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February 25, 2025 54 mins

Super Bowl Reflections
Tush Push
Free Agents 

Sixers
Embiid Confrontation
Bad Culture
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Yeah, that's the big dog hunt logan. Everybody. Welcome to
another episode of the Philly Pulse. Your city Sports Speed.
I'm Joe Staysach my man right there, Sean Lockner, how
you doing, my friend, good shoe.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
It feels it feels like baseball season upon us.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, you bats from all the way up here and
the smell of the grass and you know, well, we'll
get to Phillies. I have some thoughts on the Phillies.
I'm sure you do as well, as well as the
fledgling seventy six ers. Eight losses in a row and
they were down fifty at home last night.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
And gets a team that lost six in a row.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
What's that? Yeah, team that lost six in a row.
They're a mess. They're just that whole situation is a mess. Well,
Marcus Hay's coming on. Actually, gonna bring him on right now.
We'll start talking about I'm going to talk about some Eagles.
There's still some things lingering that I think are a
little important, and we'll talk with him. He's from the
Philadelphia Inquiring DAILI News. Let's bring on my man right now.

(00:58):
Last time we talked to him, he was in New Orleans.
There he is fine looking man from Syracuse University bringing
him in. There he is, and there he is. What's up? Brother?
Here you go? What's up, Marcus? How you doing, bud
as Marcus? He's Ladies and gentlemen, Philadelphia Inquiry and Daily News,

(01:19):
longtime writer, award winning writer. How you doing? Poal good?

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Good? How are you guys?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Good Man good? I don't talk to you since the
Super Bowl? Man? How was it down there? You went
over the whole week, laid it out. Was it gratifying?
Was it tiring and exhausting? Was it because they won
so big and the mood was different? Anything? Anything different
down there this year than the other ten times you
covered it.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
No, I mean I don't care if they win or lose.
It was a It was a fun game to cover
because you could write your story at halftime, right, story
about the dead line. And it was because I have
been so sort of involved with Andy Reid and the
Chiefs ever since he left here. It was easy for

(02:05):
me to be sort of sort of had that What
does Nick Nick Sirianni call it a view from thirty
thousand feet?

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Sure, all week long, you know, talking to the offensive
line coach and talking to Steve Spagnola, you know, you
have those relationships built. You know, you're sort of comfortable
with that franchise, and you know, both teams having been
there recently, not just against each other, but been in
that circumstance. You know, more than half of both the

(02:35):
rosters that were there two years ago made it made
it made it easy to deal with them because they
were comfortable. And but you know, from a reporter's standpoint,
and this might not really interest your audience very much,
but from a reporters standpoint, covering something like the Olympics
or a super Bowl or one of these protracted, sort

(02:56):
of long events, the the biggest issue is logistics and
the media center, most of the media hotels, and the
two team hotels, and the super Dome we're all within
walking distance. So it was really really easy to cover
really from every aspect. And one, I think this is
our third super Bowl since two thousand, the two thousand

(03:20):
and two season or two thousand and one season, the
early two thousand and two when the Patriots won their
first after nine to eleven. And town to begin with,
and it's a great convention town. I think it's got

(03:42):
third largest conven knows how to be a good host
or super you know, super stoked that they enjoyed the
experience if they went of being in New Orleans and
their team won. But it could have been a terrible game,
and it still would have been a wonderful experience for
the people covering it, especially the people who don't really
have a horse in the race, you know, the national media,
the you know the big papers, big radio stations and

(04:05):
big podcasts, stuff like that. It was really well done.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
What'd you think? I mean, I was surprised it was
that there was such a blowout, I mean thirty four
to nothing with a minute or so left in the
third quarter, twenty four to nothing at the half, and
they they didn't let Patrick do anything and he was
completely flum mixed. He looked like he was unraveling and
just happy feet and ghosts and proceived pressure and real

(04:30):
pressure and he was lost, which we don't see much
from Patrick Mahomes and the Eagles just they got They
saved their best two games for last and that was
It was a pretty impressive way to end it. What
did you think of that?

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yes they did. They peaked at the right time, and
I guess I thought they would be up by about
seventeen points in the fourth quarter, and then they'd win
by about seven. You know, that's how the I didn't
think they'd be up by thirty Yeah, I didn't think
they'd be up by thirty four points with you know,

(05:06):
sixteen minutes to play. But I don't think I took
I don't think I understood how bad the offensive line
was going to be for Kansas City. We wrote a
little bit about it, we talked a little bit about it,
but they were just totally, you know, overmatched. The Eagles
didn't have to blitz to sack Patrick Mahomes six times.
It was really remarkable showing of strength versus weakness. And

(05:29):
that's really the story of the game. The Eagles offense
wasn't super prolific. They scored forty points, but you know,
fourteen or seventeen of those points really could be attributed
to the defense. So, I mean, Andy Reid has a
well coached team, and Patrick Mahomes is the best player,
maybe the best player we've ever seen. But when you

(05:51):
can't protect your quarterback, when you don't have time to
throw and you don't have weapons like Tyreek Hill or
a prime Travis Kelcey You're not going to be able
to keep up the team that can put you know,
thirty five points on you in three quarters. You know
that said, I mean, I know it sounds like I'm
diminishing what the Eagles are and were. This is the best.

