Hope is not a strategy. It is a lack of options. Right now, it is all the Sixers have. They can hope that Joel Embiid is back for good. They can hope that his knee responds to its latest test. They can hope that he is still a player who makes a team a contender.

Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) and Paul George (left finger extensor tendon injury) participated in the Sixers’ Monday morning practice according to head coach Nick Nurse, who added that the entire team practiced aside from rookie Jared McCain.

Nick Nurse says that while Paul George and Joel Embiid remain out today against the Boston Celtics, the hope is that both will be back by the end of this week after going through an