‘I’m working like heck to get back’: Georges Niang’s Inquirer diary takes readers inside Sixers’ skid and injury recovery

Welcome to the latest edition of Georges Niang’s 2022-23 Sixers diary. Throughout the season, the reserve forward will exclusively share first-person insights about his on-court and off-court life as part of one of the NBA’s more intriguing teams.

In this entry, Niang shares how the Sixers have responded to their 0-3 road trip, what it’s like to reintegrate a star like James Harden, his routine while dealing with foot discomfort, and why he’s looking forward to this seven-game homestand.

Past entries: Oct. 26: Sixers start 1-4 | Nov. 18: Embiid’s historic night

The season is kind of looked at as a life, right? Early on, you go through these growing pains, so you can be at your best toward the end. And I think we’re heading right toward that. You don’t want to have too many losses, like we did on this road trip, but I tend to look at is a positive. Things need to be said about certain people, or things need to be said about the team, or certain things need to be addressed before they get brushed under the rug. A statement that Doc [Rivers] made early on is that winning is like deodorant. It just covers up the stink for a little bit. So when you lose, you have to really sit there and marinate on it. Those things are good for us. We’ll continue to improve at finding ways to be effective and win. Obviously, we need to do that consistently, and this road trip showed that.

The biggest thing is continuing to be brutally honest with everybody about what we expect out of them, and what we need out of them. You’re going to give it to us, or you’re not. At the end of the day, I think every guy has bought into the one common goal that we’ve all had since the beginning and that we’re preparing for, which is a championship. We’re going to need everyone to step up on a consistent basis, and everybody needs to ask themselves, “What are you doing in your time to make those consistent efforts to make it possible for us to win a championship?” Guys continue to understand what we need out of each other — and what they need out of themselves — to make this thing work.

» READ MORE: Sixers star Tyrese Maxey makes practice appearance, still ‘a ways away’ from full return

The times that we had a bunch of injuries, I think we did a really good job of having guys — especially, Shake [Milton], De’Anthony [Melton], Tobias [Harris] — kind of grow into a mold. We were getting the point guard by committee done as best as we could. With James [Harden] being back, I wouldn’t say you have to redefine your roles, but there are some things that you were asked to do that maybe you’re not asked to do anymore. You have to get back to like, “OK, I remember what it’s like to do this,” and that stuff takes time. Then when Tyrese [Maxey] gets back, it will be like, “OK, well, I was used to doing this. But with Tyrese, he does X, Y and Z at an elite level, so I have to be good at this, this and this.” As cliché as it sounds, the time and the repetition of games is important. When you have a full roster, you really know what you have and what you can do. I think the time that we didn’t have our full roster gave the other guys confidence, so when they do fall into that smaller role, they’ll be really effective.

That just goes with the teaching that Doc has. He’s very clear-cut in what he needs from guys on a night-to-night basis, and what he thinks you need to bring to the table to win. Obviously, as a player that is under his tutelage, he can talk to you and teach you about what roles help teams win. During the game, you kind of figure that out, like, “Hey, I’m getting into the lane and creating for other guys” or, “I’m setting a lot of ball screens.” But then Doc also does a good job of putting you in positions to make those plays. You also have to have a humble outlook at it. You know who you are. And sometimes, guys who aren’t self-aware struggle in that. But I think a lot of guys on this team know who they are, know what they bring to the table. It may get challenging when you have to reel the reins back, more than opening up the wide range. It’s more trial and error.

I’ve had some discomfort in my foot. I rolled my ankle in the Memphis game, which made me really more aware of it. I had an MRI down in Houston, and there’s nothing crazy. But these are the things that linger, and you don’t want to have it lingering too long during the season. We felt like that two-day gap before the Rockets game, and then a three-day gap after that, would be a good time to kind of rest that and see where we’re at by Friday. It’s been different, the fact that I can’t do as much as I usually do. I usually like to have a routine of being on the court and moving and kind of replicating what shots I’d get in the game, and then beating myself up to be tired and then get those shots. Not being able to do that is something that’s unique because luckily enough — knock on wood —I’ve been pretty healthy in my NBA career.

Missing games is torture. It’s the worst. I’m not in the business of not playing basketball. I love the game, and to be a part of it as a spectator with vested interest is not how I really want to do that. If someone said the rest of my life was taken care of, I’d play until the wheels came off and until I was 60 years old. It was really tough. I don’t even know how to explain it. It was not fun. I don’t like being out. I’m working like heck to get back.

The biggest thing for me is realistically just trying to reiterate or tell guys what I see out there that maybe could help them. Obviously, when I’m out there on the court, I could do it and/or tell someone, but there’s different ways of going about it. I just want to be someone who can instill confidence in my teammates. I can do that on the court when I’m yelling, screaming, talking smack to the other team. When I’m out, it’s a little harder to do that. I don’t really want to overdo it. Because if I’m playing, I wouldn’t want someone who’s not playing to just wear my ear off.

We have a really good staff that does a really good job of modifying my on-court work and making it so we can say, “All right, these are the limitations that we can stay within and this are what we need to do to be effective” — and actually executing it, which is very rare in the NBA. Most of the time, you kind of have to fend for yourself and get it done on your own. They’ve done a good job of being a support system or a crutch that I can lean on to help me get back to playing.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid is terrific. But there’s still a level he needs to reach for the Sixers to be great.

I hate admitting this, but this homestand means I can actually have time to get my laundry done, rather than having a service come over to do that and clean my house. I think people forget that we’re more than just players. It’s going to be good to sleep in your own bed. To eat dinner at your house. To have family come and visit and not have to worry about you’re leaving and you have to pack. I’m just excited to just be home and play at home. I enjoy my drive to the arena. I enjoy going to shootaround, coming back home and napping in my bed. I enjoy not having to ride on a plane.

I feel a really good wave of games coming. I like how we addressed things Wednesday. I’m feeling good about how we’re going to practice Thursday. Nothing’s better than playing a team like the Lakers on a Friday night at the Wells Fargo. You know everybody’s going to be up for that, and it’s going to be a great atmosphere.

— Georges Niang, as told to Gina Mizell