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The rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast. I should

0:02

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right. So Ricky sanchez.com/newsletter on

0:32

the show today, spike out of town. Get

0:37

out in John Gonzalez of everything

0:39

you fucking know him from the

0:41

Philadelphia royalty

0:45

over here. You have no idea where I

0:47

work now. Yeah, you do. I CBS,

0:51

CBS sports. You were, you were grasping for

0:53

it. It was

0:55

a moment of, it was a moment of realization that

0:57

I should have written this down. But, uh, but I,

0:59

I know, I know you do it. Uh,

1:01

we're going to talk about the six, whichever dead

1:03

legacy media company that I work for now,

1:06

but his brother, this is the dead legacy

1:08

media podcast. Uh, we're

1:10

going to talk about the sixers. We're going to talk about

1:12

maybe some other playoffs, maybe some other shit. We'll,

1:14

we'll see. CJ play

1:16

the song. Say

1:27

the name. We

1:36

will write y'all. Even

1:39

when it went wrong, we will write. We will

1:41

write. So

1:46

say the name, say the name.

1:48

We will write y'all. Even

1:52

when it went wrong, we will write. Y'all

1:56

we will write. This

2:00

is the Right to

2:03

Ricky Sanchez podcast. I

2:23

am Michael Levin. We have with

2:25

us John Gonzalez. John.

2:29

How are you doing brother? The

2:31

Phil's are in first place. How

2:34

you doing? Am I supposed to keep talking or? How

2:38

you doing brother? The Phil's are in first place. I'm

2:41

very excited about it. Less excited about, you

2:44

know, there's a couple of things Phil's related

2:46

that concern me, but they are

2:48

in first place. I'm

2:51

going to not really focus on those things and I

2:53

choose joy. It

2:58

is difficult to transition

3:00

for me from sixers

3:05

intensity in April,

3:07

May into

3:09

the ease and

3:12

and lacks nature of a fill of

3:14

affiliate season. And it

3:17

does help when they're winning almost

3:19

every game. I will say it's

3:21

been so nice and so comfortable and

3:23

the contrast between. Waiting

3:27

for the inevitable sixers downfall

3:29

and disappointment. And

3:31

then go like you and

3:33

I and some of our friends in LA went down

3:35

to San Diego to visit our other buddy in San

3:38

Diego when the Phillies were in town and they won.

3:40

And then we went out and had cocktails and it

3:42

was just like a really nice day. And

3:45

it's yeah, it is by

3:47

comparison a much different experience. Yeah, I

3:49

can't imagine having a nice day with

3:51

the Sixers. Even when they win,

3:54

it doesn't feel like a nice day. I

3:58

might have mentioned this to you, but. At

4:00

work now you know i

4:02

do this daily podcast for cbs sports and

4:04

one of the three people i podcast what

4:06

will two people on the third is

4:09

a next man. And

4:11

like all other she's otherwise

4:13

a nice person. What

4:16

like all next fans is entirely

4:19

in sufferable and

4:21

dealing with that whole series and in

4:23

the aftermath has been. It's

4:26

everyday i'm just like reminded of what

4:28

a miserable existence that is. Yeah

4:30

i guess it when there's when there's

4:33

that sort of level of like our teams are

4:35

playing each other we work

4:37

closely together. I

4:39

need to establish a vibe

4:41

with that person at work of. I

4:44

hate my team more than you do

4:47

not we cannot we

4:49

cannot go back and forth and start to like

4:51

talk shit about each other's team i don't want

4:53

to do that is not compelling during the game.

4:55

As the game is happening which we would be

4:57

watching separately then you

4:59

can then i would feel obviously strong feelings

5:01

about any number of players on the

5:03

other team but but outside of that

5:06

i can't be going back and forth of like just

5:09

talking shit about i don't know josh hard or something

5:11

it's just not a i don't know an appealing. I

5:14

don't talk shit about other

5:16

teams that's never been interesting

5:18

to me i do however talk

5:20

shit about the teams that i follow that's right

5:22

and when you say we can't be going back

5:25

and forth because i hate my own

5:27

team more than you could possibly. That

5:29

is exactly what i was

5:31

trying to explain her and i'm like you're annoying me

5:33

because you're doing it worse than i can do it.

5:36

Just like just keep it to yourself but

5:38

it doesn't it's not interesting to

5:40

me that you are you gonna try to like

5:43

very lamely talk shit about the six years no

5:45

no i've been doing that my entire life. Yeah

5:48

i just i want it to look like it's almost

5:50

like it's like neutering myself right away i met my

5:53

coworkers husband yesterday and

5:57

he's a warrior fan and. He

6:00

was like, Oh, I heard you're a Sixers fan. I'm sorry. And I'm like,

6:03

appropriate thing to say, not

6:06

offended. Why would I be offended by that? On,

6:11

you have no idea what we go through. You have no idea. Sorry

6:14

is like the exact right thing to

6:17

say. Condolences. Yes. Absolutely.

6:19

Actually, you know what? After the next series,

6:21

I did get a lot of condolences from

6:23

people and I was like, you know what?

6:26

You don't need to do that because that

6:28

wasn't within the top like 25 most

6:31

disappointing Sixers defeats. Like

6:33

that was one of those where I went, they

6:35

actually fought pretty well. And like that series was

6:37

awesome and the games were awesome. And like, like

6:40

I could rattle off a zillion other times

6:42

where I was like, Oh man, what a

6:44

kick to the nuts. That one was that

6:46

wasn't it. I mean, that was just like,

6:48

you know, a lot of

6:50

things didn't break and it's fine. Cause

6:53

cause spike felt the same way. And especially

6:55

after the game, I was, you know,

6:58

pretty despondent. Yeah. I'm feeling it. I don't get, we

7:00

don't get time to breathe, you know,

7:02

I'm setting up podcast, fucking cursing

7:05

CJ as I'm setting this thing up.

7:08

So I have to go right into it. And are

7:10

you cursing poor CJ? Cause he's here. I

7:13

curse anyone. Fuck CJ. After, after

7:15

a loss like that. Um, now

7:17

I love CJ, you know, um, I, I

7:21

can imagine because. I watched

7:23

one basketball game with you in my life. Yeah.

7:26

A years ago when I moved to LA, I think

7:28

it was the Celtics game and I'll never do it

7:30

again. I know. Alyssa brings this up where other people

7:32

will be like, should we watch a

7:34

playoff game together? We almost watched one with, with, with Tony

7:36

and Taylor down in San Diego. Yeah. I'm at the hotel.

7:39

And, uh, Alyssa was like, do you remember that time

7:41

that you watched that game with John? I

7:44

don't know. I don't know that it

7:46

was a regular season game too. I'm pretty sure. I

7:48

think it was playoffs. Yeah. I think it

7:50

was playoffs. Give me, give me myself a little. Whatever. And

7:54

again, Oh man. No, that's why we're never going to do

7:56

like a live during like a live broadcast of

7:58

me, because I would. I would end my career,

8:01

I would end several relationships, like it would never, I

8:04

can't be held liable for things I say during a game, during

8:07

a six years playoff game at least. But the question

8:09

I was gonna ask was, because Spike feels the same

8:11

way as you, about the, they didn't

8:13

embarrass themselves, like comparatively

8:15

to the last four years of

8:17

meltdowns, a pretty good showing. Is

8:21

that like the most loser shit thing

8:23

in the world though? Like we

8:26

are, we are seven

8:28

playoffs into Joel's career and

8:31

losing in the first round. So like to

8:34

a team, obviously there's a lot of reasons

8:36

and excuses that the Sixers lost and it was

8:38

obviously a closed series, but to

8:40

go, well, wasn't as bad as the prior

8:42

collapses. Good

8:44

job guys. Is that was just

8:47

like massive, massively losery?

8:51

I guess there's an element of that, but

8:53

I also think about sports a little differently.

8:55

Like there's, there's components like, all right. So

8:57

last year we were in Arizona for the

9:00

Phillies collapse against the Diamondbacks. Like that was

9:02

a disappointing defeat because that's a team that

9:04

you should beat. The Knicks are really good.

9:07

And like that series was so hard fought

9:09

and there's, you know, because I cover the

9:12

entirety of the NBA and I love basketball so

9:14

much, there is part of me that can be

9:16

dispassionate about it and just go, man, that was

9:18

just so, like that was an awesome series. So

9:20

that, that definitely helps. And then there's also a

9:23

component of me that I think a lot about

9:26

not to bring it back to our Lord and savior,

9:28

Sam Hickey, but I think a lot about conversations

9:31

that I had with him about watching

9:33

basketball and like, you

9:35

know, a couple of times I had said to him,

9:37

Hey, let's watch a game together. And he's like, I

9:39

don't know that I'd be the greatest person to watch

9:41

it with because I'm not so focused

9:43

on like the, he's

9:46

sort of like the anti you, right? Where he

9:48

can, he can just like look at it

9:50

and go, okay, well, the shot didn't fall, but like, did they

9:52

get a good shot or not? He's like sort of dispassionate about

9:54

it. So yeah, I

9:57

hear what you're saying about like the loser

9:59

shit, but. I

10:01

don't know. It was a good series and like I can just step back

10:03

from it and go There's been way

10:05

worse moments way worse moments and and because

10:07

we've lived through so many of them. I

10:09

think that really like Changes

10:11

my perspective. Yeah, you have you

10:14

have definitely a healthier outlook I think

10:16

you covering the NBA broadly and being like

10:18

I just want a good series sometimes and

10:20

it would be nice if the Sixers won

10:23

whereas I'm I'm Like

10:25

choking the life out of any

10:28

given experience But how

10:30

have you not been thought of

10:32

you not been and you know

10:34

part of me is sort of envious of it, but

10:36

how have you not been like After

10:39

all these years of just consuming Philadelphia

10:41

sports and them choking us Choking

10:44

the life out of us on in every

10:46

possible way with a few exceptions Obviously the

10:48

Phillies in no way and the and the

10:50

Eagles but like disappointment after disappointment after disappointment.

