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Are The Sixers Teasing Us? (PST Episode 601) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Hope you are doing well. It's Jeff here.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I wanted to let you know. We recorded this podcast
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: episode on two separate days this week. Our interview this
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: week was recorded on Wednesday, January twenty ninth, twenty twenty five.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The first part of our show was recorded Thursday night,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: January thirtieth, twenty twenty five. By the time you hear this,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: some things may have changed here or there, but we
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: show in the world. That's right eleven and a half
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: years strong. We've got a great show coming your way.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Some of the topics and stories we're gonna be getting
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: into this week certainly gonna be talking about the Philadelphia
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Eagles as they are heading to the Super Bowl, and
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: they are heading there because of the talent on this team, yes,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: but also because of their sheer resilience over the course
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: of this year. We're gonna get into some Eagles talk,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: for sure. We're also gonna get into some Phillies talk,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: particularly with one Trey Turner and an off season storyline
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: that has been persisting a little bit in terms of
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: how he has ranked in Major League Baseball. And from
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: there we're gonna be getting into some Philadelphia Union talk,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: some Flyers talk as well. After that, and this week
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: what we're thrown down on the table, We've got Harrison Graham,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: good friend of the show from Libertyballers dot Com. He's
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: gonna be joining us for a discussion about this six
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: er season, where they're currently at and where they should
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: go the rest of this season. They've been winning, folks,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: They've been winning. It's amazing to see. So that being said,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Warren and I am here with my good
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: buddy for Philadelphia soccernow dot com. You hear them on
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: our Eagles postgame shows every now and again. He's filling
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: in for the guys this week as some personal matters
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: have been going on with Len and Eric and some
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: work matters as well. We've got our friend Josh Schuster.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Hey, no, buddy, I'm doing good, Jeff, Thanks for having me, man.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great to have you. I think this is
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the first time you're like, is this first time you're
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: like co hosting the show with me, not telling it
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: it's like the actual regular show, right.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man, this is this is crazy.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know how crazy it is, but it's it's
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: great to have you. It's great to have you because, look,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you're not just a Union fan, You're not just an
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Eagles fan. People have heard your voice talking about the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Eagles again, like I said on our postgame shows, but
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you know, you get into the Phillies, you get into
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the Flyers as well. I've seen some of your Flyers gear.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: In fact, you're wearing a Flyer shirt right now, which
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: you know, this team we're gonna get to it. We're
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: gonna get to it for sure. But I do want
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to say that, you know, it is being an interesting
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five thus far in Philly sports. And yes
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: we don't have the Phillies right now going on, but
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: with the Sixers, the Flyers and the Eagles, there's always
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: up and down storylines everywhere. And we just love doing
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: this podcast show. So thank you, Buddy for stepping in
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: for the guys here. So do you have anything you
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: want to you know, kind of dive into first before
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: we get into the agenda at all.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I said two weeks ago after the Eagles playoff game,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: get that bus ready for New Orleans here we are,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Yes you did. I'm actually relatively confident. So that's always dangerous,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: rights to that great mode of Philadelphia sports disappointment. Ye,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: hopefully not, but we'll see what happens.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Well, let's get into this Eagles team, and let's get
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: into the fact that, yes, again they are heading to
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the super Bowl. And I keep thinking, like you too, Josh,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: like I'm waiting for the rug to get pulled out
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: from under us. And the Kansas City Chiefs are a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: damn good team, they really are, But this Eagles team
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: is really good to it. And I think, you know,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: we've talked about that theme that this is the most
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: complete Eagles team that we have probably seen in our lifetime.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: And as I said at the top, they are heading
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. Yes, because of their talent, but
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I think also due to their sheer resilience. You know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: whether it's Jalen Hurts excelling through the noise that he
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: is not a good quarterback. How many times did that
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: poor guy probably have to read that on social if
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: he was on social reading it, or that you know,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: he kind of just stinks, you know, he's overrated. I
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: have to give so much credit to Jalen Hurts for
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: excelling through that noise that he's just not a very
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: good quarterback in this league. Then we look at Cam
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Jurgens this past week, I think an extremely important storyline
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: him overcoming that back injury. He didn't start the game
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: in the NFC Championship game, didn't start the game, but
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: he had to go in because of Landon Dickerson's injury,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and he was able to use that resilience that this
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: team just seems to have around them in overcoming that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: back injury, and I should say getting through it. And
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: then we know in the middle of the defense after
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: losing to Kobe Dean, you know, the defensive linebackers on
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: this team. Of course Zach Bonn is an All Pro,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you know, going to the Pro Bowl, but even orin
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Berk's you know, stepping it up the middle of this
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: defense after losing to Kobe Dean, us thinking to ourselves, Wow,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a tremendous liability, And it really
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: hasn't been a tremendous liability. Do I wish Nacobe Dean
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: was going to be going to the Super Bowl, Absolutely,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: But I think it's important to talk about the resiliency
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: of this team, and like what the expectations are going
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to be heading into Super Bowl Sunday in about a
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: week and a half here, Josh, So, I don't know
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: if you wanted to mention anything or have a response
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to any of the points that I just made. I
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: just think the resiliency of this team is kind of
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: an underrated storyline and one I think that we really
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: should keep in our minds as we head into the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeff, there's one one thing that you didn't mention
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that I think there's one individual who has really been
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the definition of resiliency with the Eagles, and to me,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: that's Nick Sirianni. Yeah, we all know that. Basically he
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: was relegated, not quite to the Howie Roseman you know, closet,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: but basically he was told, you can come back, but
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: we're going to handpick everything for you. And in order
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: for you to get a head coaching job in the NFL,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: not saying that you have to have an ego, but
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: you have to feel confident in yourself. Yeah, and the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: fact of being able to watch Nick Sirianni just be
