Philadelphia 76ers 2023-24 Lookahead

Episode Transcript
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(00:14):
What is krakolacin Fellows Thermonuclear a evers. I am Dana Valley, joined by
my fabulous, certified, fantabulous cohost, mister grand Hues, and we're
both super pleased and excited to bejoined by Brian Taporrek, co host of
the NBA Podcast. He is alsoa multi platform editor extraordinaire for Bleacher Report.

(00:36):
He also writes for Liberty Ballers andfor Forbes, covers the entire NBA
at large, with a special emphasison the Philadelphia seventy six Ers and guess
what, it's the Philadelphia seventy sixErs twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four
NBA look Ahead. So of coursehe's back. I think this is year
four or five of Brian doing it, so kudos to you for continuing to
come back. There's obviously nothing totalk about with regards to the team,

(01:00):
so we should be out of herein like fifteen or twenty minutes before we
get started. Brian, how areyou doing? I'm doing well. Thank
you guys for having me back.I'm excited to talk about the Oklahoma City
Thunder tonight and only Oklahoma City Thunder. You did mention to Grant and I
just kind of casually before we startedthat you watched all two hours of Sam

(01:21):
Presty's press conference, and I wantto know, for anyone who wasn't on
site, I want to know howmany people actually watched that picko shit.
So you're you're pivot into thunder bloggerdom. It's like it's it's legitimate, huh.
I'm doing at least one a month, that's my goal. This just
feels like a cry for help.It's a cry for process help. I

(01:44):
just want to see the process fulfilledand the Thunder the closest we're ever going
to get to it, Grant,because we all care. How are you
doing? I'm doing very well.I'm glad to be here. I'm glad
to have Brian on for a numberof reasons. I mean, you know,
we are coworkers that don't see eachother's faces almost ever, you and
I do Dan, But also likeI know we're going to make jokes about

(02:06):
how the Sixers are like a toughconversation or a tough topic of conversation.
But I'm super interested and I reallyam excited to get Brian's perspective because I
feel like he knows a thousand timesmore about the Sixers than you or I
do, and also like unfair Brianto say has a greater emotional investment,
as like, do you admit toyour fandom like I do with the Warriors

(02:29):
and don't pretend to it or toignore it, or are we're going to
get the real perspective is what I'msaying. Yes, but grudgingly I still
regrettably care about this team perfect.Can they still hurt you though, like
you did at a point where you'rejust you're made of teflon? I think
so, because now people are liketrying to taunt me with like, oh,

(02:52):
Joel Embiid's gonna request to trade,and I'm like, I've written about
it for five months now, I'mall away, you can't. You can't
fain. I think the Ben Simmonsthing that was it, Like they just
broke me by that point, andthen all of this is just funny.
We will get to matters of actualbasketball stuff happening on the court, the
Nick Nurse high or all that,but we have to start with like every

(03:14):
phase layer potential implication of this JamesHarden stuff. And so to begin here,
we know how James Harden got here, we know why he's here,
we know what he himself has donewrong in his approach or with what he
said, or maybe how he shouldhave gone about things differently. My question
to you is how much do youblame Darryl Morey and or the organization at

(03:38):
large for how the Sixers and weall just collectively ended up here. Yeah.
I mean, you know, theSixers party line all summer has been
we did not want to reach outto him before free agency started because we
got dinged for tampering last and wedidn't want to test the NBA again.

(03:59):
And I don't know whether it's trueor not, that's what they're saying.
You know, I struggle to believethat there is not a third party that
they could have communicated. Hey,James, here's the ballpark of what we're
willing to offer you. I think, you know, the reality is Houston
hires ime A Doka, and Houstonpivots away from interest in James Harden,
and all of a sudden, youknow, the Sixers are looking around the

(04:20):
league and they're like, well,you don't really have a ton of good
options left, Like maybe we cansqueeze this guy a little bit. So
you know, whether they tried tojust completely ghost him, or they you
know, kind of signaled that theywere planning to squeeze him. Like,
I don't blame them. If hewanted a four year max contract and he
would be unhappy with anything less thana four year max contract, I think

(04:43):
that's just unrealistic on his end andnot the Sixers, And I don't blame
the Sixers for doing it, butyou know, it does seem like the
days leading up to free agency therewas a gap in communication. And you
know, I understand if the Sixersare telling the truth why they did so.
But you know, there is thisexpectation around the league that you're,

(05:04):
like, by July first or Junethirtieth at six pm, you should have
a pretty good idea of what's goingon, and it does not seem like
that was the case with Harden.You know, we've kind of alluded to
it already, and you mentioned thename the Ben Simmons situation gets you know,
oh, here we go again.You know, it's it's it's the
same old story, which really thereare some pretty substantial differences between what went

(05:28):
on with Simmons and the Sixers comparedto what's happening with Harden and the Sixers
of one of the many being youknow, there may have been some significant
offers out there for Ben Simmons thatthat the Sixers could have taken advantage of.
I mean they did, you know, it looks it's funny to say
it now, but they got JamesHarden, like and there were other options
before that, potentially Tyre's Haliburton beingone, you know, who knows how

(05:49):
real that ever was. But it'sdifferent now for Harden because it's really difficult
for me. And I've talked toDan about this, like what is what's
out there? And there's been recentreporting about a Clippers package that may or
may not be, you know,somewhere around the ten yard line. I
don't know how to you know,frame it. But what do you see

(06:11):
as a likely conclusion to this,specifically with respect to like what are they
what can they get for him?What do you and how close or how
far probably is it from what theyactually want to get for James Harden.
Yeah, it's a good question.I mean, you know, Darryl Moria
said, we're either trading him fora star or something that can help us
get a star. I don't thinkthey're trading him for a star. At
this point, I just don't seewho's on you know, Drew move,

(06:34):
Damian Lillard moved like that. Thereisn't another lingering star trade request on the
market unless you feel that strongly aboutMalcolm Brogden. So you know, you
alluded to it. Sam Amock andSham Schroni of The Athletic reported earlier today
that the Clippers have kind of reengaged the Sixers and have offered a first

(06:56):
round pick, a pick swap andyou know, expiring contract salary filler,
probably some combination of Marcus Morris,Nick Patoomb, Robert Covington. You know,
the Sixers have telegraphed that they arehoping to keep cap space open for
next summer when they could have morethan fifty million in cap space. So
you know, Norman Powell was thename that was kicked around when this first

(07:19):
popped up earlier this year. Andyou know, based on what the Sixers
have said, I would imagine theylean more toward the expirings in draft compensation.
Seems like, you know, thenumber of picks that the Clippers send
and whether they include Terrence Mann arethe sticking points. And you know,
I think the Clippers realized they mightbe bidding against themselves so much like Miami

(07:44):
throughout the Dean Lillard thing, They'reprobably like, well, we don't,
you know, why are we givingup everything if we're the only suitor,
And the Sixers are probably saying,well, look how that worked out for
Miami, Like, all right,Clippers, you could play that game,
but you know, if another teamstarts slow, we'll see what happens in
Chicago and Toronto in particular, Like, there are a couple teams out there
that have stars with very uncertain futures, and all it takes is one other

(08:07):
team to jump into the mix.So I think things are somewhat at a
stand still, but it wouldn't shockme if they heat up relatively soon.
So my question is twofold, andI'll start with this one. What is
like, I don't even know,I don't even know somebody how to phrase
it is? Just let me goback to my outline here to see how

(08:30):
I phrased it there. Do youagree with their prioritization of cat flexibility in
next summer, knowing what we knowabout both who will be available and just
how free agency has come to operateover the past few years. Yeah,
I mean it's risky, right becauseif they basically treat this year as a
punt year, which Joelle Embiid onMedia Day are at Media Day on Monday,

(08:54):
said, you know, I wantto be competing for a championship every
year, like I do not wantto have a gap year. So if
you know Harden, let's say theydon't trade him, he acts out,
they suspend him. You know,how they fare without him might determine how
happy Joel Embiid is for the restof this season. Like it wouldn't shock

(09:16):
me if we get to next year'sdraft and where you know, the six
are at the same place that theBlazers were with Damian Lillard in April,
where he gives his end of seasonpress conferences like all right, guys,
time to you got to move thepick, like it's time to win.
It's time to get this thing goingnow. I think Embiid's probably gonna give
them this season and the start afree agency next year and then reevaluate from

(09:41):
there. So you know that thelist of free agents is interesting in that
you know Pascal siakam Ogann Andobi bothof whom played under Nick Nurse, Kawhi
Leonard has a player option. Heobviously won a title with Nick Nurse as
well in Toronto. Paul George hasa player option. Like you know,
I think they just have to evaluatehow serious of a threat they are to

(10:05):
pry. You know, Kawhi andPaul George don't really seem inclined to leave
LA. I think that might justbe if LA tries to low ball them,
maybe they're open to moving elsewhere.Did not seem like there was a
lot of love loss between Siakam andNick Nurse by the end of Nurse's tenure
in Toronto. So I think,you know, oj Ananobi strikes me as