10:52

How are you not desensitized? I Such

10:58

a good question Things I

11:00

think that's the fundamental question from

11:03

at least my side of the podcast is how is he

11:05

still acting like this? Is

11:08

the ultimate? No because I want them to

11:10

I want to achieve to write like Despite

11:14

the fact that I am ostensibly a

11:16

professional Journalist, there's

11:18

still that part of me the Philadelphia in

11:21

in me They can't get past

11:23

like me wanting the teams that I

11:25

grew up with and covered and my

11:28

family and friends I want good things for us.

11:30

Yeah, however, we very rarely get good things. So

11:32

while I am disappointed Then

11:34

I have a beer and I'm like, all right, this is how it

11:37

goes in Philly Well, that's how I

11:39

feel about I feel that way about the Eagles I

11:42

feel like I very quickly get over an

11:44

Eagles loss or or even during you know

11:47

last year was was disgusting

11:49

and I want some money betting against them because they

11:52

were obviously so bad and the

11:54

fills like we're bad for so long

11:56

after That beautiful run and

11:58

now it's it's like fun still for

12:01

the Phil's like I wasn't like, you know,

12:03

against Houston, even though it happened, the

12:05

World Series loss happened at my bachelor party, which

12:07

was, which was a bummer. And

12:10

then the run last year, the

12:12

first time I felt like really despondent

12:14

about the Phil's was, was

12:17

after that Diamondbacks loss because it was a to

12:20

a worse team and be like right in

12:22

front of them. And you were there. And

12:24

and well, I wasn't there. I was there for games four

12:26

and five. So I know I mean, one, one, one, you

12:28

were there for game three, weren't you? I was there for

12:31

all all all three in Arizona. Yeah,

12:33

so you were wanting to you almost didn't

12:35

come to game five because you're the kiss of death. But

12:37

we thought I was never gonna do that. That's

12:39

loser shit. Anybody all these idiots who

12:42

were coming for me, what are you doing? I'm

12:44

out on the fucking front lines. I went to Arizona

12:46

to watch all that shit up close and they're

12:48

like, Oh, you shouldn't go. Shut up. Well, where are

12:50

you? I don't know that you can square them

12:52

both. You were talking about before about how it's completely,

12:57

you know, how do you not get desensitized? This is

12:59

what they do. They heard us you believe in some

13:01

sort of mystical part of it

13:03

that we are destined for this sort of torture.

13:06

And yet you feel like you yourself don't

13:09

play any part in that. No,

13:12

that's I mean, I'm a little superstitious

13:14

every now and again. Yeah. Do I

13:16

think that I have at you

13:19

have we've discussed this doesn't you're

13:21

upset that I didn't come to the Super

13:24

Bowl. This is insane behavior by you. Like

13:26

the idea that you Michael event. Yeah. Are

13:28

somehow an influence on Philadelphia sports

13:30

that have been an absolutely

13:33

soul crushing experience

13:35

for the entirety of both of our lives. That

13:37

you are the influence on that. And not the

13:40

other way around that they aren't just like the

13:42

drag on you. Also, I certainly

13:45

at least both. So

13:47

I'm sure that you've told the story. But since

13:49

I am appearing on the pot, I will tell

13:51

the story. We had tickets to the Super

13:54

Bowl. And we had extra

13:56

two extra tickets in Phoenix Eagles Eagles.

13:59

Yes, the last Super Bowl and

14:01

you have family in Phoenix and

14:04

we called you and Alyssa and we said

14:07

we have two extra tickets and you guys

14:09

should come and you said awesome and you

14:11

drove through the night and you came to

14:13

the Super Bowl and you sent your wife

14:15

and your sister and you said that you

14:18

didn't want to go and I was like I

14:20

don't understand this at all and your whole bit

14:22

was that if they win you're going to be

14:24

happy and if they lose then you won't have

14:26

been there and that's madness to me. It

14:29

sounds even more logical out of your mouth. The

14:31

way you summed it up was I was like

14:33

yeah I'm with you. That sounds great because the

14:35

idea of being at a Super

14:37

Bowl at a corporate bullshit event where

14:40

with half the other team's fans and

14:43

having to trudge

14:45

out of that parking lot which was a nightmare

14:47

by the way. I picked Alyssa up from there.

14:50

I'm still leaving there. Yeah for real. And

14:54

like suffering through the loss and that fucking play

14:56

at the end of

14:58

the game, the penalty, would

15:01

have been just an absolute nightmare. So the fact that I got

15:04

to watch it with my nephews and my brother-in-law and

15:07

have a lovely time and

15:09

scream my head off and not have to worry about

15:11

getting into a fight with like an annoying fan next

15:13

to me or whatever was ideal and if

15:15

they won it would have been a beautiful memory and you would

15:17

have been there and my sister and Alyssa would have been there

15:19

and it would have been so fun. But

15:23

yeah I so made

15:25

the right decision and they lost. I didn't think

15:27

me coming made them would

15:30

go like oh they're going to lose. I just think the

15:33

threat of me being there

15:35

for a Super Bowl loss would have been

15:37

too much to bear I think. But

15:40

anyway the thing I was going to get to is that

15:43

I can be more of a human

15:45

being around the Phillies and the Eagles because they've

15:47

done it before. Because they

15:49

won an 08, because they won an 18. I

15:52

can feel like you can't win

15:55

every year, there's 30 or whatever other

15:57

teams. And

16:01

the fact that the Eagles have had such a good

16:04

run so many times is cool.

16:07

The fact that the Fills are back in like consistent

16:10

contender have beaten the Braves as

16:12

much as they have in the playoffs is

16:14

awesome. The Sixers,

16:17

who I don't know if you know this, I do a

16:20

long running podcast about, have

16:24

just never fucking done it for me, man. They've

16:26

never done it. I don't know if I've

16:29

compared it to like Gollum at the end of

16:31

Lord of the Rings several times of

16:33

when it happens. But

16:37

when it ever happens, then the

16:40

weight that is lifted will fundamentally change my

16:42

personality in a way. And even it happens,

16:45

whether that's championship or even getting to a championship or

16:47

a fucking conference finals for God's sakes or just simply

16:49

beating a good team in a seven game series. I

16:53

don't know what I'm going to be like after that. Because

16:56

I've put more of myself

16:58

into being a public

17:00

six or seven than anyone

17:03

ever should. And

17:06

so that's it. Let me do an ad read and then

17:08

we can keep talking about this. This is good stuff, John.

17:11

The rights to Ricky Sanchez is brought to

17:13

you by draft. No,

17:17

not yet. Briggs auction. Briggs

17:21

auction. We love Briggs auction.

17:23

We're going to get CJ in for in a

17:25

second. Pop in siege. Four

17:28

generation family owned and operated auction house in

17:30

Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania. They also have a great

17:32

hat that Alyssa has stolen from me and

17:34

now wears instead

17:36

of me, which is kind of a bummer. They

17:38

got a ton of auctions, biweekly online discovery

17:41

auctions. We got fine arts, jewelry, silver, fun

17:43

stuff like that. And then like furnishing and

17:45

shirts and all sorts of stuff. Fine

17:48

art, modern design, antiques. Oh, it's weird. There's a

17:50

bunch of weird stuff and people like weird stuff.

17:52

And I always feel like when my, when my

17:54

friends say, Oh, I got this at like a

17:56

vintage or thrifting or something like that, or like

17:58

an auction, I'll go. like how do you

18:01

do that? Briggs Auction is how you do

18:03

that. Pickup is easy

18:05

by appointment Saturdays or Saturday open pickup.

18:08

They don't ship in-house but work with many trusted shippers

18:10

if they live out of your area or you can't

18:13

pick up, et cetera. Also they handle local estates, downsizing

18:15

clients. If they have something to sell, you

18:17

can handle it. Email

18:19

inquiries to info at briggsauction.com.

18:21

CJ, talk to me about the

18:23

item of the week. You're wearing the hat, the hat

18:25

that Elisa has stolen from me. I'm wearing the hat.

18:28

This is a great hat for sure. One

18:30

of the better hats in my arsenal. We

18:32

have a lot of vintage t-shirts

18:34

on this Discovery lot. Let's go.

18:37

But I'm gonna focus on

18:39

this 1970s Levi's men's jean

18:41

jacket. Shit. This

18:44

is the real deal. I need exactly

18:46

this. This is actually exactly what I need and is

18:48

missing. If someone would win this auction and give it

18:50

to me, that would be great. But just

18:52

to show the other vintage shirts as well, there

18:54

are multiple lots of shirts

18:56

just like this that

18:58

it's like 25, 30 shirts. We

19:02

got a live age shirt from

19:04

85. John, you would

19:06

wear these. I had that Philly's OA shirt. You

19:09

shall have it? Yeah. No,

19:11

I think it actually might be in a drawer in

19:13

my parents' house. Okay, because I also have OA Philly's

19:15

merchandise. I definitely do not have anymore. So

19:18

this is pulling something in me

19:20

that makes me wanna reconnect

19:22

with those lost items of

19:25

merchandise. That's very nice. Oh,

19:27

I saw a Tasty Cake one in there. That's

19:30

good. John, you're a graphic tees

19:32

guy. I am a graphic tees guy. I'm

19:34

very selective about them, but these are sweet.

