# 76ers Deep Dive w/ Spike Eskin: LeBron James's fit, how Maxey & Jaylen fit, keep or trade Embiid?

An episode of [Hoops Tonight with Jason Timpf](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1536277916), 31 Jul 2026, 51 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/clrtpod.com/m/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/prfx.byspotify.com/e/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/90447913-4e20-4e90-aa1e-ae510011dd1d/fea43c0c-dc9a-4056-8256-b49601135c24/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=9e36bb2c-2512-48e1-92f8-ae510011dd2b

Jason is joined by Spike Eskin of the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast to do a deep dive on the Philadelphia 76ers, reacting to LeBron James signing with the team after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers, exploring the fit with Joel Embiid and possible trade options, how Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe will play together, how good this team is relative to the rest of the NBA, and more. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet. #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The volume.
[0:15] Speaker 2: All right, welcome to him tonight here at the Volume
[0:17] Speaker 2: Heavy Friday. Everybody. Hope all of you guys had an
[0:19] Speaker 2: incredible week to this point. We have a very special
[0:21] Speaker 2: guest today in lieu of the incredible surprising news that
[0:25] Speaker 2: Lebron James is joining the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, one
[0:29] Speaker 2: of the largest voices in Philly sports, Spike Eskin, the
[0:32] Speaker 2: gentleman I met at Summer League a few years back
[0:34] Speaker 2: who have been wanting to have on the show for
[0:36] Speaker 2: a while, and now I can think of no better
[0:37] Speaker 2: reason than Lebron going to the Sixers than to have
[0:42] Speaker 2: Spike on. I will say, you know, it's been a
[0:44] Speaker 2: lot of optimism over the course of the last week,
[0:47] Speaker 2: since the news are less than a week, and Spike's
[0:49] Speaker 2: a little bit more of a pessimist when it comes
[0:51] Speaker 2: to Lebron, so I'm excited to dig into that a
[0:52] Speaker 2: little bit. But he's also going to give us some
[0:54] Speaker 2: perspective on some of the Sixers that have been more tenured,
[0:58] Speaker 2: that have been there over the years and help our
[1:00] Speaker 2: listeners get ingratiated to this Sixers team. Spike, first of all,
[1:04] Speaker 2: thanks so much for taking the time. What is this
[1:07] Speaker 2: last five days been like for you? Or should I
[1:09] Speaker 2: should clarify? How what has this last month been like
[1:12] Speaker 2: for you since you found out that Lebron was going
[1:15] Speaker 2: to be a free agent.
[1:17] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the five days has been surreal. The
[1:19] Speaker 3: month has been more.
[1:22] Speaker 1: I just never thought it was a realistic possibility that
[1:27] Speaker 1: the Sixers would get him.
[1:30] Speaker 3: To me, and this is.
[1:31] Speaker 1: It from a generally a Lebron's skeptic, not of him
[1:35] Speaker 1: as a player, but like as a tea leaf reader,
[1:37] Speaker 1: just trying to figure out what's going on. I find
[1:39] Speaker 1: that part of all this to be pretty interesting. Why
[1:42] Speaker 1: is this person saying this?
[1:43] Speaker 3: Why is it? They always just felt like leverage To me.
[1:45] Speaker 1: It felt like here is a good team that made
[1:48] Speaker 1: a big move, and all the teams I want to
[1:50] Speaker 1: go to, Hey, look at this good team over here,
[1:53] Speaker 1: and if you don't improve your team, I'm going to
[1:56] Speaker 1: go to that team. And it like it's gone through
[2:00] Speaker 1: am I at some point that maybe it was just
[2:02] Speaker 1: a game of chicken that you know, he was like,
[2:05] Speaker 1: I'm gonna sign there if you don't train for anything
[2:07] Speaker 1: of this, and then he just woke up.
[2:09] Speaker 3: He's like, I guess I gotta do it now.
[2:11] Speaker 1: So I always thought they were their leverage and even
[2:15] Speaker 1: deeper tea leaf reading. It was always interesting to me
[2:17] Speaker 1: that Rich Paul would mention like Cleveland, Miami and the
[2:21] Speaker 1: Sixers and not mentioned Golden State. And to me, again
[2:25] Speaker 1: just trying to read the room, I thought to myself,
[2:28] Speaker 1: is he trying to send a message.
[2:29] Speaker 3: To them and that you are not in this group?
[2:33] Speaker 3: You got to get there.
[2:33] Speaker 1: So even I had some money on both the Sixers
[2:36] Speaker 1: and the Warriors, I dumped the money out of the Sixers,
[2:38] Speaker 1: put it into the Warriors, and just repeatedly telling people,
[2:43] Speaker 1: not only did I completely different issue, not a lebron guy,
[2:46] Speaker 1: so didn't want them to sign him. Though I understand
[2:49] Speaker 1: objectively it is the right thing to do. I just
[2:51] Speaker 1: kept telling people there's no way this is going to happen.
[2:54] Speaker 3: No way.
[2:56] Speaker 1: And fast forward to Friday. I actually had a day
[2:59] Speaker 1: off of work so I host my podcast, but I
[3:01] Speaker 1: also host the afternoon show at WIP in Philly, and
[3:04] Speaker 1: I had a day off of work on Friday and
[3:06] Speaker 1: my phone rings at eleven thirty as my co host
[3:09] Speaker 1: and producer, and I'm thinking to myself, I wonder what
[3:11] Speaker 1: he wants. Probably wants some help with the show and.
[3:14] Speaker 3: I just hearn you got Lebron.
[3:19] Speaker 1: It's like, no, they didn't. I'm looking at my phone
[3:21] Speaker 1: right now and he's just scuming. Look at jumps, look
[3:24] Speaker 1: at chumps, look at jumps.
[3:25] Speaker 3: And then and then uh and then.
[3:28] Speaker 1: The last week has been has been pretty surreal, positive
[3:32] Speaker 1: or negative on it.
[3:32] Speaker 3: It is objectively.
[3:34] Speaker 1: Hilarious to say that Lebron James chose to with the
[3:37] Speaker 1: Sixers for the last year or two of his career.
[3:40] Speaker 3: It's been there's been a lot to try to think through.
[3:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I I think it's actually been really
[3:47] Speaker 2: funny after the signing has been announced, how many reporters
[3:51] Speaker 2: have come back in and been like, well, this is
[3:52] Speaker 2: what happened. And it's like, well, actually, none of you
[3:54] Speaker 2: guys had any idea what was going on. So it's
[3:56] Speaker 2: hard for me to believe that now you suddenly know
[3:58] Speaker 2: what happened because I was, like you, I was high
[4:01] Speaker 2: on the Warriors simply because I had put together this
[4:04] Speaker 2: list of reasons why Lebron would pick his next team,
[4:08] Speaker 2: and it was like, you know, closeness to his family,
[4:11] Speaker 2: what would it be like to be on a bunch
[4:13] Speaker 2: of airplanes and back to backs and the hotel room,
[4:16] Speaker 2: breakfasts and dinners, and you know, like what the personalities
[4:19] Speaker 2: of the guys would be like on court, fit you know,
[4:22] Speaker 2: chances to win a championship a combination of all these factors.
[4:25] Speaker 2: And it turns out there's really only one factor that mattered,
[4:29] Speaker 2: and it was talent. And you know, I think, honestly,
[4:33] Speaker 2: as we kind of zoom out, I think we all
[4:35] Speaker 2: kind of overcomplicated this process from the beginning. Even when
[4:37] Speaker 2: we think about the trades that he was allegedly pushing
[4:40] Speaker 2: for behind the scenes, they were all about the accumulation
[4:43] Speaker 2: of talent. And what you know, what Mike Yanzy and
[4:47] Speaker 2: Bob Myers had done is they had put together a
[4:50] Speaker 2: situation where they had an enormous amount of talent with
[4:54] Speaker 2: a gaping hole at a specific position where Lebron could
[4:57] Speaker 2: slot right in. And I think it was pretty straightforward
[4:59] Speaker 2: for him at that point. I think we can dig
[5:01] Speaker 2: into all these different particulars. Did he want to be
[5:03] Speaker 2: attached to Steph's legacy, did he want to you know,
[5:06] Speaker 2: retread old ground in Cleveland or Miami? But I really
[5:09] Speaker 2: think it was as simple as the talent play. Now,
[5:12] Speaker 2: before we start digging into the team, I got to
[5:14] Speaker 2: put you on the spot, so we were I was
[5:18] Speaker 2: on my I went to my brother's wedding in Houston
[5:20] Speaker 2: this weekend. Of course, Lebron had to wait until literally
[5:23] Speaker 2: last Friday, so I had to pack my recording equipment.
