Sixers Roundtable at the All-Star Break -- 2/16/24

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The Gambler, Philly's home for allthings sports gambling. What he said,

(00:29):
we bring it on in for aspecial Philadelphia seventy six ers round table on
a Friday nights. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. We can't thank
you enough for sitting down with us, As the graphic says, pull up
a chair and let's talk some sixershoops. We got a special guest with
us tonight. Excited to get thisgentleman involved with us on the Gambler as

(00:52):
our guy, Shaan Bnard has beenpreaching his name from the beginning, but
first and foremost, I am SeanBrace Daily take up Monday through Friday,
three to six pm. Over toour right, immediate right, whatever you're
looking on the screen, spilled uphe seventy six ers insider for us here
on the Gambler and all things NBAinsider, the great Shamanar shaman Ar.

(01:14):
Good evening, sir, Yeah,good evening. Getting a little break from
the NBA slate that we're not havingthis massive nightly card to break down,
so good to take a little pausebutton talk about the sixeres as a whole
zoom out and take a look atwhat this team's really brought us so far.
That's what I'm talking about, allright. And then we got some
people on the camera duty. Okay, that's all right, We're gonna make
that work. That's pretty cool whatwe got going on right now. We

(01:34):
got the airly of you. Everybody'sgot their own cameras, all right.
And as I said, this gentlemanhas been on the timeline all season long,
podcasts and sitting down with Paul Reidall think seventy six ers all season
on our timelines. The one andonly mister RB RB in the house.
What's happening, RB? What isgood man? Welcome in, Happy to

(01:56):
be here with the double showing combination, chopping it up man everything sixers,
you know how we do it.And really appreciate you guys having me on
man. That's what I'm talking aboutnow. RB. We greatly appreciates you.
Number one. We are streaming onyour YouTube channel as well as The
Gambler, so that's number one.I can't thank you enough for that.
But as I said, no,BS, Sean has been talking about you

(02:19):
from the beginning and been trying tofind that way that we can get,
you know, rolling together, andI figured you know what this would be
the best spot for all of uswith the pause and while what a wild
ride it's been, right, let'sstart there. One word to define the
first half of the season. Asthe Sixers are thirty two and twenty two

(02:40):
fifty four games into this first half, what's the word? I'll go roller
coaster has my word here? Thatthere have been some highs of the high
this year. We've seen the dueland BT seventy point game. We've seen
you, all of me take thisnext lead. We've seen the growth of
tyrese Maxy, the effect that NickNurts can have on this team. But
the lows have sure been there too. That there's been some moments where this
team has felt pretty lifeless. We'veseen guys get overplayed. The Joel and

(03:01):
Beat injury obviously front and center forthe future of the Sixers team. So
for me, I lock in.Roller coaster is my word far one word
man, Well, Sean stole mywords, So I'm going with Sixers.
Nice word, sis. This iswhat they do many this is what they
do. They pull us in,they say, yoh, this is a
different year, and this team looksgood. They can battle against anybody and

(03:23):
here we are halfway through All Starbreak, wondering is Joelle coming back?
It's this team gonna survive, man, just give us some hope for once,
for once. Man, I'm somewhatsimilar. I would say mental,
that's my word. Mental. Yeah, it's the same old song and dance
with us. Because as we weregetting warmed up for this show and we
got ninety solid minutes coming your way, we got a couple interviews. Hopefully

(03:44):
we'll get some people involved from thestream. We got some great sounds.
Of course, we're gonna hit onthe All Star Game. Terry smacks.
He deserves all the love in theworld. But as we were getting ready,
we of course went right to thejewel and beat seventy point performance and
it was the great. That wasthe great of the season, right,
And then all of a sudden thebasketball guys were like, yeah, we
gave you a little bit too much. Let's keep you in check as far

(04:06):
as the seventy six er concerned.All right, love to get the people
involved once again. This is RB'schannel, so you guys know how it
works from RB. But over hereon the Gambler, we're wide open and
we will try to get any toevery comment possible, Sean Benard. If
the people can join us via stream, we'd like to have that as well,
right, if we could pop themup and they want to. They

(04:26):
got a camera and a microphone,it's all we care about. And a
take. A camera, a microphoneand a take the only three requirements.
All right, we're gonna have tobe a seventy six Ers fan. But
please let's keep it to the Sixersconversation here, RB, I want to
start with you on this one.As I said, six Ers thirty two
and twenty two currently holding the fiveseed in the East DraftKings right now,
Sixers on the minus seven fifty tomake the playoffs plus five point fifty on

(04:50):
the no. For the people thathave no idea what that means. Essentially,
the odds makers are saying that theseventy six ers will one hundred percent
be in the playoffs. Five percentI'll say, uh, a little bit
more than a thousand would probably bein the one mark, but I'll go
with ninety five percent here. Ifthe seventy six ers were not to make

(05:11):
the playoffs, r be, howshocked would you be? And we're talking
about into the playing right, I'mtalking playing, I'm talking playing postseason play.
Yeah, depending on the status ofJoel Embiid, I honestly would not
be that surprised. Man, Wow, based on the way that they have
played as of late. I knowthey've had a couple you know, performances
that stick out and a couple newguys, you know, rejuvenating some life

(05:32):
into this team. But you lookinto the long term. They had a
couple needs going into the deadline,and I feel that they did not address
all of them. They addressed someof them. They got players that can
help this team, but you lookinto the long term and without your superstar,
without your anchor, it's just goingto be tough. Yeah, I
think there'll be a playing or youknow, maybe a five or six seed.

(05:53):
But they're they're battling right now tostay afloat. Man. They're trying
to tread water, and you havea tough schedule coming up, especially right
out of the gate. Ye,you know, leading after the All Star
break, it's gonna get tough,man, And it's really going to be
a testament to who these guys are. The Tyrese Maxi's, the Tobias Harris
is, and really Nick Nurse canhe keep this team together, man?
Can he glue them and you know, keep them on the right track.

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So I would not be that surprisedif they fell into the seventh seed.
I want to follow up with youwhat did they miss at the trade dead
lining? On top of that,now knowing what we know, two parts,
what did they miss in your mind? What would you prefer them to
attack? And then the second thingis with the totality of it now knowing
Kyle Lowry is here of course,Buddy healed, and all the other pieces

(06:36):
that were added in what's your gradefor Darryl Mory? I think my grade
is somewhere in the middle, maybea C. You know, they acquire
Buddy Hield, who's been spectacular,averaging twenty plus per game in his first
four games. They go and addressthe backup point position. They knew all
along they were getting Kyle Lowry,but the couple needs that they had that
obviously were not addressed. You needa big man, and you know,

(06:58):
shout out to my guy Paul andshout out the mow. But this team
is going to need bodies. Theyneed big bodies, guys who can rebound.
Even with joellenbeat on the floor,Yeah, we know that rebounding has
been an issue for this team.They didn't address that. I thought they
needed to add some kind of defensiveupgrade. Who knows where d Anthony Melton
is? Is he alive? Ishe alive? I mean he played one
game, the next game he's whereis he? He's missed the past seventeen

(07:21):
games. Seventeen And then that isconcerning with Mountain specifically, is at the
start of the injury, the Sixerssaid publicly that if he needed to play,
this is an injury that he couldplay through. We want to shut
him down and take care of it. Well, seventeen games and a month
and a half later, and wehave not seen this guy on the floor,
which is concerning to me. No, you're right about that. Yeah.
And in addition to that, Iremember a quote from last week they

(07:43):
asked Nick Nurse about Robert Covington.He said, there's no light at the
end of the tunnel with that,I mean, what does that mean?
This team needs some defensive playmakers.They need guys that can go out one
on one point of attack and shutsomebody down. Are you confident with anybody
right now on this Sixers team?In a playoff series stick and Jason Tatum
and crunched on how many over theyears nobody could stick them no matter what.

(08:05):
So what's the difference this year?To his point? And Sean,
I'll t you up, but KyleLowry's going to change that somewhat, right,
Like, I'm realistic my expectation.But the one thing I do know
about him, he's a bulldog.He's a guy. Like I asked Sean
this the other day, RB,I'll ask you real quick that Miami game.
Do they win that game if Loweryplays? Yeah? Absolutely, I

(08:26):
think so too, right, Andeven if a guy like Patrick Beverley was
still in this team, I feltlike they needed someone to come in and
deliver the punch. And not thatI'm you know, oh so worried about
Patrick Beverley. A lot of peoplegot hung up on that. It was
more so just like you need guyslike that in the locker room that can
just come in and make a stopor just get everybody fired up. So
I feel like that's one of thereasons people were frustrated with that move.

(08:50):
Sean, your thoughts on Maury tradedeadline? Where are you at as far
as the greatest concern. Yeah,I'm higher than RB on it that I'll
go B plus for it that atthe end of the day, the Sixers
did walk away with the best playersthat was traded the trade deadline, that
being Buddy Healed, and Buddy Heieldhas exceeded expectations in a major way so
far. What has jumped out tome the most is his ability as a
playmaker the ten assists, having morethan six assists in every game he's played

(09:11):
so far. I get it's onlyfour games that he will come down to
earth a little. He's not gonnashoot forty five percent from three for an
entire season, but I'm really optimisticabout what he brings his team and how
he changes this offense. Allowing TyreseMaxy to play off ball, just having
a floor spacer that strikes fear intoopponents. That changes the entire look of
this offense. And I cannot waitto see the two man game between Buddy

(09:31):
Heield and Joel Embiid. So I'mpretty excited about that. I agree it
was a miss not going for thebig man, but at this point in
time, I think you got aroll with Mobim and Paul Reid that we've
seen Paul Reid play some of hisbest basketball all year in recon games.
You got to ride the hot hendand believe that this is why you paid
the guy, this is why heis asked to take that next step.
Got to give him the opportunity todo so. And I would rather that

(09:52):
than attacking a big on the buyoutmarket with the hopes that he has some
life left in his legs. Atthis point, I'm just wondering if Kevin
Durant could have played the five,if they would kid all right, once
again, comments flying and this isincredible. Shout out to everybody tuning in
and here on a Friday. We'regonna get to some of the good I
promise you on that one I speakingof, let's just get right to it

(10:15):
and through fifty four games, I'llbe back over to you. I want
one good thing from you. Itcould be anything. It could be Joejoe
his performance. Of course he wasMVP before he got hurt. It could
be a z I want one thingthat is good for you throughout the course
of this first fifty four games ofthe season. Yeah, I think really
the thing that sticks out well,we should take away positive wise from this

(10:37):
six er season, they finally gothim be the play they need, the
way they need him to play.Like, obviously, I'm not trying to
make comparisons here. There's a lotof great players in the league. But
what in Nicola jokicch do last year? He literally was the best version of
himself, all around player, aguy that could do everything on the floor.
And Nick Nurse came in and heimplemented a system that allowed Joe ellenbi

(10:58):
to play that way. That's whatthe Sixers need long term in terms of
a play style for this team tobe successful. Now, unfortunately kind of
got ran into the ground. He'sinjured again. But when it comes to
facilitating the guy's averaging almost six assistsper game. You know, he's pulling
in twelve rebounds almost per game,averaging thirty five points. Nick Nurse unlocked

(11:18):
the best version of Joel Embiid,and if he can ever stay healthy,
this is how the team wins achampionship moving forward. So I think it's
just the way they've played. Andobviously that comes with adding complimentary pieces,
you know, like Kelly uh Right, like Niko Batoum, But overall it
starts with Joel. He knew afterthat game six and seven he had to
look in the mirror, and that'sexactly what he did, and he achieved

(11:41):
what I would call greatness in thegames that he's played this year eight seasons.
Do we think he had this level? Do we think that he had
another, you know, like anotherstep in his game. Did you think
that he could reach this this yearor did you think like what we saw
last year might have been the ceiling. I think we think that every year
we say, how does he getto this level? I think when he
was drafted, you know, therewere a lot of risks, a lot

(12:03):
of liability. You know, canthis guy even stay healthy? He missed
two seasons. You know, nobodyever expected him to get to the MVP
level. Then he got there,then he got even greater, Then he
got even greater. What we sawthis year, and it sucks that he
got hurt was one of the greatestseasons I've ever seen in NBA history.
I mean, that was unbelievable.No lies, no lies, Shaminard.

