What is krakolacin Fellows Thermonuclear a evers. I am Dana Valley, joined by
my fabulous, certified, fantabulous co host, mister grand Hues, and we're
both super pleased and excited to be joined by Brian Taporrek, co host of
the NBA Podcast. He is also a multi platform editor extraordinaire for Bleacher Report.
He also writes for Liberty Ballers and for Forbes, covers the entire NBA
at large, with a special emphasis on the Philadelphia seventy six Ers and guess
what, it's the Philadelphia seventy six Ers twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four
NBA look Ahead. So of course he'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 to talk about with regards to the team,
so we should be out of here in like fifteen or twenty minutes before we
get started. Brian, how are you 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 started that you watched all two hours of Sam
Presty's press conference, and I want to know, for anyone who wasn't on
site, I want to know how many 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
just want to see the process fulfilled and 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 number of reasons. I mean, you know,
we are coworkers that don't see each other's faces almost ever, you and
I do Dan, But also like I know we're going to make jokes about
how the Sixers are like a tough conversation or a tough topic of conversation.
But I'm super interested and I really am excited to get Brian's perspective because I
feel like he knows a thousand times more about the Sixers than you or I
do, and also like unfair Brian to say has a greater emotional investment,
as like, do you admit to your fandom like I do with the Warriors
and don't pretend to it or to ignore it, or are we're going to
get the real perspective is what I'm saying. 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're just you're made of teflon? I think
so, because now people are like trying to taunt me with like, oh,
Joel Embiid's gonna request to trade, and I'm like, I've written about
it for five months now, I'm all away, you can't. You can't
fain. I think the Ben Simmons thing that was it, Like they just
broke me by that point, and then all of this is just funny.
We will get to matters of actual basketball stuff happening on the court, the
Nick Nurse high or all that, but we have to start with like every
phase layer potential implication of this James Harden 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 done wrong in his approach or with what he
said, or maybe how he should have gone about things differently. My question
to you is how much do you blame Darryl Morey and or the organization at
large for how the Sixers and we all just collectively ended up here. Yeah.
I mean, you know, the Sixers party line all summer has been
we did not want to reach out to him before free agency started because we
got dinged for tampering last and we didn't want to test the NBA again.
And I don't know whether it's true or not, that's what they're saying.
You know, I struggle to believe that 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 Houston pivots away from interest in James Harden,
and all of a sudden, you know, the Sixers are looking around the
league and they're like, well, you don't really have a ton of good
options left, Like maybe we can squeeze this guy a little bit. So
you know, whether they tried to just completely ghost him, or they you
know, kind of signaled that they were planning to squeeze him. Like,
I don't blame them. If he wanted a four year max contract and he
would be unhappy with anything less than a four year max contract, I think
that's just unrealistic on his end and not the Sixers, And I don't blame
the Sixers for doing it, but you know, it does seem like the
days leading up to free agency there was a gap in communication. And you
know, I understand if the Sixers are telling the truth why they did so.
But you know, there is this expectation around the league that you're,
like, by July first or June thirtieth at six pm, you should have
a pretty good idea of what's going on, 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 the name 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 there are some pretty substantial differences between what went
on with Simmons and the Sixers compared to what's happening with Harden and the Sixers
of one of the many being you know, there may have been some significant
offers out there for Ben Simmons that that 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 James Harden, like and there were other options
before that, potentially Tyre's Haliburton being one, you know, who knows how
real that ever was. But it's different now for Harden because it's really difficult
for me. And I've talked to Dan about this, like what is what's
out there? And there's been recent reporting 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
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 they actually want to get for James Harden.
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, you know, Darryl Moria
said, we're either trading him for a star or something that can help us
get a star. I don't think they're trading him for a star. At
this point, I just don't see who's on you know, Drew move,
Damian Lillard moved like that. There isn't another lingering star trade request on the
market unless you feel that strongly about Malcolm Brogden. So you know, you
alluded to it. Sam Amock and Sham Schroni of The Athletic reported earlier today
that the Clippers have kind of re engaged the Sixers and have offered a first
round pick, a pick swap and you know, expiring contract salary filler,
probably some combination of Marcus Morris, Nick Patoomb, Robert Covington. You know,
the Sixers have telegraphed that they are hoping to keep cap space open for
next summer when they could have more than fifty million in cap space. So
you know, Norman Powell was the name that was kicked around when this first
popped up earlier this year. And you know, based on what the Sixers
have said, I would imagine they lean more toward the expirings in draft compensation.
Seems like, you know, the number of picks that the Clippers send
and whether they include Terrence Mann are the sticking points. And you know,
I think the Clippers realized they might be bidding against themselves so much like Miami
throughout the Dean Lillard thing, They're probably like, well, we don't,
you know, why are we giving up 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 team starts 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
team to jump into the mix. So I think things are somewhat at a
stand still, but it wouldn't shock me if they heat up relatively soon.
So my question is twofold, and I'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 go back to my outline here to see how
I phrased it there. Do you agree with their prioritization of cat flexibility in
next summer, knowing what we know about both who will be available and just
how free agency has come to operate over the past few years. Yeah,
I mean it's risky, right because if they basically treat this year as a
punt year, which Joelle Embiid on Media Day are at Media Day on Monday,
said, you know, I want to be competing for a championship every
year, like I do not want to have a gap year. So if
you know Harden, let's say they don'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 rest of this season. Like it wouldn't shock
me if we get to next year's draft and where you know, the six
are at the same place that the Blazers were with Damian Lillard in April,
where he gives his end of season press conferences like all right, guys,
time to you got to move the pick, like it's time to win.
It's time to get this thing going now. I think Embiid's probably gonna give
them this season and the start a free agency next year and then reevaluate from
there. So you know that the list of free agents is interesting in that
you know Pascal siakam Ogann Andobi both of whom played under Nick Nurse, Kawhi
Leonard has a player option. He obviously won a title with Nick Nurse as
well in Toronto. Paul George has a player option. Like you know,
I think they just have to evaluate how serious of a threat they are to
pry. You know, Kawhi and Paul George don't really seem inclined to leave
LA. I think that might just be 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 and Nick Nurse by the end of Nurse's tenure
in Toronto. So I think, you know, oj Ananobi strikes me as
the most realistic big name free agent target, but it also wouldn't shock me
if you know, Darryl Moorey is one of these smarter cap minds out there
in front offices, and we're in year one of this new CBA, where
you know, Boston and Phoenix in particular have kind of turned up their nose
that oh, the second Apron, you're not going to be able to have
super teams. You can only have two 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 means for the expensive teams next summer, because
you know, maybe instead of going after a Siakam or an Ananobe or you
know, a big name free agent, maybe he just breaks it up into
a couple smaller contracts, then resigns Maxie, and it's a Maxi embid on
the Maxes and you've just got a bunch of like starting quality players around them.