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: able to have a different offensive coordinator every single year, right,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: let's we often talk about this with with Jalen Hurts,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: but just imagine every year one of your right hand
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: people is constantly changing. It's incredibly frustrating. You finally get
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: to know a person, you finally get to understand, you
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: finally get to speak their language, and here we go,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: now it changes once again. But I think the biggest
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: thing with Nick Sirianni and I love what they showed
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: on TV with him and CJGJ, because that CJGJ isn't
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the easiest person in the world in terms of like
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: being able to get along with. He's highly opinionated, but
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: there is no doubt that man loves Nick Sirianni. And
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: so we've heard, and I think one of the greatest
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: things that happened for Nick Sirianni is Brandon Graham going
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: on WIP and Jason Kelsey being on WIP every single
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: week because they really give the insight into it. I
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: feel like Brandon Graham he's done in years past, but
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I feel like because of Kelsey he feels a little
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: bit more free to talk about what happens in the
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: locker room. And you hear both Kelsey and Graham were
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: two of the biggest leaders that the organization has really
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: ever had. You hear them talk about how Nick Sirianni
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: will rip into people, which it doesn't. I don't even
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: think that that was possible, right, and just based off
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: of Nick Siriani's personality. But to me, when I think
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: about Resilient, to me, it's really about Nick Siriani. And
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: then secondly about Saquon. I was one of those people
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: that had said, Saquon he's washed. The guy can't stay healthy.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: He's always injured, and he really hasn't had like amazing seasons,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: and they just paid him a ton of money. I've
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: never been more happy to be wrong. I don't think
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I've ever been more wrong in my life, but I'm
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: happy about it. And the fact that he looks like
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I remember seeing him on the Giants because I used
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: to live up that way, right, so like in the
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: after I would get Giant skames, not Eagles games. I
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: just remember seeing how miserable this guy looked. Yeah, I
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: mean he looked like he towards the end it looked
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: like he hated football. So I think just being able
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: to see Saquon Barkley come to life and overcoming the injuries.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: That he's had. I would probably put him as the
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: second one for resilience.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's a great and great I mean both great,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: great pack, especially with Nick Sirianni because we've talked on
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the Eagles postgame shows before just about his growth over
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the course of this season. Of course, amazing resiliency and
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Saquon's staying healthy. Absolutely, I mean, I think those are fantastic,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: fantastic examples of the resiliency. But there's one individual who
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I'm actually really worried about heading into this I know
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: we were going to talk about resiliency and not talk
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: about really people we were worried about. But I mean,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: since we're here talking about what we may expect and
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: you know, reflections on this season and who was a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: to be resilient, the person that hasn't necessarily been resilient
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: who I'm worried about is Jake Elliott. Yes, folks, the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: kicker of this team. I am very concerned about him.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Jake Elliott has never missed a field goal in the
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: postseason until this past Sunday's NFC Championship game. He missed
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: a fifty four yard field goal, one from just can't
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: seem to if something is in his head where if
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it's fifty yards or over. He did hit one fifty
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: yarder this year. And yes, kicking at Lincoln Financial Field
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: is tough, some people I've heard say, but he's been
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: doing it now for many years and he's been very
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: successful with it. So, I mean, the Eagles likely don't
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: want to have to rely on Jake Elliott heading into
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl to kick a fifty plus yard field
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: goal to go for perhaps maybe the go ahead kick
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: or even the win of the Super Bowl. And the
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: way that Jake Elliott has been kicking, I would hate
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to think that the lack of resiliency inconsistency that he
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: has had might potentially cost Philadelphia championship. So that going
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: into the Super Bowl, Josh, I'm actually really worried about
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Jake Elliott and where he is at from a lack
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: of resiliency standpoint, what it means for the team.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I hear you and I share the
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: same concerns. But Jeff, if I would have told you
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: at the beginning of the year that the Eagles are
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: headed to the Super Bowl, they're going to try to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: stop the Chiefs from their third straight Super Bowl win
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: and Our biggest concern right now is the kicker.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: I think you probably would have laughed at me, to
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: be perfectly honest, because I feel crazy talking about this
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: because Jake Elliott before this was so reliable, the idea
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: of him. We've talked even last year. We spend time
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: talking about the fact of how great it is to
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: have a kicker, so we don't even have to worry
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: about I do think that Jake Ellie can turn it around,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: think that next year things will be different. But yeah,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: I'm a little concerned. Yes, thankfully. The Eagles are an
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: aggressive organization in terms of well in two ways. On
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: the field, they have no problem going for it on
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: fourth down, but also in the off season. I mean,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: if they really feel you know, I remember people saying
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: that you couldn't move Carson Wentz, that contract was unmovable, yep.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: And then I was in the camp that really wasn't
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: happy that they moved on because I didn't think that
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: he was actually that bad. Well I was wrong, but
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: the youth decided not to take a chance. They were
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: aggressed about it. So I trust how we roseman, if
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: they need to move on, they will, So I just.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Wish I wasn't worried about it. I just wish I
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't worried about Jake Elliott for sure. But we'd love
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: to hear from you out there, Philadelphia Sports Table at
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: gmail dot com. We'll read your email here on the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: show and respond to it. I know we got an
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: email in the pipeline, but it's more for Eric, So
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: when Eric is on next folks, we'll get to that.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: And then mister Patrick, that goes out to you. I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: know you sent that email, so we'll be getting to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: it for sure once Eric is on the show. But
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: moving on here, why don't we get into some Phillies talk,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: but more notably the Trey Turner talk. So in twenty
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: twenty four, Major League Baseball, I should say, the Major
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: League Baseball Network had Trey Turner as the number five
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: overall shortstop in baseball. They recently put out their list.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Gunner Henderson He's number one, Corey Seeger's number two, Francisco
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Lindor number three, Bobby Witt Junior is number four, Mookie
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Betts is number five, Dansby Swanson number six, Carlos Carrera
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: he is seven, Ellie de la Cruz is number eight,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and Willie Adams, Dames or Adams?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: How do I Adamas?