(12:24):
Did you think Joel Embiid could raisehis game up to another level this year?
I did not. I thought therewas no chance that last year wasn't
the peak of Joel Embiid, andthat is not an insult saying that.
This is saying I thought that guyhad maxed out his abilities, gotten to
the peak of him as a player, and he absolutely proved me wrong.
That we are talking and it isunfortunately that most of this will be forgotten
in the history books because of theinjury and because of the lack of games.

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But we truly are talking about ahistoric season. The most points per
minuted in NBA history this year fromJoel Embiid, aftering more points, rebounds,
assists, blocks, and steals infewer minutes per game than last season,
after winning MVP of the league.It's ridiculou stuff that he was doing.
And I do think a lot ofit is system based that a lot
of this is a credit to NickNurse for maximizing the way that he can
play, having movement off ball,allowing just more fluidity in the offense,

(13:11):
not as much Joel Embiid at theelbow and everybody stand around and watch.
That's been the way to maximize Joelle, and I do think that's the way
to maximize the team that I thinkthat is the secret ingredient come playoff time
to having success and we'll see ifwe can get a chance to see that
on that stage this year. Yeah. The big question, of course from
the first half is the health ofJoelle Embid and what we're going to get
in that second half. There's noyou know, moving around it. It's

(13:33):
just where we're at. We willget into that, I promise you a
little bit later. I wanted tokeep things a little positive. Law you
know, it's here on a Fridaynight. We got Devon Gibbons from PHL
Live Sports. He's going to bejoining us coming up here at seven thirty.
Get your question in questions and onceagain a couple of people checking in
RB. Would you grade it again? See I'm going with a C.
Yeah. I don't think we canargue with that, right. I think
that that's just the reality of thesituation right now, with of course,

(13:56):
winning cures all haven't really happened.We need to give these guys some time
to get acclimated. Nick Nurse soon and so forth with his new pieces.
And then oh, by the way, Lowry hasn't even played yet.
Bright who is Nick Nurse's guy?By the way, Yeah, he's a
bulldog that should be noted and asmuch as I've been a pretty anti Kyle
Lowry guy from the stance that Istill would probably go to bat and say
I'll take Pat Bev over Lowry ina playoff setting, in a series where

(14:20):
you need eight to twelve minutes outof a guy. But this is still
the same Kyle Lowry that last yearplayed twenty six minutes per game on that
Heat team in the playoff run averagenine point two points, four point four
assists, three point five rebounds.That's all you're asking out of them is
if you can play those solid minutes, give you enough stuff when Tyre's Maxi's
off the floor, that's all they'relooking for. All right, Shamanard to
you one good thing from the firsthalf. I'm going a little bit of

(14:41):
a wider view here. I'm saying, hitting on the young guns that I
am starting to believe there is thispathway being paved in the Sixers organization that
has fallen short for many years.Look at Ricky Council, the fourth,
look at Turquaveon Smith, and Iknow it's not one hundred percent the Jaden
Springer management. I'm a little bitupset about still just giving him away for
a second, round pick. Butyou can't convince me that that wasn't at
least partially motivated by watching this versionof Ricky Council the Fourth compete in practice

(15:05):
every day that it felt like thisorganization has been starved for young talent and
they've gone to bat for these veterans. And don't get me wrong, they're
still an older team is currently constructed, but I'm still I'm beginning to see
this pipeline established of guys getting takenas an undrafted free agent and then getting
a two way contract and then growinginto a real role on this team.
I'm confident enough to say that Ithink tur Quaveon Smith and Ricky Council the

(15:26):
Fourth will each be significant long termat least rotational players for this team.
And that's a major win from theundrafted market. I like it. Great
call all the way across the boardby both of you. We do have
the celebrity game quotes air quotes ifyou're listening to us, don't know who
half of them are, but youknow, shout out. They're showing some
love to some streamers. RB.That's a good thing. Right, let's
go all right, New media,as they say, we like that I

(15:50):
have no idea who the kid is. You don't know who Kyson is?
Wow? Really great twitch? Yeah, well I know speed. Do I
get credit for that? Okay,I'll give you that guy. That guy's
a mania and apparently he's pretty damnfast. Yes, all right. Is
he an athlete? No? No, he was one of those freaks.

(16:11):
Okay. I will shout out KaySinett too. By the way, trains
with h Chris Brinkley. Chris Brinkley, so who's a big time NBA trainer
does a lot with them, Sowho knows. We'll see what he's got
in his game on the court.All right, keep the comments coming in.
Loving it? Kai Sinnette is howyou say it? Yeah? If
somebody said Kay Sinett is bigger thanSpeed, did not know that Phoenix plays?
I'm learning here, all right?All right? My good thing from

(16:33):
the first half, it's easy Phillabeliaseventy six ers select Tyreee MAXI it won't
be real great six am, tenam and new that's all m knowing it
was his third workout. This isa guy who now gets his first All
Star. So hall work gets itdone, a bullet it's something Jason three

(16:55):
got it Tyree Maxim making the acrobaticlook effortless in his career. And thank
you to the Philadelphia seventy six ersfor that video slash audio. It was
tremendous and it gives you goosebumps andit's just so real. Because he was

(17:19):
drafted by us, we've seen thiskid rise up. Of course, deal
with the Doc Rivers nonsense, andthen not to say that there were people
that didn't believe in him, butto the point that, look, I
work with a guy every day andhe didn't him and I were are you
in all off season long about ballhandling and can he raise his game up?
I believed in it. I'll tellyou straight up. I didn't have

(17:41):
him as high as Shan Bnard didwith the All Star pick. Nice work
by you cashing in on that.It's just been so good. And again
it comes back from the diehard fandomand all of us, the fact that
he is ours. He was draftedby us, and there was no nonsense.
We've hold it. We've held onto him with all the trade deals
and possible rumors out there, andto see him grow right before our very

(18:03):
eyes this season and have an AllStar Game nod and not one of those
injured you're replacing. No, heearned it. He earned it, and
I can't say enough. I'm soproud of what we've been able to watch
with Tyree Smaxy and look, Ithought that he very well could be the
Batman, the Robinson Batman, bethat one be once Joelle Embiid was healthy

(18:26):
and roll into the playoffs. Therewere people out there that had that concern
because the playoff game changes, right, things get a little bit more tighter
all that, But bottom line is, I have no concerns whatsoever. Even
in that Miami game, the ballmovement, him getting the ball at the
top drive and you know, getlike he's becoming that dude that can take
on the contact go in and he'sgot that you know, the English off

(18:51):
the ball like this. This guyis the real damn deal. What's his
number to win MVP this weekend?I can't. I don't think he'll get
those minutes or the reps as faras the value is concerned. But look,
filling the blanks RB everything from TyreseMAXI first half. Anything I didn't
say that you want to add,please go right. I would love to

(19:11):
add something, and I want everybodyto just think about this. When Tyree's
Maxi comes to mind, at leastfor me personally, I'm like, yeah,
he must be twenty seven years old. Like we need to start realizing
that he has gone through the curveway quicker than other guys. You know,
there are nights we get frustrated,Oh, tyres is not really able
to step up and give us thethirty that we need or whatever. This

(19:33):
guy has gone through two drama filledsituations with superstars. He has been asked
to be the one A or oneB at certain points in his career.
He's been asked to, you know, drop twenty five thirty points in a
playoff series. He has been askedto do things that guys his age normally
don't do. He's twenty three yearsold and he's been through playoff failures and

(19:55):
you know, just heartbreak. Imaginewhat this guy could be in five years,
right. You look at guys thatare drafted at the top of the
you know, the lottery, andusually they don't get to experience any of
this stuff. But by the timethey're twenty four to twenty five. So
I just want people to keep inmind that what Tyrese Maxi continues to do
elevating his game year by year theway he is and this year, obviously,

(20:15):
the point blank thing is that hedoesn't turn the ball over as much.
Like he's such a smart player.I can't even imagine where he's going
to be in five years. Loveit, Seam Binnard. Yeah, absolutely,
And to throw a couple of statsout here, shout out to Krishan
Nrussu who is the creator of thatLebron metric. But she tweeted these out
the top five players in rim shotmaking this year Number one Giannis ant To

(20:37):
Takumbo, Number two Zion Williamson,Number three Shay Gilgers Alexander, number four
Tyrese Maxi. And what's the differencebetween him and all those other guys is
they're all way quill closer to therim than Tyrese Maxi. And one even
better here, Tyrese Maxie is theonly player in the NBA with finishing talent
above the ninety fifth percentile, catchand shoot three point making above the ninety
fifth percentile, averaging five assists perseventy five possessions. Very specific stat,

(21:03):
no doubt about it, but thatdoes speak to the completeness of his game
that the growth is a playmaker.This year solidified that he is capable of
being that type of point guard tome, which I do think is a
huge storyline for the long term ofhis career. And you hit the nail
on the head Arbat that he's talkedabout like he's this season vet or looked
at like he has all these expectations. This guy is very early on in
the career development of him, soeasy to root for, works so hard,

(21:26):
has gotten better year in and yearout, and you just have to
tip the cap for really just keepingthis window of winning around Joellembiat open.
Did he get a fair shake withDoc Rivers? And what is Nick Nurse
doing differently with him? He didnot get a fair shake with Doc Rivers
for sure, And by the way, like he was still this version of
Tyrese Maxie. He didn't overnight getthat much better. Don't forget he basically
won them a playoff game in oneof those games when he did have the
opportunity right and if it was notfor the Ben Simmons holdout, we may

(21:49):
never have seen this version of tyresMaxie under Doc Rivers that he essentially got
thrust in the starting lineup by defaultin that situation, it's the purely the
birth certificate, to be honest,that's what it is. Doc rivers that
he's just not veteran enough for himto get the opportunity. But as far
as how Nick Nurse is using him, I do think there's some more creativity
where it's not as much the DocRivers offense of so much with Joel Embid

(22:10):
centric which obviously he's your best player, but there was not the same off
ball motion, the pinned downs,the cuts, the creation for others.
And by the way, that's ahuge reason why Joel Embid's assists have grown
this year. But for Maxie specificallyhow fast he is, the motor that
he has, he's a vital partof all this stuff, his movement off
ball. I think he's been somuch better this year, both from an
opportunity standpoint and execution within him himself. Now add on top of that,

(22:33):
just by saying that, you know, he would have never gotten the opportunity
if it wasn't for the craziest situationin NBA history with Ben Simmons literally just
folding like a broken tent. TyreeMaxy would never be this guy and I
think what Nick Nurse did as hecame in, and I remember the first
press conference, he said, wewant the ball in Maxi's hands. We
don't want him to be scared togo out there and take twelve to fifteen
shots in the first two quarters.And immediately came in said, we're gonna

