized under the team's care Wednesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Because he had yet to be drafted, Embiid was not under the Sixers' care immediately after the first surgery.

On March 6, Embiid had a slight scare during one of his workouts. He finished a layup with a between-the-legs dunk and was spotted wearing a walking boot. The Sixers said at the time that Embiid's foot was sore.

But in June, the team announced that Embiid had experienced a setback, which led to the second surgery.

"We are focused on these first six or 10 weeks [when they bring him along slowly] right now," Hinkie said. "Then we will get to that next phase."

He added: "No one wants to be second-guessing this a year from now or 10 years from now or four years from now."

Embiid's conditioning wasn't always at an optimal level. Sources have said Embiid did not take the required medicine to aid in the healing of his foot. Hinkie did not confirm or deny that. He added, however, that most of us can't empathize with Embiid's having become a "rehab machine."

"Everybody's got to step up your game here," Hinkie said. "We have to have a whole new level of focus for what it is we are trying to get done, because the stakes are very high."