[5:26] Speaker 2: I'm at an aquarium with my brother and my and
[5:29] Speaker 2: my niece and nephew, and we're just having a moment
[5:32] Speaker 2: looking at fish. They had a tiger there for some reason,
[5:34] Speaker 2: no idea why there was a tiger at the aquarium,
[5:37] Speaker 2: And next thing you next thing you know, the signing
[5:39] Speaker 2: comes down and I'm in an uber and I'm rushing
[5:41] Speaker 2: back to the hotel. But on my flight home from
[5:45] Speaker 2: from Houston, I listened to the Rights of Rice to
[5:48] Speaker 2: Ricky Sanchez podcast, which, by the way, you guys absolutely
[5:50] Speaker 2: should check out, especially if you're looking for in depth
[5:53] Speaker 2: coverage of the Sixers. I just want to make sure
[5:56] Speaker 2: we get that shout out in there. But you you
[5:59] Speaker 2: you would expect rus. You're you know, it's no secret
[6:01] Speaker 2: that you're not a big fan of Lebron James, and
[6:02] Speaker 2: I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that. I've
[6:05] Speaker 2: one of my thinks I'm a big Lebron James fan.
[6:08] Speaker 2: Who is willing to admit an acknowledge that he is
[6:12] Speaker 2: a person who behaves in a way that is unlikable
[6:16] Speaker 2: to many. And I think that, and I want to
[6:18] Speaker 2: dig into some of those specifics because I think some
[6:20] Speaker 2: of them are irrelevant here and some of them are
[6:23] Speaker 2: not when we get to that point. But for the
[6:26] Speaker 2: most part, even when I talk to my Warriors fans buddies,
[6:29] Speaker 2: they were like, yeah, I don't like the guy, but
[6:31] Speaker 2: let's do this. And one of the things you said
[6:34] Speaker 2: in your potet, I want to give you a chance
[6:35] Speaker 2: to defend yourself here. Sure you said I would rather
[6:39] Speaker 2: lose without him than win with him. So can you
[6:42] Speaker 2: kind of explain where you're, where you're coming from, and
[6:45] Speaker 2: how you ended up in that frame of mind?
[6:47] Speaker 3: Yeah?
[6:48] Speaker 1: So, no, nowhere is putting me on the spot. That
[6:51] Speaker 1: has been pretty much my life since last Friday.
[6:55] Speaker 3: Well, when you.
[6:56] Speaker 1: Spend three weeks saying you don't want the guy, it's
[6:59] Speaker 1: been interesting reaction. This isn't answering your question, but it's
[7:03] Speaker 1: just as I'm thinking about, it's been an interesting reaction
[7:06] Speaker 1: to my reaction in that anyone who listens to podcast
[7:09] Speaker 1: knows I haven't been a lebrona I didn't want them
[7:11] Speaker 1: him in twenty eighteen, like I had the same view,
[7:15] Speaker 1: same view, so the three weeks leading up to it,
[7:17] Speaker 1: and even on the radio station. I've only been in
[7:19] Speaker 1: the air there a couple of years, but everybody knows
[7:21] Speaker 1: how I feel, saying for.
[7:22] Speaker 3: Weeks I do not want them, I do not want them,
[7:24] Speaker 3: I do not want them.
[7:25] Speaker 1: And then they sign them, and I'm like, I hate this,
[7:28] Speaker 1: and everyone's mad at me for saying. Yeah. I mean
[7:34] Speaker 1: I've been accused of You're just saying that to get
[7:36] Speaker 1: people mad. I'm like, I'm the only honest person here.
[7:39] Speaker 1: I am literally the only person said to my detriment
[7:44] Speaker 1: in some ways saying how I feel. So I used
[7:46] Speaker 1: to be a Lebron guy, I would say through Miami,
[7:49] Speaker 1: I was a Lebron guy and a big defender.
[7:52] Speaker 3: And my co host I Greece. We've known each other
[7:55] Speaker 3: a long time.
[7:56] Speaker 1: One of our long standing arguments pre me switching was
[8:00] Speaker 1: me being a pro Lebron guy and him being an
[8:02] Speaker 1: anti Lebron guy. It switched when I felt like he
[8:08] Speaker 1: changed and I found his presence to be.
[8:14] Speaker 3: Irritating.
[8:14] Speaker 1: I think is underselling it is like suffocating there's just
[8:19] Speaker 1: so much, and so much of it feels dishonest and
[8:23] Speaker 1: distasteful to me and self centered in a way that
[8:28] Speaker 1: I guess that he has earned the guy. I can't
[8:31] Speaker 1: deny that. I'm not denying he's obviously a great basketball player,
[8:34] Speaker 1: one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
[8:36] Speaker 3: But I find that other part of it to be
[8:40] Speaker 3: too much for me.
[8:42] Speaker 1: And when he's not on the Sixers, it's very easy
[8:45] Speaker 1: for me to mock him and say this is stupid,
[8:48] Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. When he is on
[8:51] Speaker 1: the Sixers, people have asked me, well, isn't the point
[8:54] Speaker 1: to win?
[8:55] Speaker 3: He isn't.
[8:56] Speaker 1: Isn't that the entire goal? And it's a different coversation
[9:00] Speaker 1: how close they are to winning. But I don't necessarily
[9:04] Speaker 1: believe it is just about winning for me, And I'm
[9:08] Speaker 1: never trying to convince anybody to not like this move,
[9:11] Speaker 1: But for me, I think the logical extreme of this
[9:14] Speaker 1: would be, Okay, let's say Lebron gets here, they trade
[9:18] Speaker 1: Embiid for ad Let's say they trade Edgecombe for some guy, right,
[9:24] Speaker 1: and then and let's say they win a title?
[9:28] Speaker 3: Well, what am I even cheering for at that point?
[9:31] Speaker 1: Right? Like MAXI is still there. Okay, I like Tyrese Maxie,
[9:35] Speaker 1: but I've never liked Lebron James. I've never had an
[9:37] Speaker 1: opinion on Anthony Davis, like emotionally one way or the other.
[9:41] Speaker 1: I guess he would be on the Sixers whoever they
[9:43] Speaker 1: trade Edgecomb for, unless it happens to be one of
[9:45] Speaker 1: my favorite players.
[9:46] Speaker 3: So in that case, I guess it would be nice
[9:49] Speaker 3: if the Sixers won a championship.
[9:50] Speaker 1: But the way that I've experienced this team over the
[9:53] Speaker 1: last fourteen years, as we've done the podcast is I
[9:57] Speaker 1: think just a little more a new one than whether
[10:02] Speaker 1: it is objectively it gets them closer to winning a championship,
[10:07] Speaker 1: I think because and this is just the last part
[10:09] Speaker 1: of it, and this, if I'm the Sixers, I probably take.
[10:13] Speaker 3: An opportunity to move Jo and beat if I can.
[10:15] Speaker 1: Probably, but me as a fan, if they win this
[10:19] Speaker 1: title without him, I just don't know what that will.
[10:25] Speaker 3: Mean for me. I'll be happy to see everybody else.
[10:28] Speaker 1: Happy, but I guess it just would have felt like
[10:31] Speaker 1: something entirely different than I've experienced over the last thirteen
[10:34] Speaker 1: or fourteen years. And everything that Lebron touches becomes centered
[10:39] Speaker 1: around Lebron and I just I've thought even if Joel's
[10:43] Speaker 1: on the team, and I would feel very good for
[10:44] Speaker 1: him if they want it just the the like, you know,
[10:49] Speaker 1: look at what Lebron bar brought us and like the
[10:53] Speaker 1: like the myth making of Lebron and the it's just
[10:57] Speaker 1: too much for me. So I think I would enjoy
[11:00] Speaker 1: the team more, not having a conflict about cheering for
[11:04] Speaker 1: somebody who I just actively find annoying, which was something
[11:08] Speaker 1: I had to do with Simmons after a couple of years.
[11:11] Speaker 1: I don't like this guy, but at least he was ours,
[11:14] Speaker 1: at least somebody we drafted him. He was our problem.
[11:17] Speaker 1: Lebron just seems like somebody else's problem problem, for lack
[11:20] Speaker 1: of a better word, that is on the Sixers now.
[11:22] Speaker 1: So it's a long way to get to how I feel,
[11:24] Speaker 1: but there's a lot to it, I think.
[11:27] Speaker 2: So essentially, if the Sixers were to win for you,
[11:29] Speaker 2: it would feel like a group of mercenaries wearing Sixers
[11:32] Speaker 2: jerseys rather than a group of guys that you have
[11:36] Speaker 2: grown to love over years of rooting for them.
[11:38] Speaker 1: Yes, and I guess I felt the same way when
[11:42] Speaker 1: they traded for Jimmy Butler, Now, I did not like
[11:45] Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, but I really did like Robert Covington and
[11:48] Speaker 1: Dario Sarich. So you know, I got through it, and
[11:52] Speaker 1: I can't predict how I'm going to feel in six months.
[11:55] Speaker 3: I have no idea.
[11:56] Speaker 1: Maybe watching them all play together will be so much fun,
[12:00] Speaker 1: and Lebron's like Lebron will take it down a notch.
