By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Heading into the 2016-17 season, the Philadelphia 76ers have a lot to look forward to when it comes to player development and seeing who fits in the future plans for this team. With Ben Simmons out until at least December, Brett Brown and the Sixers staff will have the opportunity to get closer looks at players like Dario Saric, Richaun Holmes and even Jerami Grant for extended minutes. Simmons was also going to play a big part in controlling the floor as a point forward at times, so the roles of Jerryd Bayless and supporting point guards now becomes more integral to the success of the team.
It's no secret that the Sixers have experience dealing with injuries to their young talents. Nerlens Noel missed an entire year with an ACL injury, Joel Embiid missed two seasons due to two foot surgeries and Jahlil Okafor was out for the last chunk of the 2015-16 season with a knee injury.
“There is nobody, sadly, that’s had more experience dealing with injured draft picks than we have.” Brett Brown told reporters. “Over the course of time, you learn how to best deal with it. I have seen this every year I’ve been here.”
While Simmons' mood was obviously somber once he heard the news, the amount of experience that the team has with rehab is encouraging. There's no one more understanding and symathetic about a subject like this than Joel Embiid. The Sixers selected Embiid with the third overall pick in the 2014 draft. After a year of rehab, the 7-foot-2 big man from Cameroon had to have a second surgery on the navicular bone in his foot, putting his NBA debut on hold for another year. Fast forward to now, he'll be suiting up for his first preseason game on Tuesday night in Massachusetts.
“Obviously I felt for him,” Embiid said. “Immediately I had to talk to him and try to tell him everything is going to be ok, he has to keep his head up. … It’s all about patience and doing the right thing. You’ve got to do what you’re supposed to do.”
Meanwhile, Jahlil Okafor met with the media as well on Sunday and said that keeping engaged with the team and the game would be key for Simmons in his recovery. The former Duke product benefited from that during his injury stint towards the end of last season.
Dario Saric completed his first NBA training camp after completing two years in Turkey with Turkish Superleague team, Anadolu Efes. His playing time will more than likely increase the most with the Simmons injury, something that will greatly help his transition to playing in the league, but he was shocked to learn about the outcome of Ben's imaging results.
“When I saw the injury, I didn’t believe it would be something like that,” Dario Saric said. “I sent Ben a message, stay positive. I know it’s hard for all of us. He’s one of the leaders of the team.”
With the Sixers taking cautious approaches with both Embiid and Okafor during camp, expect them to do the same as Simmons begins to recover from his injury. The fracture that he suffered does have high risk of re-injury, so he won't be rushed back unless the Sixers believe he's 100 percent ready.
“Nothing has been determined as of yet with regard to surgery or a timeline or anything of the sort,” Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo said following practice Sunday. “I don’t want to get into specific definitions not having the medical expertise,” Colangelo said. “I’ve heard a lot of opinion over the last several days. I’d suffice it to say he broke his fifth metatarsal and how that’s termed or coined I’ll leave for the experts.”
One potential benefit of this injury to Simmons is that the Sixers staff may have the opportunity to work on his shot mechanics as he recovers. If he comes back to start December, he'll miss 19 games. If Simmons returns at the beginning of January, he will miss 33 games. Either way, he's still on track to have a 50-game season to open up his NBA career.
