Daily Ticket w/ Brace & Barnard: NBA Finals Game 5, Phillies-Marlins, and More - 06/17/25

Sean Brace and Sean Barnard talk #NBAFinals Game 5, Phillies-Marlins, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Number one on your car radio preset hand, the new
and improved Diehard Radio and WD two seven three D
Philadelphia Ice, Fox Sports Radio, The Gambler, Let's do It.

(00:26):
Daily Ticket coming to live here on a Tuesday. No rain,
can't believe it now. I know it is raining earlier
this morning, but not raining right now. And I think
we got a little bit of a stretch over these
next couple of days, which is nice. And you know
what else is nice, A winning ticket with the Philadelphia Phillies.
It's the Daily Ticket with you here on a Tuesday.

(00:48):
Shabra shap Binard joining me today and unfortunately not making
it into the studio. Had some good guest books, but
we're able to bump them to tomorrow. Looking forward to
getting back into city Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week
because we got a big time series coming up with
the New York Mets. But Sean, I know NBA Finals
was on your screen. I'm pretty sure you had a

(01:10):
little bit of an interest in the Phillies. Went over
the Marlins as well.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Oh yeah, of course, And how can we not celebrate.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
I know that we're going to dive into the thunder
takeaways here in the series as a whole. But t McConnell, Man,
it warmed my heart last night watching that dude make
an NBA Finals impact or an end points in the
third quarter, leading the paces on a legitimate round. And
I gotta say, like, I rested easy with my head
on the pillow last night thinking TJ McConnell is a
difference maker in the NBA playoffs, which is pretty cool

(01:37):
from a Philadelphia seventy six Ers perspective.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thirteen, I think in the third quarter finished with eighteen
is prop. Do you know what his prop was yesterday?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I believe eight and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
I want to say in Game one it was six
and a half and gamings cleared.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
He's had a couple like I think he had an
eleven point game. In this nine point game, he te
day has been everywhere. Man, He's a legitimate difference maker.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
I said, MVP vote, I kid now if they were
able to win it, let's see here, oko, Yeah, Game
one six and a half. Every game has been six
and a half up until last night. You saw eight
and I don't know if you saw it or not,
but seven and a half is what I'm seeing on
covers right here. Still, though, he cleared it. He went
over over, over over. He's went over his to his

(02:20):
point prop in every game this series. If you bet
TJ McConnell, in every game, he's gone over everyone nine, eleven, ten, eight, eighteen.
And it's not Look, if you're paying attention to these games,
it's not just one the offense. We're talking about TJ McConnell.
On the offensive side of the ball. He is shifting,
he is squaring me, he's on he's unfazed. He is,

(02:42):
you know, great with the handles, not afraid to shoot
the ball. But defensively he is just a menace out
there and he's proved his worth. And then some you know,
you're getting me all fired up to start because I
didn't want to even go there, but let's do it.
It irks the hell out of me because I'm watching
these two these there's two teams specifically with my focus

(03:03):
on the Indiana Pacers, and I just say, like, all right,
you know, Siakam was the type of guy that if
the Sixers made a move for a couple of years ago,
fans that have been like not good enough, not good enough,
Tyrese Haliburt, no go on him. No, that roster that

(03:24):
they've put together. They're the coaching like, it's a real
deal franchise, it's a great program. They got a lot
of things working in their favor. It's no fluke that
they're in the position that they are in. And it's
just just frustrating because when we have been going back
years now talking about star hunting, when all along maybe

(03:45):
maybe it should have been getting more players to buy
in the right players. And I know it's revision history,
but this is what we do when we get to
the end of the season, we judge how far off
we are versus these two teams that are playing Oklahoma City.
I'm not gonna waste my time. I'm on because even
though there is still some conversation there with Presty, but

(04:06):
definitely it revolves around you know, SGA if SGA, if
they don't hang on the SGA, SGA is a superstar.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
I mean, this is the first cautionary tale that I
would spread is I don't think there's one blueprint to
winning in the NBA, and I think too often that
whenever there is a champion crown that every team rushes to. Okay,
that's what we need to follow. That's the game plan,
and I just don't think there is a one size
fits all for every NBA team. For the Denver Nuggets,
you can have one star in Nicola Jokichen a ton
of high level role players that rotate around him that

(04:36):
he makes better. For a team like the Indiana Pacers,
you can go eleven twelve deep because all these guys
can play and none of them are afraid of the moment.
The Boston Celtics last year very much built an identity
out of these long, athletic wings.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Launching a ton of three pointers.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
So there's a lot of different ways to win basketball
games and win championships at the NBA level.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Now, when making like.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
This Pacers comparison, they deserve a lot more credit than
they've gotten for the entire roster construction. You mentioned Halliburton,
who I think even at the time everyone thought it
was a pretty idiotic trade by the Kings to move
on from him in the first place. There, Siakam is
a guy who I think has exceeded expectations, and I
thought he was excellent last night as well, made a
ton of impactful defensive plays and is a guy that
while he still is that All star who can score

(05:16):
twenty points a game and is averaging nineteen point eight
in the series, I believe, and might be over twenty
at this point after last night. But the point being,
he's impactful across the board, but he just fits into
what the identity and even guys like Aaron Nasmith that
was a dude who was borderline playing himself out of
the NBA after being drafted by the Celtics, couldn't find
his footing from a rotational standpoint, has got to Indiana
and reinvented himself as a dude who is this pugnacious,

(05:39):
hard nosed defender, which has not been his reputation as
a basketball player his entire life. That dude was a
dead eye three point shooter that wanted to let it
fly from deep. Shootover show of fifty percent from three
at his one season at Vanderbilt there. But he's found
a way to reinvent himself and become a key part
of this team. He's been a difference maker. So they've
kind of gotten players from all walks of life here.
TJ mcconough, who he just mentioned sort of a journeyman's

(06:01):
the wrong word to say, because he obviously was primarily
just here in Philadelphia and a guy that like but
earned his opportunities.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
These are second rounders. These are underrafted.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
They've dug through the scrapp heat and find guys that
fit their vision. So they deserve all the credit in
the world the Pacers for collecting this. They're a tough
spot from a series perspective. Now and the Thunder, we
could go down the well of just how effective effective
they were in building out every single decision with this
entire roster.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
You've been funderstruck. It's it's a rap and it was
a wrapping game for I think we're all in agree
up there. Uh does it go seven?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
I think so?

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I think.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
I think this Indiana team, they just they're not gonna
quit man. Even last night, like they played Tyree Salabert.
We can talk about him a little bit, pretty brutal
game and people that are having some really ugly conversations
about it. But even with that happening, like we're talking,
it's a six point game, got down to a two
point game in the third quarter. That team's gonna continue
to fight. I do think that they can squeak out
while more and this does go game seven. I'm rooting

(06:58):
for it for just the entertainment standpoint, and I do
think that the Pacers do have it in them to
got one more out.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Do you know what game seven would be?