[12:03] Speaker 3: Unlikely, but let's say he does, and and and you
[12:07] Speaker 3: know and the other.
[12:08] Speaker 1: The only extra clutch guy we have is KCP. We
[12:11] Speaker 1: haven't done anything and they're playing great, and it's just
[12:14] Speaker 1: it's undeniable to me. I'm more than willing, like I
[12:17] Speaker 1: change my mind all the time.
[12:18] Speaker 3: I think.
[12:19] Speaker 1: I think there's a difference between being stubborn and knowing
[12:25] Speaker 1: what you think because you've thought it through. I think
[12:28] Speaker 1: I know what I think and I know how I feel.
[12:30] Speaker 1: But I don't think I'm stubborn in that if I
[12:31] Speaker 1: start to enjoy it, I'm not going to say I
[12:33] Speaker 1: don't enjoy it, just to stick to whatever guns I
[12:36] Speaker 1: feel like. So I suppose it could change, But right now, yes,
[12:39] Speaker 1: if if all the players were swapped out and the
[12:42] Speaker 1: Sixers happened to win a title, I don't.
[12:45] Speaker 3: I don't think it would be.
[12:46] Speaker 1: It wouldn't irritate me or anything, but I don't know
[12:48] Speaker 1: if it would feel as complete as it would if
[12:52] Speaker 1: it were players that I had grown to really.
[12:54] Speaker 2: Like, especially since it's almost a certainty that there will
[12:59] Speaker 2: be substantial turnover after this, like CACP won't be on
[13:02] Speaker 2: the team, Lebron James won't be on the team, Joel
[13:04] Speaker 2: Embiid will eventually reach a point where he can't play anymore.
[13:06] Speaker 2: Like it will be a different team after. It'll feel
[13:08] Speaker 2: like such a brief, small window. I think the stuff
[13:10] Speaker 2: you're hitting on is like very valid. I mean, I
[13:13] Speaker 2: think this is one of the overarching kind of problems
[13:15] Speaker 2: with the NBA. You juice up player movement. It makes
[13:19] Speaker 2: for exciting off seasons. We just had an amazing offseason.
[13:21] Speaker 2: It's fun for content creators, but it lacks that like
[13:25] Speaker 2: that slow burn and build that you get from like Baseball,
[13:28] Speaker 2: where fans are like so intimately and like like kind
[13:33] Speaker 2: of ingratiated with the roster over time. I think, I mean,
[13:36] Speaker 2: you'll see this, Like I talked to Laker fans who
[13:39] Speaker 2: still are like, man, I wish we wouldn't have traded
[13:41] Speaker 2: Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart for Anthony Davis. So it's
[13:45] Speaker 2: like at a certain point, it's kind of just a
[13:48] Speaker 2: like you. There's a certain type of fan that definitely
[13:52] Speaker 2: is is likes the idea of a real homegrown roster,
[13:55] Speaker 2: which I respect. The two things that I would say
[13:58] Speaker 2: about the Lebron thing that make that I would just
[14:01] Speaker 2: pitch to Philly fans that have some concern one his
[14:07] Speaker 2: off court behavior. What you defined is like kind of
[14:10] Speaker 2: taking all the air out of the room, which I
[14:12] Speaker 2: think is a fair characterization, like the stuff with Rich
[14:14] Speaker 2: Paul and Austin Reeves and the passive aggressiveness and even
[14:18] Speaker 2: just little comments like him saying on his podcast like oh,
[14:20] Speaker 2: I'll do this role for now. It's like, what are
[14:23] Speaker 2: you accomplishing by saying stuff like that, You're you're you're
[14:26] Speaker 2: taking you You're making a locker room deal with passive
[14:31] Speaker 2: aggressive behavior, that's all fair. Lebron in general has acted
[14:36] Speaker 2: out more in that way when he doesn't think his
[14:41] Speaker 2: team can win. When he has really believed in his
[14:46] Speaker 2: team's ability to compete for a championship, he's been on
[14:50] Speaker 2: his best behavior. The way I've described it is like
[14:52] Speaker 2: Steph Curry is the best leader in the league in
[14:55] Speaker 2: my opinion, because Rain or Shine's the same dude. Lebron
[14:58] Speaker 2: is a fair weather leader. When he has a group
[15:02] Speaker 2: that he really believes in, he's actually the best dude
[15:05] Speaker 2: in the lead to have, the best dude in the
[15:07] Speaker 2: league to have leading the team. It's when things aren't
[15:10] Speaker 2: going good that he can start to get passive aggressive.
[15:13] Speaker 2: And that's something to keep in mind. If things don't
[15:15] Speaker 2: go well this year, if Joel Embi gets hurt, if
[15:17] Speaker 2: there's weird chemistry issues. But there's so much talent on
[15:20] Speaker 2: this team that I think Lebron truly perceives a legitimate
[15:25] Speaker 2: shot for him to win his fifth that I actually
[15:27] Speaker 2: expect him to more or less be on his best behavior. Now,
[15:29] Speaker 2: the trade stuff, let's set that aside, because I'm not
[15:32] Speaker 2: even sure I would trade him beat for ad and
[15:34] Speaker 2: I want to dig into that concept here in a
[15:36] Speaker 2: few minutes. But the second piece of it is where
[15:41] Speaker 2: I cannot defend Lebron's off court behavior all the time.
[15:45] Speaker 2: There is a We've all seen the pictures of him
[15:47] Speaker 2: reading the first page of every single book, and the
[15:50] Speaker 2: tweets and the weird press conference moments and the behavior
[15:54] Speaker 2: of his agent. That stuff, to me is kind of indefensible,
[15:57] Speaker 2: and the people that don't like him for that, I'm
[15:59] Speaker 2: not going to argue it. Where I will defend Lebron
[16:02] Speaker 2: to the bitter end is as a basketball player. He
[16:07] Speaker 2: is so damn good at basketball, even at his old
[16:10] Speaker 2: age that, like with all of the stuff that comes
[16:14] Speaker 2: with it, the reason why the Sixers had to do
[16:17] Speaker 2: this and the reason why it's worth it is because
[16:19] Speaker 2: he's just so damn good. And I really do think
[16:23] Speaker 2: he's going to come in and help this team in
[16:24] Speaker 2: so many different ways, and I think they're going to
[16:26] Speaker 2: be a much better basketball team for it. And that's
[16:28] Speaker 2: the one thing where when some of the Lebron detractors
[16:31] Speaker 2: come out of the woodwork, I will fight to the
[16:34] Speaker 2: dirty end to defend him is say what you want
[16:36] Speaker 2: about the guy, but he can hoop. He can really hoop,
[16:39] Speaker 2: and I do think that he's going to take this
[16:41] Speaker 2: team to the next level. So on that note, is
[16:44] Speaker 2: there any part of you, even as a person who
[16:47] Speaker 2: doesn't like Lebron, who has allowed yourself over the last
[16:50] Speaker 2: five days to feel some optimism that this could be fun.
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[18:46] Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I mean I'm I'm not a nangry person
[18:51] Speaker 1: like that. I don't maybe I probably I'm forty nine.
[18:55] Speaker 1: I probably would have characterized myself different in thirty two
[18:59] Speaker 1: that I would hate watched every Sixers game because I
[19:02] Speaker 1: can't stand looking at this guy that that isn't.
[19:05] Speaker 3: How I am.
[19:05] Speaker 1: So, you know the idea of all of these guys
[19:10] Speaker 1: on one team, however much they play together, which is
[19:13] Speaker 1: a different conversation or part of the conversation, but not
[19:16] Speaker 1: this part.
[19:17] Speaker 3: Uh yeah, it could be fun to watch.
[19:19] Speaker 1: And I said it before, and I'm actually not minimizing
[19:22] Speaker 1: this part that I don't think the the objective, like
[19:28] Speaker 1: the absurdity of him on the Sixers will ever be
[19:30] Speaker 1: lost on me. This is absurd, not not in a
[19:34] Speaker 1: bad way, but in a what is he doing on
[19:37] Speaker 1: the Sixers? And I think I will have plenty of
[19:39] Speaker 1: moments where they just announced that Lebron's checking in to
[19:43] Speaker 1: the Sixers?
[19:44] Speaker 3: How did this happen?
[19:46] Speaker 1: So so I think I think, yeah, I don't have
[19:49] Speaker 1: very much optimism for them to win a title. I
[19:54] Speaker 1: think I'm lower than most probably definitely lower than all
[19:57] Speaker 1: of Philadelphia. I found that out on the show show
[20:00] Speaker 1: the other day. Slightly lower than the books. I think
[20:03] Speaker 1: there are some hurdles that I don't think that people
[20:06] Speaker 1: have addressed, some really obvious hurdles. But I don't deny
[20:10] Speaker 1: that he won't make them better. I do not deny
[20:13] Speaker 1: that it was the right thing for a Ganzy and
[20:16] Speaker 1: Bob Myers to do. So I'm not there. I'm not
[20:19] Speaker 1: the sort of Lebron hater unless I'm trying to tweak
[20:22] Speaker 1: Lebron fans that dismisses how good he is. Like, my
[20:26] Speaker 1: tweak is he's definitely top ten. I like saying that
[20:29] Speaker 1: to drive people crazy, but I don't like I know
[20:34] Speaker 1: how good he is, even at this age.