(10:28):
the most realistic big name free agenttarget, but it also wouldn't shock me
if you know, Darryl Moorey isone of these smarter cap minds out there
in front offices, and we're inyear one of this new CBA, where
you know, Boston and Phoenix inparticular have kind of turned up their nose

(10:48):
that oh, the second Apron,you're not going to be able to have
super teams. You can only havetwo maxes on your books, And they're
like, no, that's not true, we can have three or four.
Really expensive players. You know,I think he might want to see how
that plays out and what it meansfor the expensive teams next summer, because
you know, maybe instead of goingafter a Siakam or an Ananobe or you

(11:11):
know, a big name free agent, maybe he just breaks it up into
a couple smaller contracts, then resignsMaxie, and it's a Maxi embid on
the Maxes and you've just got abunch of like starting quality players around them.
So you know, they have Oneof his favorite terms is optionality,

(11:31):
Like they have more optionality than mostcontenders do, at least in terms of
free agency. But that's, youknow, the only optionality they have because
they've already traded two first round picksaway like that. You know, they
couldn't get in on Damian Lillard oreven Drew Holliday without giving up Tyrese,
Maxie and Frankly, you know,I don't know that Maxie and one pick

(11:54):
tops Broggden and time Lord and twopicks from Boston like that. You know,
they just do not have the ammunitionto get into a superstar trade war,
which I think is also why they'retrying to use this Harden trade to
kind of replenish their war chest ofit. I was gonna sorry, Graham
put the second part of that forme was so everything you outlay can all

(12:16):
kind of make sense. And soit's not just about what the cap space
can turn into a free agency,it's you mentioned the trade market, and
then if you do trade Harden,you could have this ammunition to maybe you
do get in not a superstar tradethis year, but over the summer.
And you mentioned some of these expensiveteams, what are those expensive? Like
what if just Boston kind of flamesout in Round one where it gets bounced
to the semi finals this year,or is like, yeah, like Jalen

(12:37):
Brown's gonna be on the blockers.I'm not saying this actually be interested,
but one of those expensive stars becomeavailable is the most Like, what is
then the path to this season?And you mentioned the term gap year?
What is the path to this seasonnot being a gap year? Then if
you're waiting or prioritizing any one ofthose scenarios, is it actually like James

(12:58):
Harden sticks with the team all yearand is actually playing well. But then
if that happens, you're not gettingassets for him, so you're still not
gonna have that superstar ammunition. Yeah. I mean, if I'm being brutally
honest, I don't see either pathJames Harden staying or they trade James Harden
to the Clippers for whatever the Clippershave to offer that isn't Kawhi Leonard or
Paul George. I don't think eitherone of them puts them on the level

(13:22):
of Boston or Milwaukee. So,you know, I think, no matter
what, it is kind of kindof be a gap year in terms of
legitimate title contention. That isn't tosay that they can't turn this year into
a valuable experience though, and I'msure we're gonna get into it with the
Nick Nurse stuff, but they havea lot of other big picture questions to

(13:43):
answer about this team, and Ithink, you know, it almost harkens
back to the process days, whereyou're less concerned with wins and losses and
you're more concerned with like individual playerdevelopment. I think this is just going
to be a rich Man's version ofthat. I mean, if we're gonna
talk player to I do want tobefore we get to have so many more

(14:05):
questions about this offseason and what Hardhas done. Maybe we should do that
first. Because I have some wehave Tyre's MAXI questions because we're talking about
player development and there's hardly anybody moreimportant from that standpoint than him. Do
you think this one? Is therea scenario or is there an explanation for
this current situation that you know couldcould Darryl Mory say, well, this

(14:26):
was unforeseen like I was, I'msurprised that I'm in this position with James
Harden? And two has this hadan effect on like were there other moves
that maybe the Sixers would have madehad this been done more cleanly? And
I don't know if I'm even talkingabout Harden's just back and we're all good,
or had signed him to a newdeal, or if he had been
traded quickly, Like if there weren'tthis cloud, do you think the team

(14:50):
the roster would look different. Arethere opportunities they didn't pursue? Are their
guys like Niang and McDaniels that mightbe back or not? Like has it
had ripple a or was this alwaysgoing to be a situation where like you
said, it kind of as agap year by default almost just I mean
not a real one because you knowthat has such a negative connotation. But

(15:11):
you see, I'm asking like,would this be different if not for the
hardened debacle? Yeah, I thinkto some extent it would. I mean,
I don't know that they would havepaid Nyang what he got from Cleveland,
even Jalen McDaniels what he got fromToronto, or even Shake Milton.
I mean, I think, honestly, remove the hardened stuff from the equation,

(15:33):
and you think of like net lossnet gain from the offseason. They
lose, you know, Nyang,McDaniels, Shake Milton, they gain Pat
Bev, Kelly Ubrage, you andyour Mobamba, Danny Green all on min
deals. You could make a casethat they maybe broke even maybe even got
a little better, But obviously thisharden stuff is all overshadowing that, so

(15:54):
no one's really focused on that partof it. I mean, I do
think the one big change is thatthey haven't used their tax payermid level exception
at all. They are far enoughunder the second apron that they have access
to it, but that would hardcapthem at the second apron, which I
think they are not particularly interested indoing before they resolve the hard and stuff,

(16:15):
because that's you know, they're farenough under to use it, but
not far enough that once they useit, they'd be kind of close.
So they want to preserve as muchfinancial flexibility as possible to avoid any hardcap
stuff because that's only going to complicatewhat they're able to take back from Harden.
And I think that's the biggest priorityto resolve. You just made me

(16:36):
think of something else and going offoutline, which Dan knows I'm prone to
doing. If there, if hypothetically, had it been immediately clear that we're
no longer we being the sixers inthe James Harden business, is there any
maybe there's reporting that could just tellme this that I've forgotten? Is there
a chance Doc Rivers's back Was itan either or thing? Do you think?

(16:56):
Or was it more just like asDoc Rivers tends to do, like
we're kind of that we've run withthis relationship has run its course, Thank
you, sir, next type ofsituation. Based on the quotes that have
come out since his dismissal starting yourSummer League and really like this week in
particular, it's becoming increasingly clear thatJames Harden was not the only one who

(17:18):
was done with talks, so Ithink he probably were out. I mean
I just don't know how you comeback from that meltdown in Game seven when
Daniel House is thrown at you.Yeah, exactly what was the what was
the Joelle embiid response? They asked, what's the biggest difference playing for Nick
Nurse on offense? And he waslike, I like it. It's fun.

(17:41):
I know honestly, Like I thoughtof this analogy earlier today once I
saw that and be quote, youknow, when you've got a friend who's
just in like a really toxic relationshipand then they finally get out of it
and they start dating someone else andthey're like, oh, this person's so
nice to me. They like complimentme, and they call me to check
on how I'm doing, and theylike ask about my feelings, and you're

(18:03):
like, that's just normal. Whyare you talking about this? Is like
it's novel. That's how the Sixerssound discussing Nick Nurse. So like,
the ball is moving, it's notjust Joelle and James all the time.
Like the ball is moving, playersare moving, and it's like, yeah,
that's just basketball. You're just describingbasketball. So yeah, I think

(18:26):
it was probably time for Doc.Either way, it's really early into training
camp. As we record this.What and all the reporting, at least
coming out of that AMIC piece isthat one the players, and this has
been true before he showed up.They don't really seem to resent James Harden
for this at all, which isprobably a good thing. James Harden seems
to be in good spirits and notparticipating, but participating like he's not doing

(18:47):
live action stuff, but he's stillnot like he's not in poor shape.
I don't know anyone said he wasin great shape, but they talked about
him taking his bodies. Seriously,if he's still on this roster when at
vitual regular season games tip off,would you expect him to continue following the
course of while the best way forme to get out of here is to
play my ass off, be great, increase my market value, whether it's

(19:11):
for the Clippers or someone else,or do you think at some point he
would go fill malcontent as sort ofthe Darryl Mory is a liar quote the
signs he had people holding up atwhatever party he always like, what do
you think is more likely if he'sstill on this team during the regular season.
I think if he's smart, hewould do the former. But he
has shown that he doesn't always followthe best advice, so it wouldn't shock

(19:34):
me if he does the latter.I think you're exactly right. I wrote
about this like Wednesday morning, rightbefore he showed up to training camp at
Liberty Bollers exactly like. This guyhas now requested three trades in three and
a half years. He's thirty four. Well, it's a big money,
long term deal. Has you knowthe hamstring injury from a couple of years

(19:55):
ago that affected him for quite sometime. We get the Stephen A.
Smith report this week where you knowHouston was in on him until he goes
to im Adoka and says I wantto be scoring champ again. Whether that's
true or not, I don't know, but it's clear that Houston pivoted away
from interest in him. So no, I think he's at the point of
his career where he needs to realizethat he's not the in his prime James