19:37

The Tasty Cake's one especially. Yeah, real nice.

19:40

Briggs auctioned. Check

19:42

it out. You're

19:48

really good at this. No, no,

19:51

no one comes to hear me host. I'm the

19:53

other guy. I like being the other guy. You're

19:55

amazing. Go ahead. So

19:57

we were talking about how... why

20:01

we still do it. Why you are the way that

20:03

you are? Why I am this way. And

20:06

I just think that as

20:08

far as desensitizing goes, there

20:12

is a sickness in

20:15

thinking every offseason that,

20:19

and I kind of didn't do it last offseason, but

20:22

in letting enough time go by after

20:24

a big playoff loss and

20:27

thinking like, OK, now they're going

20:30

to retool and re-up. And

20:32

it's going to be this year. And so it's the

20:36

expectations that the

20:38

Sixers put upon themselves with

20:40

obviously having one of the best players in the league, and

20:42

now one of the best rising stars in the league. And

20:47

then my innate dumbass

20:49

ability to

20:54

believe that something has to be different. And

20:56

the fact that they've lost in so many

20:58

heartbreaking ways and in so many

21:00

embarrassing ways, it

21:05

gets a little bit to the shirt that

21:08

I also had in 08 when the Phillies

21:10

made the run, the Why Can Us

21:12

shirt. And Why Can

21:14

Us was a quote

21:16

from just

21:19

interviewing fans around the city, a

21:23

fan who had particularly iconic bad grammar. And

21:27

it was kind of a fun, like, why can't us? Why can't we

21:30

do it? And for the Sixers, I'm

21:32

like, why can't we do it? Why

21:34

can't us? Like in a very

21:37

meet-the-god type of way. Why

21:39

can't us? God. And so it

21:41

just feels like, man, it

21:49

keeps not being their year where they make

21:51

even the makings of a run. That

21:57

until they do that or like.

22:00

stop making the playoffs entirely. I I'm stuck in

22:02

this every year could be the

22:04

year and and every year it isn't every

22:07

year. It isn't. I mean, you know, I'm,

22:09

I'm older than you. I'm spike and I are the

22:11

same age. But, you

22:13

know, going back to, you know, I

22:15

was technically alive when they won the championship in

22:18

83, but I don't remember that. Technically alive. You're

22:20

technically alive right now. Technically

22:22

alive. Iverson run

22:25

in a one was

22:27

amazing. I was very much

22:29

alive for that and like never really thought even

22:31

after game one never really thought they were going

22:33

to be the Lakers, but that was so fun.

22:35

And that was, Hey, what could be right? Alan

22:37

Iverson is just like hyper dynamic

22:39

MVP. We're going to live forever. Right.

22:41

But of course that was it. That

22:43

was the high watermark. And since then

22:45

there have been no high watermarks like

22:47

that. There has been no real,

22:49

you know, I was in the building for

22:53

the four bounce Kawhi Leonard shot. I covered

22:55

that game. Yeah. You were also in my

22:57

apartment when the pick swapped. Yeah.

22:59

Yeah. And it's like that goes

23:01

down and you're just like, okay.

23:03

I mean, when, when if

23:06

ever and, and the answer is so

23:09

far never, you know,

23:11

and it's, it's a, yeah, it sucks man. I

23:13

mean, like I, I covered

23:15

almost every single home

23:18

game during the process, like

23:20

the early process, like the bad ones, like

23:22

the games were like, there's people on the

23:24

team that you like Brett Brown used to

23:26

make the joke about how he'd meet somebody

23:28

shake his hand and say, you're in the

23:30

lineup tonight. All those games, when the buildings

23:32

are empty and he's calling teaching timeouts down

23:34

20 with seven seconds left, like those games,

23:37

like, like those timeouts were

23:40

nice. You know,

23:42

it's the answer is, I don't know, man. The

23:44

answer is the hope does not

23:46

spring eternal with this team. Yeah.

23:48

I don't know. I don't know.

23:51

I, this is something more for

23:53

me in therapy, but I don't know the answer

23:56

to that. I, my, my glutton, my glutton for

23:58

punishment and resilience. to

24:00

fuckery is

24:03

unending. I,

24:05

it should be- Can I ask you a

24:07

question? Cause I'm not pretending, that's the thing. That's

24:10

the thing and that's why it was kind of annoying to me that

24:12

Spike kept saying it was the year and then after they lost, was

24:14

like, I was just saying it. Like it's, I was kind of like,

24:16

I was just doing that. I was like, that's,

24:20

I'm not lying on here. Like

24:22

I think, I think I am here

24:24

like fully being

24:27

for better and oftentimes for way worse,

24:29

my truest self.

24:33

I'm not, I'm not pretending really in any,

24:35

in any way. And that's

24:37

when people say like, this is, this is a swerve,

24:39

but I've had this on my notes for awhile. You

24:42

watch some reality shows, you don't watch Vanderpump, but you watch Below

24:44

Deck. But the, there's

24:47

all people on reality shows all the time would go like, you don't know

24:49

me, man. Like you don't know me at all. You don't know the real

24:51

me. Like public people will say that. And

24:54

I'm like, yes you do.

24:57

Like, yes you do. Yes you do. With them, with them

24:59

you do and with me you definitely do. Like this is

25:01

how, this is who I am and how I am. Like,

25:03

you know me. If you listen to this podcast long enough,

25:05

like, of course there's parts of me you don't

25:07

know. Sure. There's thoughts

25:09

that I have that I don't share on the podcast, of course.

25:12

But like pretty much, this is it. This

25:15

is who I am. That's a pretty, considering

25:18

that I think I know you pretty

25:20

well. I think

25:23

it's a pretty accurate reflection. Thank you. What

25:25

we get on the podcast. I'm

25:27

curious though, do you talk

25:30

about your unhinged maniac

25:33

behavior related to this

25:35

sports team in therapy?

25:38

I have, sure, yeah. Yeah.

25:43

I haven't really cracked that case, have you? I

25:45

haven't cracked it. I haven't cracked it. Our

25:48

nation's therapists are failing. I

25:53

wanted to ask what, so you're still, I

25:55

always, this happens across the board for me.

25:57

In every, after a Philadelphia,

26:00

team loses in the

26:02

playoffs, I will

26:06

need like a round off. Like

26:08

I never watched, I pretty much never

26:11

watched the round immediately following a Philadelphia

26:14

playoff loss. And then I'll come back for the,

26:16

for the one after that. And,

26:18

uh, and my buddy who's a Braves fan said

26:20

he has not been watching the Phil's in the

26:22

NLCS, which was satisfying to hear. Um,

26:24

I have, I have liked that. I liked being a

26:27

Braves. Uh, has,

26:30

has watching, so I haven't watched a ton

26:32

of the, the, uh, Eastern Conference semis has

26:35

watching the, the teams that are still

26:39

fortunate enough to be playing. Told

26:42

you anything about the Sixers. Have you

26:44

learned anything about what the Sixers

26:47

need to do or what their families were watching

26:49

the current playoff? I mean, just, yeah,

26:51

I don't know. I don't have that luxury,

26:53

obviously. Cause I cover the NBA and we

26:55

do a daily show. So I'm like, I'm

26:57

constantly plugged in. I'm like always watching basketball.

26:59

I watched obviously last night

27:01

and then had a work for CBS

27:03

afterwards. Uh, what it tells

27:06

me is that the Sixers remain pretty far

27:08

away, especially like when compared to the Western

27:10

Conference, like those teams are all in a

27:12

knife fight, those are, and they're all

27:14

really good. And any team that comes out of

27:16

the West is going to have, uh, been

27:19

really battle tested has, will have

27:21

really proved themselves worthy. And even

27:23

the teams that don't are

27:26

like all four of those teams in

27:28

the Western Conference are championship caliber. Uh,

27:30

I'm, you know,

27:32

I, it depends on the day when you ask me about

27:35

the Celtics because the Celtics were so good this season and

27:37

yet there's like quite clearly cracks on that

27:39

team. Uh, and we could get

27:41

into it if you really want to, but, uh, with

27:43

respect to the team that the

27:45

Sixers lost to the Knicks, you know,

27:47

I thought that series was really hard fought

27:51

and the difference, I think between the

27:53

Knicks and the Sixers, And

27:56

you could use this year's Sixers team

27:58

or really the Sixers in general. Is

28:00

that the next? This season. Have

28:02

overcome things and have closed get have

28:05

close games right like they have. They

28:07

are locked that sought to lose and

28:09

it's especially suck to lose to the

28:11

Knicks fans. Were just. Insufferable.

28:15

But. That team. At

28:17

all the knox that they've had all the

28:19

injuries that they've had and it's just like.

28:22

You know the just just far was playing with like

28:24

half a long last night least six you know, like

28:26

they just keep rolling. I'm out there and yeah they

28:28

lost last night but and will see what happens in

28:31

game seven. It's. Just. I

28:33

don't remember six team or I was like oh it's

28:35

gonna be alright, they'll figure it out. What?