[20:36] Speaker 3: I understand how good he is.
[20:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the simplest way I would describe it
[20:40] Speaker 2: as someone who's rooted for him obviously and watched him
[20:43] Speaker 2: and covered him very close over the last ten years,
[20:45] Speaker 2: is there will be times in the regular season where
[20:48] Speaker 2: he looks old, and it can come there can be
[20:50] Speaker 2: a combination of like nights where his body doesn't really
[20:53] Speaker 2: feel good and where his mind isn't really in it.
[20:56] Speaker 2: That's the real thing that shows up over the last
[20:58] Speaker 2: five years is he'll have knights where he's just focused
[21:01] Speaker 2: and he'll just be sloppy, and that will happen a
[21:03] Speaker 2: dozen or so times in the regular season where it's
[21:05] Speaker 2: infuriating to watch. But any big important game, the dude
[21:10] Speaker 2: is just always locked in and he always does his job,
[21:13] Speaker 2: and he's just super reliable in that sense. And so
[21:15] Speaker 2: it's kind of like the trade off. But let's use
[21:17] Speaker 2: your let's use your stance here as a framework to
[21:21] Speaker 2: kind of talk about the team for a second. Sure,
[21:24] Speaker 2: what can you give us the elevator pitch of why
[21:28] Speaker 2: you don't think this is a championship team. So just
[21:30] Speaker 2: kind of a quick breakdown of like what your concerns are,
[21:33] Speaker 2: and then we'll kind of branch out from there to
[21:34] Speaker 2: talk about the team.
[21:35] Speaker 1: Sure, I think they're even they're even more general than
[21:40] Speaker 1: a defense and rebounding and those sorts of basketball things.
[21:43] Speaker 1: If we say that Joel Embiid plays forty games, Lebron
[21:49] Speaker 1: plays fifty games, and Jalen Brown plays sixty three games,
[21:55] Speaker 1: my guess would be that the key figures on this
[21:58] Speaker 1: basketball team are probably going to.
[22:00] Speaker 3: Play twenty or twenty five games. Together during the regular season.
[22:03] Speaker 1: To me, that that is already that already takes their
[22:08] Speaker 1: title chances down to a fraction.
[22:12] Speaker 3: Be reps.
[22:13] Speaker 1: You need reps, and all the teams that you're going against,
[22:16] Speaker 1: these are not. The irony of this team observe jumping
[22:20] Speaker 1: around a lot is that this is kind of like
[22:25] Speaker 1: something that Daryl Morey would do and everybody would go
[22:28] Speaker 1: old injured.
[22:30] Speaker 3: No way it's gonna work.
[22:31] Speaker 1: And so anyway, so let's say they play twenty or
[22:35] Speaker 1: twenty five games together, you're going against teams that are
[22:39] Speaker 1: that have been together longer and are also kind of machines.
[22:43] Speaker 1: At this point, Boston, at least during the regular season
[22:47] Speaker 1: will be a machine, probably right, the Knicks, probably Cleveland
[22:50] Speaker 1: knows what they do. Indiana, most of those guys are
[22:54] Speaker 1: the same guys from before Halliburton got hurt. Atlanta played
[22:58] Speaker 1: all of last year together. Now they do have some changes,
[23:00] Speaker 1: but I think the fact that so many of the
[23:03] Speaker 1: players are new, so many of the high usage players
[23:05] Speaker 1: are new. Brown is new high usage, Lebron is new
[23:08] Speaker 1: high usage, and they're not going to play together very much.
[23:12] Speaker 1: First is that that's the first strike. The second strike
[23:15] Speaker 1: is Joel Embiid playing every other night in the playoffs
[23:19] Speaker 1: is just not a reality to me unless it can happen,
[23:23] Speaker 1: and it is the couch to do that or the
[23:27] Speaker 1: op the you know. The the other side of that
[23:30] Speaker 1: is people will go, well, they don't need as much
[23:32] Speaker 1: from him, and so, but his value is scoring points,
[23:37] Speaker 1: like his value is when he's on the court.
[23:40] Speaker 3: He is an offensive player. That's what he's good at.
[23:43] Speaker 1: So lowering his usage just makes him less valuable because
[23:46] Speaker 1: he's not really that good a defender anymore, so, I guess,
[23:50] Speaker 1: and we've seen him going in and out and being
[23:54] Speaker 1: like the center of everything and then nothing is tough
[23:58] Speaker 1: for the team to deal with. So we're depending on
[24:00] Speaker 1: him getting through the playoffs, which he's never done. And
[24:02] Speaker 1: then we're also depending on Lebron, who is still very
[24:05] Speaker 1: good obviously, but is older than he was last year
[24:08] Speaker 1: and will continue to get older than he was the
[24:10] Speaker 1: year before. And the last time that he lasted four
[24:13] Speaker 1: playoff rounds was twenty twenty, right, so, which is a
[24:16] Speaker 1: long time ago. And he had three months off before
[24:19] Speaker 1: that playoff that playoff run as well, because that was
[24:23] Speaker 1: in the bubble. So those are just the big picture.
[24:28] Speaker 1: If you just add those through two things together. What
[24:30] Speaker 1: are the odds that Joel Embiid gets it through a
[24:32] Speaker 1: playoffs healthy? I don't know, fifteen percent? And then what
[24:35] Speaker 1: are the odds that they're able to maximize the talent
[24:38] Speaker 1: they have even if that happens. Is a third of
[24:41] Speaker 1: that So that's how I end up on I don't know.
[24:44] Speaker 1: Maybe they have a five percent chance of winning everything,
[24:46] Speaker 1: but seems like everything's going to have to go right.
[24:49] Speaker 2: So what you broke it down with the Machines, I
[24:51] Speaker 2: totally agree? Like to me, okay, seeing San Antonio are
[24:53] Speaker 2: still in a tier by themselves, I think you have
[24:56] Speaker 2: to at the very minimum p with the Knicks above
[24:58] Speaker 2: the Sixers because their floor is just so, so so
[25:00] Speaker 2: much higher. I think they have the highest floor in
[25:02] Speaker 2: the league. Like they just got to be there and
[25:04] Speaker 2: they got a great chance to win because they've just
[25:06] Speaker 2: been playing together for so long. I think from that
[25:09] Speaker 2: point down the list, I have a hard time arguing
[25:11] Speaker 2: other teams over Philly just because of the sheer amount
[25:13] Speaker 2: of talent they have. I think the Embiid injury concerns
[25:16] Speaker 2: are legitimate. Lebron weirdly has been one of the most
[25:19] Speaker 2: reliable players in the league, over the last few years,
[25:21] Speaker 2: Like that Sciatica thing that caused him to miss the
[25:23] Speaker 2: start of last season really is the only injury he's
[25:26] Speaker 2: had in the last three years. He played seventy games
[25:29] Speaker 2: each of the previous two and then when he came
[25:31] Speaker 2: back from Sciatica this year, he played basically every game
[25:34] Speaker 2: the rest of the way, finished around sixty and looked
[25:37] Speaker 2: fantastic in the postseason, like looked athletic, looked, Spry looked great.
[25:41] Speaker 2: So like, that's not to say that there's not injury
[25:43] Speaker 2: risk there. There's always injury risk, but I do feel
[25:45] Speaker 2: a little bit better about him. The Embiid piece is
[25:47] Speaker 2: completely valid, and it's probably the best case for trading
[25:52] Speaker 2: him because when I talk about like an Embiid Anthony
[25:56] Speaker 2: Davis swap, I think about the sixerses and how Brunson
[26:02] Speaker 2: just annihilated Embiad in pick and roll and in a
[26:05] Speaker 2: way that was like impossible for them to cover four,
[26:08] Speaker 2: And I think, well, Anthony Davis is just a much
[26:10] Speaker 2: better pick and roll defender. But what I keep coming
[26:13] Speaker 2: back to is Embiid when he's at his best, is
[26:17] Speaker 2: just quite simply one of the top three or four
[26:20] Speaker 2: offensive players in the league. And he unlocks so much
[26:23] Speaker 2: for them in terms of five out spacing, like I
[26:25] Speaker 2: envision everyone thinks, oh, the twenty twenty four Celtics they
[26:29] Speaker 2: had five shooters. It's like, well, Jaylen Brown was a
[26:31] Speaker 2: sketchy shooter, Jewe Holliday was a sketchy shooter. Like what
[26:34] Speaker 2: it was was five guys who could play on the
[26:37] Speaker 2: perimeter just all together, and that is something this group
[26:41] Speaker 2: could unlock a look with Lebron and Jaylen Brown and
[26:43] Speaker 2: VJ Edgecom and Tyres Max and Joel Embiid. Not to
[26:46] Speaker 2: mention you have a bad matchup on him. He can
[26:49] Speaker 2: win a series like he did against the Celtics. You
[26:50] Speaker 2: don't have a guy who can guard him. He could
[26:52] Speaker 2: just literally single handedly win a series. I think you
[26:54] Speaker 2: could try to be a better drop team in terms
[26:57] Speaker 2: of keeping him be close to the rim on defense
[27:00] Speaker 2: virtue of having as much athleticism as this team has
[27:02] Speaker 2: on the perimeter. Not to mention, Lebron is actually a
[27:05] Speaker 2: very good back line defender, a guy who can cover
[27:07] Speaker 2: for Embiid when he has to go out to the perimeter.