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: My gosh, again messing up names as I always do,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and I've heard the name how many times in my
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: life and i still mess it up because I'm freaking
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: reading it. Anyway, William number nine and Trey Turner is ten.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And what does this actually mean in the grand scheme
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of things? Quite frankly, folks, not too too much. But
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: in terms of a Phillies storyline, you're talking about a
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: player that this Phillies organization paid a lot of money for.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: You know, did they pay him money to be the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: eighth best shortstop in the league? Probably not? Did did
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: they pay him to be maybe the fourth, fifth, third? Maybe? Perhaps?
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is Trey Turner had
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: had a down year last year and he's certainly looking
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: to rebound and he's a key component of this Phillies
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: team as there's a lot of I would say I
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: hate using the word disappointment, but maybe it is disappointment
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: in terms of what the Phillies did this season to
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: bring in talent and actually bring in some hitters. Trey
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Turner again, so very critical to what this season is
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: going to look like and how successful it is going
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: to be. So when you see your star short stuff
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: that you paid a ton of money for and gave
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: him so many years on that contract, you know, you
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: say to yourself, Okay, he's dwindling in terms of you
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: know where he is ranked again, Josh, I don't think
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: it's the biggest deal in the world in terms of
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the rankings, but it does go to show his play
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: wasn't what we all had hoped last year. We are
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: hoping for a rebound. I think Trey Turner is going
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to rebound from the twenty twenty four season that he had.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know how how are you reading into this
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: particular storyline. I'd love to get your thoughts on it.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So here's my thought. I think it's time for
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: us as Phillies fans to have an honest conversation about
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: who Trey Turner really is, because we keep hearing that
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: he's been terrible in Philadelphia. But I just want to
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: quickly go through his career. His average last year was
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: actually higher than the year before. In fact, his average
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: last year was higher than a number of seasons previously.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: His RBIs were not far off from the pre Mega
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: contract Trey Turner he had sixty two RBIs last year
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: and five hundred at bats, which means he had less
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: at bats last year than previous years. But let me
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: read you some of the RBI totals. He had forty
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: forty five, seventy three, fifty seven or forty one. Then
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: the year he was traded from Washington to LA he
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: had seventy seven. Then he had one hundred, then he
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: had seventy six, and last year he had sixty two.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: If he played his normal amount, we're looking at seventy
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: five RBIs, which is basically the same amount as pre
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Mega contract. This is what I think we need to do.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Part of this is, Jeff. The reality is when you
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: watch a team day in the D day out, the
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: flaws become far more evident than when they were playing
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: in Washington, in LA wherever. Where you're seeing them for
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: nine games a season. It's a good point, right, so
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: you don't really see the defensive errors that he has
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: these other games because maybe he plays great defense for
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: nine games that just happen to be against your team.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: So part of what I'm saying is I personally would
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: move Lindor down that list. But that's because I can't
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: stand the Mets, and I don't want to give their
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: players any credit. I don't care how good the player is.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I think Juan Soto now is completely overrated because he's
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: on the Mets. That's just the reality of being a
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Phillies fan. Yes, so what I'm saying is I don't
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: disagree with him being nine, but I think what really
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: needs to happen is we, as Phillies fans, need to
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: actually go over everything and say, you know what, he's
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: actually performing relatively close to what it was before this
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: big contract. Maybe the problem is expectations, right.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Right, offensive expectations absolutely. I do wonder though, too, Josh,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: because in all honesty, I'm not sure what actually went
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: into these rankings that the MLB network they're putting it
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: all together. I'm not sure what they're actually looking at necessarily,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: but I think it's clear though, and I don't know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I could be wrong with this. It seems clear that
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Trey's defense is in decline. And I say this as
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: somebody as we know, he's not like the greatest defender
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems like
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: his defense has been in decline, which is kind of
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: worrisome in a way. I wonder if a reshuffling of
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: the infield might potentially help at some point down the road.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Not this season, but maybe at some point down the road.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think at the end of the day, though,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: if his offense continues to be what you are talking about,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: which really is very above average, of course, it's pretty
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: good in terms of what his productivity is, Trey Turner
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: is going to be looked at as one of those
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: guys where it's like, Okay, this contract was absolutely worth it.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: But I do wonder in the back of my head
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: what that you decline in defense may actually do with
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: his stock in the future. I don't know if you
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: gave any thought to that at all.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, again, I think this comes down to expectations.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: The reality is is when he came here, he was
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: never known as a gold glove shortstop, right. He was
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: known as an offensive shortstop who can make up for
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: his shortcomings in the field with his bat. Well, when
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I say that, what pops into my head as I
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: think about a shortstop that can overcome defensive challenges with
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: their bad I'm thinking hitting over three hundred round thirty
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: five home runs, one hundred Ribbies every year. Well stats
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: that I gave you, Trey Turner has never really done that.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I think the problem is we heard people say he's
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: this offensive shortstop where his offensive numbers will help offset
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: his defensive mistakes. The problem is we have to watch
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Trey Turner play defense for one hundred and fifty plus
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: games here.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Yes, and that's what happens. We start nitpicking. Like you said,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: we start nitpicking. For sure. We kicker exactly on Super Bowl.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I had to throw it in there. I had to.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, well we're gonna take a break, but
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: before we do again, we'd love to hear from you.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. Love to read
