Coach Brett Brown at least had some positive news about two of his young stars as the Philadelphia 76ers slumped to another pre-season loss.
Already without their 2016 No.1 draft pick, Australian Ben Simmons (foot fracture), for about three months, the 76ers fell to 1-5 in the pre-season as they were thumped 97-76 by the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
Andre Drummond had 10 points and 13 rebounds while teammate Tobias Harris scored a game-high 18 points for the Pistons who improved to 2-2.
However, there were more good signs for the 76ers from 2014 No.3 draft pick Joel Embiid.
Having missed the last two seasons because of a broken right foot, the 22-year-old Cameroonian centre has played in all of the pre-season matches and he scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed five rebounds on Saturday.
Brown said Embiid could play both games of back-to-backs once the 76ers' season proper begins on October 26 against Oklahoma.
The coach said the club's other young big man, Jahlil Okafor, the 2015 No.3 draft pick, should also be ready for the season opener despite having not played since undergoing surgery for a meniscus tear in March.
Elsewhere, Australia's Matthew Dellavedova scored nine points and had eight assists in Milwaukee's 107-86 to the Chicago Bulls.
All-Star centre DeMarcus Cousins scored 22 points and had five rebounds and six assists as the Sacramento Kings (3-2) beat the Washington Wizards 124-119.
Kings point guard Darren Collison finished with 22 points on 7 for 11 shooting and added eight assists.
Andrew Wiggins scored 23 points on 9 for 16 shooting as the Minnesota Timberwolves (3-1) continued their strong preseason with a 101-96 win over the Miami Heat.
Reigning rookie of the year Karl-Anthony Towns posted 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves while Keith Benson led Miami (3-2) with 14 points, but the Heat (3-2) were outrebounded by 15.
In New York, R.J Hunter scored 17 points in 15 minutes off the bench as the Boston Celtics (4-1) dispatched the New York Knicks119-107.
Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored a team-high 18 for the Knicks while Carmelo Anthony added 15. New York (2-2) outrebounded Boston 47-29.