[27:09] Speaker 2: So there's a lot that I think works when Embid
[27:13] Speaker 2: is healthy. But your point about whether or not like, again,
[27:17] Speaker 2: he has that great first round series and then immediately
[27:19] Speaker 2: misses a game and is dealing with the hip issue
[27:21] Speaker 2: and is dealing with the foot issue, and it's like
[27:23] Speaker 2: if he can't survive. That's just the answer to your
[27:26] Speaker 2: question as to whether or not you move on from Embiid.
[27:29] Speaker 2: It just it simply dramatically increases your championship chances, just
[27:33] Speaker 2: simply because that player can be available and on the court.
[27:36] Speaker 2: I do think it's worth mentioning that Anthony Davis has
[27:38] Speaker 2: had similar problems though, Yes, and that's why I have
[27:41] Speaker 2: a hard time there. So what's your take on the
[27:43] Speaker 2: flipping Embiid for a d think, Well, I ad.
[27:46] Speaker 1: Wouldn't be what I would do, right, Like, I don't
[27:49] Speaker 1: really care that this there is sort of like diminishing returns,
[27:53] Speaker 1: where your whole starting lineup what their best thing is
[27:57] Speaker 1: is getting you a bucket. I mean that's four out
[28:01] Speaker 1: of the five guys in the starting lineup. I'm not
[28:03] Speaker 1: saying that that is the ultimate skill of but that's
[28:06] Speaker 1: how they think of it. Oh, if you if this
[28:07] Speaker 1: guy can't score, then this guy's going to score whatever.
[28:10] Speaker 1: I from a center standpoint, I would just want a
[28:15] Speaker 1: guy who is a great defensive center who plays every game.
[28:20] Speaker 1: That's it and maybe can rim run, you know, like
[28:23] Speaker 1: the the Tyson Chandler, Clint Capella, whatever sort of thing.
[28:28] Speaker 1: You know, we had talked about Mitchell Robinson. Now he's
[28:31] Speaker 1: got the same injury issues. You know, in the offseason
[28:34] Speaker 1: when we were talking about a backup center, we had
[28:36] Speaker 1: talked about that. You know, ironically it didn't work. But
[28:41] Speaker 1: the Horford, you know, was when they signed Horford, I
[28:45] Speaker 1: understood why they did it. It didn't work, and he
[28:47] Speaker 1: got mad because they signed Horford. But like, you know,
[28:51] Speaker 1: somebody who can play defense and play every game I
[28:55] Speaker 1: think would be what they want.
[28:56] Speaker 3: And I just like AD. I think em beads better
[29:01] Speaker 3: than AD.
[29:02] Speaker 1: Now, I think if I had a bet, who has
[29:04] Speaker 1: a better chance of holding up through the playoffs, even
[29:07] Speaker 1: though he said injury issues, I would still probably bet
[29:09] Speaker 1: on a D at this point. But but I don't
[29:12] Speaker 1: want to trade for a D and give him some
[29:13] Speaker 1: giant contract extension either, given his health. And it also
[29:18] Speaker 1: seemed like offensively that the Bubble year, the Bubble playoffs
[29:22] Speaker 1: out liary. You know, It's just he's a good offensive player,
[29:25] Speaker 1: but he's not can't shoot really and can't a range.
[29:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, it's it's very That's kind of my
[29:33] Speaker 2: whole The whole thing is, like, I think it'd be
[29:35] Speaker 2: easier to mimic some of what Ad does defensively by
[29:39] Speaker 2: committee by bringing in other players. Then it would be
[29:43] Speaker 2: to in any way, shape or form, bring what Joel
[29:46] Speaker 2: and Breed brings. Joel Embiid brings offensively to your point
[29:49] Speaker 2: about the diminishing returns, and I think this is really
[29:51] Speaker 2: going to be the story of the season because if
[29:54] Speaker 2: they play your turn, my turn, spread pick and roll,
[29:57] Speaker 2: whoever doesn't have the ball is standing around on the
[29:59] Speaker 2: perimeter spotting up that I think will lead to the
[30:02] Speaker 2: diminishing returns. That's why I actually think the twenty twenty
[30:05] Speaker 2: four Celtics are an interesting kind of comp for this team. Obviously,
[30:08] Speaker 2: Joel Embiid is not the driving kick player that Al
[30:10] Speaker 2: Horford was, but he's capable of some of that. We
[30:13] Speaker 2: saw some of that with Team USA, even particularly I
[30:16] Speaker 2: think about the Serbia game on the right wing when
[30:18] Speaker 2: he pump fakes and gets Yokich off his feet and
[30:21] Speaker 2: drive baseline and dunks on the baseline, I'm like, oh, like,
[30:23] Speaker 2: that's him playing driving kickball. I envision this team as
[30:26] Speaker 2: a driving kick team because they have so much slashing talent,
[30:30] Speaker 2: like Lebron can really slash, VJ can slash, Tyreese can slash,
[30:34] Speaker 2: Jalen Brown can slash. I envisioned them as a team
[30:36] Speaker 2: that can stack drives, like multiple attacks on the same possession,
[30:41] Speaker 2: getting the ball at the floor quickly, making sure that
[30:43] Speaker 2: everyone is involved by virtue of not getting into late
[30:47] Speaker 2: clock situations where you're running io and pick and roll,
[30:50] Speaker 2: and so I think that really is going to be
[30:52] Speaker 2: the job that Nick Nurse has with this group. For
[30:56] Speaker 2: our listeners, Can you guys give it? Can you give
[30:58] Speaker 2: us a rundown of just what having Nick Nurses your
[31:00] Speaker 2: coach has been like.
[31:02] Speaker 1: It's underwhelming. I guess the thing that he hasn't been
[31:08] Speaker 1: dealt a great hand. To be clear, I also don't
[31:11] Speaker 1: think he's dealt with it well. My perception is that
[31:15] Speaker 1: he gets gets knocked off track by being irritated about
[31:21] Speaker 1: the situation. You know, I think the embied thing has
[31:23] Speaker 1: been irritating for him. That's just my reading the room.
[31:27] Speaker 1: We did expect this whole you know, he has the
[31:30] Speaker 1: reputation of you know, mad scientist. We're going to see
[31:33] Speaker 1: all this weird stuff. We haven't seen very much weird
[31:35] Speaker 1: of any weird anything. To be honest with you, I
[31:38] Speaker 1: thought he did his best job his first season with
[31:41] Speaker 1: the Sixers, and that was when they had to end
[31:45] Speaker 1: up trading Harden. You know, it was the hard and
[31:48] Speaker 1: holdout year, and it was a weird year. You know,
[31:50] Speaker 1: they ended up losing in the first round to the Knicks.
[31:53] Speaker 1: But I thought that team was way better than I
[31:56] Speaker 1: thought it was going to be. I thought he was
[31:57] Speaker 1: a net negative two seasons ago when they ended up
[32:02] Speaker 1: tanking because Embiid wasn't around. He did not handle that
[32:06] Speaker 1: well and he certainly didn't bring out the best out
[32:10] Speaker 1: of anyone. I'm not blaming him for the season, but
[32:13] Speaker 1: he certainly didn't add very much to it. And I
[32:16] Speaker 1: thought last year I was frustrated. I was frustrated with
[32:21] Speaker 1: the Jared McCain thing. I think one thing that became
[32:25] Speaker 1: a national talking point that wasn't right was that they
[32:27] Speaker 1: didn't play Jared McCain. They played Jared McCain quite a bit.
[32:31] Speaker 1: He never seemed to have any purpose out there. He
[32:35] Speaker 1: was either you know, not trying to not trying to
[32:40] Speaker 1: not disrupt anything, and then he would just be out
[32:42] Speaker 1: there for six minutes, or he would realize he's only
[32:45] Speaker 1: there for six minutes, and he would jack up as
[32:47] Speaker 1: many shots as possible, and literally, you know, some of
[32:50] Speaker 1: that was coming back from injury. I certainly can see that.