(22:57):
get the ball Maxis Hans, We'regonna run PI roll with Tyrese Maxi.
We want him to be a focalpart of the offense. I feel like
that was never the case with DocRivers. He was always the next guy
behind Joel would be James Harden orGeorge Hill. Yeah, exactly. He
never gave him that belief because that'sjust how Doc Rivers is and he doesn't
like to experiment with young guys.But Maxi has had this from day one,

(23:18):
and I mean he just continues toprove it. Shout out to Prince
over here. He said that,George Hill over me question Mark. Yeah,
hey, everyone, please, ifyou want to mine RB, everyone
please subscribe to the YouTube channel onFox Sports The Gambler. We're gonna be
getting RB involved, I promise youon that. But Shaan Benard does a
great job over there. We've beentrying to grow it for the last year

(23:40):
plus and we're doing all right,but definitely not on RB's level. Dammit,
these guys are top tier. Man. To continue to support them in
every way, mom, man,that's what I'm talking about. Yeah,
when it comes to Nick Nurse,right, like that's a positive for me
in the first half. And we'llget into a little bit more about Nick
Nurse and I got some great soundfrom Buddy Healed and what he had to

(24:00):
say about him. One of myfavorite moments though, from the first half,
and it has everything to do withthe growth of Tyre Smacks, is
when Pat Bev challenged him. Yeah, right when the first time Joell E
andbe got hurt. It's like,yo, young man, they're saying,
you can't do this without Jewell andb we can't have that. And what
did he do? He responded tothat, So you know, it's like,

(24:21):
this kid's so young, he wantsto learn, he wants to be
a sponge. Just think about whathe's going to get right this weekend,
right you think about the All StarGame, No doubt Lebron James with his
twentieth of course, it's gonna betop of the charts. You think about
the greats Kobe and like the Vets, it's the Vets are in their own
world, but it's the guys thatmake it. For the first time,

(24:41):
you know the sponge that he's goingto be. Everything he's going to absorb.
It's gonna be tremendous for his growth. Man, And I hate to
say the phrase sky's the limit,but it really is because you see the
talent in this guy right and yousee the tangible ways that he's gotten better.
Like the questions about Tyree Smaxi whenhe first came in the NBA,
was he's not a good enough shooter. Flash forward two seasons in his NBA

(25:04):
career and he's a top five shooterbased on percentage in the NBA, and
then got better the next year.Coming into this season, it's can he
be a true point guard or ishe more of this microwave scorer type player.
Well, he responded by being atrue point guard, setting a career
high and assist and now he iskind of elevating to being asked to be
the number one option. We're aboutto see him go through the growing pains
and figure out if he can trulydo this over this next stretch. I

(25:26):
do think it's a bit much toput on his shoulders at this point,
but you know what, that's theonly way that he is going to get
better is to challenge him, togive him the opportunity, and he might
surprise us because he has every stepof the way so far, and this
is the first time we've ever seenhim get this opportunity. Keep in mind,
with everything that he's done to growhis game, he's playing with a
superstar, one of the best inthe game, one of the best of

(25:48):
the generation, and Joelle embiid sonow giving him the full reigns Like,
okay, here, ty Reese,go learn, go grow, adapt every
single night. I mean, thiskid disguise the limit. I can't imagine
what he's going to be down theroad. All right, ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls, it's time forour first guest right here joining us
live on the Gambler Hotline. It'sour first six Ers Round Table twenty twenty

(26:11):
four. Hopefully we'll be back forlittle playoffs. Hopefully represent the squad over
at phl y Sports. It's theGreat Devon Gibbons on the Gambler Hotline on
a Friday night, Devon. Can'tthank you enough. Sean Brace, Sham
Bernard and RB in the house.Devon, how you been my friend so

(26:32):
pretty good. Thanks for having me, Fellers. Glad to be a part
of the roundtable here today to begood. Absolutely, man. You know,
we were just talking about some ofthe positives and I'll tee you right
up from the jump. He's avery optimistic guy. This guy Devon always
has a smile on his face,no doubt about that, Devon. One
good thing from the first fifty fourgames might have surprised you, you might

(26:55):
have expected it. One good takeawaythrough fifty four so far for the Sixers,
I'll go with the newly announced AllStar as of a couple of weeks
ago, Tyrese Maxie, not justthe elevation Fellas of the point because we've
all known that he could score oncewe saw him in Kentucky and take me
once he got his feet underneath himin the NBA. We knew he could

(27:18):
score in the basketball. But it'sbeen been the development of his point guard
duties and the skills that he hasbeen able to display. No one is
going to ask him to be JamesHarden or excuse you know, and make
a mistake and think that he isJames Harden. But for the steps that
we needed to take in order forthis team to succeed, having the Anthony
Melton, Tyrese Maxie and later onNicholas Patoom and so many others in that

(27:41):
starting lineup with them, of coursedrewel Embiid, he needed him to also
run the basketball team, not justbe a scorer, and for him to
have a career high insist it's alwaysnot very hard when you have drewel Embiid
again running that two man pick androll and being able to drop it off
to the big fella and him rollinto the basket or hitting that mid range
jumper. But the development and seeingsome of the things that he has done

(28:03):
as a point guard in year numberfour and only for me, I believe,
only to get better as that floorin general, to go along with
the scoring. That's something that's beena big development for me for Tyrese Maxett,
because I wasn't really sure if thatwas ever really going to come into
fruition. But we've seen it,and I think we've seen it in a
big way, and I think he'llcontinue to improve as a point guard while

(28:26):
also still being able to play enoughto score the basketball as well. Yeah,
and I definitely think the playmaking isa huge storyline for both his long
term trajectory as a player and thesurrounding pieces for how to build out this
perfect Sixers roster. So, Devine, I kind of wanted to get your
thoughts on as we look ahead buildingthis starting line up. Buddy Hill has
made about as great of an impressionas you could possibly made through the first

(28:48):
four games in a Sixers uniform.We also haven't seen d Anthony Mountain in
seventeen. Who do you think kindof gets the nod for that starting role
looking forward? And what do youthink is the best option for both with
Jowell and Mean team and without Jowelland Meat team by you teaming right up,
because we just talked about this sometimeearlier in the week, because that
was the question, you know,is the way that he is playing coming

(29:10):
in. I was talking about thison the on the show and discussing how
we were watching the game one nightbefore we did our show, and someone
had made the point that he's agreat scorer, and like John a little
pushback, he's a great shooter,not a great scorer. He's a good
scorer, but he's a great shooter. But what we've seen over these first

(29:30):
four games from Buddy Hill with theway that he is able to balance the
floor out playmake as we just talkedabout play making with Tyreeve Maxi, and
not be a super net negative ondefense. I mean, the guy's playing
thirty eight minutes in his first fourgames. He had forty four minutes against
the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.So at some point you're you're gonna have

(29:53):
your short your shots are gonna fallshort, and your defensive effort is not
always going to be there either.But that was a reputation of his so
coming in already and showing at leasta little bit of defensive chops where he's
not just being outright beaten on thatend of the floor. For me,
because I've always liked the Anthony Meltonfrom his Memphis days, his college days,

(30:17):
and certainly the USA and Memphis andpros and now with the Sixers,
I've always felt at his best he'sa six man. That's no knock.
That's just simply his versatility of whathe's able to do where he's more valuable
coming off the bench in my opinion, where someone like Buddy Heal can be
a six man. But if I'mchoosing between the two and now looking at
Healed on the floor with Maxie andeventually fingers crossed with Joel Embiid and having

(30:41):
the rest of the team where youknow Nicholas patom is not really looking for
his He's always making sure that everybodyelse gets theirs. And then Tobias Harris
part, I think that I wouldlean Buddy Heel because of the ability to
see your five best players on thefloor to start the game. And that's
why I lean interesting. Oh,I like that right from the jump,
my friend, all right, Iwant to get right to Nick Nurse.

(31:03):
We haven't discussed him just yet.What's been the big difference for you,
Devon, And albeit only fifty fourgames this year, but we know Nick
Nurse, we've seen him over theyears. What is What's what has been
something that you know you were spoton in your assessment before he was hired
and he's delivering right now through fiftyfour games this year. Well, sure
on One of those things I likeis is calmness. Even before Doc Rivers

(31:27):
got here, and we would seehim with the with the Los Angeles Clippers.
One of the things that was somethingthat was attached to the Los Angeles
Clippers as a team and coach withhow much they complained about things on the
sideline, always fishing for calls andalways on the officials for not getting the
calls that they felt they were worthyof. And everyone wants to calls that

(31:48):
they feel like they're being foul,and certainly if they're feel like they're not
getting a necessary amount of call versusthe opponent. But Doc Rivers did the
same thing here, and it wouldkind of wear on you a bit.
But the call on this Nick Nurseand trusting some of his young guys,
trusting the rest of his guys,putting some of these little weird lineups out

(32:09):
there on the floor. I likethat, the fact that he would go
deep into the bench a little bit. And I was a big Marcus Morris
guy for when he got here.He became a little bit of a bit.
But he made me look good sometimesgoing to basketball, going to basketball
the way he did. But Ilike the fact that he's not afraid to
try different things. Where we sawwere Doc Rivers, Like you said,

(32:30):
Sean, we know who Nick Nurseis. We also knew Doc Rivers was.
Doc Rivers didn't like to play youngplayer. Doc Rivers liked who he
liked. He would go to hisveterans and his veterans only, and that
was a problem. Sometimes he wouldalways talk about how he felt Jayden Springer
had the ability to be a topdefender in the NBA. Certainly the offensive
side would keep him off the floor. But maybe we should have saw a

(32:52):
little bit more of Jaden Springer onthe floor, even though five seven minute
stretches where his defense was impactful.Uh, and now seeing where yes,
he's been thrust to force Ricky Counselonto the floor, and even Jaden Springer
at the time when he was here, now kJ Martin getting a little bit
of a run. I like thatabout Nick Nurse and unleashing Tyrese Maxie as

(33:13):
well a little bit of the offensivestuff that they do. I like what
he has done so far. Everynow and again, like any coach,
you look at things, and hesaid that was that wasn't so great.
But for the most part, Ithink he's been a plus. No,
absolutely, and I think he's donethe most that he can with what he
has at his disposal. I mean, it's not tough having a guy like
Joe Well, you know, godown like this and you know you're kind

(33:34):
of just scratching at all services.What do I do here? How do
I go about this? And youknow, even some nights with the trade
deadline recently they've had eight nine guysdressing it. It's been tough. What
do you He had a fun lineupon the floor the other night where Turk
Smith campaign, Tyrese Maxi, BuddyHill and I believe it was Mobimba or
Paul Reed. That was fun,whatever little stretch it couldn't on the floor.

