Sixers mailbag: Why isn't Ricky Council IV playing more?

The day is Wednesday, and that means it is time for a weekly Sixers mailbag. Let’s dive into some of your questions about things other than “re-evaluations,” “re-assessments,” “left knee management,” “left knee conditions,” and “portions of practice,” shall we?

From @sixersallie: Why do you think Ricky Council IV isn’t getting many minutes?

I think it boils down to one word: trust. The Sixers, like many of their fans, can see that Council possesses tremendous potential and already has enough ability to impact any given NBA game. In order for Sixers head coach Nick Nurse to feel comfortable playing Council on a regular basis, though, he must have trust that Council knows exactly what he needs to be doing at all times on both ends of the floor.

On Monday, my weekly 5 Sixers thoughts focused on a host of Sixers role players and depth pieces — including Council. Here is what I wrote:

“Council played against Milwaukee, but only when Nurse felt desperate for a spark in the second half. He played about four minutes in Toronto, but like McCain, was only brought in as a necessity due to foul trouble. Council was a DNP-CD in Indiana, and it certainly appears as if he is on the outside looking in at Nurse’s regular rotation for the time being.

During his brief cameo on Friday night, Council appeared to either miss or forget a play call, completely derailing an entire possession. Building trust with a coaching staff is essential for any young player, and Council has made mistakes like this one too often:”

‘It’s all just focus and locking in and never really relaxing,’ Nurse said about the next steps in Council’s development during the preseason.”

MORE: 5 Sixers thoughts: Evaluating role players

It can be frustrating to hear that a player has not earned enough goodwill with a coaching staff to earn consistent playing time when players with obviously lesser ability see playing time on a nightly basis. Oftentimes, though, for every impressive, jaw-dropping play someone like Council makes, there is an accompanying mistake — even ones that do not show up in a box score.

Coaches place tremendous value in being able to rely on a player to constantly make the right decisions in all sorts of situations. If Council can eventually reach that point — and he has plenty of time to get there — he can be a high-quality rotation piece for a very long time.

From @MoreyBurner: Do you think Guerschon Yabusele could be a feasible playoff rotation player?

It is far too early to say either way, but Yabusele does not look remotely out place logging consistent minutes in the Sixers’ rotation through three regular season games, and that is a tremendous place to start for someone who signed a veteran’s minimum contract after not playing in the league for five consecutive seasons.

Yabusele has done just enough shooting, passing and standing his ground as an interior defender to allow his tremendous hustle to do the rest of the work. Yabusele have five offensive rebounds during the Sixers’ thrilling victory over the Pacers in Indiana on Sunday, at least three of them led directly to Sixers three-point makes.

The biggest reason it is difficult to make a determination one way or the other on this — other than the obvious fact that we are only three games into the regular season — is that if Yabusele does log playoff minutes for this team, it would likely be at power forward. The four is Yabusele’s natural position, but the overwhelming majority of his playing time to date has come at center, where Joel Embiid’s absence has forced Yabusele into a small-ball five role.

From @takesentry: Is Daryl Morey repeating management mistakes of the past by not communicating better about injuries and timelines?

Speaking of Embiid’s absence, Tuesday was not kind to the Sixers in the headlines. First, Nurse refused to answer multiple questions about Embiid’s status, moments after the team issued an update that the former NBA MVP and Paul George would each be sidelined for tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons:

Hours later, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Sixers were being fined $100K for making public statements that did not properly reflect Embiid’s injury status.

Given these events — and the many controversial injury-related Sixers happenings in years past — this is a fair question, though I do not think focusing on Morey or any other singular figure is the proper approach. This is an extremely complex operation, not one solely reliant on the whims of Morey, Embiid, Nurse or any other figure. With situations this critical, all of those parties plus money more — the team’s medical staff, in particular — are working in tandem.

And it is worth acknowledging that giving Embiid considerable rest during the regular season is something fans have always wanted, yet the mystery surrounding the entire situation has created an increased sense of distrust in how the team is handling the situation.

From my point of view, people are understandably having trouble buying that the Sixers are executing their predetermined plan as they claim, because the team has been extremely secretive about the contents of said plan dating back to the beginning of training camp.

Generally speaking, when sports fans are left to their own devices with an absence of substantive information, they assume the worst. That is especially the case in Philadelphia.