So you know, they have One of his favorite terms is optionality,
Like they have more optionality than most contenders do, at least in terms of
free agency. But that's, you know, the only optionality they have because
they've already traded two first round picks away like that. You know, they
couldn't get in on Damian Lillard or even Drew Holliday without giving up Tyrese,
Maxie and Frankly, you know, I don't know that Maxie and one pick
tops Broggden and time Lord and two picks from Boston like that. You know,
they just do not have the ammunition to get into a superstar trade war,
which I think is also why they're trying to use this Harden trade to
kind of replenish their war chest of it. I was gonna sorry, Graham
put the second part of that for me was so everything you outlay can all
kind of make sense. And so it'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 trade this year, but over the summer.
And you mentioned some of these expensive teams, what are those expensive? Like
what if just Boston kind of flames out in Round one where it gets bounced
to the semi finals this year, or is like, yeah, like Jalen
Brown's gonna be on the blockers. I'm not saying this actually be interested,
but one of those expensive stars become available 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 season not being a gap year? Then if
you're waiting or prioritizing any one of those scenarios, is it actually like James
Harden sticks with the team all year and is actually playing well. But then
if that happens, you're not getting assets 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 path James Harden staying or they trade James Harden
to the Clippers for whatever the Clippers have to offer that isn't Kawhi Leonard or
Paul George. I don't think either one of them puts them on the level
of Boston or Milwaukee. So, you know, I think, no matter
what, it is kind of kind of be a gap year in terms of
legitimate title contention. That isn't to say that they can't turn this year into
a valuable experience though, and I'm sure we're gonna get into it with the
Nick Nurse stuff, but they have a lot of other big picture questions to
answer about this team, and I think, you know, it almost harkens
back to the process days, where you're less concerned with wins and losses and
you're more concerned with like individual player development. I think this is just going
to be a rich Man's version of that. I mean, if we're gonna
talk player to I do want to before we get to have so many more
questions about this offseason and what Hard has done. Maybe we should do that
first. Because I have some we have Tyre's MAXI questions because we're talking about
player development and there's hardly anybody more important from that standpoint than him. Do
you think this one? Is there a scenario or is there an explanation for
this current situation that you know could could Darryl Mory say, well, this
was unforeseen like I was, I'm surprised that I'm in this position with James
Harden? And two has this had an effect on like were there other moves
that maybe the Sixers would have made had this been done more cleanly? And
I don't know if I'm even talking about Harden's just back and we're all good,
or had signed him to a new deal, or if he had been
traded quickly, Like if there weren't this cloud, do you think the team
the roster would look different. Are there opportunities they didn't pursue? Are their
guys like Niang and McDaniels that might be back or not? Like has it
had ripple a or was this always going to be a situation where like you
said, it kind of as a gap year by default almost just I mean
not a real one because you know that has such a negative connotation. But
you see, I'm asking like, would this be different if not for the
hardened debacle? Yeah, I think to some extent it would. I mean,
I don't know that they would have paid Nyang what he got from Cleveland,
even Jalen McDaniels what he got from Toronto, or even Shake Milton.
I mean, I think, honestly, remove the hardened stuff from the equation,
and you think of like net loss net gain from the offseason. They
lose, you know, Nyang, McDaniels, Shake Milton, they gain Pat
Bev, Kelly Ubrage, you and your Mobamba, Danny Green all on min
deals. You could make a case that they maybe broke even maybe even got
a little better, But obviously this harden stuff is all overshadowing that, so
no one's really focused on that part of it. I mean, I do
think the one big change is that they haven't used their tax payermid level exception
at all. They are far enough under the second apron that they have access
to it, but that would hardcap them at the second apron, which I
think they are not particularly interested in doing before they resolve the hard and stuff,
because that's you know, they're far enough under to use it, but
not far enough that once they use it, they'd be kind of close.
So they want to preserve as much financial flexibility as possible to avoid any hardcap
stuff because that's only going to complicate what they're able to take back from Harden.
And I think that's the biggest priority to resolve. You just made me
think of something else and going off outline, 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 in the James Harden business, is there any
maybe there's reporting that could just tell me this that I've forgotten? Is there
a chance Doc Rivers's back Was it an either or thing? Do you think?
Or was it more just like as Doc Rivers tends to do, like
we're kind of that we've run with this relationship has run its course, Thank
you, sir, next type of situation. Based on the quotes that have
come out since his dismissal starting your Summer League and really like this week in
particular, it's becoming increasingly clear that James Harden was not the only one who
was done with talks, so I think he probably were out. I mean
I just don't know how you come back 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 was like, I like it. It's fun.
I know honestly, Like I thought of this analogy earlier today once I
saw that and be quote, you know, when you've got a friend who's
just in like a really toxic relationship and then they finally get out of it
and they start dating someone else and they're like, oh, this person's so
nice to me. They like compliment me, and they call me to check
on how I'm doing, and they like ask about my feelings, and you're
like, that's just normal. Why are you talking about this? Is like
it's novel. That's how the Sixers sound discussing Nick Nurse. So like,
the ball is moving, it's not just Joelle and James all the time.
Like the ball is moving, players are moving, and it's like, yeah,
that's just basketball. You're just describing basketball. So yeah, I think
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 is that 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 is probably a good thing. James Harden seems
to be in good spirits and not participating, but participating like he's not doing
live action stuff, but he's still not like he's not in poor shape.
I don't know anyone said he was in 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 for me to get out of here is to
play my ass off, be great, increase my market value, whether it's
for the Clippers or someone else, or do you think at some point he
would go fill malcontent as sort of the Darryl Mory is a liar quote the
signs he had people holding up at whatever party he always like, what do
you think is more likely if he's still on this team during the regular season.
I think if he's smart, he would do the former. But he
has shown that he doesn't always follow the best advice, so it wouldn't shock
me if he does the latter. I think you're exactly right. I wrote
about this like Wednesday morning, right before he showed up to training camp at
Liberty Bollers exactly like. This guy has 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 know the hamstring injury from a couple of years
ago that affected him for quite some time. We get the Stephen A.