(20:19):
Harden anymore. I'm not totally surehe's there yet, which is already gonna
narrow the market. I think hemakes a ton of sense for the Clippers
and a like I do think thisdeal hopefully gets done at some point.
It's mutually beneficial to all parties.But I think really the best case for
him is go out and try hardand boost your market value, because otherwise

(20:41):
if you go and like loaf,I don't see why the Sixers wouldn't just
send him home and suspend him,Like I don't think they have to put
up with, you know, likewhen when he did it for Houston,
it's still because he was like MVPcaliber James Harden. He's not that anymore.
And I think the Sixers realize,you know, we're gonna be worse

(21:02):
without him, but we can survivewithout him. We don't need him to
submarine our season when we've got thereigning MVP. So I have to jump
one question ahead here, or Dan, we can circle back to to sort
of more hard and specific stuff ifyou want. But to me, and

(21:23):
this is it's not like some revelationto say this, the most important element
in all this is Joel Embiid.And I know he said he's made assurances,
you know, really pretty consistently thatyou know, he's happy, he
wants to be in Philadelphia and soon and so on. I just like,
I think the way I phrased itto you, Dan, the other
day was if in December, JoelEmbiid demanded a trade, no one on

(21:48):
planet Earth would would be oh,are you really? Are you kidding me?
I can't Joel Embiid him really,Like, there's no scenario where that
that's a surprise. What do youthink the best outcome maybe in the short
term, you know, in thenext couple of weeks, and then as
the season goes on, is withspecific focus on what's the thing that makes

(22:12):
it less likely that Joel Embiid doeschange his mind or does you know,
angle to get out and doesn't wantto wait through this gap year, Like
what what hypothetical do you see asthe best way to make sure Embiid continues
to be consistent in saying I dowant to be here because like this,
these things end somewhat predictably. It'sto me, it just seems like it's

(22:33):
a question of when how do wepush the when back? Yeah, I
completely agree. I mean short ofthe clippers, you know, offering like
Paul George or something for James Harden, which I don't see, like remove
the hardened stuff from the equation,as difficult as that may be. I
think the other big thing and bigquestion looming over them this season is the

(22:56):
ceiling of Tyrese Maxey. So youknow they're already prepping whether Harden returns or
not, to have Maxie operating moreof an on ball roll, whether he
takes a leap as a playmaker inparticular, because that's been one of his
when say, weaknesses, necessarily,but not one of his strengths. So

(23:18):
if he turns into a seven eightassist kind of asis per game kind of
guy, you know, that raisesthe ceiling I think of the team as
a whole, and it also providesmore clarity about the long term type of
backcourt partner they need next to him, which again with the possibility of fifty

(23:41):
million dollars in cap space or tradeJane Harden and where all of a sudden
have these access to go star huntingagain. No, I think that's one
of the biggest questions than he'd answered. If if Tyrese Maxie is a long
term piece of the team, whichit sounds like they want him to be,
how do we best compliment him,whether it's you know, like,

(24:02):
if he could be this full timeplaymaker, then we can go a little
bit of a bigger guard who's betterat defense, you can be more of
a secondary ball handler. If he, you know, struggles in this role
or we don't think he can adequatelyfill this role, then we need a
bigger playmaker, still good on defense, and we could have him operate off
the ball. So I think howMaxie adjusts to this new role, you

(24:27):
know, might either give him beconfidence that Okay, yeah, i can
roll with this guy and this guycan be my co star for the next
five years and I'm happy to bein Philly, or no, oh,
this guy face planted to this roleand there is no hope here anymore.
Is there any chance, like,what is the timeline for Joel Embiid reaching

(24:48):
def con Get me the fuck outof Is there any version of this season
or like of this saga where thatgets accelerated and you're all of a sudden
concerned this season or is it verymuch? Uh, that's at the absolute
earliest. Something could happen next summer. I would be surprised if it happened
before next summer. Maybe not surprisedbecause Grant, as you said, at

(25:11):
this point, any day it couldhappen, and it's like, okay,
yeah, that you've put up withso much crap over the years, like
you've you've served your time, sir, you are free to go elsewhere.
But I think, you know,he wants to see how they resolve the
hardened thing first and foremost. Andyou know, I'm sure Darryl Morey has
sold him on. Look like we'renot giving Tyrese Maxi this extension this year

(25:33):
because we are keeping his cheap caphold on the books, because we have
this flexibility that no contender has.So you know, how do we whether
it's the trade, whether it's freeagency, what do we do with that
flexibility next summer? And then ifwe get to July first, second third,
Much like the Blazers with Dame thisyear, you know, he kind
of put them on the clock.They didn't do anything at the draft,

(25:55):
free agency opened, they resigned JeremyGrant and that was it, and Dave
was like, I'm out of here. You know. I think if we
get to July third next year andthe Sixers, you know, like Kawhi
resigns, Paul George resigns, OgPascal either resign or go elsewhere, and
they are looking at okay, maybeyou know, I don't I don't know
who the Gordon Hayward. If that'sthe best case scenario and free agency,

(26:21):
then yeah, I would imagine atthat point we're at that coom win.
We're gonna leave this topic really shortly, and before we do, I just
want to give you a chance.Is there anything that you know, any
big picture aspect of this, anyslant on it or you can't say,
you can't say fine new slants withthat was accidental, Any angle here or

(26:44):
any facet of this whole hardened Sixersoff season situation that is under discussed,
or that you have an opinion onthat maybe is not getting enough the coverage
you think maybe that it should.I just think there is a funny sense
of irony and that if this wholething was a miscommunication, or maybe not

(27:04):
even a miscommunication, a lack ofcommunication leading up to free agency, it's
funny that had this happened a yearlater, this wouldn't apply because the new
CBA, you could start negotiating withyour own free agents one day after the
finals. So the Sixers just gotkind of screwed by timing here, which
you know, I like, Iguess the good thing is if they don't

(27:26):
trade hard and if he buys backin and they get to this point next
summer, when he's still on theroster, at least they'll have clarity leading
up to June thirty at this time, is that I guess this will be
the real final question? Is thateven a possibility? Is there a scenario
where these two were just stuck witheach other for the entire year? Or
if you had to predict right now, and I'm forcing you to, like,

(27:47):
how do you see this thing ultimatelyending? I mean, based on
the Avid report today that was likethe first time it's actually sounded like the
Clippers are seriously trying to acquire him. Before it was just like, oh
he's available, Okay, well justlow ball and see if they'll take it.
I think they've realized that More isjust not the person to mess with
in that regard. So I imaginehe ends up on the Clippers at some

(28:07):
point. I just think it makesso much sense for them being in this
kind of all in window right now, with Kawhi and Paul George, and
with their futures also uncertain. Ithink he would be such a good fit
with those guys, So I wouldimagine it he goes there. I don't
know when I don't know what ultimatelythe trade package is gonna be. I

(28:29):
would be pretty surprised if he makesit past the trade deadline in Philly.
I think he knows, you knowhe I have written about this at Liberty
Waller as well, But you know, his bird rights are the only way
he's getting the nine figure deal nextsummer. Like the Sixers don't have to
work with him on a sign andtrade, especially if they're trying to preserve
cap space for something else. Noother contender is projected to have cap space

(28:49):
next summer other than the Sixers,So he knows. If I'm still on
the Sixers on February eighth, myoptions are a lot more limited in free
agency next year and age. Andeven if he is, you know,
comes into the season, plays thegood soldier for a little while. If
he's still on the roster in Januaryor even February, that's when we start
to see the you know, theend of Houston Day's pardon yeah, okay,

(29:15):
mercifully yes, thirty pretty good,pretty good. Nick Nurse is a
new head coach. Broadly, whatwhat do you think about the higher compared
to what some of the alternatives mighthave been. What are you excited about
what do you think will be themost noticeable differences on either end of the
floor, or just culturally give me, give me your your nick nurse kind

(29:38):
of hopes and dreams or concerns.Yeah, well, I mean Raptors fans
certainly have me concerned after the higherbecause they were, you know, laughing.
It was like, oh, oh, I thought we were happy that
Doc Rivers has gone. But Iguess, I guess we have to think
twice about this. You know,I think obvious concern is he ran especially

(30:00):
van Fleet and Siakam into the groundby the end of his tenure there,
and Joel Embiid, with his injuryhistory, is not the type of player
you want to do that with.So you know, he has talked about
and more has talked about this too. Actually, like their sports science people
are not as big into load management. They actually think it's better for him
to play more. And Embiid haseven said this too. He says,

(30:22):
like, I, you know,I get out of shape in like four
to five days if I don't play, So I want to play every game,
so you know, yeah, right, you know, like I don't
want him to play thirty eight minutesa game for all of you. Two
games, So how Nurse manages minutesI think is something I'll be keeping a
pretty close eye on. But again, like they have been pretty glowing reviews

(30:47):
so far about Nurse's system, especiallyfrom Daniel House Junior Tobias Harris has been
pretty vocal about it as well,So I think we will see more ball
movement, more player movement. Youknow, Danny Green was talking and Media
Day about when you know, hewas on the Raptors for the twenty eighteen
nineteen season where they won the championship, and he was discussing when they went

(31:12):
to be the box and one andthe triangle in two in the finals against
the Warriors, and he was like, you should have seen our faces when
this man said this, Like wethought he was crazy, but then it
actually worked and it like he's earnedthis lifetime of loyalty from me. So
I think having someone like Danny,assuming he makes the team, which is

(31:33):
not guaranteed at this point, butI think they probably brought him in for
that reason to be the veteran leader, locker room guy that he was for
them a couple of years ago aswell. But now with his experience with
Nick Nurse to be like, hey, guys, this guy is going to
try out some wild stuff at times, and it's going to be very different
from Doc Rivers, who was verystatic and we didn't experiment all that much.

