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PHILADELPHIA -- Brett Brown sticks a depth chart on a sizable TV before every game thats patterned more like a traffic light than a simple in/out list scrawled on most NBA team chalkboards.Red. Cant go.Yellow. Can play, with minute restrictions.Green. Healthy, let `em rip.Joel Embiid has been stuck at the red light for two years in Tankadelphia at the corner of The Process and Progress just waiting ... waiting ... waiting for the light to flip to yellow and for his career to shift into drive.Embiid remains the light at the end of Daisys dock for a Philadelphia 76ers franchise that has bottomed out like few others in North American professional sports history. Hes ready to go green.All 7-foot-2, 275 pounds and -- of most importance -- two sturdy feet of Embiid have taken giant steps forward in the preseason toward proving hes more real deal than man of mystery. Embiid, out of Kansas, has played all six preseason games and has surpassed modest expectations, so Brown has hinted hes willing to consider lifting some restrictions he had placed on the big man. Embiid could play more than 20 minutes a game. He could play both games in back-to-back nights. He could actually post-up more than he posts on social media.Its been three years and the fact that Im healthy now and ready to get back on the court, I just cant wait, Embiid said.Embiid hasnt played since the 76ers made him the No. 3 overall pick of the 2014 draft because of recurring injuries to his right foot. He hasnt missed much -- the 76ers went 10-72 last season and Brown is 47-199 entering his fourth season.Embiids return should have set the benchmark in optimism for an organization that had shed salary and NBA talent at a rapid rate in exchange for lottery picks and cap room.But, they are the 76ers for a reason, and no season is easy.The Sixers might have been better off adding Doug Ross and Gregory House to Browns staff more than John Bryant. The Sixers have been struck by tough injuries year after year since Joshua Harris bought the team in 2011.The Sixers finally won big -- in the draft lottery -- and took no-brainer Ben Simmons as the No. 1 overall pick. Simmons lived up to a doomed Sixers tradition when he suffered a broken bone in his right foot and could miss at least three months.Under Harris ownership, projected cornerstones Andrew Bynum, Nerlens Noel and Embiid have all missed full seasons with injuries.Noel griped in training camp about the Sixers frontcourt logjam and is out indefinitely with a strained groin. Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 draft, has yet to play in the preseason and the Sixers are hopeful he can play in the Oct. 26 opener against Oklahoma City. Okafor led the Sixers with 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in his rookie year before he was shut down in March for surgery on a torn right meniscus in his right knee. The Sixers said he was expected to resume basketball activities in about six weeks. He hasnt returned yet.Jerryd Bayless was signed as a free agent with the hope hed be the starting point guard but is out with a sore left wrist and no timetable on his return.This has not been even close to being a normal preseason, Brown said.Let Brown explain why:Your starting point guard isnt here.The first player chosen in the draft isnt here.You had three five men, now youve got one who plays 20 minutes a game.I could keep going on and on. Its not excuses. Its just reality, Brown added. You try different things.Here are some things to watch as the 76ers ready for another lousy season:---FEELING SOCIAL: Game highlights got you down? Embiid has become a fan favorite for a plethora of reasons but his social media accounts have been a huge hit. Embiid keeps the mood light on his Instagram account, JoelEmbiid, where he bills himself as, The Process. He called himself Tiger Hoods on a clip of his golf shot and captioned one game photo with Preparing to AirBall this shot...On Twitter at (at)JoelEmbiid, he teased the Australian-born Simmons about GOP candidate Donald Trumps policy during Wednesdays debate with a tweet that said, If he wins , hes gonna deport you.3 AT 5: OK, so say Embiid, Okafor and Noel are all healthy at the same time. Now what? Brown and team president Bryan Colangelo have said the glut of big men can be a good problem to have. Sure, because at least one of them is always injured. But should all three recover, theres no room at the frontcourt inn to give all three suitable playing time. Embiid isnt going anywhere at center. That leaves Embiid and Okafor fighting for minutes at power forward or backing up Embiid. Thats not good enough for either one of the former lottery picks.I dont see a way of it working, Noel said. Youve got three talented centers that can play 30-plus minutes a night and three centers cant play 30 minutes a night. Thats that. Things need to be situated. Obviously, somebodys got to be moved around. Its a tough situation, but I can only say so much because I have no say and no power.Who stays and who goes -- this season or next summer -- could shape the direction of the franchise.SIMMONS DOCUMENTARY: The Simmons documentary One and Done premieres on Showtime Nov. 4. The crux of the film is about Simmons lone season at LSU. Sam Darnold Jets Jersey . Their 38th instalment is arguably their biggest fight card to date, including three-title fights and a main event which was selected by the fans. The promotion boasts 14-straight years of business and is operated by MFC president Mark Pavelich, who is often overlooked in this country for the foundation hes established for MMA in Canada. Sam Darnold Jersey Mens . