Brett Brown preaches patience with Joel Embiid

Based on his experience with Nerlens Noel a year ago, Brett Brown emphasized the need for 76ers' fans to be patient with big man Joel Embiid.

Noel, like Embiid, sat out his rookie season with an injury. When he began scrimmaging 5-on-5 again, Brown admitted he was "caught offguard" by how far behind Noel had become physically and mentally.

"What I misjudged is the fact that when you don't play basketball for that long of a time and feel a little bit the weight of the city in expectation, it's a collision to speed up your head, to speed up the game in an environment that's unforgiving in the NBA," said Brown during his 31-minute end-of-year media availability.

Noel had been sidelined since the previous February while Embiid's last competitive game was in March 2014. Embiid suffered a right foot stress fracture during June predraft workouts that required surgery and was the reason the Sixers could select him at No. 3 in the draft after he'd been projected as the No. 1 overall choice.

"I think that we're going to see a similar thing with Joel," Brown said. "I think that we can't get our expectations and hopes up early. I'm not going to. I feel like the main words you want to hear me say is we've got to be a little bit patient when he comes back in."

Brown talked about how stress fractures, which ended the careers of centers Bill Walton and Yao Ming, are "a real concern" of his for big men.

"I attribute it directly to his weight," Brown said. "We talk about diet all the time. I think that we can point to many players that when weight becomes a factor. The pounding of 82 games rim to rim takes its toll. He has been fantastic understanding that.

"From my voice, it's been delivered almost as a fear. It should scare the hell out of him. This is his future. He's obviously a big part of what we're doing."

Brown also discussed how "there were times I wasn't happy [with Embiid's work ethic]" during the past season. The team sent the 7-foot Embiid home from their holiday West Coast road trip because of his increased weight, which apparently neared 300 pounds, and a reported disagreement he had with a member of Brown's staff.

"It's been well-documented," Brown said. "If you can't coach your best players — I call it buying time and dying — you have nothing. I tell my guys, 'You want me to coach you. You want to show up on time. You want to do the right thing. We want to act the right way.'

"Like all young players — Nerlens was no different — you go through heartache. You go through things and you've got to stand up and say, 'That's not part of our culture.' That's just normal with any young player. Joel was a part of that."

The hope is for Embiid, who spent most of the season with the team, to play summer league ball, which begins with the July 6-9 Rocky Mountain Review in Salt Lake City. The Sixers are also scheduled to participate in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Scrimmaging and playing real games are the carrot at the end of the stick that tend to get players back on track, though Brown has been encouraged by Embiid's progress over the past few months. Without the games, Brown likened it to being in a boat without a fishing rod.

"I don't begrudge Joel or Nerlens for any of it," Brown said. "They're 20-year-olds. And it's my job to coach them and build a culture. That's what we experienced this year. We'll be better off for it, like we saw with Nerlens when he's actually a playing member of the Philadelphia 76ers."