[32:53] Speaker 1: But then he goes to Oklahoma City and they're like, oh,
[32:56] Speaker 1: here's what you do with Jared McCain, And I was
[32:58] Speaker 1: frustrated with him on that. So it seems like offensively,
[33:01] Speaker 1: there's not a lot of creativity there. It is give
[33:04] Speaker 1: it to your best players and let them play. And
[33:08] Speaker 1: defensively there's a lot of you know, scrambling trying to
[33:12] Speaker 1: create turnovers. But they've never really had a roster that
[33:16] Speaker 1: I fit that, you know totally.
[33:18] Speaker 3: So I don't know.
[33:19] Speaker 1: He's a clutch client, so I imagine he will get
[33:21] Speaker 1: the full year to figure it out. But I think
[33:24] Speaker 1: he's been underwhelming. I would say, yeah.
[33:32] Speaker 2: The offense stuff, I think is completely fair because the
[33:34] Speaker 2: Jared McCain piece, he gets into OKC and then immediately
[33:39] Speaker 2: he's just coming off of a million dribble handoffs with
[33:42] Speaker 2: Isaiah Hartenstein and he's running around like crazy and the
[33:44] Speaker 2: offense is kind of built around him as a chaos agent,
[33:47] Speaker 2: and the only time he's ever really standing is in
[33:50] Speaker 2: the units with Shae, and he's always on the opposite
[33:52] Speaker 2: wing because Shay draws so much nail help and he
[33:54] Speaker 2: gets all these wide open catch and shoot threes off
[33:56] Speaker 2: of the left wing. They just used him in a
[33:58] Speaker 2: really smart way, and I think that I I think
[34:01] Speaker 2: that is an area where I think Lebron can really
[34:04] Speaker 2: help this team. Frankly, I I believe that more often
[34:09] Speaker 2: than not, we focus on the coach for offense, which
[34:15] Speaker 2: I think is fair in a lot of cases, But ultimately,
[34:19] Speaker 2: the basketball players themselves are the ones that generate the
[34:23] Speaker 2: flow on the court. Because while there are sets that
[34:26] Speaker 2: are run, and while there are you know, obviously you know,
[34:29] Speaker 2: baseline out of bounds or sideline out of bounds opportunities
[34:32] Speaker 2: for a coach to really get into his bag, so
[34:34] Speaker 2: to speak, I don't care if you're running horn sets
[34:36] Speaker 2: or if you're just playing free flow, five out basketball.
[34:40] Speaker 2: The players on the court being smart and knowing when
[34:43] Speaker 2: to cut, when to to uh to kick versus you know,
[34:47] Speaker 2: jack a shot up the shoot pass decision making that
[34:50] Speaker 2: that kind of read and react basketball is very much
[34:52] Speaker 2: a product of in my opinion of the cumulative basketball
[34:56] Speaker 2: skill that's on the floor, and so I think honestly,
[34:58] Speaker 2: having another guy like Lebron on the floor that can
[35:01] Speaker 2: kind of be a coach on the floor will go
[35:03] Speaker 2: a long way towards helping this group. Now, the piece
[35:05] Speaker 2: that you mentioned that I think is really important is
[35:09] Speaker 2: Nick Nurse is famous, dating back to the Toronto days
[35:13] Speaker 2: for being big on defense to transition, big on trying
[35:17] Speaker 2: to force turnovers. Now, I know Jaylen Brown doesn't have
[35:20] Speaker 2: a reputation for forcing a ton of turnovers, but I
[35:22] Speaker 2: do think that's something he's very capable of. And Lebron
[35:26] Speaker 2: is excellent as a back line turnover forcer. He's great
[35:29] Speaker 2: at like playing center field when teams are in scramble mode.
[35:33] Speaker 2: So I actually think this roster has the potential to
[35:36] Speaker 2: fit Nick Nurse's defensive identity really well in terms of
[35:40] Speaker 2: Ford aggression. Let's try to force these teams to win
[35:44] Speaker 2: in four on threes With Lebron playing center field, We're
[35:46] Speaker 2: going to force a bunch of turnovers and we're going
[35:49] Speaker 2: to get out and transition off of that where this
[35:51] Speaker 2: team is gonna be awesome, like's they're gonna be fit
[35:54] Speaker 2: issues in the half court as they try to figure
[35:56] Speaker 2: things out. But when this team is in the open floor,
[35:58] Speaker 2: they're just gonna be huge pain the ass to guard.
[36:00] Speaker 2: And so I think the defensive what I kind of
[36:02] Speaker 2: envision is Nick Nurse and his defensive ideologies fitting really
[36:07] Speaker 2: well with this group. And then you then you count
[36:11] Speaker 2: on Lebron and just the cumulative talent to kind of
[36:14] Speaker 2: figure things out on offense, because again, like Nick Nurse
[36:17] Speaker 2: can put him in position you know, oh, we're gonna
[36:20] Speaker 2: run horn sets with embiid Jaylen Brown and tyras Maaxy
[36:24] Speaker 2: or embiid Lebron James and Tyrae s Maxey. But ultimately
[36:28] Speaker 2: it's on the players on the floor to kind of
[36:29] Speaker 2: figure out the flow from there. I understand there's this
[36:34] Speaker 2: idea that a coach can just come in and and
[36:37] Speaker 2: just draw up a bunch of sets and all of
[36:39] Speaker 2: a sudden, everyone's just gonna have a lot easier time
[36:42] Speaker 2: on offense. And there's certainly a part of that, but
[36:45] Speaker 2: I think the players ultimately carry the majority of that burden,
[36:48] Speaker 2: and that's where I think Lebron's gonna be the biggest help.
[36:50] Speaker 2: Lebron is just a he greases the wheels of offense
[36:54] Speaker 2: with everything that he does as a connective passer. I
[36:56] Speaker 2: heard you guys talking about this in the podcast. Like
[36:59] Speaker 2: you you have lamented that this team doesn't have a
[37:01] Speaker 2: lot of passing talent. I think that Lebron comes in
[37:05] Speaker 2: and immediately brings a great deal of additional passing talent
[37:08] Speaker 2: to just kind of help make things a lot easier.
[37:10] Speaker 2: What's your kind of overall impression of what this team's
[37:14] Speaker 2: going to look like in the half court offensively? Do
[37:16] Speaker 2: you have any concerns? Let me actually put it to
[37:17] Speaker 2: you this way. I think Tyrese Maxi might be the
[37:20] Speaker 2: best offensive player on this team, and I'm, at least
[37:25] Speaker 2: in the conversation, I'm worried that he is the guy
[37:30] Speaker 2: that is going to suffer from the amount of air
[37:33] Speaker 2: in the room that Lebron and Jalen Brown take up.
[37:36] Speaker 2: Do you have any concern that ty Resee will kind
[37:38] Speaker 2: of take a back seat to these guys.
[37:40] Speaker 1: So I think when he's playing and beat is still
[37:44] Speaker 1: the best offensive player on the team. Okay, but I
[37:47] Speaker 1: think there's absolutely a fair argument for Maxi. I think
[37:53] Speaker 1: in the short term we will likely see what you
[37:57] Speaker 1: have suggested as he I think it might just be
[38:01] Speaker 1: his personality, though he is getting older and becoming a
[38:04] Speaker 1: little more you know, forward in what he wants and
[38:08] Speaker 1: those sorts of things. But like, he is probably the
[38:11] Speaker 1: one who is most likely to concede to these guys
[38:15] Speaker 1: to give them the room to figure it out, rather
[38:18] Speaker 1: than complaining or.
[38:20] Speaker 3: Going off script or any of those things.
[38:23] Speaker 1: But I also think he is, of any of those players,
[38:26] Speaker 1: the most equipped to be a great offensive player with
[38:30] Speaker 1: ball dominant players on the team.
[38:32] Speaker 3: His you know, he had a very high usage.
[38:35] Speaker 1: Rate last year and he was playing point guard. He
[38:38] Speaker 1: is not a point guard, and he is not like
[38:41] Speaker 1: he is fine off the dribble, but he's really got
[38:43] Speaker 1: two moves. He's got a step back and he's got
[38:45] Speaker 1: to try to blow by you. His handle, it's not
[38:48] Speaker 1: a loose handle, but he doesn't like he doesn't handle
[38:52] Speaker 1: the ball like Tim Hardaway or Steph Curry. It's not
[38:55] Speaker 1: like some creator or even Filon. We're watching LeBaron Filon
[38:59] Speaker 1: like dribble pass people or even Hardened can dribble pass.
[39:01] Speaker 3: It's not really what Max he is.
[39:04] Speaker 1: And he is way better off the ball and him
[39:07] Speaker 1: sort of flying around and you know, defenders trying to
[39:12] Speaker 1: chase him around and him coming off of screens. He's
[39:15] Speaker 1: way better off the catch than he is off the dribble.