(06:13):
This is the second best team in Philadelphia sports history.
The best team was the eighty three sixers, really serving
and Moses Malone and you know Mo Cheeks, you know
three Hall of Three. You know, sixty percent of the
starting lineup we're hall right, and sixty percent of the
Eagles lineup is not Hall of famers. That said, this

(06:37):
is the best team. It has the best players. The
coaching was spectacular. You know, nobody has ever coached a
team better than you know, Doug Doug Peterson and Jim
Schwartz were not as good a combination as Kellen Moore
and Vic Fangio. They're just not you know, uh, Jalen
Hurts may go down is the Eagles greatest quarterback. You know,

(07:00):
it's a low bar. I don't mean to disrespect Donovan
or Randall or anyone else. It's a low bar. But
he probably will if he plays five or six more years,
just off what he's done. So far go down in
history is the Eagles greatest quarterback. This is by far
the best offensive line they've ever had. Lane Johnson's the
best offensive lineman. Jordan me up my lot I had

(07:21):
a better year than Lane. You know, Lane Johnson has
arguably the greatest Eagle ever. And you know that that young,
dynamic defense it was it was a really interesting mix
of an old, krusty coach and Vicki who lost the
team in Miami last year, you know that reason. But

(07:41):
the season before, walking into a situation where you had
two very humbled defensive tackles from Georgia and Uh Jordan
Davis and Jalen Carter, and two very eager defensive backs
who were rookies in Cooper de Gene and Quinnon Mitchell
UH safety in CJ. Gardner. Johnson is trying to rehabilitate himself,

(08:05):
Darius Slay, a cornerback and old guy you know, hoping
to you know, hoping to get another year out of himself.
And you had, you know, two linebackers and too, Kobe
Dean and Zach Bond, who were desperate to sort of
make a name for themselves as every down linebackers. And

(08:26):
then you had ed rushers and Josh Sweat who's eligible
for a contract, Nolan Smith who needs to prove himself,
j Alex Hutt who needs to prove himself, and Milton
Williams a defensive tackle slash end who's you know, hoping
to cash in. And Brandon Graham on a retirement a
retirement tour, and you know, until the twelfth game, then

(08:46):
the Super Bowl. So it was really a perfect storm
for Vic Fangio. Everybody was eager to buy in to
maximize what the team could do, to maximize themselves. So
I don't mean to diminish the Eagles did, but the
Chiefs weren't nearly as good as I thought they were
going to be.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
Sure, sure, and now it comes down to how do
you keep it together going forward? So Marcus, I ask you,
out of some of those big names that you named,
do you do you think they keep any of them.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
From I think they'll definitely keep one of them, and
I think from my perspective the one. You know, this
is sort of the the paradox. Last year, we went
into the off season saying, Okay, they need a running back,
which bargain basement running back? Are they going to get
and they went and spent a lot of money on
Saquon Barkley because we expected them to get a discount

(09:37):
a good guy. Because Howie Roseven and the Eagles don't
like spending money in draft picks on top flight running backs. Well,
I think they're kind of in a similar situation now
in that Zach Vaughn is due for a pretty good payday,
but they don't like spending draft picks or significant money
on the linebacker position. But I think he's I think

(09:58):
he's different, and I think they're in a situ where
they don't really have much choice but to prioritize Zach
Bond because he's really the middle. He's he's kind of
the the center of that defense. He's the guy that
sort of makes it work, makes it go. He's only
played five years. He's probably got three or four absolute
peak years ahead of him. He doesn't have a lot

(10:19):
of wear and tear at this point. Linebackers are usually
peaked and going downhill, but he played almost none in
New Orleans for four years. He's a special teamer and
at the end he was a specialty pass rusher.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Guys that have like seven thousand yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, so you're He's probably a better investment at that
position than the typical guy in his situation would be.
And I think he's more important than Milton Williams, who
you know, since today he was drafted. I was a
Milton william guy. I don't know if you guys remember
the famous Howie Roseman sort of dust up with Tom
Donaho at draft night where they drafted what's that his hands? Yeah,

(11:04):
and he wouldn't give him the fist bump because he
didn't want to take Milton Williams in that spot. And
now Milton Williams is probably gonna get eighty million dollars
in his second deal right over a third round pick.
So trust me, I'm a big Milton Williams fan. I
hope he does well. I don't think the Eagles can
afford to have him do well here because they've invested
so much in that position already. They have two starters

(11:26):
and they have Moro Jono who's done really, really well.
So I think the guy for me is probably Zach Bahn,
and it's kind of a perfect marriage. You know, this
is a town that loves its running backs and linebackers.
You know they this town will never accurately gauge the
value of a running back or a linebacker, because they

(11:47):
will always overvalue what they do. They will think they're
too good because they love linebackers and running backs. But
this running back, obviously is You can't say enough about
Saquon Barkley, and Zach Bonn shows incredible promise. I think
there's a there's there's a metric in Pro Football Focus
where you take a linebacker's overall defense, and among linebackers

(12:10):
who played like almost every game and almost every snap,
he was ranked number one. Think about some of the
linebackers out there. He was ranked number one as an
overall linebacker. And the thing that surprised me about him
was his past coverage numbers were excellent, his his tackling
numbers were good, and his run stopping numbers were very,

(12:31):
very good. And I was surprised because I i what
I saw. I didn't see him make a lot of
plays in the passing game, and I didn't see him
I didn't feel like he was blanketing guys right, But
he was doing a much better job than I thought.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
You mentioned William's gonna make a lot of money, and
they don't like spending, and not that they have a
lot of money because they allocated in other areas. But
I'm hearing and again could be hyperbole, but you know
Howard's pretty aggressive. What about and we talked about this
before and I think we've all came to the conclusion
probably no, because they're gonna have to trade for him.