Speaker 2 (07:06):
I think Sunday off the top of my head.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Sunday at APM. If there is a game seven, we
got Thursday night for Game six in Indiana, seven would
be Sunday. As we just said, five point spread right now,
Pacers catch five at home two twenty four and a half.
DraftKings Sportsbook Thursday at eight thirty five pm. Wheel of
Misfortune again, that kid, we'll save that when we're gonna

(07:30):
run that back for football season in a big time,
in a big way, maybe even Major League Baseball All
Star Game. I was thinking, because that's in that middle Land.
Great job last week, we had a blast. But yeah,
look it comes down to whether or not Oklahoma City
in my mind, and I know like they're gonna want

(07:52):
game six. So I don't know how to phrase it,
but you know, similar to Game two right where it
was like, eh, yeah, we took Game one defensively, like
if the thunder play the way that they have in
some of these key moments, defensively, like that fourth quarter,
like they did in game two. You know, they still

(08:13):
forced twenty five turners in game one loss. So it's
tough to sit here and say that. But I think
it comes down to the Thunders defense. If they want
the game, they're gonna find a way to win the
game in game six? Will it be by six plus points?
Her guess is as good as mine, But I'd be
surprised if this goes back to Oklahoma City. I would
be surprised because I don't think, Okay, see this the

(08:34):
year phrase wants to play with their food.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, I hear you on that, And obviously their their
goal is going to be the win that game, no
doubt about it there. But I think Indiana can play
notably better than they did last night. I thought the
turnovers were really problematic in the first half of that
game there, that they were a little sloppy with the ball. Again,
Halliburton go without a madefield goal here. I do wonder
about the overall health status of him, and wonder if
once the series is does ultimately end, we get a

(08:59):
pretty interesting up date on whatever he's dealing with. To me,
it has the feeling of there's probably something pretty severe
there that they're trying not to be made known. Watching him,
particularly in that second half last night, felt very much
to me like a guy who is hurt and trying
really hard not to look hurt. I think, honestly, he
still made a pretty positive impact with some of the
passing and again like he was playing through it trying
his best, but obviously the production was not there in

(09:21):
the same way. So I mean from for Indiana specifically,
I think there's levels that they can still take their
game that they did not show last night. And the
other point that I would make here is this, this
would be far from the least probable win that we've
seen from them across this run. And every time I'm
ready to count this team out, including douring games when
they're down twenty points or late in fourth quarters where
they're down heavy, they find a way to turn around.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
That's kind of how I foresee game six going all right.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
One one away for Oklahoma City. Of course, if you
had okay, see in six, you're looking pretty damn good, Sham,
and I believe this is going seven. Do you give
the Pacers a chance in game seven?

Speaker 2 (09:58):
It depends on Haliburt.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Haliburton looks in game six, If I see a little
more pep in his step than was the case. There's
obviously the additional day off in between, so it gives
a little bit of optimism. I was concerned about him
going into Game four, that we were starting to see
him limp at the podium and all these kind of things,
But he looked himself in that matchup. Was not the
case last night. So that's probably the biggest thing I
have my eye on. If Haliburton looks close to the
one hundreercent version of himself, I do give this Pacers

(10:22):
team a puncher's chance. There's one kind of critique that
we are going to throw at this Thunder team.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
It's still their youth.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
It's still that this is a new stage in the
NBA Finals, and I know this Pacers team is not
gonna blink at the moment. With that said, the Thunder
is still deuinitly the better basketball team, and honestly, frankly
should have probably won this series already if they had
really capitalized to the fullest of their abilities. But they haven't,
and I kind of think that is telling for how
Game seven could go as well.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
I could argue that, but again, I think we need
to focus on what you said. They are the better team.
Pacers deserve a lot of credits NBA Basketball Game of Runs.
They were down eighteen, cut it to two, like you said,
but still ended up winning twenty to one, nine cover
in the nine and a half point spread, which is
a bad job by me there. But oh no, I

(11:07):
felt like Oklahoma City was the sided they were gonna
win a game. It's just tough trying to pick that spread.
I just thought it was a few too many points.
I thought six to seven point win by Oklahoma City.
But at the end of the day, okay, so he
deserves a ton of credit. And Jalen Williams goes for forty.
Now here's the deal. I'm not trying to cite mister
Williams because he's been great, but man, you can miss me.

(11:27):
He's the Robin to SGA S Batman. How many did
SGA have last night?

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Thirty one, thirty in the thirties for sure.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
All right, So he goes for forty, and that's great,
And I realized that people want to get their takes
off and Jillian Williams, oh, it's done to nine. He's
not the MVP of the series. We're honestly, all right,
if SGA doesn't play in game six and Jalen goes
for thirty five, maybe you have an argument, so I'll

(11:56):
give you that. But if SGA plays and he scored
anything above eighteen in game six and Jalen Williams doesn't
go for sixty five, he's your MVP, Like stop it.
He's averaging thirty plus in this series. He's been the
best player on the floor, Barn every single game. There's
still an argument that he was last night, but I'll

(12:18):
give it to Williams because of the production. But it's
no surprise Jaillen Williams before the way he did, because
he's a big piece to their puzzle, the reason why
they're going to win the NBA Championship show on.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Yeah, one hundred percent there, And I don't think there
should be an argument that Jaylen Williams should be finals MVP.
Are you can pencil shake Yodas Alexander's name on that
trophy right now?

Speaker 2 (12:35):
In my opinion, And there's stretch that really.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Won it for SGA obviously, the reigning MVP of the league,
the reigning scoring champion, the guy that has been the
head of the snake for this thunder team since this
era has started here.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
But the stretch that won it was the fourth quarter
of Game four to me.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
When he scored it fo yep, when he scored fifteen
points fifteen to their final thirty one in that fourth quarter,
which they outscored the Pacers thirty one to seventeen in
that final period after trailing by seven entering that quarter
and him just taking over that to me is finals
MVP type stuff.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Now. To give a little bit of flowers to Jaylen Williams.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
The largest point that I would make off this is like,
you're right that every batman needs a rob in there,
and that's exactly what he has grown into it at
a very rapid rate. But when we think of guys
that are score first players, which Jylen Williams does more
than just score that. He impacts game in a lot
of ways. But he's certainly the secondary scoring punch there.
So often we think about guys taking people off the
dribble or just launching three pointers. You go back and

(13:29):
watch the tape for last night. For Jalen Williams, twenty
three of his forty points were scored without a dribble.
That just being made field goals, just off cuts, just
off three directions. That's really effective basketball, high IQ stuff
and stuff that I think he deserves a bit more credit.
You can watch the way that he's making backdoor cuts
getting himself open without needing the ball in his hand.
That's a really effective basketball player and something that this

(13:50):
Thunder team needs to compm the SGA, So shout out
to both of them having their moment together.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah, it's nice when you got the MVP on your team.
The guy's just been dominant and a guy who continue
used to do it in all in every category, checking
the box no matter what is needed. Again, he had
thirty one and ten last night, so yeah, he's gonna
find the guys that are open. Credit to Williams all day,
no sight on his behalf at all. I mean, hitting

(14:15):
those shots. But it's not surprising because this team has
been dominant all season long. This was the twelfth game
this postseason with thirty plus points five plus assists for SGA.
He's been incredible. This has been a remarkable a rise
for him in my mind, like he's continuing to take
that next step and he's doing it right here. Like

(14:35):
everybody is hoping there's a lot of people that are
hoping not everybody that SGA fails, that SGA, it doesn't
rise in the moment. And then you can, oh see,
you know this guy, we crowned him too fast facing
the league and he has not done any of that.
He's delivered. And then some so here they are one
went away going up against the Pacers on the road
in Indiana on Thursday night. Don't come down to tyres Haliburn.

