and South Florida was projeected third in the conference.d

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. Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 35 Dam . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Vapormax Flyknit 3 Sverige . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. http://www.airvapormaxsverige.com/nike-zoom-sverige/fly.html . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Vapormax Flyknit 3 Rea . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Nike Vapormax Rea . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). PHILADELPHIA -- UConn was once again the overwhelming favorite to win the American Athletic Conference.Its not a huge surprise since the Huskies havent lost a game in the conference since joining in 2014. They are 63-0 against their conference opponents.Even though coach Geno Auriemma graduated three All-Americans, including three-time national player of the year Breanna Stewart, the Huskies were received 10 of 11 first-place votes in the preseason poll Monday at the AACs annual media day.Its great, but we dont worry about all the outside stuff and just focus on ourselves, UConn guard Kia Nurse said. There are clearly a lot of fun numbers around the program with win streaks and championships, but honestly we dont really talk about them.Nurse said she was honored to be chosen as the conferences preseason player of the year.To have accolades like that is awesome. You still have to prove yourself. Definitely its an honor and theres a long way to go. It might be a preview of whats to come in the season.UConn returns seven players from the team which finished 38-0 last season and won the schools fourth consecutive national championship.Temple was picked second and South Florida was projeected third in the conference.dddddddddddd USF garnered the other first-place vote since coaches cant vote for their own teams.Our first year we were somewhere in the middle in the preseason. To be able to get to a point where were preseason second means weve done a good job over the last two years building a better program, Temple coach Tonya Cardoza said.We need to make sure we stay together and are not paying attention to the rankings. They arent handing you No. 2, you have to work for it and do the things in practice it takes to get there. Our guys are hungry, they want something theyve never done before and thats make the NCAA Tournament.Nurse was joined on the preseason conference first team by teammate Katie Lou Samuelson, USFs Kitija Laska, Tulanes Kolby Morgan and Temples Alliya Butts and Feyonda Fitzgerald.The AAC has two new coaches with Katie Abrahamson-Henderson taking over at UCF. She led Albany to five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances out of America East. SMU is now led by former NBA player Travis Mays, who was an assistant at Texas. ' ' '