(13:08):
But Miles Garrett, any chances because they let Mill Williams
go and maybe Josh Schwet go, that they put some
money into him and have to package something for him.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
I just don't see the benefit. I mean, you would
have to. It would probably cost you, what two first
round picks or you know, so there's that. Then you
have to pay him on top you have to pay
him what he's out on top of that. I just
don't I mean, that's not the way they have done
things in the past. A J. Brown was a two

(13:38):
first round picks, you know what I'm saying. AJ Brown
was a first round pick and one hundred million dollars.
But I was surprised that they did that. They were right,
he's the best receiver in the history of the team.
But I was surprised they did that given the given
all of what they've invested in that position over the past.

(13:58):
Three seasons or so. I would be surprised if they
think they need to add Miles Garrett to return to
the super Bowl. I think they're much more interested in
having a chance to return to the super Bowl for
the next five years than sort of putting all their
eggs in a basket for like a two year window.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Gotcha.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
I love for them that signed bond in Becton rather
than keeping bond and getting Miles.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
I mean that would that would be.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
My beton gonna you think gonna be here do a
big pay day.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
He's doing big payda And I'm always leery of guys
who arrive as damaged goods or uh, diminished value. Guys
Kay Beckten wasn't in shape in New York and Mkai
Beckton refused to move positions in New York. Right, he
only did that he got in shape and moved positions.

(14:55):
What his career was at risk. I'm always leary of
guys who do that. You know, who changed their behavior desperation,
you know what's going happened when they're not You know,
you're five years in you kind of are what you
are or you're not. And God bless him, you know,

(15:18):
I don't and We also have to realize that Makai
Beckton only started because Tyler Steen, who had the job,
got hurt. You know, he got he got a ley pipped.
So Tyler Steen is still in a contract. Stein is
oftensibly still a good player. So I don't think they
have any any qualms about going forward with Tyler Steen.

(15:40):
And we don't know whether Tyler Steen would not have
been as good as Makai Beckton, who's pretty good. I mean,
the story here to me is that it's not that
Mackai Beckton not to you know, diminish. You know, the
idea of return. Certainly, continuity is important. Keeping a guy
who everybody likes to be here is wonderful. I just

(16:01):
think he's going to be too expensive for for the
amount of for what you get out of him, considering
what you already have. But the real story with McKai
Beckton is not Makai Beckton came here and played great.
The story is Makai Beckton, who is a first round tackle,
eventually moved to guard and became professional enough to start

(16:22):
on team. Well when another guy got hurt, Mkai Beckton
didn't go to the Pro Bowl. You know, Mkai Beckton
should be going to Pro Bowls, but he didn't go
to the Pro Bowl moving to Guard his fifth or
sixth year in the league. He played well enough so
he stayed in the league. And you know, if there
are three or four teams out there that think that

(16:43):
he is the kind of player that can start for
them for the next four years, and they're willing to
pay him for that, God bless them. But the Eagles
have already They've got to extend they they're able to
extend Cam Jergens, who's a Pro bowler. They just paid
Landon Dickerson, they just paid Jordan Malatta, and they've got
two more years of Blane Johnson. They've got a lot
of assets and money invested in that offensive line to

(17:06):
you know, spend real money on a guy like Makai Becton,
who was fine and you know, who had play who
flashed on certain plays, but he was all He was
very much Makai Beckton on some plays too, Okay.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
And that's interesting. I never really thought about the whole
taking over for Tyler Steen and never crossed my mind
with that whole process.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah, I know, he's waiting to get back there, and
of course you got Staltlin, who can turn anybody into
it seems like so, I mean, I could see where
that makes sense. Marcus with the money, he might be
asking again. And since you're talking about the offensive line
and the continuity they're going to have, you know, their
signature play even more infamous or famous than the Philly

(17:45):
Special has become the Tush Push. Packers obviously didn't farewell
against it, and they put a proposal together see if
they can ban it. Came up two years ago when
it was dismissed. What are your thoughts on the Toush
Push this year and if that game against the Commanders
is gonna have any negative effects against it?

Speaker 3 (18:06):
You know, it reminds me of and you guys will
get a kick out of this reminds me of when
Andy Reid was in love with the shovel pass.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Remember remember the shovel pass every time they were inside
like the five or the three. Yeah, it worked a lot.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
The shovel pass. So it's the reason it reminds me
is because you know, the Eagles have kind of fixated
on it, and the way that Andy fixated on the
shovel pass. There was no shovel pass controversy, so that
was a horrible segue into my uh into my answer. Sorry.

(18:41):
The answer is anybody who's complaining about illegal play a
play that is legal, they're just cry babies whining they
should be. I mean, it's embarrassing Sean McDermott talking about
I think guys get you know, people get hurt on
the play. The guys jumping over the line of scrimmage,

(19:04):
hurt the quarterback, you.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Know, lining upside.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
I mean the concept of like, okay, we're gonna have
these guys move two yards and this is more likely
to cause an injury than a kickoff or a long
pass or somebody going over the middle. This is probably
the safest play in the history of football. The only
way you're gonna get hurt is if somebody tries to
hurt you. Somebody tries to twist your face mask, which

(19:31):
we've seen. Somebody tries to spear you, which we've seen.
Somebody tries to punch you, which we've seen. But these
are all defensive gambits to stop something because they can't.
Old time football was this, you know, regardless of somebody
pushing you or not pushing you. Then I know that
the rule used to exist. It no longer exists. It's

(19:52):
just it's a dumb a conversation to have. It's like saying, okay,
in the with the Dolphins of the nineteen eighty right, Okay,
you can only you can only have one guy go deep.
You can't stop three guys going deep. So it's either
duper or you know whatever. It's just a stupid conversation.