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: your email here on the show and respond to it.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: You can always head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: dot com our website to check out all of our shows,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and we'd appreciate if you'd subscribe on whatever podcast platform
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: you're on. Hope you're enjoying the content, and you can
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: find Josh on the Twitter slash x at Flag Eye
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Josh ninety one. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Warren and the Show at Philadelphia PST. I'm over on
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Blue Sky I'm on threads. You can just search out
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the show too. We're on different social sites and we're
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: gonna take that break to pay some bills. We'll be
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: back in just a bit, all right. We are back
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: still with our good friend Josh shust Are from Philadelphia
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: soccernow dot com. And I mentioned Philadelphia soccernow dot com
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: one because it's a great website. And two they had
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: an article on the website still there a few days ago,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: or maybe it was maybe it was more than a
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: few days ago about the fact that FIFA has placed
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Union on the player registration ban list. So
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: what what does this mean? What does this actually mean?
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: So a Sore said that this ban stemmed from an
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: issue with MLS's next pro Philadelphia Union. Two Jose resigned.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Can you say his last name? I stink the lesson
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: who is in Jose Rasco?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Risco Risco?
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Jose guys stink? So when the Union were signing him
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: from Venezuela and Venezuelan Club, so there wasn't the transfer
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: feet anyway, long story short here the fine is seven
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: hundred dollars, but I don't know for me when I'm
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: looking at where this Union team and organization is at
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: right now, Josh. And like I said, you are over
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia soccernow dot com with your colleagues. You're talking
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: with them a lot about what is happening with this
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: team and what's happened with this team over the years.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And that's what I see where this team was and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: where it is at right now, and not just the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: team again, the organization too. This is a team that
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: has been very relevant in Major League Soccer for quite
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: some time, making the playoffs consistently. This year not just
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: a down year, but a year where they ended up
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: firing their coach and Jim Curtin. They hire a new coach,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and now they have this particular issue again not the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: biggest issue in the world, the player registration ban list
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and being on that, but I think it just goes
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to show there's not the direction of where the organization
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: is right now and the reflection on the own ship.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: It's it's just it's not a good looks. It looks
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: like the organization, I don't want to say flailing necessarily,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: but that there are certain pieces of the puzzle that
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: are certainly not close to coming together at this point.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: So I don't. I don't know if you have any
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: thoughts on this. It was kind of I read the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: article and you know, read certainly what you all had
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: put up on Philadelphia soccernow dot com, and I'm like,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: geez man, this freaking organization's got to get it together here,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I want to I want to clarify some
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: some things that you had said. First, is the ban
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: is for three transfer windows. Yes, so that doesn't mean
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: that it's for three years. It's for three transfer windows,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: which means basically a year and a half. I would
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: be more concerned if the union actually spent money to
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: bring in players, right they don't. In some ways, this
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: does give an understanding as to why they haven't really
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: signed anybody. And Ernest Tanner basically had danced around this
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: at his presser, which really pissed everybody off because we
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: were trying to figure out what is this guy actually
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: talking about? Now we know, and I just wanted to
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: clarify it wasn't a seven hundred dollars fine. It was
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: a seven hundred dollars transfer fee, meaning they needed to
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: pay seven hundred dollars to be able to get this player,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: and they waited so long to pay this player that
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: the lawyer started chasing after the union to be able
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: to get just seven hundred dollars.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: It's incredible, folks.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: If you're listening for union ownership and a union front office,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: seven hundred dollars is basically less than you going into
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: your couch cushion and pulling out the spare change that
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: you had. The union are claiming that they weren't able
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: to find a way to pay this fee. I have
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: no idea how you had on retainer. You have open
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: communication with different leagues. I don't understand how seven hundred
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: dollars is that problematic. Yes, like they have bought players
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: from Venezuela before.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: I is it just is it just incompetence? I mean,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: it doesn't really come down to that head.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: It's the most logical explanation.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: And I just to me, I understand that six Ers
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: fans want to flip a wid that Josh Harris is
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: the worst owner in sports. Union. If you're listening to this,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: please don't fire me, don't come after me. Jay Sugarman
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: is the worst owner in sports.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Absolutely is.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: The Union finished towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: last year, and every single one of their opponents below
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: them and just above them have spent a ton of money.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Atlanta United is in the process of paying a twenty
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: two million dollar transfer fee to be able to bring
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: a player in and the Union can't come up with
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: seven hundred dollars to pay. I don't understand how this
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: is possible. The Union also had sold out their stadium
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: for a couple of years straight. Like, I'm sorry, but
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: I don't want to hear that you don't have money, right,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: you are actively choosing not to get money in. And
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: before we opt on, we talked about the fact that
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: the Union every year are trading their draft picks, which
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: these are players in college who have already developed that
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: could come in and at the very worst be bench
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: players for you.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I talked about it a few weeks ago.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, they have taken that general Allocation money. Basically,
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: they have traded their draft picks for money that they
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: can use, and they've opted to spend it, supposedly in
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: the academy. Now the film they just sign the Union
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: did just sign one of their players who's a forward
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: from their NLS, from their Union two squad, their next
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: pro level league, so the minor leagues. But here's the problem.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: They had to because they don't have enough forwards to
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: be able to really compete next year. So this is
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: the reality. Until j Sugarman sells the team off, seasons