(33:59):
It was like, oh, let'shere he yeah, and he's thrown
out. He's thrown out lineups withfive guards or you know, three guards
too forwards. It's it's insane,man, And just like picking his brain
is interesting, like this is achampionship head coach and you sat down with
them. Yeah, yeah, AndI mean he what really struck me was
just how smart of a guy heis. Like everywhere this guy has went,

(34:22):
he wins, he wins. Soyeah, I trusted him. But
you know, moving forward, likelooking into the next part of the season,
given what the Sixers have right nowand their limitations. What are you
looking for in terms of maybe onearea or one player that you want to
see step up and kind of takethe reins here, especially without Joel Embiid
For I'd say the foreseeable future.Man, this is this is one that

(34:45):
Sean knows this. And I've beenlike this with Ben Timmons when he was
here, and my my thing wasalways aggressive. Ben Timmis is the best
benenate and this year I have nowmoved that over to Tobias har because forget
about the money. Where in yearfive the money has been there all five
years. That's not going to change. It's coming off to the books at

(35:06):
the end of the year. It'sstill the same frustrations where he is very,
very good for two weeks and thenhe kind of slides back there for
the next two weeks, and he'sgood again for two and a half weeks,
and then he slides back once again. And right now he's in that
slide of the negative side. Sure, he was dealing with the illness,
so he was out for a while, and that illness was really bad to

(35:29):
knock him back the way that itdid. But now knowing that, okay,
we got the all Star Break.He's had some time off. Hopefully
he's healthy, he's feeling better.Maxi is back while dealing with the ankle,
he is still back. You hopethat you're able to get the Anthony
Milton Nick patomb and certainly here theyneed to bias Harris to be that eighteen

(35:50):
to twenty point per game score thatwe have seen throughout the entire time that
he has been here. Not thatit was always the average, it was
the fact that it was in himbe that eighteen to twenty point per game
score. When he had that stretch, guys where he was what he had
thirty three to one game and theywere giving him the ball. They were
getting out of the way while andbeing and Maxi still had their twenties.

(36:12):
They were giving him the ball becausehe was rolling. He was in a
good space, and he was feelinggood. And that's what I want to
see, because he went from thirtythree, so then he dropped twenty seven
and twenty five and twenty three,and he was in that twenties for that
two weeks, and you could seethat he was telling guys to get away,
I got this and taking the reinsand being aggressive with the basketball.

(36:35):
So for me going for the secondhalf of the season, we've already won
fifty four games in the books herefor the final stretch here of these twenty
eight games, Tobias Harris needs tobe that Tobias Harris in order for this
team to hover in that top sixbefore hopefully MB comes back. Yeah,
the spot on the comments are flyingin and germs checking in. Our good
friend Jerem to Toby is selfless toa fault. He can't get hit and

(37:00):
also find out what the new partscan do. It's just necessity, like
it's now, especially Joe's down.You know, Tyrese, we can't expect
him to go out there and giveus fifty one every night. To Bias,
you gotta be that guy. Butit's just it's what we know about
him, what we and showing whenthey're throwing those weird defenses, now those

(37:21):
blitzes, they're trying to get theball out of Tyrese. Maxie's hand as
soon as he crosses half court,and he put him in a really tough
spot because he's normally on the sideof the court along the sideline and he's
right there up against the sideline andthe half court line. Plus two defenders
and they're blittering him, trying toget the ball out of his hands because
that's who they see. Now,maybe it'll change against Sewan because now Buddy

(37:42):
Healed is here and Tobias Harris mightget a different type of look where that
selflessness that Jerremy is talking about hasto stop, where he has to just
go get his because it is goingto be for the betterment of the team.
All Right. I got a bigpicture question for you, and I
got one little small here, andI'm not saying it because he's six foot,
but the dude is a bulldog andwe just got him. I was

(38:02):
kind of surprised seeing play against theMiami Heat. I thought, you know,
you didn't you have nothing to dofor the past months. You know,
come on, get out there.We need to period the ramp up
period. Exactly expectations for Kyle Lowry. I'm not saying that, you know
he's going to hit the turn backthe clock and have a secret potion here
and we're gonna get to Kyle Lowryfrom five years ago. But will there

(38:24):
be anything different in his game withthe seventy six ers playing with Nick Nurse
again? Uh? Devon in yourmind than what we have seen with the
Miami Heat, because he did falloff a little bit with the Heat this
year and essentially last year. Correct. Yeah, yeah, So to expect
All Star and NBA champion, well, all Star, because that's not fair.

(38:45):
Still win the championships, part ofthe team and do some things.
So to expect All Star Kyle Lowrywill be unfair because that's not who he
is any longer now. What hestill possessed at that time while being an
All Star is leadership and you cantrust them out there on the floor.
And for the leadership and to beable to trust him out there on the
floor to make good decisions, thingsgonna be key. And let's not forget

(39:07):
about the experience. As we talkedabout him being an NBA champion. While
these guys will get to many secondround appearances, they haven't been beyond that.
And for him to come in tobe able to be that steady hand
both offensively defensively, not the samedefensively as he used to be, but
he still knows team defense and hestill knows those angles. So for me,

(39:28):
again, it's the fact that youcan trust him that leadership and that
experience, I think will go along way. And as you mentioned,
being with Nick Nurse for as manyyears as he was, winning a championship
with him in Toronto, it'd bevery valuable for this basketball team because it's
not asking him to go out thereand play thirty five minutes. Probably play
about ten to fifteen minutes, sometimesmaybe more, sometimes less. But again,

(39:49):
his voice can carry a lot forwhat young players like Maxi, even
Heels and others campaign probably is andeven Melton and Paul Reid where we saw
it was valuable with Patrick Beverley andMarcus Morris, that stuff can still be
there with Kyle Lowry, that's right, six time All Stars since so this
is the weekend, that voice doescarry some weight. So I'm really looking

(40:14):
forward to getting him involved, gettinghim on the out in the practice facility
number one, and of course onthe bench and helping out on the court
for the upcoming second half. Allright, final question, Devon, can't
thank you enough for popping up joiningus here on the roundtable right now.
Currently six ers holding study in thefive seeds. We got twenty eight games
left. What seed will the seventysix ers be holding when playoff time comes

(40:38):
around? Which I think is Aprilto twentieth, what seed will the Sixers
hold at that point in time inyour opinion, Yeah, this means tough.
In order for it to be withtwenty eight games, you're looking at
somewhere like fourteen, fourteen, orat worse, twelve and sixteen to still
be able to hover around that sixseeds. So I'm going to be optimistic,

(40:59):
like you said at the top,I'm going to go and look at
MAXI feel like the All Star breakthe coaching staff now that they have all
the pieces that will be a partof their rotation and they can figure things
out. Maybe they'll get another byout candidate, who knows. But I'm
gonna look at this and think theAll Star break came at the right time
for them to also look at thethings that they need to adjust as a

(41:19):
coaching staff to find ways for MAXIto score easier. Same thing with Buddy
Heal and others Harris included, andget the best out of Paul Reid as
a starting five here to make thingsa little bit easier on him as well.
And I'm gonna stick with the sixseeds because I trusted Nick Nurse to
make those changes with that coaching staffthat are going to that they're going to
need desperately to make sure that theyhover and stay in that top six.

(41:43):
That mean they're gonna have some toughgames man. Yeah, yeah, especially
right off the shoot. So thatjust means Sixers Celtics Eastern Conference Finals,
right if they get the sixth seed, which actually works out well for us,
right. Yeah, I can't beafraid of nobody that you got to
beat everyone. We've done the wet. We couldn't stop Boston last year when
we were ready to go with everybody. I'm worried about this year. Yeah,

(42:05):
but a long way until we getthere. Hey, Devon obviously can't
thank enough for popping up here ona Friday night Underscore Devon Gibbons from PHL
y Sports. Be sure to followhim on all things socials. Dvan,
what's your schedule over there? Iknow you guys are active all day,
postgame, pregame, you name it. Is there a certain days that we
can definitely find you, whether it'spostgame or pregame. Yes, so it's

(42:29):
very easy. Non game days,you can catch us at two thirty live
on YouTube at PHL wise sports.So at two thirty non game days and
on game days we actually only dopostgame, which is pretty cool where you
don't have to do the pregames postgamesabout twenty twenty five minutes after the game,
you can catch us right there.That same about PHL Sports on YouTube

(42:50):
posted to catch everybody there. It'sa great post game. I was tuned
in after the Miami Heat debacle andyou had Kyle from the from the arena.
Of course, you and and andBodner together, you were I believe
both you guys were already at thestudio there at the arena to come back,
and you guys are front and center. Man, keep crushing it and
h hey, man, let's let'slet's hope for some positive sixers play out

(43:13):
to shoot. Let's keep this going. It's been a great season. Let's
get the big man healthy and uh, we'll catch up down the road.
My friend, No, no worries, man, they got my man,
Ricky count the fourth. You demandDevon and enjoy your Friday night. Man.
Thank you. There is my guy, Devon Gibbons once again on the

(43:35):
Gambler Hotline. Fantastic to have himon there. RB Anything you want to
add from Devon what he just saidthere I'm right there with them. I'm
thinking six seed. If I hadto give a prediction, I think this
team ultimately needs to get Joel andbeat Healthy. I think that'll be the
full tell tale. But they haveto find ways to, you know,
maneuver each game every night, likethey're going to really test themselves here.

(43:58):
Nick Nurse is going to have maybe'sor his tests yet in the NBA,
and so far, what I've seenis him willing to experiment. And that's
all I can ask for. Thisteam's got to win games, and they
have to stay afloat, that's allyou could say. Like you said,
man, like prior year, wewe wanted them to have the easiest route.
We wanted them to have the twoor three seed. I don't care
anymore. Get us to the conferencefinals, man, I have had enough.

(44:21):
Yeah, get us there, getus to the dance first, and
then we'll go from there. Acouple couple of comics want to get these
want to get everybody involved, alot of people tuned in RB. Good
grief, let's keep it moving.Phoenix plays Nick Nurse is the new Spo
thumbs up, thumbs down on thatstate. Yeah, yeah, I'm with
that, that's a statement. StillSPO so, by the way, But

(44:42):
what makes spopo He does a lotwith a little, which I think is
a similar trait to what we're talkingabout Nick Nurse. I mean, SPO
has the the championship pedigree a littlemore. He's he's done it in way
different situations, Like there's a totallydifferent coaching skill set when you have Lebron
James and Chris Bosh and Dwayne Waiton a team versus when Jimmy Butler and
the current squad that he's still gettingthe most out of. So I guess

(45:05):
just more proven track record by spell. But I'm not counting Nick Nurse out.
Yeah, but I would say Nursedoes a lot with a lot,
like yeah, look at his firstyear, Yeah you know, and I
agree with you, But you know, he had Kawhi Leonard. What's he
doing He wins a championship coming offuncertainty. This year he had Joel embiid.
Oh, by the way, Kyle, he played fifty one games in
that year. Yes, yes,crazy, and they won a championship.
He came back the next year endedup winning Coach of the Year. Like

(45:28):
now he has Joel embid him Beforethe injury, they looked like one of
the best teams in basketball. SoI'm in full trust of Nick Nurse.
You can wager on it. We'retalking about it. It's the gambler Don
Boyle checking in. Yeah, Lowryis here to be an experienced veteran,
but also a leader, someone tohelp develop these young guys. Who's he
taking underneath his wing right from thejump, Barbie Tyree Spaxy. My question

(45:51):
is does he end up starting atsome point? That's been a topic of
discussion. I don't want that.I don't want that either. I think
you're gonna run him into the ground. I liked the idea of ten minutes,
ten twelve minutes. Hey, youget whatever you need them to do,
right Like, if they're out ofbodies and they need somebody, then
okay, sure Kyle Lowry starting.There's a lot worse players out there that
could be starting for you. Iget it. You know, my expectations

(46:13):
are very low. I'm excited tosee him in a Sixers uniform. I
wish it was about three years ago, maybe five years ago. But here
we are, and we do haveanother guest here on stream ready to pop
up. Oh let's go. Yeah, we got Ab heretwork to the stream
here, let me there we go, Yes, yes, I believe.
Let me give it to that bannerright there too. Maybe. How what's

(46:34):
going on? Yeah, how y'alldoing there? He is Ab? It's
about time we linked up, right, it's been a while. What's happening?
Where could people find you? Again? On on socials? Where you
at absolutely obviously open gym network,on YouTube and then also on Instagram only
the number one AB underscore underscore.Again, YouTube won't open gym network and

(46:59):
only one a B underscore underscore youalready know. The other night chopping it
up, my good friend Marks greatsome videos on the timeline. Nice work
there, Hey, let's jump rightinto it. First half roundtable right here
this evening. Of course you gotRB Shamanar and Shambrace. Welcome to the
party. And I guess the mainone. I've been asking everybody to start.