Smith report this week where you know Houston was in on him until he goes
to im Adoka and says I want to 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 realize that he's not the in his prime James
Harden anymore. I'm not totally sure he's there yet, which is already gonna
narrow the market. I think he makes a ton of sense for the Clippers
and a like I do think this deal 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 hard and boost your market value, because otherwise
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, like when when he did it for Houston,
it's still because he was like MVP caliber James Harden. He's not that anymore.
And I think the Sixers realize, you know, we're gonna be worse
without him, but we can survive without him. We don't need him to
submarine our season when we've got the reigning 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 if you want. But to me, and
this is it's not like some revelation to 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 that you know, he's happy, he
wants to be in Philadelphia and so on and so on. I just like,
I think the way I phrased it to you, Dan, the other
day was if in December, Joel Embiid demanded a trade, no one on
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 you think the best outcome maybe in the short
term, you know, in the next couple of weeks, and then as
the season goes on, is with specific focus on what's the thing that makes
it less likely that Joel Embiid does change his mind or does you know,
angle to get out and doesn't want to wait through this gap year, Like
what what hypothetical do you see as the best way to make sure Embiid continues
to be consistent in saying I do want to be here because like this,
these things end somewhat predictably. It's to me, it just seems like it's
a question of when how do we push the when back? Yeah, I
completely agree. I mean short of the 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 big question looming over them this season is the
ceiling of Tyrese Maxey. So you know they're already prepping whether Harden returns or
not, to have Maxie operating more of an on ball roll, whether he
takes a leap as a playmaker in particular, because that's been one of his
when say, weaknesses, necessarily, but not one of his strengths. So
if he turns into a seven eight assist kind of asis per game kind of
guy, you know, that raises the ceiling I think of the team as
a whole, and it also provides more clarity about the long term type of
backcourt partner they need next to him, which again with the possibility of fifty
million dollars in cap space or trade Jane Harden and where all of a sudden
have these access to go star hunting again. 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, which it sounds like they want him to be,
how do we best compliment him, whether it's you know, like,
if he could be this full time playmaker, then we can go a little
bit of a bigger guard who's better at 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 adequately fill this role, then we need a
bigger playmaker, still good on defense, and we could have him operate off
the ball. So I think how Maxie adjusts to this new role, you
know, might either give him be confidence that Okay, yeah, i can
roll with this guy and this guy can be my co star for the next
five years and I'm happy to be in Philly, or no, oh,
this guy face planted to this role and there is no hope here anymore.
Is there any chance, like, what is the timeline for Joel Embiid reaching
def con Get me the fuck out of Is there any version of this season
or like of this saga where that gets accelerated and you're all of a sudden
concerned this season or is it very much? Uh, that's at the absolute
earliest. Something could happen next summer. I would be surprised if it happened
before next summer. Maybe not surprised because Grant, as you said, at
this point, any day it could happen, and it's like, okay,
yeah, that you've put up with so 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. And you know, I'm sure Darryl Morey has
sold him on. Look like we're not giving Tyrese Maxi this extension this year
because we are keeping his cheap cap hold 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 free agency, what do we do with that
flexibility next summer? And then if we get to July first, second third,
Much like the Blazers with Dame this year, you know, he kind
of put them on the clock. They didn't do anything at the draft,
free agency opened, they resigned Jeremy Grant 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 and the Sixers, you know, like Kawhi
resigns, Paul George resigns, Og Pascal either resign or go elsewhere, and
they are looking at okay, maybe you know, I don't I don't know
who the Gordon Hayward. If that's the best case scenario and free agency,
then yeah, I would imagine at that 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, any slant on it or you can't say,
you can't say fine new slants with that was accidental, Any angle here or
any facet of this whole hardened Sixers off season situation that is under discussed,
or that you have an opinion on that 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 whole thing was a miscommunication, or maybe not
even a miscommunication, a lack of communication leading up to free agency, it's
funny that had this happened a year later, this wouldn't apply because the new
CBA, you could start negotiating with your own free agents one day after the
finals. So the Sixers just got kind of screwed by timing here, which
you know, I like, I guess the good thing is if they don't
trade hard and if he buys back in and they get to this point next
summer, when he's still on the roster, 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 that even a possibility? Is there a scenario
where these two were just stuck with each other for the entire year? Or
if you had to predict right now, and I'm forcing you to, like,
how do you see this thing ultimately ending? I mean, based on
the Avid report today that was like the 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 just low ball and see if they'll take it.
I think they've realized that More is just not the person to mess with
in that regard. So I imagine he ends up on the Clippers at some
point. I just think it makes so 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. I think he would be such a good fit
with those guys, So I would imagine it he goes there. I don't
know when I don't know what ultimately the trade package is gonna be. I
would be pretty surprised if he makes it past the trade deadline in Philly.
I think he knows, you know he 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 next summer. Like the Sixers don't have to
work with him on a sign and trade, especially if they're trying to preserve
cap space for something else. No other contender is projected to have cap space
next summer other than the Sixers, So he knows. If I'm still on
the Sixers on February eighth, my options are a lot more limited in free
agency next year and age. And even if he is, you know,
comes into the season, plays the good soldier for a little while. If
he's still on the roster in January or even February, that's when we start
to see the you know, the end of Houston Day's pardon yeah, okay,
mercifully yes, thirty pretty good, pretty good. Nick Nurse is a
new head coach. Broadly, what what do you think about the higher compared
to what some of the alternatives might have been. What are you excited about
what do you think will be the most noticeable differences on either end of the
floor, or just culturally give me, give me your your nick nurse kind
of hopes and dreams or concerns. Yeah, well, I mean Raptors fans
certainly have me concerned after the higher because they were, you know, laughing.
It was like, oh, oh, I thought we were happy that
Doc Rivers has gone. But I guess, I guess we have to think
twice about this. You know, I think obvious concern is he ran especially
van Fleet and Siakam into the ground by the end of his tenure there,
and Joel Embiid, with his injury history, 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 has even said this too. He says,
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 minutes a game for all of you. Two
games, So how Nurse manages minutes I think is something I'll be keeping a
pretty close eye on. But again, like they have been pretty glowing reviews
so far about Nurse's system, especially from 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. You know, Danny Green was talking and Media
Day about when you know, he was on the Raptors for the twenty eighteen
nineteen season where they won the championship, and he was discussing when they went
to be the box and one and the 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 we thought he was crazy, but then it
actually worked and it like he's earned this lifetime of loyalty from me. So
I think having someone like Danny, assuming he makes the team, which is
not guaranteed at this point, but I 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 as well. 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 very static and we didn't experiment all that much.