[39:18] Speaker 1: So I think long term, you know, I don't know
[39:22] Speaker 1: how effective Jalen Brown is going to be off ball.
[39:25] Speaker 1: I don't know how effective that Lebron's going to be
[39:28] Speaker 1: off ball. I don't know how effective Joel Embiid can
[39:31] Speaker 1: be off ball. But I'm pretty confident that Tyrese Maxey
[39:34] Speaker 1: can can do it and do it to a high level.
[39:36] Speaker 1: So I think short term we will probably see why
[39:39] Speaker 1: isn't Tyras Maxey scoring? Why isn't he being more aggressive?
[39:42] Speaker 1: Long term, if it works, I think he will be
[39:45] Speaker 1: elevated by this entire thing.
[39:48] Speaker 2: Did you have any red flags or sirens go off
[39:51] Speaker 2: in your head when you heard that the plan is
[39:54] Speaker 2: to use Lebron James as a point guard?
[39:56] Speaker 3: Well, so.
[40:00] Speaker 1: I thought it was notable, only because you know, I
[40:05] Speaker 1: heard Seam say, well, this is the first time since
[40:07] Speaker 1: twenty twenty that he's been the point guard, and I
[40:09] Speaker 1: just think to myself, well, I'm still a position guy.
[40:13] Speaker 1: I'm still a point guard shooting guard. But I thought
[40:16] Speaker 1: to myself, well, okay, I haven't watched every one of
[40:19] Speaker 1: Lebron's games but he has the ball most of the time.
[40:23] Speaker 1: At least until Luca got there, he was a de
[40:26] Speaker 1: facto point guard, even if he was listed in the
[40:29] Speaker 1: lineup as a power forward.
[40:31] Speaker 3: So here's what I think, and maybe this is because
[40:34] Speaker 3: of a hater and la la la la.
[40:35] Speaker 1: The first thing I think is it's important that he
[40:38] Speaker 1: is saying that along with the I think Sham's also
[40:42] Speaker 1: said the.
[40:44] Speaker 3: Buzzword is compromise. Is this is his fake compromise.
[40:49] Speaker 1: This is his Hey, guys, I'm just going to get
[40:52] Speaker 1: you buckets and I'm going to be the point guard.
[40:54] Speaker 1: But please understand that the ball is going through me
[40:57] Speaker 1: every time, every time we come up to the court.
[40:59] Speaker 1: The other thing that I think is notable is calling
[41:02] Speaker 1: him a point guard and a point forward. I know,
[41:04] Speaker 1: in real life shouldn't mean anything, but I start thinking
[41:07] Speaker 1: about the starting lineup and where they are deficient, and boy,
[41:11] Speaker 1: if VJ. Edgecomb didn't exist, Dean Wade would be a
[41:15] Speaker 1: nice player to have on that team. He defends multiple positions,
[41:19] Speaker 1: he doesn't need the ball, he will shoot when he's open,
[41:22] Speaker 1: those sorts of things, and I just wonder. I don't
[41:24] Speaker 1: think it'll start this way, but I wonder if they
[41:28] Speaker 1: don't come out of a gate super strong. If whether
[41:30] Speaker 1: there's a conversation about putting Dean Wade in the starting
[41:33] Speaker 1: lineup and having edgecumb.
[41:34] Speaker 3: Come off the bench.
[41:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I'm curious about that too, because I
[41:39] Speaker 2: think VJ, you know, you would pitch the idea of,
[41:42] Speaker 2: like you know, Clutch maybe trying to pressure a trade there.
[41:44] Speaker 2: I think VJ is going to be one of the
[41:46] Speaker 2: key players on this team in so many different ways
[41:49] Speaker 2: because for starters, if Embiid's going to be able to
[41:52] Speaker 2: stay close to the rim, you need to have someone
[41:54] Speaker 2: that can get over the top of screens. And I
[41:56] Speaker 2: actually think in the starting lineup he's their best shot
[41:58] Speaker 2: there in terms of like a small kind of like
[42:01] Speaker 2: low center of gravity, get over the top of screens.
[42:03] Speaker 3: Guy.
[42:03] Speaker 2: They're gonna need him to guard the other team's best
[42:06] Speaker 2: guard every single night, and to do that job well
[42:09] Speaker 2: while also having the offensive responsibility of being a cog
[42:12] Speaker 2: in that system. I think there's actually a like when
[42:15] Speaker 2: I actually look at like potential trade options there at
[42:19] Speaker 2: his salary slot, it's just gonna be hard to find
[42:21] Speaker 2: a player that brings the combination of athleticism both as
[42:26] Speaker 2: a perimeter defender, but also as a transition athlete and
[42:28] Speaker 2: as a slasher in that system. But that also brings
[42:30] Speaker 2: like he can, Like I thought he showed some you
[42:32] Speaker 2: guys talked about in the podcast, he was very streaky.
[42:34] Speaker 2: He definitely had It was like he'd have games where
[42:36] Speaker 2: he'd hit a bunch of shots, and he'd have games
[42:37] Speaker 2: where he'd go oh for four to over five. So
[42:39] Speaker 2: he's definitely streaky. That's a thing he's gonna have to
[42:41] Speaker 2: fix this year. But in terms of a combination of
[42:44] Speaker 2: dribbleshoot pass talent plus like defensive versatility at his position,
[42:48] Speaker 2: I think he's just really important. And I think if
[42:51] Speaker 2: you go to a Dean Wade, there could be a
[42:54] Speaker 2: like a foot speed trade off where if you have
[42:57] Speaker 2: a Dean Wade and a Lebron and an embiid on
[42:59] Speaker 2: the floor, all of a sudden, it goes from what
[43:01] Speaker 2: feels like a very fast team to a very slow team.
[43:04] Speaker 2: That said, I think each of these guys actually is
[43:06] Speaker 2: going to be very important, and that's what that's actually
[43:08] Speaker 2: what I want to do right now. We'll do a
[43:10] Speaker 2: little rapid fire segment and then we'll get you out
[43:12] Speaker 2: of here for the day. Okay, So I'm going to
[43:15] Speaker 2: go over a couple of specific Sixers role players and
[43:18] Speaker 2: I just want you to give your take on what
[43:20] Speaker 2: you've thought of them in their time on the team.
[43:24] Speaker 2: So let's start with VJ. What has been your first
[43:26] Speaker 2: impression of VJ? And how do you think he fits
[43:28] Speaker 2: in this team?
[43:29] Speaker 1: Just way better in the first year than I thought
[43:31] Speaker 1: he was going to be. You know, he was a
[43:33] Speaker 1: way better offensive player. The shooting, it takes him a
[43:37] Speaker 1: minute to get the shot up. You know, I don't
[43:40] Speaker 1: know if that's a playoffs three point shot yet or
[43:43] Speaker 1: a three point shot that's going to scare anyone. But
[43:46] Speaker 1: love the physical profile, love the guts he showed, Loved
[43:51] Speaker 1: his attitude and willing to work. And I do think
[43:56] Speaker 1: in the best case scenario, you know, you're going to
[43:59] Speaker 1: need somebody in a dirty work person in the starting lineup.
[44:02] Speaker 3: You know, every team has one of those people.
[44:04] Speaker 1: And it might not it might not be what we
[44:07] Speaker 1: projected for him in year two to be, you know,
[44:09] Speaker 1: the dirty work guy.
[44:10] Speaker 3: But but I think he could be that.
[44:14] Speaker 1: And who knows what sort of leap I've been taught
[44:16] Speaker 1: a lot of the lessons about the leaps that MAXI
[44:18] Speaker 1: has taken offensively. Not that I'm going to expect that
[44:21] Speaker 1: out of VJ, but who knows how much better he
[44:23] Speaker 1: could be in year two than your one.
[44:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think the potential with him is
[44:28] Speaker 2: off the charts. It's just so hard to tell this
[44:30] Speaker 2: early in his career. But I mean, the dirty work.
[44:32] Speaker 2: He literally has to be the dirty work guy. Like
[44:35] Speaker 2: It's just it's that simple. They need him and Jalen
[44:38] Speaker 2: Brown in particular to be like perimeter workhorses defensively so
[44:42] Speaker 2: that you can take advantage of and beat size at
[44:45] Speaker 2: the rim. And lebron as like a back line defender.
[44:47] Speaker 2: But that doesn't work if you're not getting over the
[44:49] Speaker 2: top of screens. If you're not getting over the top
[44:51] Speaker 2: of screens, they're dead on arrival. I actually like Tyrese too,
[44:54] Speaker 2: is like a hedge and recover guy. I think he
[44:55] Speaker 2: gives a real effort. I think he gives real effort there.