(14:58):
In my mind too as well. I mean, if Tyrese
can't go, that's gonna be a tough spot for a
guy like TJ McConnell to play four quarters or you know,
extended minutes. It was funny because last night that fourth
quarter you were left. Dude, just put him back out there,
get him out there. It's a difference maker. But if
you're talking about winning a game against the Oklahoma City

(15:20):
Thunder and how good they are, you need your best
players out there. So we'll see what happens where Carlisle
can cook up once again. Points spread on the game
there Thursday night. Anything else for the NBA Finals last
night game.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Five for you, Yeah, And I would just add as
far as I saw a lot of the put TJ
in for Haliburton conversations on Twitter there. I obviously like
Haliburton really struggled late in the game. I think even
as large as TJ. McConnell fans as we are, we
can acknowledge it's best in short doses that you got
to have those quick stretches where he comes in makes
an impact that you start to see a little limitations

(15:52):
when he does get extended opportunities there, and then there
is not as much a catch you by surprise.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
This is the case when he's flying off the bench there.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
For the Basers to win this series, or really win
another game, it's gonna take Tyrese Haliburn looking like the
not most overrated version of Tyrese Haliburton.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
So we'll see what the health status of him is.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
I fully expect him to be on the floor, but
what level is probably the better question there, and that
will probably largely decide how much of a chance the
Pacers do have in Game six. If Haliburton is hampered
at a significant level, I do think the series is
over right then and there we'll see if that is
the case.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
All Right, we'll talk some NBA coming back in just
a second, But doing a close up shop and quickly
move on if we could. Here As far as the
NBA Finals, one last note on that one courtesy of
our friends over a who. Sports history favors the Thunder
as they chase their first title in Okay, see teams
that take a three through lead in the NBA Finals
have gone on to win the championship eighty two percent

(16:47):
of the time, actually would have took the over on
eighty two forty out of forty nine times that has happened.
So we'll see what happens there. It's gonna be a
lot of fun. Last night was fun. Got to give
the Demonic Pacers a ton of credit to be able
to hang and uh, it's just a little bit too
much to to you know, bite off down there, you know. Okay,
see that home court advantages, it's something there. Now we'll

(17:08):
see if Indiana can hold suit at home as well.
It hasn't been an easy place to play, but last
time out, the Thunder did go and a shompooned it out,
had a great fourth quarter to pull off that game
for victory. All right, keeping it moving over to MLB
and let's talk about those fightings continuing to win. Trey Turner, though,
what Trey Turner's been ripping the cover off the baseball

(17:31):
right now? Let off the game last night with a
base Luke Arcaney has I think a ride up, coming
up over and crossing broad We want to check out
a little bit later today. Most hits, Oh, he already
dropped it. Okay, I need to go ahead and read
that most hits in Major League Baseball. Trey Turner just,
you know, delivering on what we expected when Trey Turner

(17:51):
was signed by the Phillis here. But again, I look
at it from the standpoint of it's middle of June, Sean,
you got an opportunity to go down there and continue
the winning ways, build off of what you just did
at home sweep in the Blue Jays. Marlins are a
bad franchise, terrible organization, no fans in the park except
the Phillies, and they went down there and handled business,

(18:11):
getting the victory back at it tonight, taking on the Marlins.
As I said, down there in Miami, contrel on the
mountain for the Marlins plus one fifty two, hey, Blizzard,
no minus one eighty seven eight and a half. But
trade Turner delivering and that's the type of performance you
need from your lead off, and of course a guy
that is getting paid a ton of money to do

(18:32):
exactly what he's doing right now for the Phillies.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, I think we all said when they signed Tray
Turner that this would be the difference maker for them
beating the Marlins in June. I think that's how we
all look now at all seriousness. I've been a pretty
anti trade Turner guy. It is nice to see him
find his footing and actually like bring sort of a
stability to this team, and I think that's been especially
valuable with Bryce Harper on the injury listen there and
battling through whatever his wrist issue is. I still like,

(18:58):
there's things that are gonna always be frustrating me about Trey.
The defensive stuff continues to stick in my mind, although
he has been better this year for sure, and definitely
of late, so I gotta give him credit there. They've
needed his offensive pop, they've needed his production, and just
him getting on base as reliably as has been in
the case in recent weeks has been a staple of
this Phillies team. So it is nice to see him

(19:18):
finally settling in. It has taken far longer than I
think a lot of us would have hoped or expected there.
But if this is the version of Trey Turner that
is here to stay, and the rest of the lineup
ken click, that Max Kepler is the version of him
that he shows for stretches, that Bryce Harper, this isn't
going to be a lingering wrist issue that kyege Ford
are going to continue to rake home runs the way
he has Nick Cassiano settle in. If it all comes

(19:38):
together and this version of Trey Turner is here to stay,
that's starting to look like a pretty special baseball team.
There's still a lot of steps to get to that point,
but Turner is certainly holding up his end of the bargain.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, we talked a little bit yesterday with Mark Carey
Junior and Luke to start the show yesterday, But guys
like Brandon Marsh are now delivering and Marsh continued his
ways yesterday had a trip. Well, I know he's won
for three, but still score two runs there. We talked
about Boem and him ripping the cover off the baseball.
He's two for five, hits, two RBI's last night. His

(20:11):
team's putting. Max Kepler finally delivering a little bit, you know,
if you can get something from Bryce and stead eventually,
and of course Otto Kemp again, I don't really put
place too much expectation on him being as young as
he is, but Scott, you would like to get a
little bit more from him, of course, recovering from that
hand injury, but just keeping it afloat, steadying the boat

(20:32):
until Bryce Harper returns and we'll see what happens. Big
series coming up on Friday though at Citizens Bank partner
the Mets come in, Mets And are the Mets taking
on the briefs tonight? I think yes, I was looking
at that yesterday. Yeah, Mets and Braves tonight. Both teams
were off yesterday. Mets just got swept at home. So