(47:21):
Give me something good from the firstfifty four games this year, something
good. I mean it's a lot, it's a lot of something good.
It's a lot that's happened. ButI mean I was listening prior to getting
on. Obviously, going going forward, obviously the young guys obviously Ricky Council

(47:43):
obviously showing that he's uh might havea place on his team and in this
league in Geneva, essentially being anundrafted guy coming out of college. You
know, not many people really youknow looking at him, I wanting to
draft him rather like that. Sothat's definitely something I would I was actually
intrigued when I've seen him because obviouslywe all been looking for our win guys

(48:05):
and one can defend, so wecan slash, get to the get to
the rum, everything like that.So that seeing him actually flourish into that
rule, showing that he actually hassome you know, uh game, essentially
that he belongs in the league,That's definitely something I look at and I
guess obviously, uh just going intoit seeing MAXI progression obviously as you see
going into this year, uh,he's has a little bit more of a

(48:28):
bag. You know, I wouldlike them to get a little more you
know, mir Raine shots up rightnow. But you know, as it's
a progression, so I'll expect himto definitely move into that, but definitely
him you know, showing his workthat he had all off season stepping into
that essentially the number two rule essentiallylike that next to with Joel and b
So those are two things that I, you know, are shocked about the

(48:49):
first couple of games he gave usto the Ricky Council stuff. I was
busting shot stones the other day.Rb uh. He put a tweet out
and you know, look, I'man old curmudgeon yell at the sky all
that, and He's like, I'venever seen anybody work out as hard as
as this guy is. And thenI'm like, come on, Sean,

(49:12):
and I watched the video. I'mlike, damn, that dude is busy.
I've ever seen anybody go that hard, sprites and warm up sweat.
Yeah, he said to him,yeah tonight, like we might need twenty
five out of tonight, But maybeI didn't want to talk to you a
little bit. We were talking aboutthe lineup combinations and as they've added these

(49:37):
new pieces, we've yet to seethe team fully constructed between guys like Buddy
Healed obviously, Kyle Lowry coming inthe Anthony Mountain who we haven't seen in
a while. Who do you viewas kind of the ideal backcourt partner for
guy like Tyrres Maxie who I thinkat this point we have a more complete,
just elaboration and an observation of hisskill set. At this point,
we know what tyrres Maxi is toa fuller extent. Who do you think

(49:58):
pairing him with is the best routeto SYS for the Sixers team. I
mean I might sound cliche or like, you know, a chalk answer,
but I mean, obviously we lovethe Anthony Melton and what he brings,
but it has to be Buddy,it has to be his running made out
there next one because in this NBA, in today's NBA, it's I know,
defense matters, but we all knowit's about scoring. You have to

(50:22):
score the points. It doesn't matterif it's one hundred and ten or whatever.
You have to score points. Yes, I love defense. Again,
we can go back to like petBav getting traded and Springer. I understand
that, I understand the hurt ofleave of pet Bav leaving and things,
but we all knew looking at thisteam, looking at the Sixers team,
what we lacked in, and thatwas scoring. Not only obviously wing help,

(50:45):
but scoring. If it wasn't inb that's giving us all the scoring
or even tyre smaxy, Now whereelse was it coming from? And not
only being able to score, butactually be able to create for yourself as
well, not having someone to actuallyhave to set you up all the time.
And we've seen that a small semplesplouse. But then a couple of
games that we seen Buddy Hill gotthe ball in his hand going to the

(51:07):
room, left hand layers and midrange shots. Well, I didn't even
nobody Hill could do, So thatwas that was a little bit of a
shocker essentially. But yeah, definitelyBuddy Hill because it's about scoring an NBA
ay. B let me ask youthis because I know you came on here
and you know you were you wereready to be the pessimist, and I
try not to be that way,but unfortunately that's how I'm feeling right now,
just to kind of up in theair, hoping and praying Joelle comes

(51:29):
back. But is there a missedopportunity from the pass trade deadline? Is
there something that you feel like thisteam could have hit on or something you're
looking forward to, maybe from someof the younger guys that you talked about,
Ricky Counsel. But what does thisteam need to do while Joe Welle
is out to really kind of instillsome hope and belief in you that you
know they could still do something whenhe comes back. Well, to start

(51:51):
with the second half of your question, just win essentially. I mean it's
that simple. I mean, tryto stay and flu as as much as
you can, but just towards thetrade deadline. I was more so on
the side of just getting complimentary piecesfrom the get go. I was never
a guy who was saying go allin for like a Zach Levine, go
all in for Donovan Mitchell, evena Pascal Siaka, even though I know

(52:15):
those players could have made an impact. But I also understand the business of
the NBA as well as far asthe flexibility being able to get people in
here who will be here for acouple of years, grow and develop under
this system. So for me,if I would have left the let's say
the trade deadline with like Malcolm Brogdenand a drum and something like that,
that would have been or a Bogdanovichdown in Atlanta, that would have been

(52:37):
something good for me essentially, becauseyou get a win, you get a
shooter, you get a big butthen also they're here for the future as
well. Buddy Hill is the problemexample of the goal or the route I
would tape he's here, nantais outof ten, Buddy Hill to be resigned
here, it wouldn't be forth bothloads of money. But we damn sure
got it. I'm sorry. Wedang sure, got sure, got you?

(53:01):
I got you? Uh so wethank sure it got plenty of money
at the end of the season,essentially like that to be able to resign
them. So it's a smaller move, just the compliment what we already have
because I look at Joel as theone to buy. I mean Tobias uh
Tom Reys MESI has the number two. So I definitely look at just the
smaller moves just to be able tobuild and keep tinue with this team.

(53:22):
Essentially, I'll tell you what weshould get, Michael Parsons and see your
stroud. These boys can fall.I'm looking at it right now too.
I was hoisting up some videos ofhim playing against Time Hakka is back in
high school and one night. Idon't want to say that everybody else is
about five foot in that video,but yeah, it's still forty or forty

(53:42):
is what it is. I lovethe court too, This is this is
pretty cool out there. It's theled court. I think that they should
probably have that next year for theplaying tournament versus what they had last year
and all that nonsense. All right, aby, let me ask you this
final one before we get out ofhere. It's beending you know, somewhat
of a fee too as well.Throughout the course of this first hour right
now, currently thirty two to twentytwo fitth seed. Where are we at

(54:07):
after it's all said and done?Of course, game one of the playoffs.
I think playing game is April twentieth. I have that in my mind.
No, not because of four twenty, I promise you. I believe
it is the first playing game,first playoff game for the NBA postseason.
So at that point in time,where would the Sixers b once the season
comes to an end, Well,you, you will hope within the range

(54:29):
of between the one and the sixseed essentially, that like that wuld be
ideal, especially with the roster thatwe have now without Joel and B.
But I'm I'm gonna throw this outyou as well when it comes to the
play in me personally, if you'resitting here telling me Joel and B is
healthy, I'm talking about coming back. Knee is fine. Cam further injure

(54:51):
himself you know, obviously he hasto you know, get some things going,
as far as probably get some gamesprior to the playoffs starting, just
to knock the rustaff. I'm nottoo worried about that because I look at
it in two ways. One notnecessarily punting on the season or or forgetting
about this season. But I feellike what we've done right now sets us

(55:14):
up for the future. But thenalso if we want to go forward right
now, like I said, ifJoelle b'es comes back and he's healthy,
he's ready to go, why not. And if you're sitting there at the
A seed nine see in the playinggame, listen, we've seen him before.
I know people might say it's ananomaly that the heat came from that
road and went all the way tothe championship. But essentially I look at

(55:35):
Joel and B. We talk abouttop two to me, but top three
player in the NBA, and ifyou talk about a healthy NB, and
again, all of it is predicatedon health. He comes back, the
knee is fine and structurally fine,he can't hurt himself. Even more,
I'll take an eighty percent Joel andB at any moment in time, because
eighty percent of Joel Embiid is betterthan ninety nine percent the NBA essentially like

(56:01):
that. No, you're right aboutthat. Who knows. Hopefully the big
Man is resting and relaxing and everythingis coming a little bit faster as far
as the process getting healthy and getback out there. I say the process.
Damn, I didn't even mean that. Trust you already know. Trust
the process. Trust that man,Hey, trusting you. Popping up on
here Ab once again. You canfind him on Instagram only one. AB

(56:23):
underscore tremendous content coming out left andright. Abe, gotta get you in
this studio, Gotta get you rollingwith the game. Let me get me
ruling. I'm ready. I'm readyfor all of us. Man, We're
gonna take it all by storm man, and hopefully the seventy six ers are
right with us and looking forward toa playoff run. I promise you that
AB can't thank enough for popping upon a Friday night. Man. Always

(56:45):
a pleasure, Yes, sir,thank you. I appreciate you, guys,
sir. Excellent stuff. There heis, once again, AB joining
us via the Uh. There itis via the stream. I like that
Gerald's gonna join us in a littlebit Gerald Colton joins me most of the
time, like once a week,but sometimes twice a week. Was out
in Vegas. Diehard seventy six orsix ers fan brings the historical perspective along

(57:07):
with you know, hey realistic aswell. But we'll get his take on
everything from the first half. Butuh RB, I want to come back
to you, man, and thishas been fun. This has been tremendous,
And obviously thank you for stopping inand and and allowing us to team
up here because this is great.You got a great following here, a
lot of people checking in, alot of great conversation coming. And again

(57:29):
all it takes a microphone and acamera, So if anybody wants to pop
on off of Gerald, we'll bedoing it a couple more minutes after that.
But you know, we talked alittle bit about Nick Nurse and and
of course Daryl Morey. They're atthe top of the list, but something
that we haven't discussed and and I'mcurious where you stand on this one.
And it's kind of something that hitme a little bit from the Miami Heat
game and just wondering where you're atbecause I'm, like I said, I

(57:52):
could be a little old man yellingat a cloud. This team is struggling
right now, right and and like, if you're not a fair Weather fan,
if you're a fan, isn't thisthe time to be there. I'm
not saying be mister rye Ron positive, but my timeline was empty in that
Miami game, and that bothered mea little bit, you know. And

(58:13):
it's just like, not obviously notus, We're dialed in, not everybody
here. We're dialed in Devon noAb, We're focused. But it's clear
that things have just went oooh.Is it all based off of Joellnbees again?
You know, Nick Nurse is newTyres MAXI All Star year, Buddy
Heel just added, Kyle Lowry justadded. Isn't there enough to at least

(58:36):
get some positive vibes going? Iget it, No Jowell and Bead It
sucks. The guy was a monster. But right now this team needs us
fan this fan base gotta get goinghere, right Yeah. I mean you
have to find a way too.I mean, you're coming down the tail
stretch of the season. You're goingto be in the playoffs somehow, some
way, You're going to hopefully havea shot. If Joell and Bee comes

(58:58):
back and again it all hinges onthat. But yeah, I mean,
you know, Nurse has to findways to be creative. This team has
to find ways to get certain guysgoing, like a little spark from Ricky
Counsel or maybe Terquavion Smith one night, or maybe some other guy comes off
the bench and you know, giveyou some valuable minutes. You have to
find a way to get it going. I understand why people are frustrated because
they feel like it's a never endingcontinuum of well, we get there and