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: are going to continue to be this way. Ernest Tanner
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: has done the best job he possibly can with extreme
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: financial restrictions that only union ownership put on him, which
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: is completely unfair. If I'm Ernest Tanner, I'm honestly saying peace,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go somewhere else because I can't do
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: this anymore. They need to get better. I should let
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: me phrase this, they should become more consistent in finding
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: players who are consistent. Yes, the problem is they are
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: taking these home run swings. Kyle Schwarber is great when
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: he's hitting home runs and taking walks. Kyle Schwarber is
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: not great when he is in the middle of the
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: slamp Reys. Hoskins is the definition of a streaky player, right.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: He's either super hot or the man can't hit water
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: falling out of the boat. That's the union scouting philosophy, basically.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: And the problem is they are bringing in players and
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: spending two million dollars to sign a Michael Uwa, who
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: when he's great, he's great, But the problem is for
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: three quarters of the season he's wide open alone in
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: front of the net and he kicks it either over
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: the net or side of the net. So anyway, all
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: that is to say, in a very brief synopsis, this
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: transfer ban is for three windows, and the article that
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: I shared with you talks about the fact that other
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: teams and analysts have been put on this and it's
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: been shortened. I don't see any way it. Basically, I
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: think what will happen is the Union will do time
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: served with this most recent transfer window. So while they
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: are on a band, it doesn't really affect the union
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: because guess what, they don't spend money.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: They don't spend money anyway. Yeah, yeah, about a year
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: ago or so, Josh, and I know you've been a
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: longtime listener of the show. I said to Lenn. We
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: were having a conversation and we're like, you know what,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Flyers not looking too good. Future of this team's not
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: looking too good. It's gonna be boring, it's gonna be crappy,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: terrible talking about the Flyers. Maybe we should just start
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: talking about the Union. You know, they're gonna be relevant
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: for some time. They've been making the playoffs, they've been
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: in the postseason. Oh boy. First off, I appreciate the
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: lesson you just gave me with some of the educational
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: aspects of what is going on with this team in
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: front office right now. But my gosh, it's just it's pathetic.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: It is a pathetic organization, and it's sad at the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: end of the day. It really is sad considering where
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: the team was at and where the organization was at,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: and the relevancy, like I mentioned earlier in terms of
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Major League Soccer to where they are now. Who knows
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: what is going to happen in the future to get
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: this team back to some respectability.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Jeff, I wish I had an answer for you, but
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: in all honesty, until until Jay Sugarman sells the team,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know, lost for words. He's got a loss
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: for words, folks.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: On a podcast.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: It's the last thing we need is dead air. I'm kidding.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: They get plenty of dead air with me. Anyway. Let's
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: move now onto the Philadelphia Flyers. Before I let you go, Josh,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: and before we get to what we're thrown down on
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: the table this week with some Sixers talk. We want
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: to talk about this Flyers team and the fact that
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: this team is really in that that mediocre territory this season.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: You know, for a variety of reasons, there was such
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: struggles with regard to goaltending. You know, you have ups
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: and downs of certain players, certain players you thought we're
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: going to make some headway this year and see some
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: development that haven't. Other players who have done a fantastic job,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: you know, specifically some of the defenders on this team.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: But it was interesting listening to Danny Brier's press conference
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: from a few days ago in terms of where this
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: team was heading and specifically that storyline that persists about
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: the center position and what this Flyers team is going
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to do and what they're going to need to do
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: in the future with regard to that center position, and
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: how it all relates to the upcoming NHL Draft and
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the assets that this Flyers team has. They have three
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: first round picks heading into this draft, and it also
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: begs the question of, you know, where do we want
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: this team to go this year? Do we want this
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: team to not necessarily see some success because it will
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: get them some better draft picks, Some better prospects for
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: the few, sure, especially when you have matt Vey Mitchkov
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: doing what he's been doing on the ice, and it's
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: really fun to watch him every now and again. So
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: we want to just have a brief discussion here about
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: where this team really should go. A middling mediocre Flyers
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: team who I think could do some good things right
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: now with the talent that they do have, because I
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: do think that there is this fire within the team.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: And sometimes, yes, they falter every now and again, but
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: I think this team has a fire within them. And
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: I go back to a conversation I had with our
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: good friend of the show from Broadstreet Hockey dot Com,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Kelly Hinkle, where we were talking about John Tortorella, what
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: he's been able to do for a lot of the
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: guys on this team, and perhaps not that he needs
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to be fired because he's done something wrong or anything,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: but I don't know if John Tortorella is able to
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: take this take the talent on this team any further.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that Kelly and I were talking
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: talking about it. Again, it was a short time ago,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and I think there's some validity to that, But again,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: I think there's enough talent on this team where if
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: they did get into the first round of the playoffs,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if they would make it
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: out of the first round, but I think it would
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: be fun. But I also think looking to the future,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: having the best possible draft picks for this particular during
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: this particular draft is also going to be important. From
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: where this team we want it to be two years
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: from now, three years from now, what they really could be.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: So I don't know. I'm like, I kind of go
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: back and forth on this, Josh, you know, where where
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: are you at in terms of, you know, after listening
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: to Danny Brier's press conference and just where the where
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: the where the team is at? Again? This middling team
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: right now? Where where do you want to see them go?