(20:13):
But it's not illegal. It is effective. And this is
the reason. The reason that people are upset about it
is not because the Eagles are successful with it and
defenses can't stop it. It's because no one else is
successful with it. Right, Think about it. Think about this.
The Eagles have invested you know what, seventy million dollars

(20:35):
in my lata, sixty million dollars in Dickerson. They're gonna
invest another sixty or seventy in Cam Jurgens, who's the
second round pick, and Lane Johnson's first round pick, who's
earned about one hundred and fifty million dollars. Okay, Saquon
Barkley and a Brown is a monster receiver. You know

(21:07):
who's who's gonna be our fifty million dollars. These are
the tush push people, plus your two hundred fifty million
dollars six hundred pounds squat and quarterback money for this
advantage on you. It's not the Eagles fault of a monster,
a monster receiver and a monster running back and you
can't keep him from gaining a yard and a half.

(21:31):
That that's not you. That's not their problem. That's your problem.
Coach better. You know they spend a lot of time
working on this, you know. I remember talking to Jason
Kelce about the tush push and it was his least
favorite thing he ever practiced ever, and he loved the practice.
He hated practices push. But it's hard work. It's a
hard thing to do, and nobody else, nobody else practices

(21:52):
like they do. Nobody else runs it like they do.
So quit your whining. It's it's really embarrassing. I feel embarrassed.
Like if I don't know, if you read them Illi
Mouth Green Bay Packers statement or they saw Sean mcgermott
whining about it, oh.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Band six times in the AFC title game. He only
converted to But like, what's she complained about? There's no injuries?
I thought it was is the cults complaining about the
deflated balls in a forty five seven loss to the Patriots.
I thought that it was I thought that was embarrassing.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
I disagree with that. I was. I was a big
deflate gate guy really, matter of fact, yeah I was.
I was like one of the very first guys who
understood exactly what they did. And I don't really care
as much about the balls being deflated or whatever. There
it's an advantage. If you've ever played backyard football, of
course you want. It's a couple of pounds light. It's
really fun to play with, right, I really care about that.

(22:50):
What I care about is the Patriots covering it up
and Tom Brady destroying his cell phone right right, the
corcting justice. If there's nothing there, then you don't need
to do that stuff they do. They cheated, they knew
they got caught, and they're so braceless and so arrogant
that that era of Patriots they were. They they they
treated the rest of the league like they didn't matter.

(23:12):
And that's the thing that got me riled more than
anything else. I mean, it's an open and shut case.
There's there's proof that they did it. Whether or not
it's a big deal is up to debate. But if
they just admitted they did it. They're not losing draft
picks and getting guys out.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
They should have said yeah, well, you know, because other
guys were coming out and saying, yeah, I'd do them
a little harder. I'd go a little to two pounds up.
Rady goes two pounds down. But yeah, you're right, and
that that's that becomes where everyone to cover up. It's
usually worse than that.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
And to the to the coasts. In the Coats defense,
the league made a much bigger deal of it than
the Colts did. Like the Colts mentioned it, and the
league took pardon the phrasing, but the League took the
ball and ran with it. And the Patriots did everything
in their power to make it as bad as it
possibly could be.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
It they went to court and all the trials. I
can see Brady walking in his shot. I'm like, are
you guys kidding me with this? You guys can't can't.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Well here's and here's the other thing. That's kind of
like the audacity and arrogance of the Patriots in that era.
When that was I think that was twenty fifteen Super
Bowl right in Arizona, Yeah against Yeah, that was the Marshall.
That was the Marshall's marsh knock the butler. Right. So

(24:30):
back then, when the teams landed on Sunday night, there
was a press conference, and the coach and the quarterback
spoke at this press conference, right just to give the
people who were there something or reason to something right
for the next day Sunday for Monday. That they don't
do that anymore.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Now.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
It's like the first time you see him as media
and I think, I'm not sure. So anyway, Sunday night,
the Patriots get in and Robert Kraft, not Bill Belichick,
and not Tom Brady. Robert Kraft comes to the press conference,
addresses the media and demands an apology from the NFL
and Roger Goodell a week after they did it, a

(25:09):
week after they were busted. It was the most arrogant,
audacious thing I've ever seen in my life. I was like,
are you kidding? They haven't even investigated you yet. And
I knew they had, Like I know how they tested
the balls. You know they tested them at halftime. You
know they got them, they fixed it whatever. They were
caught red handed, and this guy wanted an apology. I

(25:29):
was like, like, I couldn't. I couldn't process.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
I didn't even remember that, did he really?

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yeah? It was, it was It was ridiculous. I've never
seen anything that arrogant, you know, you know that didn't
have politics to deal you know, that didn't deal with
international or national politics. Somebody somebody being that arrogant, and like,
you know what, not only am I guilty, I'm guilty,

(25:56):
but you owe me an apology? What are you talking about?
Not like an Eagles fan? You know, a spygate was worse.
It was a worse thing to do, and they did
that with arrogance right after a memo. But the whole,
the whole Patriots dynasty for me, has always been tainted
by winning at any cost, cheating. And you have the

(26:20):
best coach, you your best quarterback, you don't need to.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Cheat to cheat. Yeah, you see, the documentary went into
Balochick's opficer and how much does this give us an advantage?
It's about one percent. He's like, you're a schmuck for
one percent, like the like the spygate thing, it's just yeah, well,
we also want to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
About does it go well? I mean, does the touch
push go away?