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. http://www.jetsofficialsshop.com/sam-darnold-jersey.html . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Custom New York Jets Jersey . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Jamal Adams T Shirt . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. NEW YORK -- The Blair Pitch Project started to show results for the Atlanta Braves.Using a revised windup developed during a brief trip to the minor leagues, Aaron Blair won for the first time in 13 major league starts and helped the Braves slow the New York Mets wild-card chase with a 7-3 victory Monday night.Acquired from Arizona along with Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte in Decembers trade that sent Shelby Miller to the Diamondbacks, Blair had been 0-6 with an 8.23 ERA in his first 12 big league starts, including 0-2 in three outings against the Mets.Its frustrating giving up runs and going out, not getting a win for your team, but tonight was good, Blair said.Freddie Freeman, getting little sleep after bringing his newborn son home from a hospital late Sunday, drove in three runs off a misfiring Noah Syndergaard. Freeman had four hits for the Braves, who have the worst record in the National League, and Swanson had three hits and three RBI.Blair, a 24-year-old right-hander selected 36th overall in the 2013 amateur draft, went on the disabled list after an Aug. 28 loss because of a strained left knee, then worked on his mechanics during two injury rehabilitation starts in the minors. Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell wanted him to cut down on the turn in his rotation, to reach out farther with his pitching arm and to stay more upright.Obviously, giving up a run per inning wasnt great, so I was up for any changes, Blair said.Activated to start against the Mets, Blair (1-6) did not allow a hit until the fourth, when Curtis Granderson singled and T.J. Rivera hit a two-run homer.Blair gave up six hits in six innings, struck out four and walked one, lowering his ERA to 7.71.All the hard work that hes put in and making changes and sticking to it, not reverting back in stressful situations, its nice to see him rewarded for it, Braves manager Brian Snitker said. He got a good downhill plane going, I thought, and obviously some of those changeups they were swinging over had some late action.Blair was given the ball from the final out and received more than 50 text messages of congratulations.I was able to make pitches whenn I needed to, and if they hit the ball, they just hit it right at guys, he said.dddddddddddd. So some of the line drives I was on the luckier side.Syndergaard (13-9) allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings, and Atlanta fouled off 26 of his 99 pitches. He started to falter in a 35-pitch second that included consecutive walks and RBI singles by Swanson and Inciarte, the first on a 99.9 mph fastball and the second on a slider.Freeman led off the third with an opposite-field homer to left, extending his streaks for hits to 23 games and for reaching base to 39. Freeman then reached down to slice an opposite-field, two-run double in the fourth for a 5-0 lead.Freeman could barely keep his eyes open afterward.I got nothing left. I left it all out there, he said. I can hardly think right now.OH SO CLOSERio Ruiz, a 22-year-old Braves third base prospect, had been announced as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning Sunday in his major league debut when Washington changed pitchers, rain started to fall and the tarp was brought out. The game, which had been interrupted for 1 hour, 7 minutes in the sixth, was called after a 1:50 wait. His parents, who changed their flight to stay after the first rain delay, did not make the trip to New York and headed back to Los Angeles.Theres nothing frustrating about being here in the majors leagues, he said. Im still all smiling.ROTATIONRHP Ryan Weber will start for the Braves in Wednesdays series finale, his second start this season and the seventh of his big league career.GREAT GLOVEBraves LF Matt Kemp, a two-time Gold Glove winner, ran in for diving catches in the seventh on Michael Conforto and Alejandro De Aza.TRAINERS ROOMBraves: RHP Mike Foltynewicz, hit on the left calf by Marcell Ozunas liner on Sept. 12, is playing catch and walking on a treadmill. Snitker said he could return this season.UP NEXTJulio Teheran (5-10) is to start Tuesday for the Braves and RHP Robert Gsellman (2-1) for the Mets, Teheran is 1-0 with a 0.78 ERA against New York in three starts this year. ' ' '