(31:56):
I think that culture is something thatreally all contenders should have during the
regular season, Like if you areif you know you're gonna make the playoffs,
so if you know you're gonna bea fifty win team, the entire
point of the regular season is figureout what's gonna work in the playoffs.
And I think last year with theSixers, you Doc ran the NB pick

(32:19):
and roll into the ground, justspammed it and it was really effective.
It makes sense, you know,if you've got a play that that's that
lethal, of course you want tospam it. But then the Boston Celtics
in the second round figured it outsave for Game five, and the Sixers
didn't really have a CounterPunch. SoI think under Nurse, they're gonna be
a lot less predictable and they aregonna be definitely some times where he tries

(32:44):
out weird lineups that don't work atall, but you know his willingness to
experiment, like I'm not worried thathe's gonna, you know, try to
convince Darryl Mourray to sign the washedcorpse of DeAndre Jordan or Paul Millsap or
Dwayne Deadman or any like that.Like, I think he wants to play.
He's gonna give guys opportunities that theydidn't have last year. And I

(33:05):
think, you know, House inparticular, sounds very excited about that because
he was on the fringes of Doc'srotation for most of the year, which
seemed like a total waste of abiannual exception, especially when they lost a
second round pick for tampering with him. Are there any like you know you
mentioned the experimentation. I think,as you mentioned, we will see a
ton of that on offense. Doyou see the potential for that to happen

(33:28):
on defense at all? Where maybethey're playing more aggressively on defense? Is
that happening maybe in lineups where embiadisn't there because you have Paul Reid and
Ubra and Maxi, none of whomI would say, or like maybe Red
but like aren't super net plus defenders, but they have the ability to play
aggressively. Or do you not doyou expect the Sixers base defense to sort

(33:49):
of remain the same. Yeah,He's actually talked about he wants MBA to
be challenging more shots this year,which I think is interesting. So I
think he wants them to be moreaggressive, even if it leads to some
breakdowns at times. It makes menervous because they feel like most of em
Beads playoff injuries have been when he'sgoing for these blocks, especially in the
past two years. So I hopehe can do that while staying healthy.

(34:14):
But yeah, I mean, Ithink you know, we barely at all
if ever saw Paul Reid play nextto Embiid last season. Nurse has already
said we're going to see more ofthat this year. I mean, but
between Melton, PJ. Tucker,Patrick Beverly, James Springer, if he
can crack the rotation like, theyhave some intriguing defensive personnel, and I

(34:36):
think Nurse is going to look totap into that wherever you can. You
hit on this a little bit earlier, but and it made me really reconsider
what I thought about, you know, the talent give and take that the
Sixers have undergone this offseason. Whatdo you think about the new additions?
I'm granted, you know, theydidn't have, you know, a ton
of tools to go out and youknow, get a bunch of you know,

(34:59):
big needle new but it does seemlike they did fairly well with the
resources that they had. So Iguess maybe the question is which of the
new additions are you most intrigued by, Which do you think will play the
biggest roles and what might that looklike. Yeah, I think Oubrey is
the default answer, just based onwhat he did last year in Charlotte.

(35:20):
Obviously he's not going to have thatkind of a role in Philly. But
they haven't really had this like microwavescorer off the bench since Alec Burks a
couple of years ago, and beforethat even like Lou Williams, you know,
like pre process. So it's beena while since they've had someone like
that. And really their wing depth. At the start of the off season,

(35:42):
you're like, oh my god,they have Tobias and PJ. Tucker
and other than that, it's likehouse And for con cork mods they got
nothing. You know, we'll seewhat Danny Green still has left in the
tank, hopefully now that he's morethan a year removed from the injury.
He can help him out in thatregard, and he was really good for
them during his two seasons in Phillybefore the injury. But I think Uber

(36:06):
is the obvious answer. No,Beverly. I think is probably going to
be more influential off the court thanon, but I think he will still
have a role on the court aswell. And you know did make a
difference, especially for Chicago after endingup with them last year. So you
know, uh, back up,assuming hard in his back and he's in

(36:29):
the starting lineup like a second unitbackcourt of Pat Bev and Deanthony Melton does
not sound like very fun to goagainst, especially with Nick Nurse leading them.
The You mentioned Tyres Maxie before,And I'm curious about this about the
new role he's going to be in. What is the what are you monitoring

(36:50):
most closely when it comes to ifhe's going to swing into the or to
you know, develop into this star, this player that mayb Joelle and Bie
looks at and says, oh,I could stay here even if the Harden
packages more of a poo poop ladder, Like, what is the skill or
the swing aspect of his game thatyou'll be watching most close? He's at
the playmaking in the half court?Is it Kenny up Is off the dribble

(37:12):
shooting Like he hit like thirty ninepercent of his pull up threes last year,
but they weren't a huge part ofhis game. What's the most important
aspect of his development moving forward?Yeah, I think definitely the playmaking and
kind of you know, how youhandle the push and pull of leaning into
your scoring, because that's still youknow, his strength. He is a
dynamic three level scorer. He's gotthe speed that few guys in the league

(37:37):
can keep up with, especially intransition. And you know, he's really
increased his off the dribble shooting Ithink a lot in part thanks to James
Harden. As soon as James Hardencame, he started working the step back
three more into his game. Andyou know, the Sixers tweeted a clip
of training camp yesterday, I think, and you know he already showed off

(37:59):
like behind the back pass with Embidin the pick and roll that he did
not have last year. So youknow, I think he went into this
offseason, especially after June thirty,if knowing Okay, I'm going to have
to take on more of an onyball roll this year, and you know,
again, seeing how how he handlesthat is going to have both short

(38:20):
and long term implications for the Sixersfuture. Maybe an unfair question, but
I'm so interested in your perspective onMAXI what are you most optimistic about him
as we're looking at him as likea from a growth perspective? What are
you most optimistic that he will successfullyadd to his game? And what are
you what are you kind of moreskeptical that he you know where? Might

(38:45):
we be asking too much of himas he takes on this new role,
Like what do you think he MaybeI don't know if he's going to quite
be able to do this in abigger Yeah, that's a good question.
I think based on his work ethicand the way he's improved since coming in
the NBA, I don't want torule anything out. I mean everyone around
the team just absolutely adores the kid. So I think he's he's going to

(39:12):
do whatever his body like allows himto do. So I think he will
take a step forward as a playmakerthis year. He would get mad if
he hears this, But I thinkdefense is the other big question. He
hates people asking him about it,but no, he does have a smaller
frame, So you know, Idon't think he ever turns into a lockdown

(39:35):
defender necessarily. I think he'll continueto improve in that regard. I don't
think he's like a Trey Young,you know, absolute disaster on that end
of the floor. But that's probablythe one area that I think he's just
limited by his frame more than anythingelse. I'm actually more optimistic I think
on him defensively than a lot ofother people. I think that he's shown
like really long moments of like beingable to fight, being able to put

(39:59):
real pressure on it. He's givensome guys, like last year there was
a can't remember what it was,a couple of games I feel like where
he gave Fred van Fleet, likereally big issues you can count on him
to. I don't want to usethe word derail or shut down, but
make life difficult on guys of thatcaliber. That's like, I know some
people think point of attack defense isoverrated, especially if you are the point
guard. Like being able to dosomething like that is I would say pretty

(40:20):
valuable. And that leads me intomy final Tyre's MAXI question, which is
like is the expectation here, like, Oh, he's just gonna get the
max in restrated free agency next year, and that's kind of why they're one
waiting into why why they're not worriedabout maybe souring the relationship with him by
sort of delaying that that payday.Yeah, I would imagine that's the expectation.