I think that culture is something that really all contenders should have during the
regular season, Like if you are if you know you're gonna make the playoffs,
so if you know you're gonna be a fifty win team, the entire
point of the regular season is figure out what's gonna work in the playoffs.
And I think last year with the Sixers, you Doc ran the NB pick
and roll into the ground, just spammed 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 to spam it. But then the Boston Celtics
in the second round figured it out save for Game five, and the Sixers
didn't really have a CounterPunch. So I think under Nurse, they're gonna be
a lot less predictable and they are gonna be definitely some times where he tries
out weird lineups that don't work at all, but you know his willingness to
experiment, like I'm not worried that he's gonna, you know, try to
convince Darryl Mourray to sign the washed corpse 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 they didn't have last year. And I
think, you know, House in particular, sounds very excited about that because
he was on the fringes of Doc's rotation for most of the year, which
seemed like a total waste of a biannual 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. Do you see the potential for that to happen
on defense at all? Where maybe they're playing more aggressively on defense? Is
that happening maybe in lineups where embiad isn't there because you have Paul Reid and
Ubra and Maxi, none of whom I 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 do you expect the Sixers base defense to sort
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 more aggressive, even if it leads to some
breakdowns at times. It makes me nervous because they feel like most of em
Beads playoff injuries have been when he's going for these blocks, especially in the
past two years. So I hope he can do that while staying healthy.
But yeah, I mean, I think you know, we barely at all
if ever saw Paul Reid play next to Embiid last season. Nurse has already
said we're going to see more of that this year. I mean, but
between Melton, PJ. Tucker, Patrick Beverly, James Springer, if he
can crack the rotation like, they have some intriguing defensive personnel, and I
think Nurse is going to look to tap 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. What do you think about the new additions?
I'm granted, you know, they didn't have, you know, a ton
of tools to go out and you know, get a bunch of you know,
big needle new but it does seem like they did fairly well with the
resources that they had. So I guess 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 look like. Yeah, I think Oubrey is
the default answer, just based on what he did last year in Charlotte.
Obviously he's not going to have that kind of a role in Philly. But
they haven't really had this like microwave scorer off the bench since Alec Burks a
couple of years ago, and before that even like Lou Williams, you know,
like pre process. So it's been a while since they've had someone like
that. And really their wing depth. At the start of the off season,
you're like, oh my god, they have Tobias and PJ. Tucker
and other than that, it's like house And for con cork mods they got
nothing. You know, we'll see what Danny Green still has left in the
tank, hopefully now that he's more than a year removed from the injury.
He can help him out in that regard, and he was really good for
them during his two seasons in Philly before the injury. But I think Uber
is the obvious answer. No, Beverly. I think is probably going to
be more influential off the court than on, but I think he will still
have a role on the court as well. And you know did make a
difference, especially for Chicago after ending up with them last year. So you
know, uh, back up, assuming hard in his back and he's in
the starting lineup like a second unit backcourt of Pat Bev and Deanthony Melton does
not sound like very fun to go against, 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
most closely when it comes to if he'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 that you'll be watching most close? He's at
the playmaking in the half court? Is it Kenny up Is off the dribble
shooting Like he hit like thirty nine percent of his pull up threes last year,
but they weren't a huge part of his game. What's the most important
aspect of his development moving forward? Yeah, I think definitely the playmaking and
kind of you know, how you handle the push and pull of leaning into
your scoring, because that's still you know, his strength. He is a
dynamic three level scorer. He's got the speed that few guys in the league
can keep up with, especially in transition. And you know, he's really
increased his off the dribble shooting I think a lot in part thanks to James
Harden. As soon as James Harden came, he started working the step back
three more into his game. And you know, the Sixers tweeted a clip
of training camp yesterday, I think, and you know he already showed off
like behind the back pass with Embid in the pick and roll that he did
not have last year. So you know, 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 ony ball roll this year, and you know,
again, seeing how how he handles that is going to have both short
and long term implications for the Sixers future. Maybe an unfair question, but
I'm so interested in your perspective on MAXI what are you most optimistic about him
as we're looking at him as like a from a growth perspective? What are
you most optimistic that he will successfully add to his game? And what are
you what are you kind of more skeptical that he you know where? Might
we be asking too much of him as he takes on this new role,
Like what do you think he Maybe I don't know if he's going to quite
be able to do this in a bigger Yeah, that's a good question.
I think based on his work ethic and the way he's improved since coming in
the NBA, I don't want to rule anything out. I mean everyone around
the team just absolutely adores the kid. So I think he's he's going to
do whatever his body like allows him to do. So I think he will
take a step forward as a playmaker this year. He would get mad if
he hears this, But I think defense is the other big question. He
hates people asking him about it, but no, he does have a smaller
frame, So you know, I don't think he ever turns into a lockdown
defender necessarily. I think he'll continue to 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 probably the one area that I think he's just
limited by his frame more than anything else. I'm actually more optimistic I think
on him defensively than a lot of other people. I think that he's shown
like really long moments of like being able to fight, being able to put
real pressure on it. He's given some 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, like really big issues you can count on him
to. I don't want to use the word derail or shut down, but
make life difficult on guys of that caliber. That's like, I know some
people think point of attack defense is overrated, especially if you are the point
guard. Like being able to do something like that is I would say pretty
valuable. And that leads me into my 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 worried about maybe souring the relationship with him by
sort of delaying that that payday. Yeah, I would imagine that's the expectation.
I you know, I think the cap growth is gonna outstrip any potential
of that deal aging poorly. You No, maybe it's slightly less than the
MAX, because I think that's kind of the next frontier for a lot of
teams, especially as we get deeper into this new CBA, they're going to
try to reason with their guys and say, hey, there's this second apron
that we really really really don't want to go over, and here's how you
Taking ten fifteen to twenty million less than 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 his first three years and shows improvement as a
playmaker, as a scorer defensively this year, you know, I would have
no hesitation giving a five year BAX next summer. That'll finally settle the how
do we rank Tyler hero Tyres MAXI yeah, we won't have to argue about
it anymore, although probably Maxie deserves to be at the top of that class
now anyway, Oh, for sure, I am curious of his because because
those are still empty simons, I feel like his deal is actually kind of
a bargain and people don't talk about it. But with Hero RJ. Barrett,
even Jordan Poole, the conversation surrounding those guys change so starkly after they
signed to their extension that I'm just curious to see if the same happens with
MAXI when he's like actually off his rookie scale and signs that deal. I
really don't think it will, because I actually think by far, of all
the players we just named, he's clearly the best already and probably has the
highest ceiling I would believe. But I am just curious because the way that
I think fandom and analysis can even work 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, just the conversation surrounding them changes. Yeah,
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 in another interesting piece, not just because of
the weird Utah Jazz restricted free agency contract. We can get into that too,
but I enjoyed that. Can you just pretend that Dan and I I
don't know, this is a pretty niche basketball Siico podcast, and people probably
know Paul Reid and like what his game 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 be someone 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 what has he been to this point? And
what do you think he needs to do to really become more than like a
weird, like niche basketball point of interest? What do you also think he
needs to do to prevent the Sixers from reacquiring DeAndre Jordan at the trade dead
time? Have them not hire Doc Rivers again. I think that's step one.