28:37

Was the last six years that did that? Idea

28:43

where I was hoping that it's a

28:45

specific belts I was. We're hoping that

28:47

the nurse would. Be

28:50

the sort of. More

28:52

like wizard type pulling the

28:54

strings. To. Midnight.

28:57

We figure something out and that's one

28:59

of the disappointments in the next series

29:01

was. That.

29:04

It didn't feel like. She.

29:07

Didn't forces over the top and it's not. You

29:09

know there's only so much you can do with

29:11

Apple's of course that fully on him. but as

29:13

one of the. Problems. With the

29:15

team. That. He

29:18

couldn't solve. Was

29:20

that was the rebounding issues? was the from

29:22

a personal standpoint a lack of. Big

29:25

Wing athleticism. I'm. And you

29:27

know, continuing to play Tobias major minutes

29:29

as he for the most part really

29:31

really let them down and not trying.

29:34

that many other that many other things that

29:36

have eyes thing i think was as big

29:38

as failing like the rebounding component the next

29:41

august monsters with the exception of last night

29:43

despite the fact that they're all like every

29:45

one of them except for heart hartenstein is

29:47

like sucks for this has such the really

29:50

good on the glass so i think that's

29:52

more of like a roster construction failure for

29:54

saw but the tobias thing yeah i mean

29:57

that that like everybody everywhere watch that in

29:59

was like He enough enough

30:03

Yeah, I mean listen to bias thing. It's just like

30:05

three different coaches six years here and

30:09

Not able nobody having any

30:13

other plan other than like play

30:15

him and cross your fingers You

30:18

know, it's it's a shame For

30:21

a lot of reasons, you know, I don't

30:23

begrudge him the money because you know They

30:25

offered him the money who's not gonna take the

30:27

money sure, but I don't know how

30:30

much time you spent with him I've gotten to interview

30:32

him a fair amount both when he was out here

30:34

with the Clippers and then with the Sixers He's a

30:36

really nice dude. Yeah, it's like it was on the

30:38

podcast. Love lovely man Yeah as a

30:40

human being great, dude, and it sucks

30:42

that like Everybody can't

30:44

wait for him to go to Detroit or Orlando wherever

30:46

he's gonna wash up Sucks and

30:49

you know what? The other thing is when

30:51

doc had him out here after they detonated

30:53

lob city with the Clippers That

30:56

was like one of Doc's best coaching jobs and that

30:58

was probably hit not probably that was his best season

31:01

Tobias's of his career. He was awesome Yeah,

31:05

we'd end the best version of that and they had like a

31:07

couple other players and he was younger obviously But like yeah, that's

31:09

an eight-seat Yeah,

31:11

like he's just yeah Michael

31:14

Connors article about him where he's like just always

31:16

under qualified to do the job You need him

31:18

to as like a as a spacer as a

31:21

defender as a first option as a fourth option

31:23

He has just never qualified

31:25

to do that for at

31:27

a higher level at the high level that

31:30

the Sixers are asking

31:32

him to be the thing

31:34

that I look at with with

31:37

The way that Minnesota guard guards the

31:39

way that the Knicks play even some

31:41

of the guys on the Pacers air nice and stuff like

31:43

I just need Way

31:47

way higher percentage of guys

31:49

around Maxie and Embiid That

31:52

are just like Like

31:55

bloodthirsty athlete effort like I think I effort like hungry

31:57

maniacal. I love I loved Nikhil Alexander Walker coming out

31:59

of the draft and he had a rough start. He's

32:01

your kind of guy. He's my kind of guy, man.

32:03

And he had a rough start to his career and

32:05

he didn't quite figure it out. And it was like

32:07

slowly started to become a better shooter. And

32:10

then they, he

32:12

wasn't that kind of defender in college. He wasn't that kind

32:14

of defender his first few years in the league. And he

32:16

has become that. And I think the

32:18

system in Minnesota has encouraged him

32:21

to be that. And it just would be so

32:24

nice around Joel

32:27

to have these,

32:29

the closest they came was

32:32

that Toronto series when it was Jimmy

32:36

and Ben and Tobias and stuff,

32:38

but mostly Jimmy and Ben around. And

32:40

B, just being like, we are bigger,

32:43

faster, stronger than you. And

32:46

that almost gave Toronto the hardest time. And that obviously

32:48

made the Sixers go like, we just need to be

32:50

big. And then it was Horford and Josh Richardson in

32:53

point guard. Which was a

32:55

mistake as we remember. But like,

32:57

it'd be so nice to have team identity

32:59

guys like a real like, this

33:01

is what we do. These are the kinds of players on

33:03

this team. They're big, they're

33:05

athletic. They get to balls faster than you.

33:08

They wear you down over time. They get

33:10

to the rim, they crash the glass.

33:12

Like it would be very helpful

33:14

to have the kinds of relentless high

33:16

motor athletes that can also hit shot.

33:18

I mean, like I'm naming like

33:21

platonic ideals of basketball players, but it's

33:26

so frustrating watching over

33:28

and over again, four years. The Sixers

33:30

not be the team that gets the loose balls, not

33:32

get the 50-50 balls, not make the play

33:34

of like the balls right there, but somebody is

33:37

a little bit more physical. Obviously

33:40

Tobias, but it wasn't just Tobias. Like it would

33:42

be, you got Embiid, you got Maxie. Maxie's

33:44

very fast, but obviously not that big, not

33:46

that strong. Embiid is never

33:49

gonna be the, especially at this point

33:51

in his career with all the injuries. He's never gonna be

33:53

the, I'm gonna be

33:55

the first to every basketball. He'll make a couple like

33:57

diving plays. He'll put his body on the line, all

33:59

that stuff. but he's just not quick enough

34:01

at that size with those injuries to be

34:04

explosive to get it. And

34:06

I would love the three other

34:08

guys in that starting

34:10

lineup, the six other guys in

34:12

that rotation, to all

34:14

be man to man. We

34:16

get to everything. We

34:19

wear you down. And having those that

34:21

you have, the hard part is in

34:23

beating Maxi. That's the

34:26

hard part. You got that. They're here. Is it? Okay.

34:29

Let me, I think with

34:31

Maxi, yes, because of where they took him and

34:33

be maybe a little less so just because, you

34:35

know, absent injuries, he was pretty easy

34:37

to identify as a guy that was going to

34:39

be very good at basketball. The guys that you're

34:41

talking about though, like, cause I'm with you, Nikhil

34:43

Alexander Walker has been awesome this post season and

34:46

has really cleared himself. And I love the way

34:48

that the wolves play. I was really high on

34:50

them all season long, especially, you know, on the

34:52

podcast that I do beyond the arc available, wherever

34:54

you get your favorite shows, please download subscribe

34:56

and leave a review. The other two people

34:59

were busting my chops all season long about the

35:01

wolves. And we're like, they're not for real. I'm

35:03

like, they're really for real. They're really good. Like

35:06

even aunt Edwards, right? Is, is a

35:08

guy who is a superstar, but plays like

35:10

what you're talking about. Anyway, my

35:12

whole point here is that Nikhil Alexander Walker,

35:15

two teens with smart executives gave up on

35:17

him. Pelicans with David

35:19

Griffin and then the jazz with Danny

35:21

Ainge and Tim Conley, who built

35:23

both the Nuggets and now the wolves kind

35:25

of locked into him. So like,

35:27

I don't know how easy those guys are to

35:29

identify. Sometimes they just pop. Like

35:32

it took a second for, this

35:34

is the best season in Nikhil Alexander Walker's

35:36

career. You're talking about surrounding Maxine

35:39

and Bede with six of those dudes. Like,

35:41

where are they? Yeah.

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good really good I Was

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anticipating you saying that and I wasn't

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I wasn't ready. I did call Dasher and while you

37:39

were reading. Oh, that's nice Yeah, I said hi So

37:44

the question that this opens the door to is Is

37:48

the is the free agency question I was

37:50

okay. I was wondering if you were gonna

37:52

ask six the cap space questions. Yeah the

37:56

the easiest one the easiest

37:59

guy Mm-hmm is just telling

38:02

Paul George we'll give you the max contract. We

38:04

we value you more than the Clippers do Here's

38:07

a max contract for however many years you want come

38:10

to Philadelphia Feed the third guy

38:12

between these two other guys and they

38:14

have to trade nothing for that What

38:16

what where are you at on Paul George? Right

38:19

now huge number one with a bullet

38:21

on my list for all the reasons that you

38:23

just mentioned Okay, I think like there are any

38:25

number of other players that you might be able

38:28

to slot in there But I

38:30

think he's the perfect fit for Philly

38:33

Because you don't have to trade anything because

38:35

as a third guy What

38:37

a massive? Like unbelievable

38:40

like hard to calculate upgrade that would

38:42

be over Tobias Harris on both ends

38:44

of the floor He's such a good

38:46

defender. He just had his best three-point

38:49

shooting season of his career and

38:52

He's been healthy and you

38:54

don't have to worry about him like every now

38:56

and again He'll say something that's like a little

38:58

stupid You know, he might say

39:00

something like I miss LA and people in Philly will go.