(59:22):
we're not healthy, and we godown and you don't know how many more
opportunities that you have. But Ithink that's where you know, again,
we're really going to see who thisteam is at their core. We've seen
it before with different versions of theteam. Now with Nick Nurse, who
is this team deep down at theircore? And when you lose Joel Embiid,
well we see how much of aburden it bears. And you know,

(59:43):
here we are. You got tofigure it out, all right,
you know, like I'm learning withthe celebrity game, we got it off
to our side here. Tj AssIs that really is that his name?
Who is that guy? Is he? The farmer guy that shoots in the
in the farm. I don't knowthat is I don't I honestly, he's
been the probably the best player outthere from what I've taken in from this
game. But I got no clues. That's one of my favorite things when

(01:00:04):
you have the the Instagram or thestreamers and then people come up with those
creative names. I love that,right, I forget the farmer kid.
He had a great one, buthe was building the rim. He built
his own rack, his workout equipmentall that. Man, what was it
it was? It was? Itwas something lebron Uh. It was like
corn something something like country something.Yeah, if the country, if the

(01:00:28):
comment section could help us out withthat, please let us know on that
one. All right, We're headedback out to the Gamber Hotline and then
a sixers round table on a Fridaynight. This gentleman represents the squad over
here, the Gambler Gang. He'sbeen with us from day one. My
good buddy Gerald Colton right now inthe Gambler Hotline. Gerald, we got

(01:00:49):
some new blood in the house,the great RB holding it down of course
all of his squad on YouTube.We got Sean Bernard of course our Sixers
insider and hello, Gerald, I'mSean Brace. How we doing, sir,
I'm doing great. You guys soundfantastic, Yeah, man, A
lot of fun, a lot offun Gerald, And you know what,
Gerald is an optimistic Sixers fan.Lebarne James, thank you, let go

(01:01:14):
my ego. Nice work by you, sir, Lebarney. That's my favorite
thing on Instagram. I do wasa freak out there and he didn't miss
either. Gerald. Fifty four gamesinto this regular season, right here,
right now, a lot of upsand a lot of downs, a true
Sixer first half right like nobody's nobody'stelling us something that we don't know when

(01:01:36):
it's great. And Duell goes outthere and score seventy two games later.
Next thing you know, he's hurtand here we are. But I'm looking
for something good in your mind.Maybe it was something you thought would happen
or cut you off guard. Sofar through fifty four, one good thing
from the first half of the season, Jerald colts. There are several,
but before I start, I justwant to say, I know I'm going

(01:01:57):
to sound like the cynic, butit's just because I'm a lot older than
you guys. And it's it's realismmixed it with everything. So with realism
slash curmudgeon it. I love you. There's really but but it's really not.
I mean, it's just I've seena lot more of basketball than all
you guys, not to say Iknow more. I've just seen a lot
More's got a lot of history withthis organization as well. I go back

(01:02:21):
to I go back to the sixtyseven championship. I mean, I've seen
a lot of basketball, and andso look what's there's there's a lot of
good things. But number one wasit Joe l Embiid could an MVP last
year and come back and be evena lot better, like a lot better.
He was so good this year.And I know our Jason before one

(01:02:42):
of the great seasons m a history. I'd pumped the brakes on that a
little bit because he played thirty fourgames and again he was on. He
was what he was doing, whathe was doing was incredible. Okay,
but I guess I guess I justneed to see more before I had proclamations
like that. But but by thesame you know, not just his seventy
point game, which was outrageous,he had reached the level where again talking

(01:03:07):
about all of this, but I'veseen he scores more easily than anybody who's
ever set put in the court,and he had taken that to where he
knew where to catch the ball,he knew what to do with it,
and it's great and hopefully we getto see that come spring, because that's
that's what matters. The other thingis MAXI absolutely raised his game this year.

(01:03:29):
There were a lot of questions comingin what could he do without heart,
and he absolutely raised his game.I've been a little concerned with him
lately because he looks either tired orhurt or the ankle or something. I
don't think he played. He hada nice last game in the Miami game.
He went through a stretch before that, and I totaled it up because
it was just pretty uncharacteristic of himwhere he shot like thirty six for ninety

(01:03:49):
nine or something over the games afterhis fifty one point game, so he
wasn't quite hitting on all cellards.I think I couldn't tell whether he was
tired or hurt. Where the factis that he's a great number two and
just not a number one, andand and there's a big difference. We
don't need him to be a numberone because if he's a number one,
they're not winning. You know,they need Joel Embiid to the number one.
And the other part is Nick Nurse. Nick Nurse was a really refreshing

(01:04:11):
change from Doc Rivers and and andthose three things have been really really great.
There have been other good things.You know, the Rooky Council's coming.
They give you some hope. Ithought, I thought DeAndre Melton,
who I did not like in hisrole last year, if we can,
if you remember him, he usedto be on the team. Yeah,
we were wondering what the hell's goingon with them? That was a big
question so far. I thought heplayed really well and you were just talking

(01:04:34):
about, you know, who shouldhave been paired with Maxie. And the
bottom line is a rotation and whetherit's healed starting because I actually, I
mean you could you could make casesfrom heal both ways. But a nice
rotation where Melton Melton was playing toobig a role with the six Ers last
year. In this year, ifhe's playing a twenty twenty five minute role

(01:04:56):
and you've got a great rotation ofthose three guys together, that being healed
max that could be a really foridableguard rotation. So there's a lot of
good signs and a lot of reasonsto be optimistic, but it all hinges
on Joel and coming back. Well, you're the right man for that question.
We've gotten a lot of it,right, A lot of people that's
the number one thing on their mind. Jerald, You're a thing. He's
like Red's If you need something,read from Shotshake Redemption. Excuse me,

(01:05:20):
if you need something, this isthe guy to reach out to. So
I'm curious. That's good, right, So I'm curious, where are we
at now with you? Well,what's the last thing you heard? Is
there anything new? The last thingI just heard? I just heard Pat
Bev said he went to visit himand I didn't see that video. He
released it on the fourteenth from hislatest podcast. I know pap Bev kind

(01:05:42):
of taking on a new light thesedays. He's now with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Let him go shout out Rowan thoughsubscribe to the pot. All I
know is this, you know,I just we have that timeline in our
minds, and in my mind,it's got to work out to the point
that, like, I don't thinkthe six will rush him back. I
don't think that, Like, ifthere's a chance he comes back, like
two games before the playoffs start,I just don't think they're gonna say,

(01:06:05):
all right, let's get him backin there. They know the history with
the Big Man. He's got toget acclimated, got to get conditioned,
and that's probably gonna upset a lotof Sixers fans. Believe me, it
makes me, you know, sickto my stomach. I want the big
Man out there, but he isthe cornerstone of this franchise, best player
in the game when healthy. They'renot going to do anything like that.
That's just the way this franchise operates. So I'm hoping that we're going to

(01:06:26):
get a sliver of good news hereor maybe sometime soon. What's the last
thing you heard about Joell Mbi Gerald. It's really funny. The last thing
I heard was there was a policeI'm going taking him to the airport today
so you can get on a planeto go to Indianapolis to at least be
at the aster game that he wasmoving to. Wow, that's moving,

(01:06:46):
he's moving live. I did notrelying on somebody reliable. I think you're
right, Sean, And now Iknow Trumerard and I kind of had a
disagreement about this as to whether ornot Joel was hurt before he got really
hurt. And the fact is he'sbeen questionable for a while with this kne

(01:07:11):
you know, was he was heplaying hurt and is it the kind of
thing that is just a chronic thingthat he's got to play with, or
was it getting worse and he keptplaying. My personal belief is neither Nick
Nurse, the organization, the trainers, or Joel EMBII himself would put him
out there if they didn't think hewas capable of playing. But by the
same token, he looked so badin that last game, and then of
course body falls on him, andnow we have surgery and he's missing months.

(01:07:35):
So it's hard to say, butI agree Sean, you can't in
any way rush this. He isour current and our future, and if
he's not healthier, they do anythingto risk his health going forward, then
it'll be tragic. So I don'tthink he can rush it. But by
the same token, their only chotto win is with him on the court,

(01:07:55):
So it is a little bit ofa catch. Twenty two and I
haven't heard his status and they don'twant to rush that because he had the
procedure and they want him to healbefore even putting time tables on things.
Now, the good part is we'rein mid February. The bad part is
we're in mid February and he's gotyou know, he's got a short time
period. He literally has two monthsstill to heal. Yep, and that

(01:08:16):
hopefully is enough and to asking alot to both heal and then get back
there and play the way you were. But this guy's amazed me before.
And I think the timetables for isthat length the time for the injury is
good enough, that length the timefor getting back in basketball shape and being
the level that they need him togo through the playoffs? Not so sure,
but I do think we see himbefore playoff basketball. Okay. Interesting

(01:08:41):
and I kind of to piggyback offthat Jerald. So a lot of I
think the outlook for Joel and theSixers being purposely vague about a lot of
this. I think some of ithas just as much to do with where
the team is at with based onwhere Joel at is in his recovery process.
So say things do bottom out andthis team struggles a bit can't can't
keep above water and slip down thestandings. Do you think there's still a
world where Jowell Embiid steps back ontothe floor or do you think that's something

(01:09:04):
that's going to be a huge partof the equation and the decision. Sean,
I think that is a huge partof the equation. I heard you
earlier this week say you know thatyou think they hang on to the five
seed or the sixties, and I'mnot so sure. You know, they
have a tough schedule going forward,and as they are currently constituted, as
you come down the home stretch ofa tough schedule, I don't think this

(01:09:27):
is a five hundred basketball team.So as the teams behind them are fighting
to get higher in those students standingsthat the Indiana's where landos, I'm not
sure they can hold them off becausethey're going to have to win a bunch
of games. They're capable of winninggames every time they step on the floor,
and they've proven that they're has somegreat wins when Cleveland is terrific.
But by the same token, Idon't see this as a five hundred basketball

(01:09:47):
team. So I am really concernedthat in all likelihoods, they're somewhere around
seven and eight, and it's sevenand eight that becomes a very very tough
decision. So look, it's we'reall speculating right now. That's the biggest
problem. And they're not even ifany information to go off of, And
I don't have any acknowledge or orI kind of work it in there a

(01:10:08):
little bit totally, but I don'tbecause nobody really knows right now. They're
really waiting, giving the time hejust said, the procedure not that long
ago, and they'll just wait andheal and seel heels. But you can't.
You can't risk his long term healthfor a short term if there's not
a real good shot of waitning thisyear. You know, I just heard
you say that they're not a fivehundred team when it comes to playing without

(01:10:31):
Joel, and I'm actually a fullagreement of that. You know. It's
just it's tough. There's deficiencies onthis team, and I think part of
it is Joel is so great thathe masks a lot of those when he
is on the floor. But myquestion to you is is the team just
not that good without Joel? Hasthe car? No? I love it,

(01:10:51):
I love it Look, he's ona question, good question. Has
this organization done enough to build theother pieces the compliment nery guys ANSI larry
pieces or is there like maybe oneor two guys that you're looking for in
Joel's absence, to step up andgo the extra mile and go take over
and kind of really help this teamget a float. That question is so

(01:11:13):
good and I could talk with youfor hours about Army man. Army is
polished. I didn't think he wasas polished. Good grief, I'm calling
out. On Tuesday, I watchedI watched every minute of Out the Mud.
By the way, he's a neighbor. He's a neighbor of that.

