AMHERST, Mass. -- At the start of training camp, optimism filled the air in Philadelphia. Joel Embiid was set to make his long-awaited NBA debut. Dario Saric finally arrived after spending the past two years playing overseas with Anadolu Efes S.K. in Turkey. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, Ben Simmons, was set to run the show.
The Sixers were in position to compete -- finally.
Then came the news Friday night that Simmons had broken the fifth metatarsal in his foot, a Jones fracture. That put his Sixers debut on ice for at least a few months -- maybe more.