39:02

Yeah, he doesn't like no I mean like

39:05

that's like the worst that would happen with Paul George

39:07

like it's not like a Jimmy Butler situation where Jimmy

39:09

Butler is gonna come in and be an oxygen thief

39:11

and like It's he's gonna command

39:13

all this attention. It's just Paul

39:16

George goes about his business and is really

39:18

good at basketball And you know, there's a

39:20

little bit of age concern there. Yeah, there's

39:22

an injury history Yeah from what he does

39:24

on when he's available Sign

39:28

me up, please and thank you. The problem is,

39:30

you know He hasn't signed the

39:32

extension in LA because they haven't

39:35

offered in the max and they wanted to take the

39:37

kwai deal Cuz kwai took a little bit less than

39:39

the max Yeah But I think eventually bombers gonna come

39:41

around to it because as you and I know because

39:43

we live here they're building that new building and it's

39:45

gonna open next year and Kawai

39:47

is kwai and is only intermittently available and

39:50

then the other guy James Harden We just

39:52

saw another vanishing act in the postseason Like

39:55

they got to put a team together to

39:57

get people into this building and I think

39:59

eventually bombers to offer him the money. How

40:01

do you think why would feel about that? I mean,

40:04

he already who knows what quite

40:06

feels about anything. The guy is like, he's

40:10

unknowable. That's

40:12

potentially bad blood for a guy that if

40:15

you're saying, hey, we're going to sign you to

40:17

just sub the max, and we're not going to sign

40:19

anybody over that, then

40:22

well, and they go and turn around and go like,

40:24

ah, we gave it to Paul. I

40:27

quite strikes me as a guy who,

40:29

you know, if

40:33

he wants to try to, he wanted Paul

40:35

George to come in the first place. So if he

40:37

wants to continue this experiment that hasn't worked, but if

40:39

he wants to, then he strikes me

40:41

as the type of guy that would be like, all right, whatever.

40:44

I'm already rich. What's the big deal if he

40:46

gets like, you know, a small percentage

40:48

more than I already got. I

40:50

think I think people have a little

40:52

more feelings than you might be giving

40:54

them credit for. If already rich is

40:56

the is the baseline there. Everybody's

40:58

already everybody in the NBA. They got it. I

41:01

don't know. I'm look,

41:03

I also think that the

41:05

Clippers could decide that they don't feel like Paul

41:07

George at that stage of his career is worth

41:10

the max contract. They could feel

41:12

like this experiment hasn't worked. We

41:15

have been bad enough.

41:18

Paul George has is supposed to be sort of the

41:20

high level glue that keeps all this together.

41:24

And I don't know that it's necessarily his fault

41:26

that it hasn't worked, but a

41:28

lot of Clippers fans are very low

41:30

on Paul George and happy to see him leave. Does

41:32

that give you any pause? I'm on the fence on

41:35

Paul George. I'm, I think like, as

41:37

far as ease goes, not having

41:39

to put any picks there, not having to package

41:41

anything together or do like

41:43

a weird sign and trade. The only, there's only three

41:46

guys on the roster that

41:48

are cost controlled and it's, and

41:50

beat and maxi who are not trading and Ricky council

41:52

who I love. I know you do,

41:55

but don't think can

41:57

be the centerpiece of a superstar deal just yet.

42:01

And so you got to do a lot of figuring things

42:03

out with with Pics and all to

42:05

get the guys that they need to get The

42:08

Paul George one is so easy Obviously, you know

42:10

LeBron could opt out and come here spike wrote

42:12

in the newsletter his case against LeBron Which

42:15

is not surprising spike has been very into the brown for

42:17

a long time To

42:20

Marta Rosen another guy that could just

42:22

come here But has said he

42:24

loves Chicago and wants to stay there for unfinished

42:26

business, buddy Seems like a nice guy That

42:29

business that business gonna stay unfinished. Yeah at

42:31

a certain point you can't keep calling it

42:33

your unfinished basement It's just your basement. It's

42:35

just straight up. Just what it is. That's

42:38

that's what it's gonna be Or

42:40

you know, oh, gee, I don't know be or

42:43

see a come if if they don't sign with their respective

42:45

teams But it looks like they will so

42:47

those Those are your like as

42:49

far as like big options of guys who could just walk

42:51

in here That's

42:54

that's it Paul

42:56

George out of those makes certainly makes

42:58

the most sense the easiest amount of

43:01

sense the the the shooting the defense

43:03

the the secondary creation like

43:06

a classic five-tool baseball

43:10

type of basketball player but

43:12

how do you put the mindset is one that

43:15

that Clippers fans point out and that

43:20

Alyssa my wife who you are also friends with is imploring

43:22

me to not to not believe that Paul George is

43:25

gonna make the difference She is so certain that he

43:27

is a loser with respect

43:29

to your lovely wife who I love

43:31

I disagree

43:34

I Just

43:36

on a number just from a numbers perspective Paul

43:38

George is awesome He's really good

43:40

at basketball and he's and he even

43:43

when his shot isn't falling and again He

43:45

just had his best season from three this

43:47

year at 34. He just turned 34 He

43:52

his defensive effort is awesome. He can

43:54

switch one through four one

43:57

through five in a pinch I mean, I don't know what

43:59

we're talking like all Let's just go through

44:01

the guys that you rattled off. LeBron is LeBron

44:03

and he's amazing, but the minute that you bring

44:05

him in, it becomes LeBron, everything's about LeBron. No,

44:07

thank you. I love him. He's

44:09

fantastic. I don't care where you put him

44:12

in the GOAT conversation between one or two.

44:14

He's absolutely a generational talent. I just don't

44:16

think it would make sense. Demar

44:18

DeRozan, he's fine.

44:21

Demar DeRozan is fine. And if that's the best you

44:23

could do, okay. Pascal Siakam's not

44:25

going anywhere. He's resigning in Indy. And then OG's

44:27

probably not going anywhere. And even if he was,

44:29

I love OG, but he's got

44:31

massive injury issues, right? For the last five

44:34

seasons, he's failed to play more than 50

44:36

games. We already, the Sixers already have

44:38

one of those guys. You need somebody, you

44:40

know, and Paul George has had his injury issues

44:42

too, but I think he was durable this season.

44:44

He really acquitted himself. Well, and again, there's not

44:47

going to be any of that, like

44:50

off court nonsense. Like he's just

44:52

going to come in and be like, Oh, you need

44:54

me to guard the other team's best

44:56

offensive wing option? No problem. Oh, you need

44:59

me to put the ball on the floor

45:01

or shoot the three? No problem. Oh, I'm

45:03

not the first guy or the second guy.

45:05

No problem. Like I just think it makes

45:07

so much sense. I just, the

45:10

reservation for me is that the

45:13

Clippers have this stupid building that's happening.

45:15

And if it was from like a

45:17

completely dispassionate, if they weren't opening

45:19

this building next year, they should hit the detonation

45:21

button and reboot that thing. Hands down. Like that

45:23

thing needs to be blown up and start over,

45:25

but they're not going to do that because they

45:27

got a brand new building and they've got a

45:29

fan section that they're trying to fill 50 something

45:31

rows as Clippers fans. And if they fill one

45:33

row, it'll be amazing, but Balmer is

45:35

going to throw money. I just, I'd be shocked if they

45:38

could pull it off. Maybe Maury

45:40

can, maybe he can. Yeah,

45:43

dude, it concerns me that the age thing

45:46

and the fact that, you know,

45:48

some of the, like Paul George's stats

45:50

and his, and its context, right? And

45:52

it's like the ball was in his hands less. Hard

45:56

and had the ball a lot when Kawhi's there, Kawhi's there, Kawhi's

45:58

had the ball a lot. the

46:00

fewest free throws per

46:02

game and per

46:05

36 in Paul George's career since

46:08

his third year in the league. Gets

46:11

the line less, gets

46:14

the basket less, a

46:17

little bit slowed down

46:19

first step, settles for a lot

46:21

of jumpers now. He did

46:23

shoot 41% from three, highest

46:26

of his career, and also highest

46:29

percentage from two since he was a rookie.

46:32

And not as many attempts as normal,

46:34

but guys doesn't tend

46:36

to take terrible

46:40

shots, just seems to settle a little

46:42

bit for ones that are

46:44

maybe less, a little less efficient or a little

46:46

less demonstrative.

46:50

But as you said, that's, that's, he'd

46:52

be the third guy. And it's easy, it's

46:54

easier to critique that. Now he's

46:56

also the third guy in, in, in LA,

46:59

the way that they play with

47:01

those two guys, because the other two have the ball in their hands

47:03

so much. But the

47:05

third guy-ness in the, in between

47:07

Maxine and Bede makes so much more sense than it

47:09

does between Harden

47:11

and Kawhi at the stages of their career.

47:15

I'm in a

47:18

sea of imperfect options. Paul

47:20

George is the, is the one that is

47:22

closest to perfect. He

47:25

can ease into the, the part of his

47:27

career where, where he can do

47:30

less. His usage rate has gone down three

47:32

straight seasons. His

47:34

assist rate has gone down three straight seasons. He's going to

47:36

be like a, but, but as his

47:38

true shooting percentage has gone up three straight seasons.

