SIXERS PRESIDENT and general manager Sam Hinkie did not look, act or sound like a man who was trying to run a shell game.
Conspiracy theorists had looked at the timing of the Sixers' announcement that redshirt rookie center Joel Embiid was not healing as well as anticipated from the foot injury and surgery that cost him last season and determined that it was a smokescreen to hide Hinkie's true intentions for Thursday's NBA draft.
Yesterday, that was put to rest. The concerns about Embiid are all too real.
Hinkie said selecting Duke University freshman center Jahlil Okafor third overall was not connected to Embiid's situation.