(20:53):
it's an interesting series. Hopefully they can continue their losing ways.
As as I said, Pig Seers coming up on Friday,
So looking forward to talking a little bit more about
the Phillies and winning Lozardo tonight. Any thoughts for you
as far as this game. They gotta win a game,
that's it.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
Yeah, And it was really reassuring to see Lozardo set
back in those back to back performances in which he
just got absolutely smoked around were really pretty concerning there,
and I still think Rap Thompson deserves a little criticism
for leaving him out on the mound as long as
he did, just sort of allowing him to get smacked.
And I understand, like you gotta get their innings and
sometimes the starting pitchers got to take their lumps here,
but to me, that was pretty indefensible and really from

(21:31):
a statistical standpoint, kind of ruined what Lozardo has built
up to this season. That there was legitimate dark corus
Cy Young cases to be made for where his production
was sitting. I don't think Lozardo would have ever actually
ended up in that mix, but that's how good that
he had been to start the year, and that pretty
much wiped that off the table there. So it does
feel pretty clear that it was a tipped pitches kind
of issue. The Lozardo's got a new glove, his release

(21:52):
point looks a little different, and he's back to being
basically unhittable. Getting ten strikeouts in his first performance since
the two that he did get whacked around was really
encouraging there. I expect nothing different today. I think he's
back to being the dominant pitcher that they traded for.
I'm really impressed with beyond just this stuff. There is
some gutsiness to the way this guy pitches that he's
not afraid to battle, he's not afraid to fight when
there are runners on base, that he does bear down

(22:14):
in a way that I really respect. So I'm in
on the Hasis Lozardo experience, and do think that he's
going to lead the team to another win tonight.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Got the job done last time's to Cobby seven to
victory back on Junior eleventh, and he went for six innings,
struck out ten, and only gave up one earned run
in that start. Ninety nine total pitches. Lozardo once again
on the mound for the Phillies at a minus one
eighty seven number. There. Keep it going, fighting all right.

(22:42):
And also John Kruck on the road also thumbs up
when you get Cruck into booth, like absolutely as much
Cruck as we can get, please, he keeps it going.
He's very entertaining, all right, stay major.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
The All Star commercial with John Kruck is that's good. Yes,
it's good.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Speaking of All Star National League voting, let's see here,
the first Major League Baseball All Star ballot was released
yesterday ahead of next month's Midsummer Classic going down in Atlanta.
This's this phase one of fan voting, and it continues
through June twenty sixth, So get on out there and

(23:18):
vote on those Phillies currently. Right now you have thought
we had one, No we don't, all right, So right
now you will Smith did the catcher, Freddie Freeman at first,
Marte at second, Machado at third, Lindor at short outfield,
Crow Armstrong, Tucker and Tioscar Hernandez and designator Hitter obviously showhey.

(23:44):
Trey Turner is listed though as the third spot for shortstop.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Who's two?

Speaker 1 (23:51):
He said, Lindor one, Lindor's one, Mookie Betts too. Wow?

Speaker 2 (23:55):
All right, yeah, I don't know that that one.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
UM the only other Philly seeing any other Philly right now.
So I gotta get out there and hit the hit
the ballots, especially when you get to Citizens Bank Park
this weekend. Not seeing another Affhilly there listed at this
point in time. So and of course you know Bryce
has been hurt. It's tough pill to swallow. There. Why
is where the pictures at? I'm not seeing the picture,

(24:19):
so I would assume Wheeler.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, there should be a lock on the pitching staff
like that.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
That's where their their bread will be buttered for this
All Star Game, but certainly not to turnout that we
had last year.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Yeah, all right, yeah, you're exactly right about that. Americanly
just update that cal Rawley, dude's been ripping the cover
off the baseball Paul Goldschmid for first, Glabor Torres for second,
Ramirez for third, Jacob Wilson for the Athletics at shortstop,
Aaron Judge, Riley Green, Mike Trout, Trout's still pulling it.

(24:51):
And Ryan O'Hearn getting the nod right now for the
DHU the leading vote getter at the DA, which was
Raphael Devers who now plays for the Giants in the NL.
So that's interesting. I don't think he's going to make
it in the National League. Not sure how that works,
but you never know. Maybe a coach or a manager

(25:12):
will take him on if that is the case. What
a crazy situation that is up there in Boston. Apparently
he wasn't returning Popy Ortiz's text messages. That's a no, no,
you gotta do that, man, Come on, man, he is
mister Boston, all right, Staying in Major League Baseball. Let's
talk a little bit about Shoeo Tani returning to the
bump last night. Not exactly the best performance for show

(25:34):
Hay as a picture, but do you chalk that up
to Russ twenty two months? I think it was? Yeah,
you know, is that where you're at with at And
of course he was unlimited pitches only one in twenty
six total pitcher.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
On Yeah, That's exactly where I'm at with this.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
But I know that Shoho Tani is this superhuman freak,
this character that goes beyond just a regular athlete here.
But the reality is, it's not the easiest thing to
stay sharp when you're going that long without pitching there,
and it will be interesting to see how much that
Dodgers like do actually utilize him as a pitcher. Obviously
he did not throw his best stuff in that one inning.
From just a pure entertainment standpoint that I'm all for

(26:08):
it that I want to see show Hey pitch as
often as possible, and even if he is not, like
obviously their acer their best picture there, which they have
an absolutely loaded staff that is seemingly always incredibly injured
from start to top to bottom there, But Show is
not their top option there. I want him to be
a part of this pitching staff moving forward. I just
want to see this dude pitch as often as possible,
because we don't see things like this. Even with him

(26:30):
not looking one hundred percent, he's still was touching one
hundred on the gun there that he still was throwing
some real deal MLB quality pitching. So I do brush
it off to him just having a little bit of
rust for how long of a layoff that it has been.
I do think ultimately that he will settle in with
a little bit more of a samplesize an opportunity to
work throw it.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
But yeah, I'm very much pro show. Hey leave him
on the mound.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
Let's see him pitch as much as possible, and do
believe that he'll be better on his next time out.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, Well for do you know? Okay, all right,
let's keep it moving here and let's get back on
over to the NBA. And perfect for Sean Benard here
because bred earlier this morning that east Bailey doesn't want
to come to Philly. He's not going to work out
for the sety sixers.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
What he'll be working out for the sixers. So there's
a lot swirling around here.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
That's what I thought. I thought he was working out.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
He will be, and for what it's worth, a Sixers
team source has refuted that he refused to work out.
That is apparently not true from the Sixers end here.
What is true here all around is Ace Bailey has
not exactly ran a blueprint for how you should be
handling yourself as a potential draft pick. Care that some
of the quotes of the pr stuff is just not
exactly what you should be looking for at this point
in this game. I've been a guy that stood pretty

(27:39):
ten toes down on my belief in Ace Bailey, and
I still think he's the third most talented player in
this draft. Here, it does not sound like he's going
to the Philadelphia seventy six Ers pretty much under any
circumstances at this point. Now, granted my personal opinion and
where I'm at sort of my rude of frustration here
with the Ace conversation is I wholeheartedly believe the best
pathway his development would be here in Philadelphia. But I