Yeah, Paul reads, I mean, everyone just loves him in Philly.
I think in part because he was the only big under the age of
thirty five. That they played over the 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've had in the embiid era, which is
kind of sad to some extent because you 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 gotten absolutely killed whenever they're on the court.
And Reid, especially last year after the trade deadline when he finally supplanted Dwayne
Deadman in the rotation, was very, very good. He's just long,
springy, athletic, switchable defensively, which again is something with you know,
the Bobons and Greg mond Rose of the world, something they just haven't had
before. I think the one major area of growth for him beyond just you
know, getting acclimated to Nick Nurse's new system and knowing where to be at
all times. You know, he improved a lot in the pick and roll
last year with James Harden, which was 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 want to see him shoot three is more he
did in the G League, and he was actually a pretty good three point
shooter, And he said, you know, he's prioritized that this offseason,
but you know that's obviously going to be the key to playing him next to
Joelle Embiid in particular, you can't have 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 knock down thirty five percent of his threes,
especially in the corners, then yeah, the Embiard Read pairing could be viable
on both ends of the floor, and frankly could be really interesting defensively in
particular. Yeah, I was gonna ask you think you think, assuming he
is, you know, viable as as 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 gonna switch one through four you don't at least
survive out there, Like that's a real 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 really just didn't get a ton of opportunity really
throughout his career, but up until the trade leadline last year. Like you
know, we saw it at the very end of the twenty one to twenty
two season and then you know, for a couple months at the end of
last season. So I think this is going to be his best opportunity by
far. Nick Nurse has already talked about him as trying to mold him like
Siakam, which I think is pretty interesting because you can, you know,
you could see some similarities in how they play. I think obviously Siakam is
a much better player than Paul Reid at this point, but you know,
him seeing that type of potential and Paul Reid is interesting. And I know
at Media Day, Mobamba was saying, you know, one of the reasons
he signed with the Sixers because he took a one year mind deal, so
he could have taken the same contract anywhere, was Nurse's history of playing two
bigs together in Toronto. So I think Nurse has shown that he's hasn't shied
away from that despite the way the NBA is trending, and he'll have the
personnel to at least experiment with it in Philly too. Are you ready to
enter the cookie cutter portion of the pcast? Yes? Are there any under
talked about underrated strengths and or weaknesses about this team that we have yet to
really touch upon? I think wing depth is a concern, especially when you
know you're gonna go into the playoffs and likely face some combination of Jason Tatum,
Jalen Brown, Jimmy Butler, Chris Middleton, Janna Santa to Kumbo at
some point, like, I just again don't really see how they match up
well against either of those teams. Frankly, no, I think Embiid too.
It's funny that he's coming off of this MVP season and you know,
both inside of Philly and outside everyone's just kind of down on him, which
you know, I get it because they flamed out in the playoffs again,
But you know, Embiid today was saying like, hey man, you know
this system's gonna be different, Like I'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 to twenty two season when Ben Simmons was sitting
out like they played a lot more through Embiid and you know Embid last year
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 just rolled their eyes, and for good reason.
He is not the pastor that Nicola Jokich 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 how he and Nurse cole Lece I think is
obvious going to be one of the biggest stories of the season. And it's
because of the Harden stuff and the Maxie questions. Everything hasn't gotten a ton
of attention, and then the anthe and Melton too. I mean, if
Harden does either hold out or get traded and Melton moves into the starting lineup,
He's in the contract year, so this is gonna be a big opportunity
for him to prove am I the long term backcourt partner to Tyrese MAXI Can
I be a viable starter on a championship Calgary team. I was gonna ask,
is there any like concern about I don't want to say Joellenbiid burnout,
but he's now in consecutive seasons set a career high for total minutes played.
And look, the Sixers, it was one of my They're not built to
necessarily play differently when you're structuring everything around 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 maybe it's Maxi and Hard's on the court and
they want to play faster, and the Sixers, I think we're twenty seven
to average offensive possession time. Just the combination of, Yeah, we talked
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 then if the Sixers maybe do decide to experiment
and play a little faster with him or ask him to do even more on
the offensive end, is there any just concern about Joelle and bid burnout.
Yeah, I think there's a huge concern about that. I mean that is
you know, the question with Nick Nurse is is he going to overplay him?
Because they do now have at least two other viable options in Paul Reid
and Bomba also have Philip Petrosav assuming he makes the team. I'm not saying
he's gonna make play a ton of minutes or even be in the rotation,
but you know, they have other guys to try in the front court.
And like, no, as long as PJ. Tucker's on the team,
you can get really weird and we could 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, So I 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 minutes a game like Siakam or Vampleet was last
season. That's just a recipe for he gets he's either you know, on
fumes by April when we get to the playoffs, or he's out nursing sub
sort of injury. Do you think you 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 it is, is he someone that is a
viable postseason player just because of the low volume shooting and I mean the age
thing at some point it's got I mean, he's defied the agent curve,
you know, for like the better part of a decade now. But do
you still view him as someone that is like, I mean, I don't
even know is he integral to the best version of the Sixers like? Or
is is he someone that maybe we talked about Paul Reid. It might be
it might not be the worst thing if Paul Lady does sort of eat into
those minutes and and Tucker kind of gets a little bit marginalized. Where what
does he have left? In your opinion, Yeah, I mean, I
think he's so dependent on an elite playmaker like James Harden that it wouldn't shock
me if in a hard and trade he also gets moved. Oh interesting.
I mean, I'm you know, I'm just speculating on that. I don't
know for sure, but I think it would make sense. And I think
he could also make sense on the Clippers, because they're gonna, you know,
if they do send some combination of Covington Morris but to him, like
they are gonna potentially need a little more depth behind Kawhi and PG. And
you know, if again, if MAXI takes this major leap as a playmaker,
then maybe Maxie can fill that role and still feed him those corner threes,
and maybe he's less reluctant to take them this year. Also again,
like maybe they actually figure out ways to use him offensively beyond just parking in
the quarner, which is basically all he did under Doc Rivers. I mean
we saw it in myami he was actually you know, had kind of a
late career renaissance, yeah with them. So I think that is a good
under the radar storyline for the Sixers is what does PJ. Tucker have left?