(40:43):
I you know, I think thecap growth is gonna outstrip any potential
of that deal aging poorly. YouNo, maybe it's slightly less than the
MAX, because I think that's kindof the next frontier for a lot of
teams, especially as we get deeperinto this new CBA, they're going to
try to reason with their guys andsay, hey, there's this second apron

(41:07):
that we really really really don't wantto go over, and here's how you
Taking ten fifteen to twenty million lessthan the max could help us long term
avoid that. But I mean,I think I assuming he continues on the
trajectory that he's been on in hisfirst three years and shows improvement as a
playmaker, as a scorer defensively thisyear, you know, I would have

(41:30):
no hesitation giving a five year BAXnext summer. That'll finally settle the how
do we rank Tyler hero Tyres MAXIyeah, we won't have to argue about
it anymore, although probably Maxie deservesto be at the top of that class
now anyway, Oh, for sure, I am curious of his because because
those are still empty simons, Ifeel like his deal is actually kind of

(41:52):
a bargain and people don't talk aboutit. But with Hero RJ. Barrett,
even Jordan Poole, the conversation surroundingthose guys change so starkly after they
signed to their extension that I'm justcurious to see if the same happens with
MAXI when he's like actually off hisrookie scale and signs that deal. I
really don't think it will, becauseI actually think by far, of all

(42:13):
the players we just named, he'sclearly the best already and probably has the
highest ceiling I would believe. ButI am just curious because the way that
I think fandom and analysis can evenwork sometimes is once these players are no
longer underpaid coming off their rookie scales, or maybe they signed a below market
deal in the first place, justthe conversation surrounding them changes. Yeah,

(42:35):
well you say that now, Dan, But once Jordan Pool is averaging thirty
three a game, true shooting,We're really going to get our answer.
Paul Reid, Brian, He's inanother interesting piece, not just because of
the weird Utah Jazz restricted free agencycontract. We can get into that too,
but I enjoyed that. Can youjust pretend that Dan and I I

(43:00):
don't know, this is a prettyniche basketball Siico podcast, and people probably
know Paul Reid and like what hisgame is, but pretend we don't.
What kind of player is Paul Reid? What does he need to do better
or more consistently to really just besomeone that He's our second, He's the
backup big. We love it.He's gonna be great. He's gonna be
a value add Like, what whathas he been to this point? And

(43:22):
what do you think he needs todo to really become more than like a
weird, like niche basketball point ofinterest? What do you also think he
needs to do to prevent the Sixersfrom reacquiring DeAndre Jordan at the trade dead
time? Have them not hire DocRivers again. I think that's step one.

(43:44):
Yeah, Paul reads, I mean, everyone just loves him in Philly.
I think in part because he wasthe only big under the age of
thirty five. That they played overthe last couple of years backup, Yeah,
right, exactly. He's not fossilized, you know. I think he's
pretty clearly the best backup big they'vehad in the embiid era, which is

(44:07):
kind of sad to some extent becauseyou know, he still has a lot
of room to grow. But again, like all of the other guys they've
put behind it be they've just gottenabsolutely killed whenever they're on the court.
And Reid, especially last year afterthe trade deadline when he finally supplanted Dwayne
Deadman in the rotation, was very, very good. He's just long,

(44:31):
springy, athletic, switchable defensively,which again is something with you know,
the Bobons and Greg mond Rose ofthe world, something they just haven't had
before. I think the one majorarea of growth for him beyond just you
know, getting acclimated to Nick Nurse'snew system and knowing where to be at
all times. You know, heimproved a lot in the pick and roll

(44:52):
last year with James Harden, whichwas nice to see. So hopefully he
with her Hardens on the team,maybe he does it with Maxie instead.
The one area of growth you wantto see him shoot three is more he
did in the G League, andhe was actually a pretty good three point
shooter, And he said, youknow, he's prioritized that this offseason,
but you know that's obviously going tobe the key to playing him next to

(45:15):
Joelle Embiid in particular, you can'thave two guys who can't space the floor
at all unless you're the even Cavaliers. So I think if he is a
willing and able shooter and can knockdown thirty five percent of his threes,
especially in the corners, then yeah, the Embiard Read pairing could be viable

(45:37):
on both ends of the floor,and frankly could be really interesting defensively in
particular. Yeah, I was gonnaask you think you think, assuming he
is, you know, viable asas something of a floor space er offensively
to keep the lane kind of uncluttered, do you think he is like a
realistic guy that he maybe he's gonnaswitch one through four you don't at least

(45:59):
survive out there, Like that's areal thing that he's potentially going to be
able to do defensively, I think. So, I mean, we'll see
in bigger minutes, because he reallyjust didn't get a ton of opportunity really
throughout his career, but up untilthe trade leadline last year. Like you
know, we saw it at thevery end of the twenty one to twenty

(46:21):
two season and then you know,for a couple months at the end of
last season. So I think thisis going to be his best opportunity by
far. Nick Nurse has already talkedabout him as trying to mold him like
Siakam, which I think is prettyinteresting because you can, you know,
you could see some similarities in howthey play. I think obviously Siakam is
a much better player than Paul Reidat this point, but you know,

(46:45):
him seeing that type of potential andPaul Reid is interesting. And I know
at Media Day, Mobamba was saying, you know, one of the reasons
he signed with the Sixers because hetook a one year mind deal, so
he could have taken the same contractanywhere, was Nurse's history of playing two
bigs together in Toronto. So Ithink Nurse has shown that he's hasn't shied

(47:08):
away from that despite the way theNBA is trending, and he'll have the
personnel to at least experiment with itin Philly too. Are you ready to
enter the cookie cutter portion of thepcast? Yes? Are there any under
talked about underrated strengths and or weaknessesabout this team that we have yet to

(47:30):
really touch upon? I think wingdepth is a concern, especially when you
know you're gonna go into the playoffsand likely face some combination of Jason Tatum,
Jalen Brown, Jimmy Butler, ChrisMiddleton, Janna Santa to Kumbo at
some point, like, I justagain don't really see how they match up

(47:53):
well against either of those teams.Frankly, no, I think Embiid too.
It's funny that he's coming off ofthis MVP season and you know,
both inside of Philly and outside everyone'sjust kind of down on him, which
you know, I get it becausethey flamed out in the playoffs again,

(48:14):
But you know, Embiid today wassaying like, hey man, you know
this system's gonna be different, LikeI'm not just gonna be a scorer.
I'm gonna be more of a facilitator, which is also what we saw in
the beginning of the twenty one totwenty two season when Ben Simmons was sitting
out like they played a lot morethrough Embiid and you know Embid last year

(48:35):
at times said like, you know, if I, if I had the
opportunity, I could play like Jokic, I could average eight nine in ten
assists a game, and everyone justrolled their eyes, and for good reason.
He is not the pastor that NicolaJokich is, but he has improved
as a playmaker in recent years.He's gotten much better at reading double teams
in particular, So just seeing howhe and Nurse cole Lece I think is

(48:59):
obvious going to be one of thebiggest stories of the season. And it's
because of the Harden stuff and theMaxie questions. Everything hasn't gotten a ton
of attention, and then the antheand Melton too. I mean, if
Harden does either hold out or gettraded and Melton moves into the starting lineup,
He's in the contract year, sothis is gonna be a big opportunity

(49:21):
for him to prove am I thelong term backcourt partner to Tyrese MAXI Can
I be a viable starter on achampionship Calgary team. I was gonna ask,
is there any like concern about Idon't want to say Joellenbiid burnout,
but he's now in consecutive seasons seta career high for total minutes played.

(49:43):
And look, the Sixers, itwas one of my They're not built to
necessarily play differently when you're structuring everythingaround Joel Embiid and James Harden. But
if Nick Nurse is looking to play, let's even say just you know,
one star lineups with Embiid and maybeit's Maxi and Hard's on the court and
they want to play faster, andthe Sixers, I think we're twenty seven
to average offensive possession time. Justthe combination of, Yeah, we talked

(50:05):
about he wants to play more,he gets out of shape if he does
it in four or five days,but knowing the minutes load he just shouldered
the past two seasons, and thenif the Sixers maybe do decide to experiment
and play a little faster with himor ask him to do even more on
the offensive end, is there anyjust concern about Joelle and bid burnout.
Yeah, I think there's a hugeconcern about that. I mean that is

(50:25):
you know, the question with NickNurse is is he going to overplay him?
Because they do now have at leasttwo other viable options in Paul Reid
and Bomba also have Philip Petrosav assuminghe makes the team. I'm not saying
he's gonna make play a ton ofminutes or even be in the rotation,
but you know, they have otherguys to try in the front court.

(50:47):
And like, no, as longas PJ. Tucker's on the team,
you can get really weird and wecould go back to the Tuck wagon at
the five lineups. You know,like I expect Nurse to try a bunch
of different comedy of guys, SoI think by virtue of that that should
help keep Embiid's minutes in check.But again, I do not want to
see Joel Embiid playing thirty eight minutesa game like Siakam or Vampleet was last

(51:12):
season. That's just a recipe forhe gets he's either you know, on
fumes by April when we get tothe playoffs, or he's out nursing sub
sort of injury. Do you thinkyou just keep making me think of other
questions that aren't do it it?Does Tucker have anything left? And or
maybe the better way to frame itis, is he someone that is a

(51:37):
viable postseason player just because of thelow volume shooting and I mean the age
thing at some point it's got Imean, he's defied the agent curve,
you know, for like the betterpart of a decade now. But do
you still view him as someone thatis like, I mean, I don't
even know is he integral to thebest version of the Sixers like? Or
is is he someone that maybe wetalked about Paul Reid. It might be

(51:58):
it might not be the worst thingif Paul Lady does sort of eat into
those minutes and and Tucker kind ofgets a little bit marginalized. Where what
does he have left? In youropinion, Yeah, I mean, I
think he's so dependent on an eliteplaymaker like James Harden that it wouldn't shock
me if in a hard and tradehe also gets moved. Oh interesting.