(28:02):
think the best way for him to grow as a
basketball player is to start off in a very low
usage role, essentially role player type deal and gradually have
more and more added to your plate. A perfect example
of that is our own guy, Paul George. That was
a dude that when he came out of the league
coming out of Fresno State, was a role player for
his first couple years in the league.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
He shot low thirty percent from three his rookie season.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
That's who that version of Paul George was, and he
kind of carved out a niche as a defensive specialist.
And then as years began to pass by in Indy
that he got more and more added to his plate
to the point where he grew into one of the
clear cut best basketball players in the NBA. That's the
pathway that I see for Ace Bailey in his best development.
But that is not the pathway that he wants to take.
That he wants to be able to play his version
of basketball from day one. That's not going to happen

(28:45):
here in Philadelphia. When you do have Jowell Embiid, when
you have Tyree st Max, Paul George, Jared McCain. You
can go down the list of talent there. This is
not Utah, this is not Washington, this is not Charlotte,
and those are sort of teams seemingly more likely to
hand him the key in the way that he seemingly desires.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
Here now he will be in for a workout.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
I did listen to shout out to the pho Y
Sports guys who had on the Rutgers coach to talk
a little bit about Ace behind the scenes. I can
only speak to what I've heard about him, which is
he's a very entertaining and energetic character. He's a guy
who does work hard, and I think sometimes these quotes
come off a little bit the wrong way. Like another
example I'll give here, we all remember that there was
some skepticism for Anthony Edwards being the first overall pick

(29:25):
because he couldn't stop talking about his love for football,
or he would prefer going to the NFL, or things.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Like this, who Anthony Edwards is a basketball player in
today's NBA.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
So I think sometimes when quotes like as saying I've
never seen a shot I don't like, or these aren't
bad shots because I practice them, or I'm a great
pass so I just don't do it often because sometimes
my team needs buckets. When you're playing at a high level,
people eat those things up. When you're Anthony Edwards or
Kobe Bryant and saying that it comes off great if
you're not performing at a high level. All of a sudden,

(29:54):
those quotes get viewed in a little different light. So
I think his mouth has worked a little bit quicker
and larger than should be the ca here. I still
feel pretty solid about him as a talent, but I
don't think ultimately that his future is gonna be in Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Who's putting out a fake report? Who's putting out fake news?

Speaker 3 (30:08):
As they say, I mean, it's all kind of worded carefully.
I wouldn't call any of it fake. I would There
are definitely teams that he's declined workouts for the Sixers.
Aren't one of those teams there, so he's hand picked those.
And I'll just note, like the order of events in
which all this happened is that last week, Jake Fisher
drops a report basically saying that VJ. Edgecomb is the

(30:29):
leader in the clubhouse to be selected for the third
pick for the Sixers. In the article that it mentioned
they could work out Ace Bailey, but to my knowledge,
there's nothing set up or scheduled at this time. Less
than an hour after that article drops that Jake is
updating the story saying that Ace will be there working out,
and then today I know for sure that a Sixers
team source has refuted that there was ever a refusal

(30:50):
for a workout. So I don't think the Sixers specifically
our case that he's declined to workout. There are absolutely
teams that he has turned out workouts for.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
All Right, when you start talking about VJ Edgecombe, what's
the comp? What are we looking at with VJ? What's
his strengths? What's his I mean, he's nineteen, so I'm
not gonna ask what's his weakness, but what's his strengths
and what's his NBA comp? In your mind?

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, he's a more sure thing than as as far
as you know exactly what you're getting if you want
like a comp like prime Victor Oladipo is probably the
closest thing that I would give here defensively is where
he's probably gonna make most of his money at the
NBA level. That I do see a world where this
guy grows into one of the premier perimeter defenders in
the league. Crazy athlete, a guy that's going to be
like in the top fifteen percentile and unathletes in the NBA, Like,

(31:34):
that's how much his leaping ability is pretty ridiculous there.
His vertical was really impressive at the combine, and you
just see it watching his highlights, the way he can just.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Rise up and dunk on guys.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
The biggest concern that I have with VJ is he's
very clearly to me like a shooting guard kind of
peg here. I don't ever see the handle getting to
the point where he can run offense or a guy
that you can really trust, like trying to break a
full court press late in game.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Things like that I think are legitimate flaws.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
But to give him a little bit of defense here,
he is a guy who checks every single box and
from as far as work ethic, high character, everybody, you
won't hear an NBA personnel or collegiate coach or anybody
along the way say a bad word about VJ as
a human being, which I do think is very appealing
to the Sixers franchise. And he did showcase a little
bit more when you watch some of his Olympic tape

(32:19):
playing for the Bahamas and which teammates with guys like
Buddy Heald and Eric Gordon, where he did kind of
run the show there, and you could really see the
talent DeAndre or DeAndre Ayton also on that teams Ho'm
looking for, So there was like some legitimate NBA talent
that he was playing alongside and kind of shined.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
He's the safer pick.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
I have a little bit of long term concern about
how does it work with MAXI, with McCain and with
Quinton Grimes, which I think there's a lot of overlapping
skill sets here. But I think the Sixer are going
to go in with the vision of take the best prospect,
the guy that we feel most certain about, and figure
the rest out down the line.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Always interesting, always something going on with the seventy six ers,
no matter if they have the number one overall pick
and Cooper flag would have been still something happening there, like, oh,
so what has surprised me at Cooper is like I
don't want to go to Philly. Yeah, yeah, but that's
not the problem that we have. Unfortunately, we'll see what

(33:13):
happens there again. Uh. The NBA Draft of twenty.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Sixth, fifth and twenty six so I actually have this
wrong myself. It is broken up into two nights, So
the first night one of the draft, the first round
be Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thursday will be the second round, all right?

Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, I mean, look, they can make a spectacle out
of it. I don't think it needs to be two nights.
Who the hell's watched in this world that we are
just living and dying by rad my ratings? Thank you?
Who the hell's watching the second night of the NBA Draft.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
I'll be I'll be locked in, braced on.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
I know you will be. I know you will be.
All right. So again, the latest report depends where you're
getting your information from. I'm seeing Draft Express, I've seeing ESPN.
The other one that did catch my attention though, I
did see the kid from Maryland. Excuse me? Why am
I joing Derek Queen out of the top ten? What's

(34:09):
going on there?