47:40

So it's like he's easing more into an off-ball

47:43

threat. If you do that, I

47:45

just need, I need those other two guys in the starting

47:47

lineup who play major

47:49

minutes to be, whether it's a

47:51

healthy dancing mountain or somebody else

47:54

to be like big

47:56

physical energy

47:59

tone set. like

48:01

high motor guys because Paul

48:04

is big, Paul is good, he's

48:08

gonna make plays but he's also not gonna set

48:11

the tone in a way that that

48:13

brushes the other team back and

48:15

that is that is my concern in the Knicks series

48:17

is is seeing another guy who's like a little bit

48:19

passive a little bit lacking

48:23

in dog lacking in boat it

48:26

would be it would be nice to have that so it's that

48:29

that's the kind of thing that you got to go again

48:32

on Daryl to find diamonds in the rough you

48:34

know Kelly Oubre worked out getting

48:36

getting getting Oubre for the minimum is one of the

48:39

best free agent signings of my lifetime for the Sixers

48:41

he was awesome and you

48:43

got to be right again there's they're not gonna especially

48:45

if they give Paul the max they're not going to

48:47

have enough space

48:51

to go sign a bunch of different guys you're gonna have

48:53

to hit at the at the at

48:55

the medium guys whether it's your mid-level whether it's you're

48:57

like 10 million or whatever you're

49:00

gonna have to hit that and

49:02

also hit at your at your minimums

49:05

and I really would love them to keep the pick I know that

49:07

this is I know that this is me

49:10

and everyone that is not a draft guy

49:12

the way I am will go you're

49:15

winning now like what is the point like just you

49:17

need a guy but there's a this isn't a great

49:19

draft so if you trade a pick for you're

49:22

not gonna get that much return

49:24

for the pick because of the let's

49:27

say low upside value of this draft but there's

49:29

a lot of guys 22 23

49:31

years old who are ready to contribute right now the

49:33

term plug-and-play is being used a lot in mock drafts

49:35

for guys that the Sixers are looking at we'll

49:38

talk about it as it gets closer but

49:41

I there's only so much

49:45

value you can get out

49:47

of signing guys to minimums

49:50

signing guys to like

49:52

a small mid-level when they're in

49:54

their you know end

49:56

of their prime or whatever the

49:59

way to get massive value is to hit

50:02

on picks in the draft that

50:05

you then have under team control for four years. And

50:07

then either you can use them

50:09

as a trade piece because they all of a sudden

50:11

are popping and you can make somebody believe that this

50:14

guy could be the centerpiece of a trade to get another, an

50:17

older player in there. Or like

50:20

what happened with Maxi, man? Like this

50:22

franchise was saved by Tyrese Maxi

50:25

being as good as he was and continuing to

50:28

get better. Saved might be a bit much,

50:30

but it was amazing. I think saved, I

50:32

really do think saved. I think Embiid would

50:34

have asked out by now if Maxi hadn't

50:36

come. I

50:39

feel like we would be in the nightmare scenario. The fact

50:41

that Mike Mascala hit that shot in the bubble and

50:44

the pick conveyed and Maxi

50:46

got to come here and has improved and been as good as

50:48

he is. He's gonna get a five year max this offseason. It's

50:50

gonna be beautiful. It's just

50:52

wonderful. Also, Tyrese Maxi Sportsmanship

50:54

Award. My take on Maxi

50:57

winning the Sportsmanship Award is there

50:59

should be whatever the

51:01

opposite of the Sportsmanship Award next year. And I

51:03

want Maxi to win that. You can't be too

51:05

nice on the court. I don't want guys, nice

51:08

that he does stuff outside the court, nice that he smiles

51:10

afterwards. But I want him to lead the

51:12

league in technical fouls next year. I want

51:14

some flips, like give me good boy, give me bad boy. I

51:18

wanna see the dichotomy within him. You

51:20

want a total heel turn. Absolutely, I

51:22

think. Well, how unlikely that

51:25

would be. That

51:27

would be fun. He did start complaining a lot

51:29

more about the refs because he fucking wasn't getting those calls, man.

51:32

But yes, congratulations to Maxi

51:34

on the Sportsmanship Award. What a sweet guy. Everybody

51:36

loves him. I

51:41

think he's ready to continue taking a bigger role in

51:43

the offense. It was good for him to sort of

51:46

suffer through the ups

51:48

and downs of carrying a team as

51:50

a number one option with

51:53

Joel out for as long as he was. And

51:55

he succeeded at times and he failed at times. It'll

51:59

obviously be easy. for him to do that with if

52:01

there's a Paul George type and a healthy and beat

52:03

around him? I

52:08

just need, I've become like

52:10

team identity, play

52:13

with an edge type of guy. That's

52:15

the, that's the, I've become pilled with that.

52:18

And Paul George is another bet

52:20

on a Darryl type bet on high

52:23

upside stars, even

52:26

with flawed makeup or age or

52:28

something like that. What I

52:30

am, you know, what I'm concerned about,

52:32

because I do think on

52:34

paper, Paul George is a perfect fit.

52:36

Yeah, absolutely. On paper, he is undoubtedly

52:38

the perfect fit. It's you cannot craft

52:42

a better person to drop, just

52:44

drop right in between them. What I'm

52:46

concerned about is what happens if

52:49

they don't get them, right? Like if

52:51

he stays in LA, because that free

52:54

agent list gets real thin, real

52:56

fast. And this is already going to be

52:58

a really, like, it's a difficult rebuild in

53:00

a difficult offseason. Yes, this is what Darryl

53:02

gets all the money for. And I

53:05

think he's like one of the smartest people I've

53:07

ever interacted with. And like, you know, he's been

53:09

one of the best, no, he hasn't wanted a

53:11

championship, but it's really, really, really difficult to win

53:14

a championship. He is universally regarded as one of

53:16

the best general managers in the NBA for a

53:18

reason. But this is already going to be a

53:20

really difficult rebuild gets a little less difficult if

53:22

you can find him Paul George, if you don't

53:24

get Paul George, then all of a

53:26

sudden, it's like, Oh, man, he has more than

53:28

his work cut out for him. And like, what

53:31

does he do? Like Darryl is going to have

53:33

to invent a whole new

53:35

team. And he's going to have to do

53:37

it not by just plucking one guy off

53:39

the free agent list. But by interacting with

53:42

these different clubs and moving guys around and

53:44

like, doing a little hocus pocus magic stuff.

53:46

And like, I don't know, that

53:48

becomes a much, much more difficult prospect. Yeah, you

53:51

got those two main pieces. And that is

53:53

hugely helpful. But beyond that, you've

53:55

got to construct a whole new roster. Hard.

54:00

It's hard to to rebuild

54:03

the ship every

54:06

offseason. Why you're still sailing it? Why? I

54:08

know you guys love the ship Odysseus, but

54:11

Jesus. Yeah, for real. The

54:13

Right Suriki Sanchez is brought

54:15

to you by DraftKings Sportsbook.

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customers get a no sweat bet up to fifteen

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bonus bet back equal to your first bet if

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it doesn't hit. I love

54:30

DraftKings. I love playing. I cannot

54:32

do it in California, unfortunately. So

54:34

I'm going to Phoenix in a

54:36

little bit for my nephew's graduation

54:38

and I'll be putting in some

54:40

futures bets. I like

54:42

the futures. I prefer the futures. I

54:44

think I get a little bit too worked up in it

54:46

to do, to do the same game parlay. But if you

54:48

don't get too worked up to do the same game parlay,

54:50

then they have plenty of those. I,

54:54

I love a future. I love a, love

54:56

a baseball future. I had some little, a little piece

54:58

of the Mariners last year, John. That was fun. That

55:00

was fun for me. I love a,

55:02

I love a divisional record.

55:06

That's how I won the, uh,

55:08

my Orlando magic bet. They

55:10

edged the heat by a game or two. And

55:13

that's how I won my Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFC

55:15

South bet. Wow. So I'm really

55:17

cornering the market on

55:20

divisional season,

55:23

regular season standings, bet. Thanks to, thanks

55:25

to DraftKings when I'm, when I'm not

55:27

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crown zero is gambling problem call one 800

55:39

gambler must be 21 C show notes for

55:42

details. I also wanted to give a happy birthday. We

55:44

got an email this morning, spike spike CJ and I

55:46

got an email this morning from someone wanting to wish

55:49

her father. Who is a long

55:51

time listener. Andrew

55:53

Kenneth a happy birthday

55:56

from your daughter Hazel who reached out to

55:58

us. Apparently your great dad. and

56:00

have tremendous taste in podcasts. Happy birthday

56:02

to Andrew. Happy birthday. Oh,

56:06

John. So who of the

56:08

guys that are expiring?

56:14

Would you prioritize spring back? Say you

56:16

can bring back two. Of all the

56:18

guys on the Sixers, obviously

56:20

Tobias would not be an option. I mean, Oobrey.