Was last year because he's just you know, thirty eight or whatever he
is, or was it just Doc Rivers was so focused on harden An MB
that he didn't really devise any sort of special schemes or anything to utilize the
rest of the team correctly. I do think leadership wise, he's important.
I mean, you know, I go back to the game four against Boston
where you know, it's late in the game and Tucker just like gets in
Joel and Meide's face and yells at him 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 Tucker not have that conversation with the minute left
of the game or whatever it was. So I think from that perspective,
like he and Danny Green and Pat Bev could be very, very or valuable
to the team even if they are not, you know, putting up fifteen
points a game, which I wouldn't expect from any of them at this stage
of their career. Is we really haven't mentioned him? And I'm surprised,
is Tobias Harris knowing the state of both the hardened situation, the Sixers prioritizing
flexibility and then also Nick Nurse coming in and maybe want to diversify the offense.
Is he more important right now to the Sixers as an actual player and
do you see him being someone who could benefit from Nurse coming in and two?
Or is he still kind of just viewed as just this massive, massive,
gargantuan human trade exception both. Can I just say yes one? Is
it? Like? Okay, I think he's probably still more of a human
trade exception, because again, I think we get to the trade deadline and
we'll see how teams are handling this new second Apron stuff. But you know,
a lot more or the full array of restrictions go into effect next summer.
You know, the draft pick freezing. You can't trade the draft pick
seven years in the future, can't aggregate contracts, can't take back any more
salary than you send out. So we'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 opportunities to make those sorts of salary dumps and
the sixers, you know, unless the Warriors move off with Klay Thompson,
Tobias Harris is the biggest contract who is going to be expiring, So they
do have that lifeline for any team that needs it. But shout out to
my guys Kyle Newbeck and Derek Bodner at Philly Sports. Phly Sports the new
network over there. He's sat down with or they sat down with Tobias at
Media Day and he talked about what's kind of going to be his role in
this Nick Nurse offense, and he also said, you know, there's going
to be a lot more opportunities for me. I'm going to run pick and
roll more, which I think it's going 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.
I also just said he's gonna launch as many threes as he possibly can.
But I think his agent slash father went viral over the summer when they said,
you know, Terrell Harris said they weren't using Tobias right, they could
be an assassin score. So I hope that we get to see the assassin
score version of Tobias Harris this year. I think he's still going to be
third or fourth in the offensive pecking order, depending on whether Harden comes back.
But you know, if this more everyone gets touches and everyone gets a
piece of the bye offensive nick nurse comes true, then you know, hopefully
he won't be have as minimal of a role as he did last year when
we he you know, I think he had his fewest points since, like
his Orlando days. I will say he still it feels like people still read
too much into his pay grade because he'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 with his ability to kind of fit into all
these weird or different archetypal offensive roles, even if it's not the volume at
which you would prefer to see. I actually think he's more valuable to them
as a player right now, because when you don't have picks like to really
include in trades, and you don't want to take on long term money to
begin with, what is the real value of having this like forty million dollar
expiring contract then in a trade if you can't necessarily attach anything to him and
you don't want to take back a massive amount, Like yeah, I guess
if there's a star that's making a ton 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, that he'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 if they don't move him at all he becomes
his own restricted free agent next or back, it wouldn't totally shock Yeah,
I mean, hopefully at a slightly lower aav that what he had on this
previous deal. But I mean, I think you're totally right, Dan,
Like, if you remove the contract from the player, he's still a helpful
player. He's still a very good player. It's just that we got paid
probably twice as much or you know, fifty more than you should have.
And that's, you know, I think it's fair to be frustrated by that
because that does have some real team building implications as well. Uh So Harris
is starting, uh Maxie is starting, Joel Embiid is starting, Tucker is
probably starting, James Harden, or if it's not James Harden, it sounds
like maybe a year of the mind that it might be d Anthony Melton in
the back court with Maxie. Can you 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 next five guys look like? If you know,
just guessing from today, what does the rest of that ten man rotation
look like? Or maybe it goes deeper or maybe it's shallower than that in
your opinion, Yeah, so I think 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
competing for minutes, Danuel House competing for a minutes. Like you know,
again, you go down this roster and they have ten, eleven, twelve
like legitimate rotation players. So you know, Nick Nurse said on media day,
like we actually have a competition at the 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
trade for the Clippers guys, Like I think one of the underrated subplots of
this is like did they miss the window for this to be a lot easier
when the Sixers not fill out their roster, Like right now they're one over
the regular season roster limit, and they you know, they can very easily
get under Wave petrosev or Wave Montre Terrell, who you know, unfortunately got
injured during the offseason, iss going to miss the whole season. But you
know, if they do like a three for one or four for one all
of a sudden, like you might have to take back another player, like
maybe they have to send out cork Mos as well, just because they don't
like clearly I don't think they're gonna want 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,
spots six through ten. I think Melton, assuming hardenback Melton, Paul
Reid guaranteed to have roles in the rotation, and then you know, probably
a competition between Pat Beev and Jaden Springer. I'm guessing Pat Beev is ahead
in that conversation, uh, and then the wings between Danny green House cork
Bos if he's still around u Ubra of course, So there's still a lot
to shake out of these next couple of weeks. Do you expect again,
it's everything's just written in pensive is the hard and stuff. But is their
starting unit going to be there preferred closing five or do you see the potential
maybe for Melton to get in there, maybe summing out PJ. Tucker or
any different And we also know that Nick Nurse is one of those head coaches
that does play to the matchups and change things more than some others. So
is there any curveball there? Would you 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 that with Melton as the swing piece, or
maybe even Paul Read as the swing piece. If we find out that this
empeed Read pairing works out better than expected, I would not hate seeing Tobias
slide up more to the four this year. I mean, we'll see what
Ubra brings to the table and how he fits into the system. I think
he's probably the big no other like Ryce Maxy is the X factor of the
team, but Kelly Oubray is probably the other one because you know, it's
rare to get someone with that type of scoring upside, even though he's not
the most efficient at scoring. You know, can he fit into more of
a three and d roll? Can he be a better three point shooter?