Speaker 3 (26:45):
I don't think so. I mean, they've had this discussion before.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
They've had it before.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
I think nothing has changed. So I think it's just.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
What I thought. I'm writing a story. I'm I hope
it's all right if I use you some of the
things you said, because I thought the same thing. It's
not that they can't stop it, but no one else
can do it. If everyone else was doing it at
a successful rate, no one's complaining about it, right.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
I thought it was really interesting earlier when Sirianni was interviewed, UH,
someone mentioned about, you know, injuries during it, and he
came out and he said, he was like, well, I'm
pretty much sure we've never had an injury as much
as we've run.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
The only injuries I know of the Giants against the
Eagles tried it once and they got two guys injured.
But they then they came out after him and said,
we don't we've never practiced it wet.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
And then Chris Jones, I mean, if you look, he's
he's lined upside.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
So I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
I don't I hope it doesn't go away, but I
don't know. Every year, I feel like the more and
more that it's brought up, eventually it's gonna I don't know.
I guess we shall see.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
We shall see. Let's talk some Sixers, Marcus, because I
know you cover them. They're beyond a train wreck right now.
Joel Embiid with maybe the arthritic condition, I don't even
think it's operable from what I'm hearing. But can we
go back a little bit you've had if this is okay,
you had an issue with him one night, and can

(28:09):
you talk about that a little bit?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
I mean he had an issue with me, That's what
That's what I mean.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
There was an issue.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, he threatened me and he assaulted me, and he
was suspended for three games for doing those things.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
Out of the blow when you show you in the
locker room.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Well, no, I was told that some people in the organization.
So I wrote a story during training camp or early
in the season talking about how if Joel Embiid wanted
to create a legacy for his son, who he named
after his deceased brother, then he should, you know, be
professional and show up and play hard and not be

(28:46):
out of shape. So I wrote two subsequent columns as
Joel Embiid continued to not be available to play, and
after the third one from someone from the six Er ship.
People down here aren't happy with the original column. I
was like, well that was two weeks ago, but whatever,
I'll come down to the next game. So I went
to the next game, and after the game, Joel Embiid,

(29:08):
who's hurt and wasn't playing, was waiting for me in
the locker room to threaten me. And when I said,
you can threaten me all you want, but I'm kind
of gonna write whatever I want, he he hit me.
So he really right, yeah, And so that's why he
got suspended. The NBA did an investigation within twenty four hours,

(29:29):
and within forty eight hours he suspended for three games
without pay. Now those one of those games, I think
are is a game that he might have been able
to play in. So it really cost him and the
team one game because I don't think he was coming
back right after that. Anyway, that said, you know, I
have not written anything differently because of that sense, And

(29:55):
I wrote a column yesterday talking about I have talked
to several doctors about his knee and his foot. You
remember his foot was injured as well, sort of getting
into the weeds of what do they think is probably happening.
Then I talked to some people in the league and
on the team, and I said, this is what these
doctors think, and they said this is all correct. And
the upshot of all of this is Joel Embiid's in

(30:16):
a situation. As far as we know right now, there's
more testing yesterday and today. As far as we know
right now, he has not aggravated the injury. He has
not re injured it. He doesn't have a new injury.
He's just having a hard time getting used to getting
used to the repair of the original injury. Now, the
Sixers and Joel Embiid will tell you that you can't

(30:38):
prove that playing in the Olympics affected the timeline, But
they can also tell me the sun's coming up in
the West tomorrow. If you're injured and you play basketball
and two months later you're out of shape and can't
play basketball, but you're coming off an injury, then playing
on it did something to set you back. Maybe you

(31:01):
played too much, Maybe playing less would have been okay.
But him playing in the Olympics was a selfish thing.
I wrote that as well. It's a selfish thing that
affected the team. Then him being unable to sort of
continue his aggressive rehab after the Olympics because of the
setbacks at the Olympics or the lack of progress at

(31:25):
the Olympics affected his conditioning, which also affects his ability
to be ready for the regular season. Right, So it's
sort of the same issue over and over again. But
the upshot of all of it, everybody I've talked to,
whether they're on the team in the league, with the
team in the league, or independent of them, agree that

(31:48):
this injury is something he's going to have to learn
to deal with and live with and what that might
mean swelling, that might mean pain, that might mean strengthening,
that might be growing new bone over time. All of
these things take time and they're painful, and everybody responds
to how trim he is or how well he eats,

(32:09):
or how much sleep he gets. He's still going to
be seven foot two and two hundred and seventy five
and eighty pounds and his knees are going to take
a lot more pounding than someone who's six foot two
and one hundred and eighty pounds, so you know, he
has that extra sort of hurdle to get over. He's
a giant person and he has a you know, he

(32:29):
has a diminished joint that may or may not allow
him to continue his career at a high level.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
So Marcus, I mean, so we all we've heard the
stories that you know, the Shirley Temples, that is this
just he was given.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
Look, this is your situation being this big with the
foot in the very beginning at the draft. I mean,
it's some people. You know, it seems like sam Hanky
had the right idea of bringing him along the way
that they did. But just from the conditioning standpoint, I don't.
I have a very hard time understanding how an individual

(33:07):
will like him, knowing the trials and tribulations his body
will go into. He's not taking the necessary steps in.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
Order to do that.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Like, why do you why do you think that is
with with this individual?

