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Hayes: No Joel Embiid, no Ben Simmons, no problem

LONG BEFORE the Sixers played the Spurs, everybody knew. Joel Embiid, centerpiece of the Sixers' rebuild, was not playing. On Wednesday morning he was declared inactive both Wednesday against the Spurs and Thursday at Orlando, which would mean the bone bruise on his left knee suffered Jan. 20 will cost him at least 11 of 12 games and eight in a row.

LONG BEFORE the Sixers played the Spurs, everybody knew.

Joel Embiid, centerpiece of the Sixers' rebuild, was not playing. On Wednesday morning he was declared inactive both Wednesday against the Spurs and Thursday at Orlando, which would mean the bone bruise on his left knee suffered Jan. 20 will cost him at least 11 of 12 games and eight in a row.

Four games remain before the NBA All-Star break: Thursday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Embiid is scheduled to play with the Rising Stars and participate in the NBA Skills Challenge. It will be fascinating to see how those commitments develop if he is limited in the upcoming week.

Even more disappointing, perhaps, was the news about Ben Simmons. Coach Brett Brown again refused to give a timetable for Simmons' return from his broken foot suffered at the end of training camp. A report last month indicated that Simmons might come back after the All-Star break, but, since that's less than 21/2 week away, it seems that the Sixers would be able to project his return at this point. It looks like the ascension of LeBron's latest protégé will be delayed a lot longer the zealots had hoped.

Brown said that Simmons is not yet playing in five-on-five scrimmages. Ominously, Brown said Simmons would need at least five of those types of workouts before he would be game-ready. Obliquely, Brown acknowledged that the public would, "Like to have some clarity on time, but we can't give it. It's just not there."

So, with 30 games left, the Sixers say they have no idea when the top pick of the 2016 draft will be able to scrimmage.

Little wonder the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center seemed dazed through much of the 111-103 loss to the Spurs, the Sixers' fifth in a row and seventh in their last eight games.

The injury news was another blow to a fan base that suffered through three bitter years of intentional losing in order to assemble all of this talent. First, they waited for Nerlens Noel's knee to heal. Then, they waited two years for Embiid's foot to get better. Incredibly, then, Simmons was gone . . .for the season? No one committed to that prognosis.

No one pronounced Simmons out for the year on Wednesday, either. But the Sixers did make it sound more and more like they're weighing the benefit of his debut against the risk of re-injury, and the scales are titling toward see-ya-next-year.

All of which is fine, and prudent.

In fact, if neither plays a game the rest of this season, that's fine, too. Unpopular stance, and maybe overly cautious . . . but what, exactly, do the Sixers gain by rushing either of them back?

Granted, it is wondrous to witness the power and grace and emerging skills of Embiid, a latecomer to basketball and a studious spectator the past two seasons. Every minute he plays is intoxicating nectar to the devoted and desperate tribe of the faithful.

Yes, it's enticing to anticipate what Simmons could do with his size and his speed and his vision and his instinct.

It's also foolish to think that squeezing either one of them into a few extra NBA games in their rookie seasons will appreciably speed their development.

And no, they're not tanking (again) by sitting Embiid and pretending he's hurt: "There's no conspiracy," Brown promised.

That's logical. If general manager Bryan Colangelo wanted to lose on purpose he would not have signed guard Gerald Henderson in the offseason and he would not have traded for forward Ersan Ilyasova in November. Colangelo would have let Nik Stauskas, Dario Saric and Jerami Grant founder in the name of "development."

There were hopes Sunday that Embiid could return by the middle of this week but, as Brown said Wednesday: "We're just moving slowly and trying to move wisely."

"I believe that we're going to see him not too far away," Brown continued, coyly . . . but to what extent?

This season Embiid was already restricted to no more than 28 minutes per game and forbidden from playing on consecutive nights. This latest injury concern to a giant young man who is still growing, still getting accustomed to his body, should make the team even more reluctant to play him one minute before he is as whole as possible.

"I think people should get upset if they hear anything else," Browns said Sunday, "given where we are right now."

And where are they?

At best, they're two seasons from winning a playoff series. If all goes well, they're probably four seasons from being a title contender.

Embiid has played 31 games at a dizzyingly high level. Simmons clearly is a savant. Really, what will playing a handful games in 2017 mean if it jeopardizes the team's chances in 2021?

Besides, there are a couple of beneficial by products if the Sixers limit (or shelve) Simmons and/or Embiid for the rest of this season.

First, they would be able to better showcase Jahlil Okafor, their lumbering second-year center whose artistic offensive game does not compensate for his dispassionate play on defense and on the boards. The Sixers want to trade him, but they want a decent return; after all, he was the No. 3 overall pick in 2015. When Embiid plays, Okafor does not. When Okafor sits, his trade value decreases.

Second, Brown has said he will make Simmons, a forward, a point guard when Simmons begins to play, but it seems unlikely that Simmons, at 6-10 and 240 pounds, would spend every minute at the point. Inevitably, he would steal precious minutes from Saric, who is having a splendid rookie season.

Would it be optimal to have Simmons, Embiid and Saric begin to develop synergy this season? Absolutely.

Would it be good for Simmons to get a taste of the breathtaking NBA pace and the brutal NBA grind? Sure.

Would it be helpful for Embiid to develop more sophisticated footwork in the paint a more fluid game on the blocks? Yes.

Embiid and Saric are 22. Simmons is 20. It would be nice for The Process if they played together sooner than later.

It just might not be best.

hayesm@phillynews.com

@inkstainedretch Blog: ph.ly/DNL