(01:11:36):
But anyway, it's such a greatquestion. I want I gotta preface this
by saying it, and hopefully he'slistening. Darryl Moury is a fraud.
It is Wow. I was waitingfor somebody, and that was the first
one tonight. I've seen it alot in the timeline though, and and
I think he sucks. And sowhen you look at the roster, you

(01:12:00):
have this, and I know there'sguys who think this all time player,
but certainly generational and special player inJoel Embi, a player that without which
the Sixers might not even be relevant. You know, we're not We're not
probably far from being uh proud thanDetroit Pistons. But but they're not a
real great team without them. Butthat's okay, because you take away the

(01:12:21):
superstar on any team and they suck. But but we are more dependent on
him than any team. And Ihave felt they have missed opportunities. And
Sean Bernard's made the common and thetotal respect for my young friend and his
superior knowledge that the six Yers gotthe best player trading deadline and and he
and I actually agree with him ontrade day. So I think the Knicks

(01:12:45):
in getting o j og and andthe pat moving and and and and you
know, the argument is Bugdanovich,but I'll take heal for the six Yeers
go forward or over that. Butbut did the Sixers do enough to help
themselves or help themselves more than therethan they're you know, teams that they're
battling with even a Rosier going tothe heat. And I don't think they
did. And not only so,Listen, I love the Heal move,

(01:13:08):
loved it. I loved the kidin college. I wanted them to get
him all along, So I'm thrilledhe's here and he's better than we all
thought he was going to be sofar. But the problem is there are
other weird things that Morey did tradedeadline. Why do you trade Springer to
the Boston Celtics? Why tell meokay? And why do you treat Pat
Beverly? Although you know, givethis, give the Bucks anything they want,

(01:13:31):
Doc will screw it up? Doeshe get fired before he coaches?
In the all Adrian Griffin Coach ofthe Year like that? But but then
you see the story that they thoughtthey had a deal for Drummond but it
was going to cost him three secondround picks. Well, are you then

(01:13:51):
really committed this year? Sean.I'm coming back to something you said earlier
this week where where Sean Brace askedyou to grave, you know, like
Paul Reid and you gave him likea B minus for his eighteen twelve rebound
game the other night against Miami,and I'm like, wow, boy's given
it shows it tough greater. Andthe reason I say that is I'll give

(01:14:12):
Paul. Paul's been a bright enoughspot this year, and I really really
like the young man. So it'shard for me to be completely objective.
But in his role as a backupcenter to Joel Embiid, he's very good.
He knows when he's coming. He'scoming in the start of the second
quarter, he's coming in to thestart of the fourth quarter. He's playing
no more than twelve minutes, andhe can play that fine. He cannot
play starting number starting five minutes inthis league. He just can't. Not

(01:14:35):
at a level for a top notchteam. So when he goes up there
and gets eighteen and twelve against theMiami he I actually think he's having a
pretty good game. But it's niceto see if the expectations risen. But
to really compete, Drummond would havebeen a great piece for this team to
fill in the minutes while Joel's gone, and then to be a great,

(01:14:57):
great backup too in the playoffs andmaybe even play somewhe and and to not
want to give up three second roundpicks to make a trade where you're giving
Springer to this UF, you're givingBeverly to the Bucks. I'm saying,
is this guy really all in forthis year? Is he towing to show
he's what he's doing, and thenalso to call him out as the complete
throat he is, and woe's rightwith him. We have known, We've
been able to tell because Sean Brace, you know that I always look to

(01:15:19):
the anatomy of a rumor, andwe can tell that that Woja's Maurice Shill
out there all the time. Thenyou get to loot. He inquired about
Lebron, and he inquired about therip, and he acquired about the booker.
Oh so he wasn't just sitting theredealing with the Daniel Houses. He
was actually trying to get I mean, come on, that's such a that's

(01:15:40):
such a fraud and and it justechoes. So when you say about the
pieces surrounding this team, I havefelt our roster has players, has bodies
as NBA players, but not youknow, when you look at the roster
of the Boston Celtics are the extreme. But look at that roster versus the
six Ers roster because because I'll takeMaxiew's number two, but you're three and

(01:16:01):
four have to be way better thanwhat the six Ers are because they're not
close in comparison to the real championshipteams Yep Gerald, Colton Wax and Poetic
Clark Fernandez check in and if weget Drummond, it's going to be a
hack of Drummond during the mbiadless minutes. Are we agreeing with that with Clark?
Great name Clark. I think youtake it though, Yeah, yeah,

(01:16:23):
yeah, because it's about depth atthis point, right, you know,
we know what their deficiencies are,as you pointed out, great job
on that. RB also makes nosense to me the Bulls lack of motivation
to get a deal done, questioningwhat the hell the Bulls have been doing
for the last two years now,you know, I think I know,
I've been vocal with you, andI think we've been somewhat agreement over the
last year. It's like, whatis your what is your path? They've
made no player trade since twenty twentyone, Like how do you get better?

(01:16:45):
How do you improve? And thisis a team very much stuck in
that basketball purgatory of not being goodenough to compete, not being bad enough
to get a true asset to getbetter, and they're just locked in.
So it doesn't make any sense tome. The lack of motivation on the
Bulls part. So great and andall those guys that they had, they
had that talented nucleus. They're allagy. Levine's value is going down,

(01:17:05):
the erosion is going down, andthey have not taken advantage of it whatsoever.
I could not agree with you more, Jerald, one more from me,
And I'm just curious where you standright now on on as far as
this team and kind of in thismiddle area right now, and then you
know, you could speak a lotabout the fan perspective. You've been down
at the ballpark, the ballyards,the arenas for years now, and my

(01:17:29):
point was, hey, like thisis the time they need us more than
ever and and and look at nofault. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody,
teach their own. We came intothis season with kind of a blase
feel, uh, even though alot there was a lot of new but
here we are now and no dwellingbiidand clearly this team is struggling. And
you know, look the Miami Heatgame, my timeline was empty. Maybe

(01:17:49):
it's the people I followed, maybeit's I was looking, but not a
lot of fanfare at this point intime. What what is something that could
catch the the the average Sixer fanand bring them down to the Wells Fargo
Center I'm sure they're gonna still sellout, but as I said, like
now is the time this needs usor do we fall into that fairweather,
that front runner fan category that JimmyRownes famously said all those years ago.

(01:18:15):
I think it's a little bit inbetween. Sean. I don't think it's
front runners, but I think thesix years fans hearts have been broken for
so long. True, they've beenteased so much, and they have been
there supporting. I mean, look, I railed against the process from the
start. I felt they tempted thefate of basketball guys that would never win,
and nothing's ever happened to convince failthere was still I still want to

(01:18:36):
be wrong by that. But thisis an organization who said, listen,
we're gonna charge your full price,but we're gonna intentionally lose them. Put
the worst product out there for fouryears, and we're gonna tell you we're
trying. And then when we getthese pieces, we're gonna sit there for
a few years, and then we'regonna add all these things to a bad
organization. We're gonna go through abunch of gms who are not committed,
filled up, and we're gonna haveone of our owners, Michael Rubin,

(01:18:59):
become friends with James Harden and bringinghis personal GM and Darryl Mooy and then
Michael's going to tap to sell hisshare and he's still going to hang out
with James Harden. I mean there'sbeen while we're stuck with Maury, I
mean, there have been so manythings they've done to us as fans that
they don't really deserve us. SoI don't want to look at us as
front runners. They owe us,They owe us more of a commitment.

(01:19:20):
And because they because through this wholething, through the process terrible four years,
see them doubling the prices immediately afterit. We have been there and
supported them and they haven't taken useven to the second past the second round
yet, So I don't put iton the fans and we you know,
it's like, you know, forme one shame on you, form what
twice shame on me? Or forme one hundred times shame shame shame on

(01:19:44):
me. And that's what I feellike as a Sixers fan. So what's
the take. We need to seea healthy Joe Embiid step back on that
court and give us some hope forthe for the year. Otherwise it will
be we'll be out in the firstround probably, and then at that point
they'll say, well, if wellwas healthy or whatever, and another year
will have gone by and now he'llbe thirty year old. Joel Embiid,

(01:20:05):
have you played with all these injuries? And that window will be closing even
further than it already is. Ladiesand gentlemen, I mean roaring around of
live standing ovation And yes, niceanswer, Gerald, nice answer. Clearly
what not was was on my mind. That's put things in proper perspective there.

(01:20:28):
That's the way I should be lookingat it. And of course maybe
I need some new follows out thereon the timeline Jerald Colton. Hey,
but there are team there are teams. They are for better word, and
Joel Embiid is this incredible, incredibleplayer. I hate to see his career
go by without getting further than wealready have. Well, it's going,
he's going to advance, but it'sprobably gonna be in a Lakers uniform.
M's just be honest. I couldI can't. Oh, I will watch

(01:20:49):
all better it Just listen, Itake that over. Ah, Yeah,
no, you're right, Well thatwas rumors. Who knows Gerald, you
are the man. Thanks, thankyou for coming out here on a Friday
night. You know we got tohave you when we start talking six ers.
So I'm glad we're able to makethis happen once again RB with us,
He's gonna be doing a lot morebig second half in front of us.

(01:21:12):
Man, we're excited as always.Jerald can't thank you enough my pleasure.
Thanks for having me a greeting guys. Mom, Man, there he
is once again, Jerald Colton.Just to let you know, I believe
he bed two one five. Comingin, he says, how is EMBIID
doing recovery? Jerald just said thelatest he heard dwell, Embid's on his
way to the All Star Game.See he's got a brace on. See
what he's looking like there a littlebit of a I can't say I'm surprised,

(01:21:35):
right, but it makes me feelgood. Yeah. Yeah, where
you guys at? RB? Whereare you at with that news? I'm
hoping and praying. I'm hoping andpraying. That's all I can do at
this point. You know it,man. The one thing I know about
and not to say Jerald is nota credible source, but one thing I've
learned over the years from sixer injuriesis you can't believe anything. Yeah,

(01:21:57):
day to day, rest of theseason gone. You know, I can't
trust anything. I trust issues becauseof the sixth What did I say,
when joellnbiad's healthy, he's hurt.When he's hurt, he's healthy. Yeah,
that's exactly right, Arbi. Lookman, we're battle testede listen,
we've been doing this too, damnlong man. And that's why I really
appreciated that rant. He just letit all off the chest. And you

(01:22:18):
know, even from the way thisb thing was reported, they said on
Saturday, well know Sunday. Yeah, they said on Sunday, we'll know
when they go in and cut hisknee. They went in and cut his
knee, they said, well knowin four weeks. I hate it,
man, give us the scoop.Yeah, it's ridiculous. Great stuff,
Great comments coming in. Sean Benard, your takeaway from Gerald Colton's comments there.