(52:22):
I mean, I'm you know,I'm just speculating on that. I don't
know for sure, but I thinkit would make sense. And I think
he could also make sense on theClippers, because they're gonna, you know,
if they do send some combination ofCovington Morris but to him, like
they are gonna potentially need a littlemore depth behind Kawhi and PG. And
you know, if again, ifMAXI takes this major leap as a playmaker,

(52:43):
then maybe Maxie can fill that roleand still feed him those corner threes,
and maybe he's less reluctant to takethem this year. Also again,
like maybe they actually figure out waysto use him offensively beyond just parking in
the quarner, which is basically allhe did under Doc Rivers. I mean
we saw it in myami he wasactually you know, had kind of a
late career renaissance, yeah with them. So I think that is a good

(53:08):
under the radar storyline for the Sixersis what does PJ. Tucker have left?
Was last year because he's just youknow, thirty eight or whatever he
is, or was it just DocRivers was so focused on harden An MB
that he didn't really devise any sortof special schemes or anything to utilize the
rest of the team correctly. Ido think leadership wise, he's important.

(53:31):
I mean, you know, Igo back to the game four against Boston
where you know, it's late inthe game and Tucker just like gets in
Joel and Meide's face and yells athim and you know, ultimately like snaps
him out whatever funk he's in.They end up winning that game. I
genuinely don't think they would had Tuckernot have that conversation with the minute left

(53:52):
of the game or whatever it was. So I think from that perspective,
like he and Danny Green and PatBev could be very, very or valuable
to the team even if they arenot, you know, putting up fifteen
points a game, which I wouldn'texpect from any of them at this stage
of their career. Is we reallyhaven't mentioned him? And I'm surprised,
is Tobias Harris knowing the state ofboth the hardened situation, the Sixers prioritizing

(54:16):
flexibility and then also Nick Nurse comingin and maybe want to diversify the offense.
Is he more important right now tothe Sixers as an actual player and
do you see him being someone whocould benefit from Nurse coming in and two?
Or is he still kind of justviewed as just this massive, massive,

(54:36):
gargantuan human trade exception both. CanI just say yes one? Is
it? Like? Okay, Ithink he's probably still more of a human
trade exception, because again, Ithink we get to the trade deadline and
we'll see how teams are handling thisnew second Apron stuff. But you know,
a lot more or the full arrayof restrictions go into effect next summer.

(55:00):
You know, the draft pick freezing. You can't trade the draft pick
seven years in the future, can'taggregate contracts, can't take back any more
salary than you send out. Sowe'll see which teams are in line to
be over that limit next offseason.But I think this trade deadline is going
to be one of the last opportunitiesto make those sorts of salary dumps and

(55:22):
the sixers, you know, unlessthe Warriors move off with Klay Thompson,
Tobias Harris is the biggest contract whois going to be expiring, So they
do have that lifeline for any teamthat needs it. But shout out to
my guys Kyle Newbeck and Derek Bodnerat Philly Sports. Phly Sports the new
network over there. He's sat downwith or they sat down with Tobias at

(55:46):
Media Day and he talked about what'skind of going to be his role in
this Nick Nurse offense, and healso said, you know, there's going
to be a lot more opportunities forme. I'm going to run pick and
roll more, which I think it'sgoing to be interesting. He talked about
post ups, which you know,he actually does have a pretty good post
up game. It's not new,He's been doing that for a while.

(56:08):
I also just said he's gonna launchas many threes as he possibly can.
But I think his agent slash fatherwent viral over the summer when they said,
you know, Terrell Harris said theyweren't using Tobias right, they could
be an assassin score. So Ihope that we get to see the assassin
score version of Tobias Harris this year. I think he's still going to be

(56:30):
third or fourth in the offensive peckingorder, depending on whether Harden comes back.
But you know, if this moreeveryone gets touches and everyone gets a
piece of the bye offensive nick nursecomes true, then you know, hopefully
he won't be have as minimal ofa role as he did last year when

(56:54):
we he you know, I thinkhe had his fewest points since, like
his Orlando days. I will sayhe still it feels like people still read
too much into his pay grade becausehe's still when you look at the defensive
assignments that he has to take on, regardless of how good and valua I
think he is defensively, coupled withhis ability to kind of fit into all
these weird or different archetypal offensive roles, even if it's not the volume at

(57:17):
which you would prefer to see.I actually think he's more valuable to them
as a player right now, becausewhen you don't have picks like to really
include in trades, and you don'twant to take on long term money to
begin with, what is the realvalue of having this like forty million dollar
expiring contract then in a trade ifyou can't necessarily attach anything to him and
you don't want to take back amassive amount, Like yeah, I guess

(57:38):
if there's a star that's making aton of money and you're able to get
them for a pittance, then yeah. Sure. But it feels like just
the way this is tracking, thathe's more critical to them as a contributor
than this trade piece. Yeah.Yeah, I mean I think it,
like, it wouldn't shock me ifthey don't move him at all he becomes

(57:58):
his own restricted free agent next orback, it wouldn't totally shock Yeah,
I mean, hopefully at a slightlylower aav that what he had on this
previous deal. But I mean,I think you're totally right, Dan,
Like, if you remove the contractfrom the player, he's still a helpful
player. He's still a very goodplayer. It's just that we got paid

(58:21):
probably twice as much or you know, fifty more than you should have.
And that's, you know, Ithink it's fair to be frustrated by that
because that does have some real teambuilding implications as well. Uh So Harris
is starting, uh Maxie is starting, Joel Embiid is starting, Tucker is
probably starting, James Harden, orif it's not James Harden, it sounds

(58:45):
like maybe a year of the mindthat it might be d Anthony Melton in
the back court with Maxie. Canyou shake out the you know, or
if you disagree with any of that, shake it out. Sorry, he's
gone. And then what's the nextfive guys look like? If you know,
just guessing from today, what doesthe rest of that ten man rotation

(59:06):
look like? Or maybe it goesdeeper or maybe it's shallower than that in
your opinion, Yeah, so Ithink if Harden is back, it's the
same starting lineup as last year,and then probably Pat Bev Melton, maybe
Danny Green Oubray and Paul Reid,and then Bomba competing for minutes, Corkmond's

(59:27):
competing for minutes, Danuel House competingfor a minutes. Like you know,
again, you go down this rosterand they have ten, eleven, twelve
like legitimate rotation players. So youknow, Nick Nurse said on media day,
like we actually have a competition atthe wing, and I'm excited to
kind of see who wins it.Like I hope that House actually cracks the
rotation this year, and you know, if they do make this hard and

(59:51):
trade for the Clippers guys, LikeI think one of the underrated subplots of
this is like did they miss thewindow for this to be a lot easier
when the Sixers not fill out theirroster, Like right now they're one over
the regular season roster limit, andthey you know, they can very easily
get under Wave petrosev or Wave MontreTerrell, who you know, unfortunately got
injured during the offseason, iss goingto miss the whole season. But you

(01:00:15):
know, if they do like athree for one or four for one all
of a sudden, like you mighthave to take back another player, like
maybe they have to send out corkMos as well, just because they don't
like clearly I don't think they're gonnawant to part ways with Kelly Oubre on
a mid deal. So yeah,I mean, I think a lot is
still up in the air for them, especially in regard to, you know,

(01:00:37):
spots six through ten. I thinkMelton, assuming hardenback Melton, Paul
Reid guaranteed to have roles in therotation, and then you know, probably
a competition between Pat Beev and JadenSpringer. I'm guessing Pat Beev is ahead
in that conversation, uh, andthen the wings between Danny green House cork

(01:00:58):
Bos if he's still around u Ubraof course, So there's still a lot
to shake out of these next coupleof weeks. Do you expect again,
it's everything's just written in pensive isthe hard and stuff. But is their
starting unit going to be there preferredclosing five or do you see the potential
maybe for Melton to get in there, maybe summing out PJ. Tucker or

(01:01:21):
any different And we also know thatNick Nurse is one of those head coaches
that does play to the matchups andchange things more than some others. So
is there any curveball there? Wouldyou expect if this roster stayed the same
Oh, it's the starting five,it's just the closing five. Yeah.
I would think it'd probably be thatwith Melton as the swing piece, or
maybe even Paul Read as the swingpiece. If we find out that this

(01:01:43):
empeed Read pairing works out better thanexpected, I would not hate seeing Tobias
slide up more to the four thisyear. I mean, we'll see what
Ubra brings to the table and howhe fits into the system. I think
he's probably the big no other likeRyce Maxy is the X factor of the
team, but Kelly Oubray is probablythe other one because you know, it's

(01:02:06):
rare to get someone with that typeof scoring upside, even though he's not
the most efficient at scoring. Youknow, can he fit into more of
a three and d roll? Canhe be a better three point shooter?
Can he be more judicious with hisshot selection? If so, no,
maybe he does end up closing somegames for them or factoring more into the

(01:02:28):
rotation than just like fringe ninth ortenth man, got any weird quirky lineups
that you're hoping to see. Thisis really a Dan question. So I
feel terrible He's the one that alwayshas the weirdo suggestions for these things.
The only thing you should feel terribleabout is not saying that. It's a
universally beloved and cherished question by everybody. Why do people come between it?