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, Jeff, I have thoughts. So I like Dan. I
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: have a sweatshirt with and the number forty eight from
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: when he was on the Flyers. I love Danny the player.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: Danny the GM is very different for me, and I'm
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: probably gonna say some stuff that's not very popular, but
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: O life.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, because I have liked him. I think when I mean,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: what we were used to with Chuck Fletcher, and you know,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: maybe you know, the grass isn't always green on the
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: other side, but I have been thinking grass is a
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: lot greener than when we had Chuck Fletcher. So that's
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: kind of where I'm coming from with Danny, just to
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: let you know, I just want to put that out there.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Chuck Fletcher is one of the worst
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: gms ever. He was terrible before he even got here.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: I went to a Phillies game with my buddy John
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: and who right after the Flyers hired him. And poor
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: John is sitting with me at Citizens Bank Park in
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: the beer garden there, and I am just going off
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: on what a horrible hire Chuck Fletcher is. And John
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: it was like, you know, just give him some time.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: And I mean I wound up being right. Yeah, here's
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: the whole timeline post Chuck Fletcher made zero sense to me.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: And if you're entering a rebuild, why John Twitterella. I
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: think John Tortorella is a good coach, but it makes
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: no sense for someone who has a history of not
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: playing young players or being unreasonably hard on young players.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Why are you bringing him in when you want to
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: play young players to figure out what they have. That's
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: one whole issue.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: That's fair.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would like to have seen John Twittorella come
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: in next year and be able to take over kind
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: of what's here, mold a little bit that kind of thing.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: The second issue I have with all of this is
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Twitterrello was brought in because of the culture. I've heard
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: for years all these people talk about culture that if
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: you change the culture, it's going to make all the
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: difference in the world. Guess what, when you rely solely
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: on culture, you get a mediocre team. And that's what
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: the Flyers are.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: That's a good point.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying culture has zero impact. I'm not saying
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: there didn't need to be a change. But what I'm
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: saying is I now am smiling as I scroll through
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Twitter and these kind of things where some of the
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: biggest proponents of culture are now saying we need more skill. Yes,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: you need more skill, but the problem is you have
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: a coach and a bunch of culture people that are
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: going to prevent you from getting the picks you need
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: to be able to get those skill players.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: It's like they went extreme in one direction because of
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: what Chuck Fletcher was. They went extreme in one direction.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: And extremes are never good exactly, especially running an organization,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: running sports, or running a business. Yep, right, here's something else.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: I have a hard time withe they got meets called
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: because there happened to be a war between Russia and Ukraine.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: That's why he fell to them. I don't know that
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Danny Brier can pull the trigger on a trade that
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: needs to happen right now. Peterson is available in Vancouver.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: I can't keep hearing about the fact that they need
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: a top line center. There's one available. Guess who else
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: was available, Jack Eichel. They decided not to do anything.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: You have three first round picks this year, two of
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: which are going to really not be that great package.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Then put them together and get that first line center.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Use all three, go and get a first line center.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Because I can't continue to hear someone tell me what
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: you need. There are players who are available, but you
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: don't want to make the trade. Because here's the other problem.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: The Flyers are in this state where they have contracts
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: that don't expire at the end of the year. Because
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: guess what, Jeff teams want good players. They don't want
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: Eric Johnson, who is a healthy scratch for you, and
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: you're not going to get a third round pick for it.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: The problem is they have all these players locked up
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: long term, and the players who are locked up long
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: term aren't that great, so you can't move them. So
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: now the talk is trading Risto. Great, trade Risto, but
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: the problem is he's playing better, so now we don't
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: want to trade him. Okay, that's my issue with Danny Brier.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know that he has the killer instinct to
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: make trades to make this team better, and that's not
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: Danny is a very nice guy. I have a number
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: of people who have interacted with him and they talk
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: about what saint this man is, and that's great. You
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: know who? I want that from my friends. I want
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: my friends to be really good people. You know what
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: I want my general manager to be, Howie Roseman and ruthless. Yes,
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Like I want people to roll their eyes when they
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: see a two one five area code ringing for a trade.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: I don't want them smiling and be like, I'll be
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: good to catch up with my buddy Dan right A
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: knock on him. He's a really nice guy. But I
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: don't know, and I won't know until he potentially does
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: a trade that shakes things up. Trading Profarov was easy.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: All these things so Danny Brier has done have been easy.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: He needs to do something hard before I can really
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: look and go all right, Danny, you got the kahones
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: to be able to do this job. I don't think
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: he does.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Do you think if he did? If he did, if
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: we do see something before the trade deadline, in terms
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: of what you're saying, packaging some picks, getting a top
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: line center, does that does that perception change and does
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: that give him a longer leash at the end of the.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: Day now, because I think Flyers fans are just very fickle.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: We're very fickle people. And if he uses those draft
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: picks the way I view draft picks is, and this
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: is in every single sport, give me the proven player.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah right. How often does the trade happen when you
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: trade someone away for prospects that those prospects come close
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: to equaling what you traded away. It doesn't happen very often.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: So I will take that gamble of ninety percent of
