When the Philadelphia 76ers open training camp at Stockton College on Oct. 30, they will be without their starting point guard and reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams. After battling shoulder issues for the latter part of the 2013-14 season, Carter-Williams underwent offseason shoulder surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder this past May. When speaking to the media this past Thursday, 76ers head coach Brett Brown said that Carter-Williams has not yet been cleared to be a full participant in this year’s training camp and may miss some of the team’s preseason games.
Since the 76ers already have relatively low expectations for this year, many will not view this news as bad news. In fact, some may even welcome the news with the hope that this will make the 76ers even worse this season, thus gaining the team a higher draft pick. However, this is not the way to think. In the short term, this may make the 76ers worse and give them a better chance at receiving a higher draft pick. But for the long term, the absence of Carter-Williams from training camp just continues to set the team back.
Last year, the 76ers walked away from the 2013 NBA Draft with two highly touted prospects in Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel. However, Noel was recovering from an ACL injury that he suffered while playing in college and missed the entire 2013-14 season. As a result, a year was wasted in the development of the 76ers as Carter-Williams had to suffer through a grueling 82-game season without being able to develop on-court chemistry with his newly named teammate Noel.
Unfortunately for the 76ers, as the 2014-15 season is set to open the tables have been reversed for their two future stars. Noel is fully recovered from his ACL injury and is ready to finally begin his career with the 76ers. But as he gets ready to take to the court, his teammate Carter-Williams is now forced into the role of spectator.
This year’s training camp would have been the perfect forum for the two future stars of the franchise to finally get to work with one another. With Carter-Williams now sidelined, this opportunity is once again delayed. Everyone knows that the 76ers are rebuilding and the best way to do that is to be as bad as possible. At some point, however, progress has to be made. With the 2014 first-round pick of the 76ers Joel Embiid missing the entire 2014-15 season, Carter-Williams and Noel need to get as many reps together as possible, because once Embiid returns that will just be another player that they will have to develop a rapport with.
Yes, the 76ers are hoping to be one of the worst teams in the league this upcoming season, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of having one of your best players sidelined with injury. Carter-Williams needs to get back to being a full participant in team activities as soon as he can so that at a minimum he and Noel can see how to play with one another.
Greg Sacidor is a Philadelphia 76ers writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Greg_Sacidor or add him to your network on Google.
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