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Yeah, he's a guy that like the talent levels for
sure there, but he's a tough guy to fully place
his fit. He's also a dude that hurt his stock
a little bit. The combine didn't show up in the
best of shape and a little bit heavier than probably
should be the case there, which isn't a great sign
when this is your job interview for your future career
and you know you're not in the best exact exact

(34:32):
like viewing opportunity here. So I mean, Queen, I have
my personal concerns with him as sort of a tweener
in the wrong direction that I'm skeptical that he can
match up with true big men or guard on the
preim and you gotta do one or the other. At
the NBA level, he is sort of that five slash
four sort of mixed there, even the playmaking stuff. Like
I know people the big time Derek Queen believers will

(34:52):
talk about that they believe he can be like a
half court hub of the offense type guy.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
I just don't really see that, to be honest.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
He averaged less than two assists per game, I had
a negative assistant turnover ratio. And he also like tries
some passes that he really shouldn't like. I understand that
looks great when he pulls off this whip around cross
court pass here, but he also turns the ball over
the way higher.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Rate than any big man really should. So he's the
talent's there.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
He'll get a chance, but I do think it is
probably pretty unlikely that he falls within the top ten.
I could see maybe Toronto taking him at nine is
an option there if they don't trade out of that
pick there. But yeah, the Queen Stock certainly is moving
in the opposite direction of what he would prefer at
this stake in the game.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
All right, staying with hoops and real quick on this
because I don't have an opportunity to bring it up.
Hits so much going on yesterday, of course, recapping what
the weekend was. I do know that you and Sam
broke it down on your ninety minute recording of Pick
and Roll yesterday. Nice work, guys, Oh you're good. You
have to apologize. I just was like, damn, what the
hell are they talking about? But it was a great

(35:50):
listen obviously, I'm my way home. Listen to it all
and if you missed anything, you can catch a foxpho
Gambler dot com Desmond Bane. What's going on there? I
think I saw Stephen A. Smith this morning saying that
there's a bigger issue going on in Memphis that players
don't feel safe. Now, putting that to the side, let's
just talk about the trade, because talking about professional athletes,

(36:12):
it's a different world. I get it than anything we've
ever been involved with. Bulls eyes on their back of course,
not literally, but the fact is is that these guys
are high priced athletes with a lot of money, and
it's just a crazy world we live in. Don't ask me,
they don't take my word for it. Just pull up Timeline.

(36:32):
But you know the trade Bane to Orlando. I love
it for Orlando's take. As far as the draft picks
are concerned, you know, the the the full throttle, you
know the capital that they had to give up to
get them. I don't really have too much of an issue.
I know that the one pick is Phoenix's and that
that could come back, but you got to give something

(36:55):
to get something. Desmond made Bain's a solid piece that
you would like in your locker room. I think he's
always performed well for Memphis, so I love it for
Orlando's sake. We talk about the East being open, do
you think that this move bumps them up? Did you
like the deal? And as far as giving up all
of those pieces to get a guy like Desmond Bang,
what was your take?

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (37:14):
I think you nailed a lot of it there. And
I do wonder, by the way, if it's Steven A.
Smith's Soliditaire game that has given him that information or
how exactly he's stumbling across that, but as far as
the trade itself, I love it from Orlando's perspective that
the East is wide open that we don't know where
Yanna sim Decumbo will be suiting up next season, although
things do seem to be trending towards him remaining in Milwaukee.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
We know that Jason Tatum is gonna miss.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
At least several months of the season with his achilles
stare and a real chance that he misses the entire season.
As great as teams like the Indiana Pacers, the Cleveland Cavaliers,
the New York Knicks are none of those teams are
teams that other opponents will be looking at as we
can't beat or this is a super team we have
to avoid in the playoffs. For a team like the Magic,
who have their young core in place with Paalo Bancaro,

(37:57):
with Franz Wagner, and a ton of other talent around
the edge, from Anthony Black to Jalen Suggs, even guy
like Wendell Carter I like quite a bit. They're ready
to take that next step and the number one thing
that plagued their team last year was three point shooting.
They shot thirty one point seven percent as a team
last year. Not only was that the worst rate in
the NBA, that was the worst rate of any team
in NBA history since the twenty fifteen to sixteen Lakers

(38:19):
over ten years. About ten years that we're seeing that.
That's how bad of a three point shooting team they were.
And in their five games against the Boston Celtics in
the postseason, they shot twenty eight point seven percent from three.
As a team that doesn't get the job done in
today's NBA, that's what Desmond Bain does at almost a
better rate than any player in the league. That since
he's come in to the NBA, only two other players

(38:40):
have made more three pointers than Desmond Bain and that
would be Steph Curry and Buddy Heald.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Right there, he's three point shooter.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
He just repeat that again, Say that again.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Since Desmond Vain has been in the NBA, only two
other players have made more three pointers than him across
the entire league.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Wow, that's a hell of a stat Did not know that.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
Yeah, he's a flamethrower from deep and I think, honestly,
there's more to his game than just that. He averaged
over five assists last year, which that's pretty impressive stuff
at the NBA levels. He has to play a little
bit more point than has been the case for a
team that has Palo and Franz who at their best,
what they're gonna do is attack the lane and kick
out the shooters. You need guys that can capitalize, and
Orlando just has not had that. So Ban is going

(39:22):
to be that perfect sort of trio to their core
that should be able to capitalize on a ton of
those long range looks. I love Orlando taking the swing,
and I think they were in a position to do so.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Yeah, I do as well. And we talked a little
bit about the East and being wide open with Tatum
being hurt. Of course, Nick's still dealing trying to find it.
Mike Brown and let me just say, Mike Brown's a
good coach, Like, yeah, I like Mike Brown too, And
I thought he got a rod dealing Sacramento. He's won
their championship, right, like he deserves the credit. He won

(39:51):
a championship in Cleveland, right, Yeah, yeah he did. I
was gonna say, was that the the other guy who's
the other guy that they fired the foreign coach? Do
you remember his name?

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, the dude that would freeze up in the huddle. Shoot,
what was his name?

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yes, David Blatt, that.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Was his name. Okay, yeah, David Blatt was all right, Yeah,
that's funny. I wasn't thinking about him at all. But yes,
you know, Mike Brown, good coach, Roddald Sacramento. But the
reason why the Knicks fired Tips was to get them
over the hump to win a championship. I'm not looking
at Mike Brown as it's tough to sit here and

(40:33):
say when he's got the ring, but to me, he's
not a guy that's gonna get you over that hump.
Does he deserve another opportunity?

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Why not? Maybe he might be the right guy after
it's all so none to eat my words, But man,
you can't tell me that the Knicks have been hitting
a home run with this whole situation.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yeah, I mean, look, the reason that I think it
makes a little bit of a sense is as we
cycle through a lot of these names, though the Michael
Malone's or the Taylor Jenkins. I guess Jenkins a little
bit of an exceptionaire, but a lot of these guys
we share a lot of similarities to Tom Thibodeau, who
you just fired here, Mike Brown in a lot of
ways would be the antithesis of him from a personality standpoint,
how sort of warm and personable he is, and that

(41:10):
he is like, that's who Mike Brown is to me.
And he's an excellent head coach. He has the championship
ring on his finger. I think he is another guy
that if anything, I would argue that he over exceeded
expectations in his time in Sacramento, that he did take
that team to a playoff run, which, frankly, while Daron
Fox and Demona Simonis are good players, when looking around
that Western Conference, I think it's impressive the amount of