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: the time, and that's actually probably meaning pretty heavily towards
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: things actually working out for the team that trade the player.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: I would say at least ninety percent of the time
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: the team that acquires the player that's proven wins the trade. Yes,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: give me that ninety percent.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Right, Look at AJ Brown and the Eagles, right, if
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: they lost their mind they did, actually yes, and now
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: look now look where the team is at. Look what
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: he has done since he's been here in Philly. You
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: make a great poll.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: I'll use the Chris Pronner example. Do you remember the
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: Hall the Flyers gave up for Chris Prowner. Everybody thought
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: that the front office lost their minds. You know what
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: they added Chris Proner? They go to the Stanley Cup.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: I mean that's just one example. Same thing with lind Dross.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: They gave up a bunch of stuff to be able
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: to get Lyn Dross. The reality is you have to
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: have a killer instinct as a GM. I don't know
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: that Danny has it. And even if Danny does happen
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: to pull something off, I think Flyers fans are going
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: to lose their mind. I think people like the idea
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: of the potential of the prospects. I'm over prospects. The
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: Flyers have shown they have a hard time developing prospects.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: Let's let's actually get good players in here who had
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: developed to help other players along.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: I do wonder if I do I wonder if I
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: mean this goes back to what we were talking about
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: with the Union. I know there's a lot of incompetence there,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: which you know Flyers used to have of course with
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Chuck Fletcher. But I wonder if you get these brainy
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: acts in a room and they need to feel relevant
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: in some way, shape or form in terms of their jobs,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: their responsibilities, and where they just start to outsmart themselves
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: in terms of development of players. And I wonder if
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: we're kind of getting into that in terms of sports
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: in general. You know, we gotta do the development of
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: these guys in order for us to have success in
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: the future.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: So Flyer's breaking news. I'm not even kidding you on.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: The podcast, Get out of here? Are you kidding?
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: We were destined to be able to do this tonight
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: despite breaking that.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Works what happened. Let's let's get on our Flyers.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: The Flyers have just traded for Andre Kusamenko from the Flame.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: Get that sending out Morgan Frost.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm seeing Charlie O'Connor from I'm phl
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: why saying I don't see Morgan for us? Back on
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: the ice or bench to start the third period.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: So the important thing about Kuzamenko is that him and
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: meach Called were teammates, so it's somebody else to be
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: able to help build around each call.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, Oh, oh my gosh, we're just getting this right now, folks,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: We're just getting this right now. This is incredible. Where
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: this is Thursday night that we are recording this, and
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: we're gonna be uploading this Thursday night here in just
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: a bit. But oh my gosh, I need.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: I need toorts did not keep playing meach called on the.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Fourth line exactly exactly.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: That's a whole separate conference.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, anyway, Well we're going to uh go to another
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: break here, but before we do, Buddy, I want to
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: thank you for again filling in for the guys, very
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: much appreciated. Had great discussions here, man, great great discussions.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: To have any final thoughts here as I hit the mic,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: you have any final thoughts here before we head out?
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: Go Philly Sports teams go yay.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, fantastic way ed, Yes exactly. We've got one team
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: that is heading to a potential potential championship, definitely the
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: championship game in the Super Bowl. So all right, folks.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a break to pay some bills. We'll
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: be back in just a bit. All right, we are back,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: and now let's get into some Sixers talk. It's what
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: we're thrown down on the table and now on the table.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: He is a writer and contributor over at Libertyballers dot Com.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: We love having him on to talk about this Philadelphia
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: seventy six Ers team and not only what's happening with
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: the team, but what may be happening with certain players
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: and just with the organization within the future. We have
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: the one and only Harrison grim How you doing, buddy, Jeff.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: It's great to be back. It's all. He's fun chopping
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: up the Sixers with you.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you good. I'm glad to hear you're doing well.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Look the Sixers, man, it's been up in Dad. Like
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: I've read your tweet, I think from today, just how
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: it's been a foggy season. I think that's how you
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: actually put it in your tweet. I'm still foggy right now,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: just from how this season is gone.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that seems to be the word I keep coming
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: back to. It just seems like a whole blurb like
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: they had that really good Christmas performance with Joe.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: O Andbi.
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: They won a few games after that, and since then,
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: it just kind of feels like everything's been a blur
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: because guys in and out, it's it's tough to decipher
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: games these honestly.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And we're going to get into a lot
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: of these storylines here during the discussion. But folks, really quick,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: if you're not following Harrison on the Twitter slash x,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: he's a great, great follow at Harrison Underscore Grim give
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: him a follow for sure. And you know, I reflecting
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: on this season, Harrison, it really has been, of course,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: one of the most disappointing Sixer seasons in quite some time,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: and quite I'm just all over the place when it
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: comes to this team and where and where I want
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: the season to actually go. Last week, my co host
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Eric and I were talking about just, you know, what
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: should happen, you know, and we're thinking about that Okac
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: pick in this year's draft and what it potentially means
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: to the future of this Sixers team and organization. So,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know, to get the discussion started here, what's
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: the overall direction that you would like to see the
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Sixers go from here on out. As we're about halfway
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: through this season, there's a lot of different opinions out there.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts, ma'am.