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Well, let's let's back up. Is it him? Let's back
up a little bit. Okay, when Charles Barkley came into
the NBA in Philadelphia, both told him he had to
get in shape or he wasn't gonna last. He was
gonna be very good. So Joel Enbi is not even
the first Superstar sixer to have issues like that. And
there Luca Donton one of the reasons he got traded

(33:43):
from Dallas to Los Angeles. Is because the people in
Dallas are convinced that his career will be shortened by
his drinking. And you know, his his his poor eating habits,
and he's he's been hurt a lot, not as much
as MB, but he's been hurt a lot. So and
being comes out of college and if you remember, he
came out of college with a back injury, then has

(34:04):
then he has the foot injury. Then he gained a
lot of weight with the foot injury, wouldn't wear his
walking boot was you know, shooting and dunking and bare feet.
Remember that, and broke it again. Okay, So now you've
got a guy who's injured coming out of college, then
injures himself as soon as he gets out of college

(34:24):
his first year in the NBA. He is so poorly
supervised and mentored that he he eventually breaks the foot again.
Now at this point, you've got Brett Brown as his coach,
who doesn't have a whole lot of power. Sam Hinkey,
who's dismissive and uh passive and spineless leadership created not

(34:47):
only a culture of losing, but a culture of entitlement
by all of those players. Nerlans Noel still can't shoot?
Think about that, Like Nerlans Noel was the first pick
of the process. Still can't shoot? All right, that's ridiculous.
But you know Trash's room, Joe Embiid gained fifty pounds.
These are all things that are part of a loser,

(35:09):
losing culture. So to answer your question, what we see
now is how Joel Embiid was introduced to the league
and the sort of the morass, the chasm, the abyss
of unprofessionalism that he was faced with. You understand what
I'm saying. Like you, you look at an organization like

(35:31):
the Miami Heat, every story out of there is like
all these overachieving guys, right, but they're guys who are held.
Jimmy Butler had his finest hours in Miami until he
couldn't take being, you know, treated like an adult anymore,
and he had he had to force his way out,
which is the third or fourth place he's forced his
way out, by the way. So we'll give it to
have that conversation about me or to me over Tobias Harris.

(35:53):
Jimmy Butler never wanted to be in Philadelphia, trust me.
So anyway to answer your question, this is a culture issue.
Joel Embiid was allowed and this is the most egregious
thing I've seen in my all my years of covering basketball.
The day he reported to training camp healthy for the
first time in his third season, never picked up a

(36:15):
basketball in an NBA court. He said, I am the
process to try to copyright the name as a trademark.
Had never played and was allowed to act that way.
So now we're eight hundred games into a career where

(36:36):
he's played four hundred of them. He is the process.
He's more important than a championship, is more important than
the team. He's more important than the city. Just ask him,
he'll tell you.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Does that happen that kind of culture of Pat Croach
and Larry Brown or in office. I mean, I know
they wouldn't have done the process thing, but I mean
where they have allowed that kind of I mean, they
had their issues with Alan, but they're always trying to
deal with it. When you say that stuff was allowed,
like Brett Brown's overlooking it.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Not not Brett Brown doesn't have the power to do
anything about it. He knows it's wrong. I mean, Greg
Brett Brown came from Popovich and the Spurs. Yeah, right,
So he knows, he knows what responds. Brett Brown came
from Tim Duncan and David Robinson to Nerleans, Noel, Joel
Embiid and Oka for right. So he came from these

(37:33):
giants to these punks, you know, and you know, God
bless them. They're all punks when they got here, you know,
so as most nineteen twenty year old guys are, you know, so,
I mean.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
So they're they're in a situation. I mean, it's it's unfortunate.
This is the way the NBA is now. I mean
everything that you've been saying, I mean, this is how
the players.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Are and it sucks. But how did the Sixers change
this culture? I mean, is it a change of ownership?
Is it?

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Like more more importantly more important? Is that a Wes
Hopkins jersey behind you?

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yes, it certainly is.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
And Simon Gan, Yeah, did you go like on Facebook
marketplace and like and like look for bargains or do
you really have a figure affection for those players?

Speaker 2 (38:23):
It's a huge, huge West Hopkins fan growing up as
a kid.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
You don't hear that?

Speaker 2 (38:29):
And and uh yeah the the and Simone Gan as well, Yeah,
it's actually signed by I did right there.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
So oh, I'm sorry, So ask your question. I was
distracted by the like Dawkins and Maxi, I get, but
I was distracted by the what's the Phillies jersey behind you?
Is I have a number?

Speaker 4 (38:49):
No, it doesn't, it's just it has no no number
on it. We got Randall. It's funny. The Randall and
the Brian Dawkins jersey and the Maxi jersey are my sons.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
So he allows them seem b behind you?