Can he be more judicious with his shot selection? If so, no,
maybe he does end up closing some games for them or factoring more into the
rotation than just like fringe ninth or tenth man, got any weird quirky lineups
that you're hoping to see. This is really a Dan question. So I
feel terrible He's the one that always has the weirdo suggestions for these things.
The only thing you should feel terrible about is not saying that. It's a
universally beloved and cherished question by everybody. Why do people come between it?
Yeah? I mean I think we can get really weird with this team,
and that's what I want Nick Nurse to do. Like, I do not
want to see this same starting lineup for 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 find out if the tuck Wagon lineups are still
valuable even though he's you know, closer to forty than he is thirty at
this point. Let's see how Melton fares as a point guard. I mean,
you know, we found out the answer last year and it was not
especially great. But he's had his off season to work on that now.
And you know, he he was joking about his finishing on media Day or
his lack thereof of being able to finish layups, So it sounds like that
was a clear focus for him this offseason. But you know, I'd say,
you know, you could come up with like just a dog lineup of
like Pat bev Melton, Tucker Paul Reid like just I guess Daniel Hausen there
too. It just sounds like the most annoying lineup to play against might not
be able to score a single point, but man or I guess no half
court point. They will only score in transition and that's it. So that
might be my answer. Are you excited for when Nick Nurse puts the Sixers
in a three two zone and calls it 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 really disturbed and he realizes that's the one
archetype the Sixers don't have. I really hope, and you kind of alluded
to this, like let's and I'm not they can't lean on this because you
want embid and even if you have hard on the floor, but take those
two off the floor, like let's get the Melton MAXI, Paul Reid and
Ubra on the floor and then like the fifth I think I'd probably lean Tobias
Harris, but it could be PJ. Talker, Like let's just see how
fast those guys could play and that I 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 faster with embiid? Is the five in that
lineup where you can just kind of try 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 you know, Harris are embiid like they they
stretched the floor for their positions, and so I just want to see something
like that, like that's the lineup that 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 the team and it is did you want to
say something Grant, No, no, no no. I was just looking
at this the over under and trying to think what I was going to say
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 poor Ek are you taking the over of the
under? And my follow up to that so you can go right into it
is how many teams right now in the East are you prepared to guarantee are
better going to be better than the Sixers. Yeah, so they've got over
that number each of the last three or even though one of those was a
seventy two game season, that includes the 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 if Harden sits out, which I don't get
the impression he's gonna do because he values his money more than Ben Simmons did.
I mean, it's tempting to take the over here, Like I think
we might have all over corrected a bit because of the herd and drama and
because we've seen how it played out in Houston and Brooklyn in particular. I'm
just like, oh god, this again. But you know, if they
went fifty one and thirty one that year with only you know, MAXI and
Mbid basically leading the team for half the season, with Doc Rivers as the
head coach, you know, they had Zuck Curry back then, they had
Eyeball, they had George and Yang, they had Shake Milton. But you
know, again, if you depending on how you feel about their offseason moves,
Like Paul Reid barely played like Max. He's gonna be two years older
and much more experienced. Paul Reid's gonna be in the actual rotation this year,
so, you know, barring a long term Joel Embiid injury, I'm
tempted to lean slightly over. As for the teams that are gonna be better
than them in the East, I think Boston Milwaukee clearly. You know,
Embid kind of bristled at that at Media Day because a lot of people were
alluding to, you know, these teams made these huge moves and are clearly
better than you guys, and he was like, who says they're better than
us? We got to actually play it out on the court, which you
know, I think the results on the 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
made this offseason, given the possibility of improvement from Evan Mowbley in particular,
and also even you know Darius Garland and you know, seeing how he and
Donovan Mitchell work together in their second year, but with the additions of Niang
and Max Struce, I would imagine, you know, put them in a
playoff series, and I think it'd be pretty interesting. But I think Cleveland's
probably better equipped to win more regular season games than the Sixers, but no
other than that, Like, I think the Heat have a higher ceiling in
the playoffs, which we've seen over the last couple of years. But I
think the Heat also don't really take the regular season seriously. So wouldn't shock
me if the Sixers had more wins than them, you know, I think
i'd put them in the same neighborhood of the Knicks of the Brooklyn Nets.
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 everything surrounding them, but they're the possibly the
third or fourth best team in the East still, which is remarkable. Frankly,
And before I defer a grant here, you mentioned just that people have
kind of like I've been underrating what the 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 you just 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 sample sizes are small. We're talking about five
hundred plus possessions, but like when you move Harden, you're not going to
get nothing, and so there will be something there. So Grant and I
obviously haven't done our over under pod yet, but like you're I think there's
something to you saying sentiment might be too low on just the sixers generally speaking,
Like no, maybe they're not this elite team if the Harden situation goes
awry, but you know, using the Ben Simmons geer as an analog and
then plus just with that data, it's, yeah, there's still stuff here.
Yeah, I mean, like they have an MVP in his prime,
Like the floor is real high, right, like unless I mean, injuries
are concern for everybody, and maybe more so for Embeid than a lot,
but like it's just this, when's the last time on a healthy MVP and
his prime was on a team that didn't at least like Threaten forty nine wins.
You know that's I mean, that's why the line is where it is.
But I like your logic, Brian. I think I think we have
kind of maybe like started overlooking the Sixers prematurely as at least the playoff for
sure, but regular season I think they might still be really good. Do
we not touch on anything that you think warrant's a little bit of coverage or
discussion about this team, you know, whether that's a deep roster guy that
you're kind of interested in, or just a broader angle that we haven't hit
on. Yeah, I mean I think we've We've hit all the big ones
for sure. Jaden Springer, I'm intrigued to see if he cracks the rotation
this year and if he does what he brings to the table. I mean,
coming into camp last year, PJ Talker was like, this guy's really
good defensively already and he doesn't even know what he's doing yet. So you
know, how he's developed over this or especially offense is going to be the
key. If he can space the floor, if he can you know,
dribble. How really, frankly, how all these guys adapted. Nick Nurse
his new system I think is gonna determine playing time early in the year,
and I think based on the off season editions, especially of Patrick Beverley,
you know, I'm guessing he ends up being the third point guard in the
rotation, so you know, plays fourth quarter blowout and it's not much else
than that. But if anyone goes down, you know, does he actually
get an opportunity in the rotation Because frankly, that's been an area that the
Sixers have been lacking in in recent years, is giving their young guys enough
time to develop and get regular season reps. It cost them Isaiah Joe last
year, which the Thunder, my beloved Oklahoma City Thunder reaping the rewards.
Finally, that's right, we had a good das somewhere. You know.