(41:31):
games that he won and making a little noise, building
a little bit of excitement. This next team obviously much
different situation and the expectations would be much different, but
he's handled those in the past during his time in Cleveland.
I do think Mike Brown deserves another chance. With all
that being said and being Mike Brown, Mike Brown defender
and fan here, I can't imagine if you're the New
York Knicks, that this is the signing that has the

(41:51):
fan base absolutely fired up and believing. So yeah, maybe
who knows, Maybe a request to interview a couple dozen
more other coaches in the league who were already under
contract or whatever the case may be. But yeah, it
does feel And by the way, Johnny Bryant, who was
the guy that I believe was a leader in the clubhouse,
announced that he will be returning to Cleveland, so that
isn't off the table for New York as well.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, it's been a bad job by them, but that's
the next operation. I didn't really think that they would
handle this correctly, and they have not. But everybody was
saying the same thing. Well, if you fired Tips, you
better have somebody already lined up, and of course they
did not, So we'll see what happens. And now the
players have a lot of pressure on their shoulders, but

(42:32):
they had pressure starting last year anyways. All right, a
little all over the place. As Mark Canbrick Junior likes
to say, these sports carousel here with Sean Minard Daily
Ticket on a Tuesday will end on this because there's
another radio station that's stirring the pot with their top
eleven Philadelphia athletes. And you know, look, I have no
issues with the list. What my issue is when you

(42:53):
lie about your list to get clicks and you know,
I get that that's what you do over there, and
that's fine. But for us over here, thankfully we don't
have to hop on a leg and bark like a dog.
And you know, for the almighty ratings. But at the
end of the day, who are your top five Philadelphia athletes? Like,
who's number one on your list? You have a slam

(43:14):
dunk number one, because I do my number one athletes,
yelled Hurts. He's the quarterback. He won a super Bowl.
You can't top that. You cannot top that. He has
been incredible every opportunity, saying the right things, handling all
the backlash, and this guy has delivered and then some.
I don't care if he does it with his feet.

(43:34):
I don't care if he does it with one toe.
I don't care if he throws the football lefty, I
don't care. However he does, he wins, and he wins
a lot, and he won a freaking Super Bowl for
this city, something that never happened up until twenty seventeen.
So he is number one on my list. And I
got something else. I'll say, for anybody out there that
doesn't have him number one on your list, tell me

(43:55):
the name of said player that you have number one
on that list right now, whether it's Price Harp, whether
it's Trade turned well it's sa Que Park, whether it's
Joel Embiid, whether whoever you want to say right guarantee,
if you asked him who's the number one Philadelphia athlete
right now, they're going to say Jaalen Hurts.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Yeah, And that would be my answer as well, Sean
Brace for a guy that I think puts up with
more slack than really any quarterback or franchise face should.
And like even for the same radio station here debating
if he's elite or not the day after he wins
the Super Bowl like that kind of stuff is crazy
to me. But what I have the utmost respect for
for Jayen Hurris is he just handles his business. He

(44:33):
just goes about the work. He doesn't slip up as
far as making comments or getting caught in conversations or
taking the wrong step in the public eye there.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
He does none of these things that he just keeps
to himself. And he wins football games.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
That is the number one thing that you should bring
up win talking about Jalen Hurts is he finds a
way to win. So I'm in agreement with you that
that is the clear cut number one to me, you'll need.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
To rip through the rest of my five.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Number two.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
I still gave it to the big fellow, Joel Embiid,
who I understand is left off quite a few Yeah,
I mean for the same thing that we kind of
brought up with Jalen Hurritz, and I understand the success
has not been the same for Joel, But this has
been a dude that has embodied an era of a
franchise in a way that is very rare in today's
NBA or today's just sports period.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Here he's been MVP of the league.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
He's grown into one of the greatest players in franchise history.
I think, like the takeaway should still be recognized that
this is an all time great talent whose body has
sort of let him down.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
It is not a situation in which I think it is.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
You know, he's been overly lazy and all these you
can throw individual cases. He has not been a perfect
uh you know, citizen or you know, operated in the
ideal light.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
From start to finish across his career.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
But Joel Embiid has done a whole lot more for
Philadelphia than he gets credit.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
For, all right, keep it going.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Number three Bryce Harper here, another guy who clear cut
faced the franchise, who has had some of his best
moments when the lights are the brightest, and has encapsulated
this era of Phillies baseball that it is not coincidental
they've started winning around Bryce Harper here, and he has
a guy who's every bit the superstar and by the way,
a guy who's lived up to some of the highest
expectations that have been ever been placed on a baseball
player and has been every bit as expected since coming

(46:09):
to the league at such young age. There, So that
is my clearcut top three. Number four. I went with
Tyrese Maxi here. Who's another dude that is Do you
think that's high?

Speaker 1 (46:19):
What?

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Yeah, all right, I'll.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
Make my case here for like for starters, pretty unforeseen
growth from a just individual on court standpoint. This is
a dude who was a twenty nine percent three point
shooter in college. That was the concern of him coming in.
Flash forward two years and he's a top five shooter
in the NBA. Beyond that that, he gets the personality,
He does have an energy. He is the guy that
you look around the Wells Fargo Center, and you're seeing

(46:44):
number zero jerseys more than you're seeing number twenty one jerseys,
which I think is really interesting. There He's been like
the face of it. And I do think that there
is a well where we're flashing forward a couple of
years from now that this is a guy being mentioned
as the Clearcut top fifteen, top twenty NBA players. I
see the vision and again from a personality standpoint, from
an attitude standpoint, he just gets Philadelphia in a way.
But a lot of guys that I think are ranked

(47:05):
higher than him don't quite.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
I'm with you, uh, And like, I know what took
place last year, and even though he didn't play his best,
he still had a pretty good season in my mind
in the games he was out there, and I know
that they still lost a lot, but still, like Max,
he is the real deal. I can't have him in
front of Saquon Barkley.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
No, no way, one season Philadelphia Sekwon Barkley.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah, but it's a current list. There's no way I
could put Tyres in front of Saqua But go ahead,
it's your list.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
I mean, Sequon is my number five, So I'm not
going to dig in my heels too deeper are frustrated
about that at Saequon is certainly deserving to be on
this list, and I feel pretty satisfied. While it is
just one year in Philadelphia, you can't ask for a
better year than what he just had, breaking the all
time NFL rushing rushing record, there winning a Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Yes, comfortably cracks my list.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Oh good god, I'm glad he's top five at least
nice to season he just had. Uh, he would be
what do I have here? I have Jalen one, Uh two,
I got Bright, Bryce three, Jojo four, And like you said,
the top five. It's like, you want to get that

(48:17):
guy on your list. So is it Maxy or is
it Zach Wheeler? For me, Lane Johnson deserves a little
bit of a nod and Jalen Carter deserves a little
bit of a nod. But if you pend me down,
I'm gonna go against you. I'm gonna go Zach Wheeler.
He's he's a bona fid as. He's a number one starter.
He's a guy that was runner up for cy Young