Speaker 1 (39:01):
Does that? Yes it is? It doesn't.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
I'm sorry, And unfortunately.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
That's not a J. That's a Carson one. But we're
going to pretend it's a J.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
But no.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
So to get back to the sixers, I mean, like,
how does this culture change?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I mean, how do you change a culture that's living
inside this culture that is the NBA.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Well, the thing that I find remarkable is I guess
I don't find it remarkable, and I think there are
Moore is a smart guy, But the culture with the
rockets isn't a whole lot different than the culture here there.
There's there's this sort of assumption that the numbers will out,

(39:54):
and that's my issue with analysts like there there's less
importance given to character, teamwork, selflessness by people who worship
analytics than by people who understand sports. And I think

(40:16):
Darryl Morey understands analytics, but I don't know that he
understands team. Like, name me somebody besides James Harden on
the teams in Houston, you know what I mean. And
he was desperate to get hardened here, and once Harden
got here, he showed us what he was. I'm playing
for a max contract and if you don't give it

(40:38):
to me, I'm not gonna be your friend anymore. Seriously,
That's what that was his response. I'm never gonna I'm
never gonna work for this guy again because you didn't
give me what I wanted. That is the most selfish
thing I've ever heard, Like, I'm not gonna give you.
I'm not gonna work for this guy because I think
he lied to me as opposed to this guy told

(41:01):
me I could get this money, but I didn't play
well enough to earn that money. And he still hasn't
earned that money. And he still hasn't played well enough
to earn that money. But he's earning the money. He's
Jays Harden's an All Star, but he's getting paid what
he's worth, not what he thought he was gonna get.
So to answer your question about the culture, there is
no culture. Nick Nurse was brought here to institute a culture.

(41:25):
But the culture can only be instituted with the right
players and Paul George's you know, this is a thirty Injuri.
You know, the only person of Joe l Embiid's caliber
who missed more games than Joe l Embiid before in
the four years before Paul George arrived was Paul George.

(41:47):
He's been playing hurt for three and a half four years.
The only year he was super healthy it was this
free agent year, right, So he was not the answer.
He's a compliment and you know, in his defense, you
know he's got to take the fourth year and the
money Paul George does. That's why he came here as
opposed to staying in Los Angeles with the Clippers. But
he didn't come here to be a savior. He came

(42:09):
here to be a piece, an older player who's a piece.
This was Maxie, Tyrese, Maxi and Joel Embiid's team when
Paul George agreed to become part of it. He's supposed
to be averaging twenty points or nineteen points because the
other two guys are shooting so much. He's not supposed
to be nine time All Star Paul George. He's supposed
to be last four years of his career, Paul George.

(42:31):
So there is no culture, there is no accountability. There's
an absentee owner. There's a general manager who I think
is a pretty good general manager of stars. There's a
head coach who I think is one of the better
head coaches in the league, but he's in a situation

(42:53):
the last two years where he's either under manned or
people are hurt. If Gershan YUVASSELLI your best player that night,
then you're gonna lose every game.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
How do they say, then you see changes coming Martin?

Speaker 1 (43:08):
How they fix this mess?

Speaker 3 (43:09):
No, No, there's no fix. There is no fix. They're
never gonna be good, which is what I said in
twenty thirteen where they hired Sam Hanky. If you create
a culture of you will have a team full of losers.
Nothing happened. Winning has never been the priority in this
organization for the top players, not Ben Simmons, not Joel Embiid,

(43:35):
not even Jimmy Butler. They were looking for their next contract,
they were looking for their next Hulu endorsement. They want
to be stars. They don't want to be champions. And
that's the difference between them and Steph Curry, them and
Lebron James them, and uh Nicola Jokic them and Jason
Tatum them and Giannisante Takupo. Those guys want to be

(44:00):
the champions. It's hard to be a champion. It's hard
getting to the round of the playoffs where the excellent
play happens by seven to eight guys every night on
the nights you win. That's championship play. You look across
the street at the Eagles. They understand championship play. They

(44:20):
have a culture in which the general manager and the
owner are there. They're accountable, and they will cut your butt.
They will send you to Indianapolis and take the loss.
You do not run them, They run you. Same thing
with the Phillies. John Middleton spent a lot of money
onto pretty high character guys in Bryce Harper and Trey Turner,

(44:44):
and Trey Turner has been benched, Trey Turner has been demoted.
They are there to win. That is a championship mindset.
The Sixers players have never had a championship mindset. They've
had a I'm gonna get paid mindset, I want to
be famous mindset. I want to date a British television

(45:05):
person and go to Wimbledon after I refuse to shoot
against the Atlanta Hawk's mindset, that's who they are. If
you create a losing culture, if you nurture a losing culture,
you will have loser players. So all your process people,
all your process people, this is what you've reaped. You
sewed losing. You are reaping losing, and you're reaping losing

(45:29):
for the twelfth straight year and there's no end in sight.
You were wrong.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Who would be the one person? And you will blame
the most hinky then the Colangelo's case, Harris Gosh, Harris
Okay starts.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
The blame the day that they the day that they
traded for Andrew biam which remains the worst trade in
Philadelphia history, because Andrew Bynam costs him eighteen million dollars,
four draft picks, four first round players or draft picks
and never played a game. You cannot There is no
trade worse than one in which the guy you trade

(46:04):
for doesn't play and you still pay him, so that
conversation is the worst trade in Philadelphia history, maybe the
worst trade in sports, because you've got nothing, zero things
for four players, two of whom that Olympic medals are,
two of whom have been All Stars. Right, So, when

(46:26):
Andrew Biden was traded for, I asked Josh Harris, given
Andrew Biden's situation with his knees. Now, Andrew Biden was
on his way to Germany to get platelet rich therapy
in his knees, right, he had such bad knees that
he was going to get treatment. After the press conference,

(46:47):
I said, if you had the opportunity to sign him
now to a max extension versus at the end of
the season where he could get more, if he was
willing to do it now, would you do it? He said,
show me where to sign. That's Josh Harris really willing
to sign a guy who's willing to sign a guy
who he traded for with bad knees that day, having

(47:09):
never played a game. These this isn't a team to him.
This is this is a property, property, This is a business.
These are people, these are assets. Josh Harris has treated
the Sixers like every other venture capital private equity entity
that he's ever invested in. How much money can can
I make off it? Not? How good can it be? Not?