56:24

Okay. For sure. That's

56:26

a guy that's top of the list. Now you're gonna have

56:28

to pay him more. Maybe

56:30

he's definitely due for a raise, but he fit

56:32

really well. And I think he, for

56:35

that energy and effort component that you

56:37

love so much, and

56:39

also a little bit of, he

56:43

can get his blood up a little bit. Yeah,

56:47

Oobrey for me. And then beyond that,

56:50

I could take or leave pretty much everybody. Oobrey,

56:54

are you a platoon for you? I

56:56

like platoon. I've always liked

56:58

platoon, but how

57:01

old is platoon now? I got a check. I

57:03

think 35. 35, yeah. I

57:05

mean, like, and he was talking about maybe retiring. That

57:09

was before spec to the French accent

57:11

though. French accent worked at him, and I think

57:13

he convinced him. Yeah,

57:16

I like platoon. I've always liked him, and I think he's a good

57:18

role player, but like in

57:21

a world where you're trying to reboot

57:23

this thing on the fly into a

57:25

contender, how many minutes are you

57:27

looking for Nick Petoum off the bench? Well,

57:31

he's playing like into the 30s in the playoffs. That's

57:33

what I'm saying. That's what you want. But if you

57:35

can get him, and this is how I thought about

57:37

Lowry also, if you can get him into like 14

57:39

to 18, then

57:42

we're talking about an ease in. He's helpful

57:44

when he's there. You're not overtaxing him. The

57:46

fact that he is not, obviously he amped

57:48

up his shooting over the playoffs, but the

57:50

fact that he's not like a dribble drive

57:52

threat, really, if they do leave

57:54

him open, if he is, you know,

57:57

if Maxie's getting blitzed or something like that, it'd be good to have

57:59

a couple of guys. in

58:01

the Josh Hart vein who can, oh,

58:03

you, you're blitzing our best player. I

58:05

can at least attack the basket and

58:07

finish for myself or make the right

58:10

path to get

58:12

to get a good shot to, you know, either a dunk or

58:14

whatever. I

58:17

wonder, we haven't talked about it too much, but I

58:19

wonder if we're at the end of

58:21

the b-ball road. B-ball Paul. I

58:24

thought it was interesting. Didn't Daryl kind of, didn't

58:26

Daryl mention him in the names that were in

58:28

the, in the postseason press

58:30

conference in the names that would be returning, which I

58:32

felt was really interesting because his contract is non-guaranteed because

58:34

they got past. And as everybody here

58:36

knows, they got bounced and that poison pill contract

58:38

wasn't one because they couldn't get out of the

58:40

first round. I'm laughing to keep from crying. Good

58:43

try, Danny Ainge. Jokes on

58:45

you. We actually lost in the first round. Yeah,

58:50

he's got two million, or two years, 16

58:52

million, unguaranteed. I'm not sure

58:54

when that has to be guaranteed,

58:56

but I bet they will wait until

58:58

the last minute to give themselves as much options as

59:01

possible because they could trade him. Even

59:03

if they have to trade him in a package, they could trade him

59:06

with somebody that, that then waves him if

59:08

you don't want to. But the deal is fine.

59:10

Eight million for a backup center per year is

59:12

completely fine. It's just a matter of. This

59:17

is hard for you. It is hard for me. I

59:19

love this. I love b-ball. I love the kind of player he is. I

59:23

want to see a world where

59:25

he plays few more minutes with Joel. And

59:28

I think he proved himself capable of hitting

59:30

wide open threes at a reasonable rate at

59:34

the NBA level, not just G-League rims.

59:37

But the, the,

59:41

it's just hard to replace

59:44

Joel even for a

59:46

little four-minute stretches and having somebody that at least

59:49

is big and hulking the way Andre Drummond is

59:52

and just can scoop up a bunch of

59:54

rebounds is more

59:56

appealing than having to play a

59:58

totally different style. with

1:00:01

with b-ball in there who also has limitations

1:00:04

on the offensive end and yes some

1:00:07

you know not not an incredibly

1:00:10

high IQ player I think because

1:00:12

of how he is and how he seems maybe

1:00:14

gets dinged for being a low IQ I don't

1:00:17

think that that is the case I know he's

1:00:19

just kind of spastic there's a little yes and

1:00:21

but that's the fun the good and the bad

1:00:23

is he is all over

1:00:25

the place he's weird he kind of

1:00:27

reminds he's like the basketball version of like

1:00:30

nouclouche from Boulder where like he's just like

1:00:32

all over the place at all times and

1:00:34

like sometimes that head to their

1:00:36

benefit and you're like nice job like you're out

1:00:38

of control but I love it and then sometimes

1:00:41

you're just like oh no you're out of control

1:00:43

and it's terrible I

1:00:45

don't know I'm with you it might be it might be

1:00:47

end of the road time for him the problem is you

1:00:50

know and it's always been the problem and and

1:00:52

you guys have talked about it forever and I've

1:00:54

talked about it forever and everybody knows that it's

1:00:56

true that they need a backup center for him

1:00:58

the Embiid minutes especially in the postseason somebody like

1:01:01

eat up 10 minutes a game right the

1:01:03

problem is look around the

1:01:05

NBA who has a good backup

1:01:07

center who has two guys like the Knicks have

1:01:09

two guys one of them's hurt right now and

1:01:11

the guy who graduated from being backup is probably

1:01:13

going to end up as your starter but he's

1:01:16

actually a free agent this offseason and is gonna

1:01:18

get a ton of money but

1:01:20

probably wouldn't make sense for the Sixers then

1:01:22

you know the Celtics got two guys

1:01:28

who else has two guys like it's

1:01:30

Minnesota okay they've

1:01:32

got three guys they're the super exception to

1:01:34

the rule it just

1:01:36

it there's not a lot of that out

1:01:38

there so it's hard to identify if you were gonna

1:01:40

move on from Paul who as you mentioned is

1:01:43

under control well could be under control for

1:01:45

a cheap amount of money yeah like

1:01:48

how are you replacing that yeah

1:01:50

I mean it's tough that was part of

1:01:52

why I was I'm

1:01:54

just saying things that are on brand but like why

1:01:56

it's such a bummer that Covington wasn't remotely healthy because

1:02:00

having the option to go every year to go like

1:02:02

Covington, Batoom,

1:02:07

pick anybody, Oubre as your front court

1:02:10

in those minutes when okay, b ball is not working,

1:02:12

we got at least spread the floor, we got at

1:02:14

least be more options offensively, whatever. The

1:02:17

fact that they had to go to b ball or mobile,

1:02:20

who was was pretty, pretty atrocious all

1:02:22

year. And they couldn't, maybe they

1:02:24

didn't trust KJ Martin, or he was hurt

1:02:26

or whatever. They're just not not having like

1:02:28

one more guy to go, okay, let's go

1:02:30

small and try to play like a completely

1:02:32

different way and get out and

1:02:34

run and match the next energy and wingness of

1:02:36

everything. The fact that they couldn't go to

1:02:39

that and they had to go to Paul. And

1:02:41

it wasn't, it just was a tough matchup for him. And he

1:02:43

didn't play well. I don't think he was the problem. But he

1:02:45

definitely didn't play well. And and he

1:02:47

got, you know, him being the only one

1:02:49

to get rebounds as the Knicks were just

1:02:51

flying in around them. And and you know,

1:02:53

Harden, Harden Stein or Mitch Robinson being being

1:02:55

incredibly long. It was just it was

1:02:57

just tough. It was tough to see him like that, man. I didn't I didn't like

1:02:59

it. I didn't like it for my guy. But if

1:03:03

there's an option to, to move

1:03:05

on and get somebody, whether it's somebody in the

1:03:07

draft that you that you believe could step in

1:03:09

right away, Kellell Ware of Oregon is Oregon

1:03:12

in Indiana, he transferred, is

1:03:15

a is awesome and a big dude and can

1:03:17

stretch the floor a little bit and protect the

1:03:19

rim. And that could be somebody that they targeted

1:03:21

16. I want

1:03:23

them to keep that pick. I would

1:03:25

prefer not to take it on this on the center. But

1:03:28

if that's if that's an option, they think they could get

1:03:30

for pretty cheap, and that would be something. I

1:03:34

just don't think that I think all

1:03:36

options are on the table, including including letting people

1:03:38

go somewhere else. I'm looking for Oh,

1:03:41

sorry. Good. No, I was just saying

1:03:43

I'm just going through the free agent

1:03:45

list right now. Well, yeah,

1:03:48

I mean, Harden Stein is going

1:03:50

to get paid and he's going to want

1:03:52

starters minutes anyway. Mo Wagner,

1:03:56

anybody Daniel thief, like your types would

1:03:58

be nice. I like he's kind

1:04:01

of kind of outplayed by Mason Plumlee in LA

1:04:03

is fine. He's probably a little past his prime.

1:04:06

I like Mo Wagner. He's a,

1:04:08

he's, he's the kind of at least like mean

1:04:10

streak, like we will play

1:04:13

at a level of intensity that upsets the

1:04:15

other team that I, that I'm kind of

1:04:17

looking for. It's

1:04:20

all the same retreads, man. There's going to be

1:04:22

a Plumlee. There's going to be a Zeller Alex

1:04:24

one like, okay, you know what,

1:04:26

what about precious? This

1:04:29

is, this is fine. He's

1:04:31

fine. I think, but I think you

1:04:33

could just play there. Yeah. Yeah.

1:04:36

I don't know. The, the bummer for me

1:04:38

is looking at Sixers free agents goes. And I

1:04:40

think the, I think the, how many, you know,

1:04:42

this applies to the Paul George situation. This applies

1:04:44

to a ton

1:04:46

of the, of the guys that the

1:04:48

Sixers are, are have expiring is how

1:04:51

were they going to make

1:04:55

it all work at once? I'm sure there are many

1:04:57

contingency plans happening in the Sixers front office right now.