(01:22:38):
Yeah, I totally agree with thetake from RB there about that we
have no clue and it is frustrating, and I think it would make everyone
look better if there was the moretransparency or a little bit of trust there,
even if they went as far asto say, like, hey,
we're not one hundred percent share yetwe're going to go into surgery. We're
not sure the extent of what therecovery timeline will look like after that.
That's fine, just say that,like be open about that, and there
is a lack of trust there.I'm still more optimistic than most about Joel

(01:23:01):
Embiid, And my biggest reasoning forthat is number one, I don't think
we really ever see this guy fullyhealthy that I think he's constantly battling through
some sort of knee ailment or kneeinjury or whatever. This that moving injury
on his body is think it's extremelyrare that he's a remotely close to one
hundred percent and he still finds away to play through it. And then
the part of that is the bestpotential route to getting that one hundred percent

(01:23:23):
Joell Andbiaid in the playoffs could verywell him being hurt at that specific point
in the season that if all goesaccording to plan, he recovers and say
six to eight weeks, comes backfor the two week ramp up and then
it's playoff time. That could workout perfectly for this team. Yes,
that's the entire best case situation,but it's still one that's on the table.
I want to respond to that tooby saying, I think we've realized

(01:23:44):
that Joel's greatness actually could be adownfall. And it's nothing against Joel,
but think about it. At thatpoint, how do you build this team?
Do you bring in another guy thatcan give you twenty five a night?
Is that the answer? Because Idon't think there's any getting better than
what we saw from joellenbid the year, not this year. He elevated to
that level, and here we areat the ulcer break wondering if he's going

(01:24:04):
to play again. I think theonly thing he can improve on is what
three points? Three pointers? Right, I'll take he's improved on that is
he shot this year Yese? Solike, do we get to the point
where we say, man, maybeit's time to take a step back,
Maybe it's time to put more burdenon ty Reese and get another guy in

(01:24:24):
here, and you know, maybemake Joeellen to a twenty ten and and
you know ten guy or something likethat to try to take some of that
that burden. All to the creditof Daryl, I think he was a
little harsh on Darryl right, Ido. I give Darryl a little bit
much harsher than that. Yeah,that was pretty strong. He is correct
on the leaking and all that.And Darryl does play politics as far as

(01:24:45):
the timeline is concerned and all that, and he's a little too active for
my liking. But still I don'tcare. I thought he did a great
job. He's got a lot ofpluses. Right, Like the Horford I
never thought they were getting out ofthat contract. Maybe they should have.
I don't know. He sucked withus, but he's great with Boston.
Who knows. But like, he'sgot a lot of pluses. Is he's
perfect? No? But you know, I look at Daryl Moorey. He

(01:25:05):
got harded in here. He rolledthe dice there. Harden had his moments
in that game in that series againstBoston, disappeared for the other four.
It is what it is. We'llfind out if he's still the James Harden
experience, as you coined with theClippers coming up here in April. But
you know, the Ben Simmons move. We can all have be revisionist history.
It'd have been great with Tyrese Haliburton, you know, But he did

(01:25:27):
what he had to do there madethat happen. So there's a lot of
pluses with Daryl Marris. So Iwant to be fair about that, and
I'm I'm highly critical of him andalso working out of past mistakes, the
way that he's done with a lotof this that this current roster this offseason,
when there is all this cap space, this is the first chance of
it's Daryl to build the team ashe sees it. Unfortunate thing is who
we getting? Sure? Yes?Is there any chance Trey Young comes a
philiate? Is that bad? No? Do you guys care like? I

(01:25:50):
don't know, I don't see it. Yeah, because he's got the whole
he can push where he wants togo. I mean, he's a superstar
right as a star, right,you know star? Yeah, but he'll
be hell. I think he findsthis way to Los Angeles is though.
But the thing about the NBAS younever know just because there's we have the
list of free agents, that's notwho's going to be available come summertime.

(01:26:10):
So you know what it comes downto. Man, And I've had this
conversation recently a bunch of times.You just got to draft better. I
mean I put it on Twitter lastweek or x I said, there's only
three guys on this roster that weredrafted by the Sixers, and oh,
funny enough, they're the only threeguys that are scheduled to be under contract.
Maybe one of them won't even beif the Sixers don't make it past
the first round. You have thatmany draft picks lined up from the process

(01:26:32):
days and going through, and threefirst rounders this year and two first and
two seconds, you're left with nothingthat has to be where you build These
good teams draft well, yeah,and until you get past that. And
I actually am not as mad atDaryl Moore as other people say, but
you have to draft. Well,that's what it comes down to. Could
you give me what who else drafts? Well? Who else should we be

(01:26:54):
aiming at to be more like?Does Golden State draft? Well, they've
only had so many picks in thelast couple of years. They still got
the Brandon Putchevski's, the Jonathan Kaminga. Is this next generation of guys coming
up they've missed. They've had theirJames Wiseman situations and opportunities which they haven't
struck on as well. The MiamiHeat another team that finds something out of
nobody. Jim Hawkes this year beenthe top five rookie and is a guy

(01:27:15):
that slipped way farther than he can. So the Heat or another team that
I think add talent, well,a lot of teams that work in Markleston,
Yeah, Boston, even the Grizzlies. The way that they've made their
homegrown group is really impressive. Soa lot of teams. It's not the
easiest. The draft is not justa clear equation on who the best players
are, but got to just bebetter than the sixers happened. No,
you're right about that, RB,and it's one thing where I would say

(01:27:38):
it's like it's the NBA and it'sreally tough to hit right. But look,
you know sometimes you need a littleluck. And whether or not it
had something to do with no tournamentthat Tyree Sma actually played in, bottom
line is we got a little luckythere, and sure you know that's that's
what we need at this point intime. Couldn't agree with you more as
far as drafting better, Well,this has been awesome ninety minutes. But

(01:28:00):
sixers on a Friday night. Ican't thank you enough. But we're not
ending just yet because when we dosome live stuff. We often do a
thing called slap that bag. Butsince I don't have the bag in front
of the RB, what we're gonnado is a little rapid fire. All
right, I got ten questions forthe boys here, Sean Benard, you
can go first, all right.Question number one, rapid fire right here,

(01:28:24):
six Ers roundtable on a Friday.EH one play from this season that
you immediately ran to Twitter and tweetedabout. One play, probably that MAXI
step back within that fifty point game, that snatch step back and hit that
three pointers. Specifically, it's inhis bag pretty regularly, but in that
moment, to me if that wasone of them, is that was the

(01:28:45):
next step play? RB? Ooh. The other night Kelly Ubra had maybe
the best block I've ever seen.Swadded into next year. Nice Kellyubrace first
mentioned right now we go, allright, RB, back to you,
Darryl Morey in one word, chaoticunique. I like that. Nice work

(01:29:08):
by both of you on that one. Question number three in honor of JJ
Rennick getting the call up, SeanMinard, your favorite NBA announcer, uh,
Mike Breen for sure, give methe Mike Breen And by the way.
I think that Doc Rivers will beavailable come final, so I don't
think they had to rush that out. Nice RB, your favorite NBA announcer.

(01:29:29):
I gotta go Mike Breen as well. He's iconic, man. I
mean that's just a voice, youknow. Yeah, No, I can't
wait to see JJ was incredible.I liked him and r J, and
you know, JJ's earned it andhe's very smart and opinionated. So I'm
looking forward to having him out there. Shout out Doris and Mike Breen on
that one. All right, questionnumber four back over to you are be
favorite sixer of all time? MI'll go with these one. Ai Ai

(01:29:56):
Yeah, that's pretty much where Iam as well. I could have said
no Ai, no Jojo. Andif I did say that to you,
what do you say, Shamanard?If I did no A, I know
Jojo hmmm. Joel would have beenmy answer here. Beyond that, I'm
trying to get creative, but itmight just be Maxy. It might have
to be Maxy. He's the guythat gives me a joy watching him play
basketball that very few have. Sothe freedom, freedom that he plays with

(01:30:17):
give me. That's a good answer. I like that yeah, big smile
on his face. That dude isalways smiling. All right, back to
you, Shamanard Wells Fargo moment.You were there for your favorite one,
the seventy point Army. Isn't thesame for you? Yeah, true story.
I hit up Shavinard the night before. It was a Monday night game.

(01:30:40):
I hit him up on Sunday night. I said, dude, you
want to go to the game.You know I'm dying. Let's go see
wim Bey And He's like, I'malready going with RB. Joel breaks the
record the greatest performance in the seventysix in uniform. I man, my
man, awesome. All right,back over to you, RB, big
second half for whom Buddy heel,Buddy Hugh, good answer, good answer,

(01:31:05):
Seaman Arden. I'll be optimistic andgo Tobias Harris here. This is
more of a need than a beliefhere. But it's got to be Tobias
time that you know, for allthe complaining about the role change for mister
assassin scorer, let's go see it. All right back to you, Benard.
Your favorite sports video game two K. It's straight up is two K.
I used to be real good attwo K, but I've falling off

(01:31:26):
getting active on the sticks. Butyeah, two K for me is the
way RB. You a gamer.I I'm a big two K guy.
But since you already picked it,I will go with I'll go with Madden
Nice. Yeah, classic and shoutout to EA Sports. I believe the
sports picking out the new college.Yeah, we're already working. Yeah,
we're working behind the scenes to geta little something going on as far as

(01:31:47):
a tournament. All right, finalquestion, r v RB, excuse me
to you your favorite sixer NBA follow? Does that be specific to a six
ers seventy six ers slash NBA follow? On the timeline is who go with
my guy? Man out the mud, out the because never know what to

(01:32:10):
expect man, Yeah, sham Banard, who you plugging? I'll get I'll
throw the till bro dude nice,I'll give him the love here follow so
the memes the it's a wide range. You're getting, Yes, slop season
man Classic, Hey right here?My two favorite follows easy once again,
Shan Bernard, Sean underscore Bernard one. That's the number one RB Philly take

(01:32:35):
Oh, I pulled that out ofmy shirt. I pulled that out of
my many. I can't thank youboys enough. Man, this was easy.
This was fun. And shout outto Devank given, shout out to
Jerald Colton, shout out to aB for rolling through, and shout out
to all of you for checking inthis evening. This was a ton of
fun. Final thoughts wrapping up thirtyseconds. Anything you want to get off

(01:32:59):
your chest? RB. Yeah.Wait, with everything we've talked about,
as frustrated as we are, asconfuse and hopeful that we are, I
will say, man, Philly teamsperform better when they are the underdog.
Yeah, let's go into this playoffswith nothing to prove full deck. Let's
just go in playing with house money. We've seen Nick Nurse do it before.
I believe that he can outsmart anyof these coaches, and that is

(01:33:23):
what I'll ride my money with,even if Joel's in or out. Let's
have fun, man, that's funwith it. As Meek just said,
Amen on that one. I likethat. I'm with you, Nick Nurse.
I'm a believer in him. Shamanardthirty seconds. Yes, send some
prayers to Joel Embids and that iswhat this all rides on to me,
that if he can return fully healthy, I do believe this is the most
well rounded or Joel Embiid specific squadthat he has had. So if that

(01:33:45):
can just come together, if wecan get Joel playing remotely close the way
he played his start this season,the team's got a fighting chance. So
prayers up for the recovery to thebig fella. All right, thirty seconds
for me, it's really easy.Subscribed to our YouTube channel at Fox Sports
to Gambler. Of course, ifyou're following us and tuning in, please
subscribe to ourb's channel. We arelinked up together here, so nice and

(01:34:08):
easy. On that one live Mondaythrough Friday, three to six pm.
Shamanard does an unbelievable job. We'regonna be getting RB involved more, especially
throughout the course of the second half, and folks, MAXI on the mic,
it's an iHeartRadio podcast. Let's supportthe man Tomorrow night Skills Challenge and
then of course on Sunday, let'sgo. It's pretty cool to see him

(01:34:29):
out there. Oh yeah, awesomefor OURB For sham Bnard, I am
Sean Brace. Thank you very mucheveryone for tuning in. We'll be back
at it on Monday. You cancatch the replay if you missed it.
We'll have a podcast at at FOXPHLGambler dot com. Everybody enjoy Friday night,
stay dry, and if you don'thave to leave the house, don't
because it's supposed to smell. Peacespreads totals and all the prop that's in

(01:34:56):
between. It's the Gambler.

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