(47:31):
How efficient can it be? Not? How not? How good
can the culture be? How much money can I make
off of it? And he's made about three billion dollars
off of it for so for him it's a win win.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
So Marcus, what do you think of the Comcast now
having some ownership?

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Do you think that helps?

Speaker 4 (47:49):
Do you think like with the stadium, do you think
all of this is wrapped together?

Speaker 2 (47:54):
I mean this is this year has created like the
conspiracy theorist to come out. So I ask you, like,
do you think.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
The stadium had anything to do with what the hell's
going on right now?

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Like? I don't know what what do you mean?

Speaker 4 (48:12):
Like with like Comcast taken like now having some ownership
and how they were supposed to go to Market Street
and now everything is going to stay in Broad Street?
Do you think Joel Embiid's extension had anything to do
with that? Like do you think there's any like you
talk about like the venture capitalists of the owner, Like

(48:36):
do you think that's all he's interested in? That We're
never going to see the success that we hoped for
with the Sixers.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
No, I think he wants them to succeed. I just
don't think he understands the nature of building a sports
culture and sports franchise. I think what you're asking me is,
do I think that Comcast now being I think a
minority owners having a minority ownership stake in the Sixers,

(49:03):
will that change the culture?

Speaker 1 (49:05):
No?

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Do I think that their minority stake influenced where the
stadium is going to be built. Yeah, I think they
were pretty upfront with that. I mean, they this was
part of the package. If I'm not mistaken, They're going
to co build a stadium and share the revenues and
things like that. And you know, so now they're partners
in in crime to a degree. But I don't think

(49:28):
that Comcasts existence had anything to do with the Beads
contract extension, because if you remember, in that time frame,
they were they were ready to kill each other. You know,
the Comcast are the Flyers, and the Phillies announced a
joint venture to build a sprawling complex in South Philly

(49:52):
to combat the sprawling complex that the Sixers had planned
in Center City. So no, back then they were at
each other throats. So I think I addressed all of
the scenarios you talked about. Whether it's yeah, So I
don't think that like like I don't really know how

(50:15):
much com Cast influences the Sixers. I don't think at all.
I think they're I think, uh, pretty cut and dry,
like they'll be pretty uh independent entities sharing the same space.
So I hope I answered that party those parts of
your question.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Do you think Darryl's going to be here next year? Marcus?

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Yeah, he just signed an extension. And the thing about
Darryl Mory being here is that Josh Harris doesn't have to.
You know, there's nothing better than being an NFL owner.
And remember Josh Harrison is group part of Crystal Palace.
They own the New Jersey Devils, and I believe the
the arena they play in Credential Center, they do. They owns.

(51:05):
They owned the Sixers and now they own the Commanders. Right.
The Commanders play twenty one games a year, right, that's
twenty one weeks. Where you go to a game, it's
a big festival. It's on a Sunday usually or a
night and you can do all your normal work and
then go enjoy the game and be a big deal
in the biggest you know, in the biggest league in

(51:26):
the world. Being an NFL owner is utterly intoxicated. Being
an NBA owner, or an NHL owner or a premier
league owner is exhausting. You know, there's a reason Jeffrey
Lurie goes to the stadium every day, or goes to
the Novacare Center every day. It's easy and fun. Sure, fun.
You know, it's a playground.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
So Josh Harris and if you remember, I think two
years ago he was removed as the as the chairman
of his private equity group because he was going to two much.
The partners were disappointed with his lack of I guess
activity or inclusion or effort with the main business or whatever.

(52:09):
This is all scuttle, but I'm not positive about this.
But now he's an NFL owner, which is fun. You know,
like what what what? What? Person do you know who
has made more money been more famous at being horrible
at his job than Jerry Jones? Jerry, think about it.

(52:31):
He hasn't won anything in thirty years. He is by
far the most recognizable owner. His team is worth by
far the most they are, and he is loved in
his area.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
And he's horrible at it, horrible at it.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
You know, he's how how can I get Miles Garrett?

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Yeah? Yeah, they did nothing last year in the off season.
They overpaid Dak's just I'm serious.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Michael michae is like the second best defensive player in
the world. Yeah, and he plays for a horrible team. Yep,
a team that can't win.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
You know, I can't win.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
You can give him, you know, Mile, you can give
him Jailen Card and Miles Garrett. They still won't win.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
But it's been educational. Man, love having you on. We
really appreciate it. Man, that's that's great stuff. I mean,
I'll send you the article I read about the Touch
Push because if I can quote you in it, that
would be great. But this, this podcast will also be
in the article, so you can see it if you
want to watch it. But Marcus Hayes from the philadelph
inquir and Daily News, we appreciate it, my friend.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Yeah, that's it right.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Seriously. Second, I.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Could go on and on with him. I mean I
could go on two more hours, and this is great stuff.
But I know you probably got to run. You probably
have foundly stuff to do and whatnot?

Speaker 3 (53:57):
What's that carpools? Carpools?

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Right? I got two more weeks of being an uber
dad and then my youngest gets your license and I'm good. Yeah,
I'm gonna miss it though, but anyway, good thanks Marcaus.
We really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Power Yes, thank you, Marcus, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
My pleasure.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Thanks to you next time, but I'll send that to
you pal. Appreciate It's the day we news in the
Philadelphin in choir. Of course, we have Sean Lockner and
we appreciate you watching. Folks. This has been the Philip Pols,
your city sports beat, and we will catch you next
week
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