(48:38):
last year. He has a very good shot at winning
the sal Young this year. Like it the number one starter.
If your team has that, it's an automatic into a
losing streak. Thankfully that the Phillies haven't had to deal
with that too much over the years, uh to a point.
But like, it's a guy you're going to count on.
And we'll look what he did on Father's Day. Do

(48:59):
you you know he's got a new born, goes out there,
just mows them down at home. It's what you can
count on. He wins, they win. He's gonna make my
top five. Maxie on the outside just looking in. But
I love Tyrese.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, and Wheeler, by the way, has been incredibly available
just consistently for this Phillies team as well. And I
think I'd been a little bit more mad if you
gave me all that slack about Maxie and then had
him on your list.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
I feel better that you went with Wheeler.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
There. I love Maxie, I do. I'm a huge Tyrese guy.
But you know the and it's it's it's everybody's fault,
right I named it, Franklin a dog everybody's fault last year.
But the fact that they had no team success like that,
that falls on everybody's shoulders. And he takes his peg
back because of that, and I know the excuses, Well,

(49:46):
he was out with those guys and it's like, eh,
you know, he can miss me on that. So that's
what I don't I'm not gonna hear that next year.
I'm gonna lose my mind if people start to sell
me on the fact that when Paul George is out
and Joelle Embiid is out next year and Maxie isn't
able to raise things up and get this team across
the finishing line as far as results wins and losses

(50:07):
are concerned, I'm gonna lose my you know what again.
Hopefully we're not dealing with that. Hopefully Joel Embiid, the
big Man, plays sixty five and he's in the running
for an MVP award. Hopefully Paul George is in there
and he plays sixty five plus and the podcast p
is ripping off episodes every single night. Oh, We're all
listening and consuming him. And then this team is on

(50:28):
the rise. Shabanar tackle the East. That is a wide
open hopefully.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
Quick sound off on the Tyrese Maxie conversation. For me,
this has been brought on since the Desmond Main trade especially,
but it's really been floating on their all off season
of the wandering eye of what could Tyrese Maxie fetching.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
A trade right now? And that's what I just want
to put it.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Untouchable.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Yes, regardless of what the future steps are for the
sixty organization, He's a part of all of it. If
this is that they are going to be in the
mix this year and contending that Tyres Maxie should be
a part of it. This is the same dude that
average thirty points per game and hit the big shots.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
When playing the next in the second round last year.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
This is the dude who's already been an All Star
five years into his NBA career and has improved leaps
and bounds every season. If we are going into the
direction of we are turning them page, turning the page
on the Joel Embiid and Paul George era, I want
Tyrese Maxy to be a face of this next era.
He's twenty four years old at this point. What are
we doing concerning moving on from this guy? He's done
everything an organization could have possibly asked. I get the

(51:24):
frustrations last year was brutal, but Tyrese Maxie is a
damn good basketball player, and regardless of what the future
is for this six Ers team, he should be a
part of it. So I need a stop to any
of these Maxi mock trades or trade rumors or whatever
people are tossing out there on the timeline.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Well, I put myself in Darryl Mory's shoes, and Maury
would tell you that Maxi's untouchable. I think he's already
told us that, right. I think, like you know, last
year and maybe the year before.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Right, last year there was the quote of if it's
prime Michael Jordan and Tyrese, Maxi's on the line, don't call.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Like going through that. I don't remember that.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
That was a Brian Winhors report here, but that was
the message being conveyed from the six organization.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Wendy who watches the game at the NBA Finals from
a side room. Really, you didn't see that last night
in a timeline. No, I must have missed that one.
He's at the game now. I don't know if this
is specific, because there was like this wind Horse cam
like watch the game with Brian Windenhorse, which was cool.

(52:25):
I dig it, And he doesn't really strike me as
a guy that this is all that entertaining. I think
he's good at what he does. I know I'm a
windy guy too. It's not a shot. But if I'm
gonna sit down, like you know, we did a gambler
gang stuff, if I'm gonna sit down and watch a
game with you, I gotta be a little entertained at
the same time. But yeah, and I think he said
something onlines that that's how he likes to watch games

(52:47):
and like to each their own. But he was in
a side room that was like a auxiliary press box
rights the NBA Finals, packed up a couple of TVs,
but he had the game on his laptop. He's at
the game. He's Brian Windhorse, like he could get a
front row seat, like you know, top ten seat, ten
rows in. I just was like, if you're going to

(53:10):
the game, you know replays the replays, but like watch
the game at the game.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
I think my guest here is first starter is like
his primary reason for being there is all the media stuff.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
After the fact I press rev like I can speak
to it.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
From the six Ers situation, there's the two different press areas.
There's when you're down behind the basket and then there's
shocks up.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Yeah, the down behind the basket good either. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
What I've always found cool about the up top is
they have two TVs at two different times, right Buffy's.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
So you watch a play on the floor and you're like,
what just happened?

Speaker 3 (53:45):
You look to your right and see that replay, Look
there left and see the same replay ats slightly different timing.
So I always make that set up. I think that's
probably what's going on here with wind Horses. He probably
wants the replays, wants to see the television angles because
you can see things that you don't fully see in
the live.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Now, with that.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
Concept there, you see stuff live that you don't see
on TV either, as far as like off ball movement,
the reactions, some body language stuff, the way the guys
talk to each other. So there's plenty that you can
take in from me the direction, I'll give Wendy a pass.
Whatever his process is, I think it's working for him.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Yeah, it's working for me right about that. Now, I'm
with you too. I like that as well, when you
go to a game and you can get to the replay.
As a matter of fact, I'm going to a game
on Friday, the Phillies and the Mets and my brother
in law got some really good seats. I'm excited. So
we're down low and to have those televisions in front
of us with the game, it's gonna be a fun experience.
I know the Union have those new boxes. That's the
best of both worlds. But you're right when you get

(54:36):
to the press box, I hate hate those seats behind
the basket that oh there's that's a terrible angle. And
I know that they're trying to build a new arena,
which they are, and I would fully expect that the
press would be worked into a different area. Whoever came
up with that idea was not thinking. That was a
long time ago. All right, we'll keep it moving here
Shaman our great hour daily ticket on a Tuesday. Can't

(55:00):
thank you enough. You can find Jamminar on all things
socials and of course there's a great job for the
folks over at DraftKings a network now shopping out what
are you working on these days?

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Over at a DK network drop the full first round
mock draft for the NBA draft, so you can check
that out.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Does have a VJ edgecrum.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
To the six series here, but that's been doing doing well.
Viewership wise, so make sure you tap into that one.
Starting to dive fully into the draft water. So there's
a ton of draft content or in draft prop bets
that are already being offered on DraftKings, So kind of
diving into what each of these you can bet or pick,
what each guy is gonna go the over under for
what draft selection all that, So kind of diving in
getting a feel for where each of these guys sort
of market value is.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
All right, great stuff, dude, enjoy it and we'll continue
to read you over there if foll you on socials.
Always a pleasure everybody. If you've missed anything, make sure
you check us all out at FOXPHL Gambler dot com