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Cartwright presents Bronze Star Service Medal to family of WW II veteran

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White House bars major news outlets from press briefing

<p>CAMDEN, N.J. &#8212; Ben Simmons won&#8217;t make his NBA debut this season.</p><p>His surgically repaired right foot hasn&#8217;t healed sufficiently for the No. 1 overall pick to play in the final 26 games, the team said Friday.</p><p>Simmons fractured the fifth metatarsal bone during the final training camp scrimmage in October and hasn&#8217;t played a game. A CT scan Thursday revealed his foot hasn&#8217;t fully healed.</p><p>&#8220;Unfortunately, Ben is going to sit out. That&#8217;s the bad news. The good news is one day he&#8217;ll put on a uniform,&#8221; 76ers President Bryan Colangelo said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not the way you want to start your career, but it happens. We&#8217;re not excited about the news today. Ben is heartbroken.&#8221;</p><p>The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Australian was Philadelphia&#8217;s first No. 1 overall pick since Allen Iverson in 1996. Simmons was going to play point-forward.</p><p>&#8220;Nothing has changed with the plan and the vision,&#8221; Colangelo said. &#8220;The plan is to build and sustain a successful basketball program.&#8221;</p><p>Colangelo also said star center Joel Embiid will miss at least four games because of a bruised left knee that has sidelined him for 11 of the last 12 games.</p><p>&#8220;All signs are he is progressing well,&#8221; Colangelo said.</p><p>Embiid, the No. 3 overall pick in 2014, missed the first two seasons while recovering from foot surgery.</p><p>The team traded big man Nerlens Noel, the sixth overall pick in 2013, to Dallas on Thursday for veteran center Andrew Bogut, young swingman Justin Anderson and a top-18 protected first-round draft pick.</p><p>On Wednesday, the Sixers traded forward Ersan Ilyasova to Atlanta.</p><p>Center Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 pick in 2015, is still around, even though he was mentioned in trade speculation and hasn&#8217;t played much because of Embiid&#8217;s emergence.</p><p>&#8220;The market for (Okafor) was much more broad, but the right deal did not present itself,&#8221; Colangelo said.</p><p>Noel will be a restricted free agent after this season, a major factor in his trade and the reason why the return wasn&#8217;t near his value.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve often said I won&#8217;t make a bad deal,&#8221; Colangelo said. &#8220;Yesterday, I made the best deal I could and it was the right move for this organization.&#8221;</p><p>The rebuilding Sixers have already doubled last year&#8217;s win total. They&#8217;re 21-35 entering Friday night&#8217;s game against Washington.</p><p>&#8220;As we move forward, there&#8217;s a lot of brightness on the horizon,&#8221; Colangelo said. &#8220;We feel like we&#8217;ve taken a massive stride forward.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Philadelphia 76ers&#8217; Ben Simmons </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Simmons2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Philadelphia 76ers&#8217; Ben Simmons </caption0><photoCredit0>AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Injured 76ers rookie Ben Simmons won’t play this season