Charleis Bassie was another one who showed some 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 and Read, they really don't have a ton
of young, high upside guys. I mean, I know Sixers fans are
excited about Turk Smith, who's on a two way deal. So we'll see
how much he plays if at all this year. I mean, I imagine
he's gonna be mostly in the G League. But I think they really do
need to replenish that youth pipeline, especially if they're thinking like, oh crap,
and made my request to trade within a year, It's like, okay,
Well, if that happens, then you've got Tyrese, Maxie, Paul
Reid and what and you know, filling the the blanks there is going to
be really important for them. So Springer is in the third year of his
rookie scale deal, they're gonna have to you know. I don't think he's
gonna get like a massive extension or anything next time, but at some point
they got to figure out what they have in the kid, because they really
haven't played him almost at all the first two seasons. Grant, do you
still you have to jump or do you still have a minute for a mini?
I have two questions. I did not prepare either of you for I'm
always ready for that. Let's do it. So we do this segment Brian
called garbage Time. Name is pending since Katie Nolan had a show called garbage
Time. But I need to play this. So my first question here it
can't be the Clippers or the Miami Heat. Brian, where would be your
favorite random James Harden trade destination? M oh boy. I mean favorite in
the sense of like I want to see him just cause chaos there, or
if he would actually be a good fit there, because there are two very
different answers. It could be any just just pick a team. It could
be any reasoning you want, like Toronto would just be funny. If Massi's
already talking about playing selfish, then grant 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 in any of their guards. I need a
guard. It's gonna create some shots. So Paolo and Franz don't have to
do it all. Just have them for a year. See what it's like
to have a guard that can pastor will 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 six Ers probably aren't doing that without Jade McDaniel's
involved, but that would just be It could kind of be a good fit,
but it would be a very compelling, potentially implosive fit too, So
I love it. That's fun. My second one, I'll start with you
here, Grant Championship is on the line. What are you more inclined to
bet on Ben Simmons making a shot between three and ten feet or James Harden's
team winning an elimination game. I mean, it's we have to be really
mean either way. I'm gonna bet on Harden because Ben Simmons is not gonna
take the shot, so I don't even have anything, so I at least
want a fighting chance. He's not gonna shoot it, so I have to
go with the other one. What about you, Brian? Yeah, I
mean elimination games could also be elimination for the other team, right like he
they swept they swept the Nuts last year, so that he did technically win
one elimination game. True, So I'll cheat and say that for that reason,
I will say. I won't answer because I know, but Ben Simmons
for his career, is shooting forty one point six percent on shots between three
and ten feet, and so if that's a forty one point six percent proposition,
do you guys know James Harden's team's records and elimination games. Probably not
that high. Thirty nine point four percent fillip situation. Just three Ben Simmons
is the answer, but I thought that might bend your brains a little bit.
That hurt. Hey, do you want to play the Do you want
to play the You'll Never Guess game? I have a queue up. I
would love to play it if you have 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. Now you guys can even collaborate on this.
So Brian, all this is is there's three levels to it. There's easy,
medium, and hard. The answer is just an NBA player. They
don't need to be active, but there'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 fifties or anything, or even all these guys
have played like within the last ten years, and I just give clues and
they hopefully I won't need to use all of them, and you guys will
be able to guess who it is, So that's it pretty simple, half
baked idea. And we can just yell when either of us knows the name,
Like should we pause after each clue to see if Brian and I need
another clue and then go for like we 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 then you can answer. Although now, and
I'm looking at the first clue on easy, it might only take one clue
for this. Let's see, I'm gonna make it. I'm going to reverse
the order of the clues for easy, because that might be too easy,
all right. I was the twenty eighth pick in the two thousand and one
draft. My career spanned from the one to oh two season to twenty eighteen
nineteen. Not going to get it there, probably unless you got nothing,
unless you really know the one draft. I've got four rings, six All
Star Game appearances, and four All NBA nine odds. I was the six
O seven Finals MVP. I've averaged at least five assists. You got it?
It was that you were going to get it on. I was born
in Belgium. I feel like I wouldn't have gotten that one. That wouldn't
have done it for me. The next clue was going to be, I've
averaged at least five assists thirteen times. Let's see some of these, just
like blew my mind. Top ten in MVP voting four times. He was
fifth in m v P in eleven twelve. Forgot about that? Got out,
lockout? All right, that was easy? Yes, oh that's right.
Okay, we move on to medium. Dan. I'm looking at you
on this one, okay, Olobrien mary Well. I have played for these
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 I lost my starting job in fourteen fifteen
and never got it back. All right, So now we move on to
hard, although now I don't know what to think about my ordering since you
got medium in one. All right, redemption, Dan, good job,
all right. I am a combo guard 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 six o seven. I made the All Star
team in my second third and fourth years in the league, but never again.
I was All NBA in my third and fourth years. It is Brandon
Roy. I didn't even have to get 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
able to clip that eventually. It's evergreen 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 how hard to make the clues. Uh,
well, good, so I realized I went with three retired guys. By
the way, I didn't intentionally do that, but we there are people clamoring
for nominations. I haven't checked the messages, but people have now sent me
clues for us to use. So we'll have to try and get to that
in the next episode. You and I do. But I love this game.
It makes me feel terrible about myself because I had no idea about two
of three of these players. I never I don't know that I would have
get them. But uh, it's fun. 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
get if you send me kJ McDaniel's clues on the w Yeah, that line
is unlocked. Wasn't like one of the first Hinky Special contracts. Yeah,
but grudgingly he refused to sign it for a while and that's why he got
traded me. So now you sign the Hinky Special. That's that's right.
Yeah, Well he worked out for TJ McConnell and River coming to song sayd's
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 to just tell our listeners where they can find
you and all the great work that you do before Grant takes us out of
here? For sure? Well, thank you guys for having me. As
much as I hate talking about this god forsaken team, it's always good seeing
you too. Y'all can find me on X or Twitter, whatever you want
to call it, or any social media platform at b too poorik A is
b T O p O R e K. 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 the City Thunder for all the thunder fans out
there, and you can find the NBA podcast wherever podcasts are found. Honestly,
if the uncontested podcast folks are listening to this, I know that was
From time to time, you guys need to invite to pork on your podcast.
It's time for him, It's it's time. I'm ready to be baptized
in the samm pressing bath water. Well, Brian again, thank you very
much for your perspective and joining us here. I will tell everyone as always
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. Uh and uh yeah. If you want to
find ways to follow support, check out 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 support and uh yeah, you know, uh,
I guess we should probably close the sixers pot with with a go Thunder