(01:02:51):
Yeah? I mean I think wecan get really weird with this team,
and that's what I want Nick Nurseto do. Like, I do not
want to see this same starting lineupfor eighty two games, the same closing
lineup for eighty two games. Like, let's find out if Reid and and
B can play together. Let's findout if the tuck Wagon lineups are still
valuable even though he's you know,closer to forty than he is thirty at

(01:03:14):
this point. Let's see how Meltonfares as a point guard. I mean,
you know, we found out theanswer last year and it was not
especially great. But he's had hisoff season to work on that now.
And you know, he he wasjoking about his finishing on media Day or
his lack thereof of being able tofinish layups, So it sounds like that

(01:03:34):
was a clear focus for him thisoffseason. But you know, I'd say,
you know, you could come upwith like just a dog lineup of
like Pat bev Melton, Tucker PaulReid like just I guess Daniel Hausen there
too. It just sounds like themost annoying lineup to play against might not
be able to score a single point, but man or I guess no half

(01:03:59):
court point. They will only scorein transition and that's it. So that
might be my answer. Are youexcited for when Nick Nurse puts the Sixers
in a three two zone and callsit a pentagon and zero here's only like
guys that are six seven to six' nine. That's what. I don't
know if that's a lineup thing,but I'm ready for that level of innovation.
Yeah, he's going to be reallydisturbed and he realizes that's the one

(01:04:21):
archetype the Sixers don't have. Ireally hope, and you kind of alluded
to this, like let's and I'mnot they can't lean on this because you
want embid and even if you havehard on the floor, but take those
two off the floor, like let'sget the Melton MAXI, Paul Reid and
Ubra on the floor and then likethe fifth I think I'd probably lean Tobias

(01:04:44):
Harris, but it could be PJ. Talker, Like let's just see how
fast those guys could play and thatI think would be a different element to
this team, like during to Go, if you're able to buy some Starless
units or maybe can you play fasterwith embiid? Is the five in that
lineup where you can just kind oftry everything is the fifth with next to
Paul Reed, Ubray Melton and Max. They don't know how I feel about
this spacing necessarily, but if youknow, Harris are embiid like they they

(01:05:08):
stretched the floor for their positions,and so I just want to see something
like that, like that's the lineupthat I'm hoping to see. Yeah,
I'm fully on board with getting weird. So as we record this, which
is James Arden is still on theteam and it is did you want to
say something Grant, No, no, no no. I was just looking
at this the over under and tryingto think what I was going to say

(01:05:29):
if it was so October fifth,they're over under. James Horn still here
again forty eight and a half,knowing all the uncertainty that is caked in
to this team, Briant to poorEk are you taking the over of the
under? And my follow up tothat so you can go right into it
is how many teams right now inthe East are you prepared to guarantee are

(01:05:51):
better going to be better than theSixers. Yeah, so they've got over
that number each of the last threeor even though one of those was a
seventy two game season, that includesthe twenty one to twenty two season they
went fifty one and thirty one.That was when Ben Simmons sat out for
half the season. So even ifHarden sits out, which I don't get

(01:06:15):
the impression he's gonna do because hevalues his money more than Ben Simmons did.
I mean, it's tempting to takethe over here, Like I think
we might have all over corrected abit because of the herd and drama and
because we've seen how it played outin Houston and Brooklyn in particular. I'm
just like, oh god, thisagain. But you know, if they

(01:06:39):
went fifty one and thirty one thatyear with only you know, MAXI and
Mbid basically leading the team for halfthe season, with Doc Rivers as the
head coach, you know, theyhad Zuck Curry back then, they had
Eyeball, they had George and Yang, they had Shake Milton. But you
know, again, if you dependingon how you feel about their offseason moves,

(01:07:00):
Like Paul Reid barely played like Max. He's gonna be two years older
and much more experienced. Paul Reid'sgonna be in the actual rotation this year,
so, you know, barring along term Joel Embiid injury, I'm
tempted to lean slightly over. Asfor the teams that are gonna be better
than them in the East, Ithink Boston Milwaukee clearly. You know,

(01:07:23):
Embid kind of bristled at that atMedia Day because a lot of people were
alluding to, you know, theseteams made these huge moves and are clearly
better than you guys, and hewas like, who says they're better than
us? We got to actually playit out on the court, which you
know, I think the results onthe court are gonna say that those two
teams are still better than the Sixers, but I think you could make a
case that they're in that next tier. I think Cleveland given the upgrades they

(01:07:47):
made this offseason, given the possibilityof improvement from Evan Mowbley in particular,
and also even you know Darius Garlandand you know, seeing how he and
Donovan Mitchell work together in their secondyear, but with the additions of Niang
and Max Struce, I would imagine, you know, put them in a
playoff series, and I think it'dbe pretty interesting. But I think Cleveland's

(01:08:12):
probably better equipped to win more regularseason games than the Sixers, but no
other than that, Like, Ithink the Heat have a higher ceiling in
the playoffs, which we've seen overthe last couple of years. But I
think the Heat also don't really takethe regular season seriously. So wouldn't shock
me if the Sixers had more winsthan them, you know, I think
i'd put them in the same neighborhoodof the Knicks of the Brooklyn Nets.

(01:08:38):
I think i'd have them over Atlanta. I think i'd have them over at
this point. So, like,I think you could still make a case
that even with all of this everythingsurrounding them, but they're the possibly the
third or fourth best team in theEast still, which is remarkable. Frankly,
And before I defer a grant here, you mentioned just that people have

(01:09:00):
kind of like I've been underrating whatthe Sixers can be without James Harden and
in that context, like you're right, if you sub in Anti Mountain,
the empty Mountain for James Harden,Like that lineup had a fifteen plus net
rating last year, and if youjust look at the minutes they played with
Harris Embiid and Maxi and no Harden, they had like almost a twenty net
rating. And again, the samplesizes are small. We're talking about five

(01:09:21):
hundred plus possessions, but like whenyou move Harden, you're not going to
get nothing, and so there willbe something there. So Grant and I
obviously haven't done our over under podyet, but like you're I think there's
something to you saying sentiment might betoo low on just the sixers generally speaking,
Like no, maybe they're not thiselite team if the Harden situation goes
awry, but you know, usingthe Ben Simmons geer as an analog and

(01:09:44):
then plus just with that data,it's, yeah, there's still stuff here.
Yeah, I mean, like theyhave an MVP in his prime,
Like the floor is real high,right, like unless I mean, injuries
are concern for everybody, and maybemore so for Embeid than a lot,
but like it's just this, when'sthe last time on a healthy MVP and
his prime was on a team thatdidn't at least like Threaten forty nine wins.

(01:10:05):
You know that's I mean, that'swhy the line is where it is.
But I like your logic, Brian. I think I think we have
kind of maybe like started overlooking theSixers prematurely as at least the playoff for
sure, but regular season I thinkthey might still be really good. Do
we not touch on anything that youthink warrant's a little bit of coverage or

(01:10:25):
discussion about this team, you know, whether that's a deep roster guy that
you're kind of interested in, orjust a broader angle that we haven't hit
on. Yeah, I mean Ithink we've We've hit all the big ones
for sure. Jaden Springer, I'mintrigued to see if he cracks the rotation
this year and if he does whathe brings to the table. I mean,

(01:10:49):
coming into camp last year, PJTalker was like, this guy's really
good defensively already and he doesn't evenknow what he's doing yet. So you
know, how he's developed over thisor especially offense is going to be the
key. If he can space thefloor, if he can you know,
dribble. How really, frankly,how all these guys adapted. Nick Nurse

(01:11:09):
his new system I think is gonnadetermine playing time early in the year,
and I think based on the offseason editions, especially of Patrick Beverley,
you know, I'm guessing he endsup being the third point guard in the
rotation, so you know, playsfourth quarter blowout and it's not much else
than that. But if anyone goesdown, you know, does he actually

(01:11:31):
get an opportunity in the rotation Becausefrankly, that's been an area that the
Sixers have been lacking in in recentyears, is giving their young guys enough
time to develop and get regular seasonreps. It cost them Isaiah Joe last
year, which the Thunder, mybeloved Oklahoma City Thunder reaping the rewards.