1:04:59

Like if we get this guy, if this guy closes

1:05:01

first at this guy, like the free

1:05:04

agency being a, a,

1:05:06

a non tampering sprint, I

1:05:09

was like waiting for other guys to make their decisions and

1:05:12

losing out on guys because you know, that, that

1:05:14

happened obviously with, you know, people talk about this

1:05:16

pretty publicly with a, with

1:05:18

the rockets and Brooke Lopez, they thought they were

1:05:20

getting Brooke. And at the

1:05:22

last minute he changes his mind

1:05:25

or Milwaukee offers more money. He goes back to

1:05:27

Milwaukee. And then

1:05:29

the rockets are sort of stuck and

1:05:31

their, and their plan was undone. I think

1:05:33

they had to trade some picks to, to get to what

1:05:36

they needed. And

1:05:38

it's, it, this is the like pre-work that has

1:05:40

to get done to, to make it, to make

1:05:43

it happen. And you're depending on agents

1:05:45

and relationships and everything to like make it all

1:05:47

happen. And I'm worried that if they don't get

1:05:50

Paul George, they will have

1:05:52

already let some of these other guys

1:05:54

on the team sign elsewhere that

1:05:56

they wish they could have had back. Had they known that

1:05:59

Paul wasn't coming back. or one of these other guys wasn't coming.

1:06:02

My concern is Jansy

1:06:05

Melton is such a beautiful fit on this team. He'd

1:06:08

be another one I'd bring back. But

1:06:12

I don't know what his number is gonna be because

1:06:15

the back thing is pretty serious.

1:06:17

He's obviously been out in

1:06:19

and out of the lineup for a long time. He's

1:06:21

had operations on his back. He's

1:06:25

a guy that just cannot

1:06:27

be counted on to

1:06:30

be just reasonably healthy. And I don't know how

1:06:32

much he's gonna get on the open market. Somebody

1:06:34

might take a chance on him. But if he

1:06:36

comes back for like another one

1:06:38

year prove it deal to stay healthy and there's

1:06:40

an operation he can go through to maybe

1:06:42

get it. I mean, he's a perfect fit. I just, you

1:06:46

felt his absence in the playoffs so much. And

1:06:48

for a team that has so

1:06:50

few ways, assuming that

1:06:52

a third max contract guy comes in

1:06:54

here, so few ways to get better.

1:06:58

You cannot be blowing whatever,

1:07:01

eight, 10, 15 million on

1:07:05

a guy who you

1:07:08

can't count on in the playoffs because his back

1:07:11

is acting out. So that's where you gotta trust. He's at

1:07:13

least here, they have his medical. If they would know better

1:07:15

than anybody else, if he is a guy

1:07:18

that will, you're making a

1:07:20

bet on it, obviously could go good,

1:07:22

could go bad. But that's the part of

1:07:24

team building that I, at

1:07:28

this height when you're trying to contend that

1:07:31

I find to be the most difficult of

1:07:34

going the health part

1:07:36

of it. Yeah,

1:07:38

I mean, it's a concern. There's a

1:07:40

lot of things that Daryl has

1:07:42

to juggle this off

1:07:44

season and he's doing it. It's like a complete circus

1:07:46

act, right? He's not only juggling, but he's on the

1:07:48

high wire and there's no net. And

1:07:50

if they don't get Paul George and some of these

1:07:53

other guys leave and then all of a sudden you

1:07:55

look around and then he could very easily go spot

1:07:57

here. I mean, like this is. You

1:08:00

know, I don't want to be hyperbolic, but

1:08:03

this might be the

1:08:06

most critical offseason of Daryl

1:08:08

Morey's career. It's

1:08:11

really difficult what he's being tasked and

1:08:14

not what he's being tasked with, what

1:08:16

he has tasked himself with. He

1:08:18

said this was always going to be the

1:08:21

offseason where he had to reboot this thing on

1:08:23

the fly. He set it up to do that.

1:08:26

Okay, well, you know,

1:08:28

teams or players don't really move anymore in

1:08:30

free agency, not big ones. And

1:08:33

if there's any chance of it happening, it's

1:08:35

going to be Paul George. And then after that, you

1:08:38

know, you're going to have to move some

1:08:41

pieces around by interacting with other teams. Just

1:08:43

a really, really difficult task ahead. I'm

1:08:47

fascinated to see what he does here. I think

1:08:49

like there's a handful of general managers that I

1:08:51

would be like, okay, I trust them to at

1:08:54

least attempt this. He would be in that group,

1:08:56

but that doesn't mean it's easy and it doesn't

1:08:58

mean it's easy that he's going to pull it

1:09:00

off. Yeah. And to your

1:09:02

point, like this is the bed that he made when

1:09:04

he didn't go all in at this trade deadline. Yeah.

1:09:07

With Embiid hurt. They played it safe.

1:09:09

They didn't trade any first round picks. They

1:09:12

didn't trade any big contracts. It

1:09:15

was just a couple

1:09:17

of pieces that could have helped. Buddy Heald didn't work

1:09:19

out. No, he didn't. Where are you on

1:09:21

Buddy Heald? I mean, well, I don't

1:09:23

think you can bring him back. I

1:09:25

don't think that he even after the,

1:09:28

uh, the microwaves explosion. Yeah. Look,

1:09:30

it was nice to see. It was nice to see him get free, but I

1:09:32

just think on a, on

1:09:34

a physical tools level, he's

1:09:37

not big and

1:09:39

quick enough to get a shot off against

1:09:42

legitimate defenders. Um,

1:09:46

and he's not a guy who can play above the

1:09:48

rim and he wasn't finishing that well. And I

1:09:50

think he's maybe a better player across the, across

1:09:52

the board than giving credit for at least I

1:09:54

think the defense on Brunson was

1:09:56

pretty nice and I was impressed by it. And

1:09:59

I think he improved his. the passer over the last few years. But

1:10:03

if your main thing is shooting and

1:10:06

you can't get shots off because you're a little

1:10:09

too slow or a little too scared to shoot contested

1:10:11

ones or deep ones, then

1:10:13

like, what are you doing here? So

1:10:16

I'm interested to see where he goes,

1:10:18

but I don't think it's happening in

1:10:20

Philadelphia. And I think Darrell in his

1:10:23

like post-season remarks were kind of like,

1:10:25

yeah, didn't work out. That didn't work out.

1:10:27

My bad. I

1:10:29

understand why he thought it might though. Like, you

1:10:31

know, give him some time, some

1:10:33

actual time with Joel. Like they've

1:10:36

been trying to find the, you know, and

1:10:39

I'm going to whisper this because I know

1:10:41

Spike can't stand them, but like this, the

1:10:43

JJ successor, like somebody to do the, the

1:10:46

coming off the screen, the dribble hand off,

1:10:48

like jackup shots, hunting shots. And they just

1:10:50

have it. Well, it's Maxie.

1:10:53

Yeah. Maxie is that guy. He's more than that though.

1:10:55

He's even more than that. Of course, but he has,

1:10:58

but he, that's the, that's the rhythm that they have

1:11:00

together. And that's what they liked

1:11:02

running for him. And that's why having

1:11:04

a wing distributor who

1:11:08

can run pick and roll

1:11:10

and get his own offense while Maxie comes

1:11:12

off screens and runs

1:11:15

two main game with him. I think that would make them a

1:11:17

lot more dynamic because the

1:11:19

Sixers really couldn't do anything unless

1:11:22

Maxie had the ball in his hands, even the moments that

1:11:24

like campaign was in and had

1:11:26

some on ball juice, it was like, oh my God,

1:11:30

look at this. This guy's beating somebody off the

1:11:32

dribble. You're allowed to do that. It was either,

1:11:34

it was either Maxie or Oubre going right to the

1:11:36

fucking rim or a lot

1:11:38

of like standing around and hoping Joel hits an

1:11:40

incredibly tough shot or makes the pass to the

1:11:42

corner and they get a three out of it.

1:11:45

It's, they need to just be a little bit more

1:11:47

versatile as basketball players and with a

1:11:49

high motor and hungry enough to do it because they just,

1:11:54

you felt how lacking they were unless

1:11:58

Maxie and Embiid did everything, Which they

1:12:00

almost did, to your point. I mean, they almost

1:12:02

did. That series, a couple of balances, different

1:12:04

ways, couple calls a different way. They

1:12:07

get to the second round and if they're

1:12:10

healthy, beat this Indiana team. And that's another

1:12:12

added to the list of fan fictions that

1:12:14

we've had for

1:12:16

many seasons now. It's

1:12:18

quite a stock bookshelf. John,

1:12:21

I really appreciate you coming on this

1:12:23

podcast and listening to me host it.

1:12:26

You wanna go? CBS Sports,

1:12:28

say the name of the podcast again. So

1:12:31

it's the Beyond the Arc podcast.

1:12:34

Daily. It is a daily Monday

1:12:36

through Friday, five days a week. You

1:12:38

can also find us on CBS Sports Network,

1:12:41

CBS Sports HQ, but yes, Beyond the Arc,

1:12:44

all your NBA needs. There was, during

1:12:47

the Sixers Knicks series, it was

1:12:49

like 75% of the show. Cause

1:12:51

you have one guy from Philly and then

1:12:53

one gal who's a Knicks fan and now

1:12:56

less Sixers. Sure, now with less

1:12:58

Sixers. Please check it out. You

1:13:01

know him, you love him, John Gonzalez. This

1:13:03

was the Right to Ricky Sanchez podcast. John,

1:13:06

are you down with TPP? You

1:13:09

know, look face. If you don't talk

1:13:12

with me, then

1:13:14

I'm not gonna talk with you. Never

1:13:24

watching.