[44:58] Speaker 2: So let's get into some of the bench guys. Dominic
[45:01] Speaker 2: Barlow was kind of featured pretty substantially last year, is
[45:04] Speaker 2: like a small ball five. I think that he's actually
[45:07] Speaker 2: a little bit more skilled with the ball than he
[45:09] Speaker 2: gets credit for. Is sometimes he gets lumped in with
[45:11] Speaker 2: all the other big, skill less forwards, like the Jared
[45:13] Speaker 2: Vanderbilt types. But I don't see him as that. I
[45:15] Speaker 2: think he's got a few a little bit more in
[45:16] Speaker 2: terms of ball skills. But I think we're going to
[45:18] Speaker 2: see a lot of him this year as like the
[45:21] Speaker 2: fifth guy alongside the other four perimeter guys in a
[45:24] Speaker 2: switching Look, what has it been like rooting for Dominic
[45:28] Speaker 2: Barlow over the last couple years?
[45:29] Speaker 3: So I like him.
[45:30] Speaker 1: He was a revelation in the beginning of this season.
[45:32] Speaker 1: You could tell Nurse really really liked him. He and
[45:37] Speaker 1: I agree with you about his ball skills. Every once
[45:39] Speaker 1: in a while, I'll put the ball on the floor,
[45:41] Speaker 1: dribble to the rim, and oh he can he can
[45:45] Speaker 1: do this, and I'll throw a nifty little pass or
[45:47] Speaker 1: something like that.
[45:48] Speaker 3: He is way more skilled that way. The shot is atrocious.
[45:52] Speaker 1: Now. He blamed He blamed an elbow injury that he
[45:56] Speaker 1: had early on in the year. I was told that
[45:59] Speaker 1: he he worked a lot in his form in the offseason,
[46:02] Speaker 1: and then when it came when he struggled a little
[46:06] Speaker 1: bit during the regular season, he went back, I mean
[46:08] Speaker 1: it looks ugly, it doesn't go in it takes a
[46:10] Speaker 1: long time to get up. And also the thing that
[46:13] Speaker 1: you don't really feel when you're watching him, but then
[46:15] Speaker 1: you look at the box square every time. He's just
[46:18] Speaker 1: not He was not a good defensive rebounder, defensive rebound
[46:22] Speaker 1: rate like ten eleven something like that, and when Embiid
[46:27] Speaker 1: is there, not really.
[46:28] Speaker 3: A rebounder anymore.
[46:30] Speaker 1: I guess Barlow just felt like a regular season player
[46:33] Speaker 1: until he can learn, until he can shoot. If he
[46:36] Speaker 1: can shoot then and the small ball five, he's just
[46:39] Speaker 1: like he's pretty, He's like, he's not tall. I mean,
[46:44] Speaker 1: he's not big. He's not six ten, six eleven, seven feet.
[46:48] Speaker 1: He is not physically imposing, and I don't know, I
[46:54] Speaker 1: didn't like, I didn't love the lineups with him as
[46:56] Speaker 1: a small ball five. So if he can shoot, I
[46:58] Speaker 1: think he ends up being real important player for them.
[47:01] Speaker 1: If he can't, he just feels like a regular season
[47:04] Speaker 1: minutes filler.
[47:06] Speaker 2: I agree with you in terms of like key core
[47:09] Speaker 2: lineups and the game stuff. I do think having the
[47:12] Speaker 2: size profile of Jalen and Lebron makes it a little
[47:15] Speaker 2: more tenable because then you'd effectively be looking at Lebron
[47:18] Speaker 2: as the small ball five. Alongside him as the four,
[47:20] Speaker 2: if you want to to view it that way. But
[47:22] Speaker 2: I always say that to say, like I think it's
[47:24] Speaker 2: a look we're going to see a lot this year.
[47:26] Speaker 2: Like it just simply is Justin Edwards. I actually really
[47:31] Speaker 2: like Justin so I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
[47:32] Speaker 3: I like him a lot too.
[47:33] Speaker 1: He's this rare player that is somehow better in NBA
[47:38] Speaker 1: games than he is in Summer league games. You see
[47:41] Speaker 1: summer league games and you're expecting him to go out
[47:43] Speaker 1: and cook.
[47:44] Speaker 3: And it's just not really who he is.
[47:46] Speaker 1: He almost immediately just right place, right time, pretty decent defender,
[47:53] Speaker 1: moves his feet well, not great. If you squint a
[47:57] Speaker 1: little bit, you do see Covington, like you could see
[47:59] Speaker 1: that few for him. He's I think his best he's
[48:03] Speaker 1: and he's also a willing shooter. He's not a great shooter,
[48:05] Speaker 1: but he's a good enough shooter. And he's really like
[48:09] Speaker 1: him on the wing like that that three point shot
[48:12] Speaker 1: on the wing was was pretty was pretty money. Toward
[48:15] Speaker 1: the end of that season. It Nurse always says nice
[48:18] Speaker 1: things about him. He was in and out of the
[48:20] Speaker 1: rotation all year. Uh, He'll have a game where you
[48:23] Speaker 1: wonder why he's why he doesn't play twenty minutes a game,
[48:27] Speaker 1: and then he'll have a game where you wonder how
[48:29] Speaker 1: he's even in the NBA. Occasionally, I like him a
[48:32] Speaker 1: lot and I'm I'm glad he's and they're going to
[48:35] Speaker 1: need him because they're not they don't have a lot
[48:37] Speaker 1: of like he's their first wing off the bench. It's
[48:40] Speaker 1: him and KCP, I guess are the if you consider
[48:43] Speaker 1: them both wings, sou so them getting something out of
[48:46] Speaker 1: him would be good.
[48:47] Speaker 3: This year, Yeah, he was.
[48:49] Speaker 2: Relatively streaky, but like he was one of those guys
[48:51] Speaker 2: when I was watching six Ers games last year where
[48:52] Speaker 2: I'm like, holy shit, he said three threes in the
[48:54] Speaker 2: last minute and a half, like he would he would
[48:56] Speaker 2: get he would get hot, all right, last one and
[48:57] Speaker 2: then we'll get you out of here at den Bona.
[48:59] Speaker 2: Do you think you if you him as a reliable
[49:01] Speaker 2: guy who can play some minutes at the center. It
[49:02] Speaker 2: blocks a lot of shots, athletic kind of helter skelter,
[49:05] Speaker 2: kind of out of control. What's your take?
[49:07] Speaker 3: Too small and fouls too much? Love him?
[49:08] Speaker 1: Great guy, works real hard, probably at his best. If
[49:12] Speaker 1: he's a forward playing with a center, you know, I
[49:15] Speaker 1: saw an Instagram video the Love offseason Instagram videos of
[49:18] Speaker 1: him shooting corner three.
[49:20] Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't look terrible. And he's a hard worker.
[49:23] Speaker 1: He is a good athlete. He does block shots, but
[49:25] Speaker 1: he is a classic backup center that he comes in
[49:28] Speaker 1: the game and you're like, how does he have three fouls?
[49:31] Speaker 1: He's only been on the floor for ninety seconds. And
[49:33] Speaker 1: I think part of it is he he hasn't figured
[49:36] Speaker 1: out when to try to block a shot and when not.
[49:38] Speaker 1: But also that issue is he's not He's not that big, right,
[49:42] Speaker 1: so he's not really center sized. He's like a six' eight,
[49:45] Speaker 1: guy so like, him but he's he's run into. That
[49:50] Speaker 1: he's had that same issue since since they drafted.
[49:53] Speaker 2: Him, yeah and that's WHY i think the center position
[49:56] Speaker 2: is really the key if they're looking for another. Upgrade
[49:58] Speaker 2: I've i've talked about how on my, Show, LIKE i
[50:00] Speaker 2: think they should be Calling charlotte and being, like, hey
[50:02] Speaker 2: are you sure you want to give a bunch of
[50:03] Speaker 2: money To Mussa diabat because we'll give you a minimum
[50:06] Speaker 2: contract and some draft. COMPENSATION i think he'd be the
[50:08] Speaker 2: perfect guy as like a switchy five to your point from,
[50:11] Speaker 2: earlier in the show that can play big minutes in that.
[50:14] Speaker 2: Universe but we got to get you out of, Here So,
[50:16] Speaker 2: spike can you just really quickly before we head out
[50:19] Speaker 2: for a, day can you just tell everybody where they
[50:20] Speaker 2: can find your.
[50:21] Speaker 1: Work Write Strinkie sanchez podcast and THE Wip Afternoon show with,
[50:26] Speaker 1: Myself Ike grease And Jack fritz every.
[50:28] Speaker 2: Day you can both both wherever you get your. Podcasts Thanks,
[50:32] Speaker 2: mike this was a lot of, fun. MAN i sincerely
[50:34] Speaker 2: appreciate you for joining us and giving us your time.
[50:36] Speaker 2: Today that's all we have for today is Always we
[50:38] Speaker 2: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the.
[50:41] Speaker 2: Show we hope you all have a wonderful weekend and
[50:42] Speaker 2: we will see you On monday for our summer player.
[50:45] Speaker 2: Rankings

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