(01:11:53):
Finally, that's right, we hada good das somewhere. You know.
Charleis Bassie was another one who showedsome flashes last year with San Antonio after
he got waved from the Sixers.So you know, they just don't have
a ton of other than Maxie andRead, they really don't have a ton

(01:12:15):
of young, high upside guys.I mean, I know Sixers fans are
excited about Turk Smith, who's ona two way deal. So we'll see
how much he plays if at allthis year. I mean, I imagine
he's gonna be mostly in the GLeague. But I think they really do
need to replenish that youth pipeline,especially if they're thinking like, oh crap,

(01:12:38):
and made my request to trade withina year, It's like, okay,
Well, if that happens, thenyou've got Tyrese, Maxie, Paul
Reid and what and you know,filling the the blanks there is going to
be really important for them. SoSpringer is in the third year of his
rookie scale deal, they're gonna haveto you know. I don't think he's
gonna get like a massive extension oranything next time, but at some point

(01:13:00):
they got to figure out what theyhave in the kid, because they really
haven't played him almost at all thefirst two seasons. Grant, do you
still you have to jump or doyou still have a minute for a mini?
I have two questions. I didnot prepare either of you for I'm
always ready for that. Let's doit. So we do this segment Brian

(01:13:23):
called garbage Time. Name is pendingsince Katie Nolan had a show called garbage
Time. But I need to playthis. So my first question here it
can't be the Clippers or the MiamiHeat. Brian, where would be your
favorite random James Harden trade destination?M oh boy. I mean favorite in

(01:13:56):
the sense of like I want tosee him just cause chaos there, or
if he would actually be a goodfit there, because there are two very
different answers. It could be anyjust just pick a team. It could
be any reasoning you want, likeToronto would just be funny. If Massi's

(01:14:19):
already talking about playing selfish, thengrant well, since I already alienated this
fan base like fifteen different times,I'm still sending him to Orlando. I
don't know. I don't believe inany of their guards. I need a
guard. It's gonna create some shots. So Paolo and Franz don't have to

(01:14:42):
do it all. Just have themfor a year. See what it's like
to have a guard that can pastorwill and shoot consistently. Give me the
Minnesota Timberwolves him playing with Anthony Edwards. Then who's ever left over from that
trade? I know that the sixErs probably aren't doing that without Jade McDaniel's
involved, but that would just beIt could kind of be a good fit,
but it would be a very compelling, potentially implosive fit too, So

(01:15:05):
I love it. That's fun.My second one, I'll start with you
here, Grant Championship is on theline. What are you more inclined to
bet on Ben Simmons making a shotbetween three and ten feet or James Harden's
team winning an elimination game. Imean, it's we have to be really

(01:15:27):
mean either way. I'm gonna beton Harden because Ben Simmons is not gonna
take the shot, so I don'teven have anything, so I at least
want a fighting chance. He's notgonna shoot it, so I have to
go with the other one. Whatabout you, Brian? Yeah, I
mean elimination games could also be eliminationfor the other team, right like he

(01:15:47):
they swept they swept the Nuts lastyear, so that he did technically win
one elimination game. True, SoI'll cheat and say that for that reason,
I will say. I won't answerbecause I know, but Ben Simmons
for his career, is shooting fortyone point six percent on shots between three

(01:16:08):
and ten feet, and so ifthat's a forty one point six percent proposition,
do you guys know James Harden's team'srecords and elimination games. Probably not
that high. Thirty nine point fourpercent fillip situation. Just three Ben Simmons
is the answer, but I thoughtthat might bend your brains a little bit.
That hurt. Hey, do youwant to play the Do you want

(01:16:29):
to play the You'll Never Guess game? I have a queue up. I
would love to play it if youhave time, and Brian or you want
to partake, Grant can explain it. And it's the whole point is to
make you and I look like idiots. And I've looked like an idiot a
couple times already with it. Nowyou guys can even collaborate on this.
So Brian, all this is isthere's three levels to it. There's easy,
medium, and hard. The answeris just an NBA player. They

(01:16:54):
don't need to be active, butthere'll be someone that, like you,
one hundred percent know who they are. It's not an I'm not going to
pull a name from like the fiftiesor anything, or even all these guys
have played like within the last tenyears, and I just give clues and
they hopefully I won't need to useall of them, and you guys will
be able to guess who it is, So that's it pretty simple, half

(01:17:15):
baked idea. And we can justyell when either of us knows the name,
Like should we pause after each clueto see if Brian and I need
another clue and then go for likewe want to collaborate on this, what's
the best way to do? Yeah, yeah, well you can just wait
till the clue is red and thenyou can answer. Although now, and
I'm looking at the first clue oneasy, it might only take one clue
for this. Let's see, I'mgonna make it. I'm going to reverse

(01:17:39):
the order of the clues for easy, because that might be too easy,
all right. I was the twentyeighth pick in the two thousand and one
draft. My career spanned from theone to oh two season to twenty eighteen
nineteen. Not going to get itthere, probably unless you got nothing,
unless you really know the one draft. I've got four rings, six All
Star Game appearances, and four AllNBA nine odds. I was the six

(01:18:01):
O seven Finals MVP. I've averagedat least five assists. You got it?
It was that you were going toget it on. I was born
in Belgium. I feel like Iwouldn't have gotten that one. That wouldn't
have done it for me. Thenext clue was going to be, I've
averaged at least five assists thirteen times. Let's see some of these, just

(01:18:26):
like blew my mind. Top tenin MVP voting four times. He was
fifth in m v P in eleventwelve. Forgot about that? Got out,
lockout? All right, that waseasy? Yes, oh that's right.
Okay, we move on to medium. Dan. I'm looking at you
on this one, okay, Olobrienmary Well. I have played for these

(01:18:50):
teams in this order, the Knicks, the Warriors, the Celtics, the
MAVs. God damn it. Wow, good job, Wow, good job.
You would have gotten it by Ilost my starting job in fourteen fifteen
and never got it back. Allright, So now we move on to

(01:19:12):
hard, although now I don't knowwhat to think about my ordering since you
got medium in one. All right, redemption, Dan, good job,
all right. I am a comboguard that went to Washington and I'm from
the state of Washington. For college, I was the rookie of the Year
and obviously made All Rookie in sixo seven. I made the All Star

(01:19:33):
team in my second third and fourthyears in the league, but never again.
I was All NBA in my thirdand fourth years. It is Brandon
Roy. I didn't even have toget to the fourth quarter against the MAVs
in Game four of that one year. Good job, this is See two
heads are way better than one.Yeah. Yeah, like I might be

(01:19:54):
able to clip that eventually. It'severgreen into like a single short yeah.
Because I took easy as the long. I mean, it's it's the work
in progress. I don't know howhard to make the clues. Uh,
well, good, so I realizedI went with three retired guys. By
the way, I didn't intentionally dothat, but we there are people clamoring
for nominations. I haven't checked themessages, but people have now sent me

(01:20:15):
clues for us to use. Sowe'll have to try and get to that
in the next episode. You andI do. But I love this game.
It makes me feel terrible about myselfbecause I had no idea about two
of three of these players. Inever I don't know that I would have
get them. But uh, it'sfun. Could I just start saying,
you guys like process sixer names Thompson. I'm telling you right now I'm not
getting all Thompson, you know,would have to be you know who I'll

(01:20:41):
get if you send me kJ McDaniel'sclues on the w Yeah, that line
is unlocked. Wasn't like one ofthe first Hinky Special contracts. Yeah,
but grudgingly he refused to sign itfor a while and that's why he got
traded me. So now you signthe Hinky Special. That's that's right.
Yeah, Well he worked out forTJ McConnell and River coming to song sayd's

(01:21:02):
true? Yeah? Uh, Brian, are you just able? Thank you
so much for doing this with us? It's fun to have a third person
for it. Are you able tojust tell our listeners where they can find
you and all the great work thatyou do before Grant takes us out of
here? For sure? Well,thank you guys for having me. As
much as I hate talking about thisgod forsaken team, it's always good seeing
you too. Y'all can find meon X or Twitter, whatever you want

(01:21:26):
to call it, or any socialmedia platform at b too poorik A is
b T O p O R eK. You can find my written work
for sixer stuff, especially at Liberty, Bollers and Forbes sports cover all sorts
of NBA including people call them theCity Thunder for all the thunder fans out
there, and you can find theNBA podcast wherever podcasts are found. Honestly,

(01:21:49):
if the uncontested podcast folks are listeningto this, I know that was
From time to time, you guysneed to invite to pork on your podcast.
It's time for him, It's it'stime. I'm ready to be baptized
in the samm pressing bath water.Well, Brian again, thank you very
much for your perspective and joining ushere. I will tell everyone as always

(01:22:11):
to rate, review, subscribe,follow us on all the socials. Do
the same. For the NBA podcast, Brian and more do awesome work.
I listened to it regularly. Uhand uh yeah. If you want to
find ways to follow support, checkout the links in the YouTube and podcast
description here. Tell your friends,tell your enemies, buy some merch that's
also something you can do to supportand uh yeah, you know, uh,

(01:22:33):
I guess we should probably close thesixers pot with with a go Thunder

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