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So in the short term, I think there's really
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: only one way that they can go, and that's just
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: to win as many games as possible and you know,
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: make a push for the playoffs and not solidify your
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: playing spot. And I know fans aren't gonna like to
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: hear that because a lot of them are just kind
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: of over the current sixers and they want to see
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: it and maybe go into a different direction, into a
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: retool rebuild. But it's just not really feasible for them
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: to do this year. If you look at the standings,
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: I believe they won or they've won seventeen games so far,
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: they'd have to be really really really really really bad
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: for them to keep that pick for it to be
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: top six. And even if they do, there's not a
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: guarantee that they were they would be able to keep
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: that pick. And there's gonna be certain teams like the
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: Blazers and the Wizards that they're simply just not going
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: to be able to be as bad as them. Right,
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: And then there's also the part is you've got to
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: convince Tyrese Max, you got to convince Paul George to
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: sign up for a plan that you know you're gonna
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: punt games, and I just have a hard time seeing
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: them do that. So it's just not really realistic across
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: the board for this season.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a good point that I'm sorry.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, Oh no, no, no, go ahead.
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: The only thing that I was gonna say was they
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: quite literally have to lose pretty much every game for
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: them to have a shot of getting that sticks a
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: slot in the draft lottery. And that's just not happening.
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, we've seen this team, even with out Joel
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: and beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. We've seen them beat the
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: Lakers last night, like, we've seen them beat good clubs.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: Like it's just not feasible.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: And that's what I was actually going to say. I
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: was going to say they'd have to lose about ninety
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: five percent of the rest of the games, I think,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: in order for them to actually get that pick. And
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: it's something I didn't think about last week when Eric
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: and I were actually talking about it, because last week,
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I mean we're talking about last Wednesday night, Eric and
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: I here on the show are thinking, you know, let's
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: just let's just look towards the twenty twenty five twenty
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: twenty six season. But I like you're saying, I don't
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: know if that is feasible given the situation that they're
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: in right now, even just a week later after giving
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: it some thought and some discussion that Eric and I had.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: But I mean moving along, I mean, there's this narrative
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: too that's going around Sixers Nation Harrison that Darryl Moury
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: should be let go in the future from his job
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: responsibilities with the Sixers. There's a lot of folks out
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: there talking about this as well. I'm wondering, you know,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on Darryl Moury, his jobs, scurity
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: within the front office at this point, and also what
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: that could actually mean for the future of the team
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: and the organization. What are your thoughts here?
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So, I mean you just have to look at
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: the season, and it is right for people to ask
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: those questions. I think those are questions that should always
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: be asked unless the team is performing at the top level.
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: But I will say I do think people are a
• 49:24
  Speaker 3: little bit harsh on Darryl, not just from this team
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: that he built. And keep in mind, like coming off
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: of this summer, I think I talked with you once
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: or twice, Like we were pretty astatic over what they
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: were able to accomplish, not just with Paul George, but
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: with Caleb Martin yep, bringing Andre Drumming back. Like on paper,
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: it was a really really good off season and it
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: just has not panned out.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: A lot of injuries, a lot of injuries here.
• 49:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's a big part of it. And like
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: Paul George has been in and out of the lineup,
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: I know people really like to pick on that contract.
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: And the thing about Paul George is I think he's
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: actually been pretty pretty damn good all things considering. I
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: know the injuries are frustrating, but that was something you
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: knew going into it that this guy, you know, he
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: has some absences, not anything like long term, but just
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: stuff that kind of niggles and dimes them. And this
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: series really had to be the second option for pretty
• 50:22
  Speaker 3: much most games with then beat out and that's not
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: really an ideal role for him at this juncture in
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: his career. But if you look at his production and
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: Slott it in next to Joel and b it's a
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: really good third option, and he's had really really good performances.
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: And another thing about Darryl that I think a lot
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: of people just kind of don't think about, is everyone
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: calling for Daryl's job. Typically they have the opinion that
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: they want to pivot into a rebuild with Maxi McCain,
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: maybe some other guys at the head of that. And
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: a crucial part about rebuilding an NBA team is the draft,
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: right and Darryl's draft record is one of the best
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: in the league. As a sixer, they really have not
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: have had many misses. Jaden Springer is really the only
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: miss that I can think of, and that was in
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: the late first round, which it's really hard to hit.
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: But if you're talking about rebuilding a team, you want
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: someone that knows what they're doing in the draft. And
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: that's something that Darryl and the scouting department have proven
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: year in and year out that they know what they're doing,
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: and we saw it last year. Last year we're fresh
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: off of Jared McCain, Adan Bona, Justin Edwards, who was
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: an undrafted free agent and a widely labeled weak draft.
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: So I get why those questions are being asked, but
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: I would caution them, yeah, pretty seriously.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think we even talked about it before in turn,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: like at a future or I'm sorry, a previous appearance
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: that you were on like talking about that, you know,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: people getting on him for the Paul George contract, and
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: it was like, well, what did you want him to
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: do during the offseason last year, like in terms of
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: free agents to bring in that may work with this team,
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: and what was already here, Like what did you want
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: him really to do? And I think it's unfair for
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: the folks to say that, you know, they should have
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: given Paul George contract Daryl Moury did the wrong thing,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: like give me a break, Like it wasn't like the
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: greatest signing in the world. But again, it was one
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: of those things what else was available for him to
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: potentially do? And I think it's important for Sixers fans
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: to keep that in the back of their mind for sure.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, are you still kind of thinking like that
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: as well?
• 52:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that that discussion gets shut down really
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: quick when you actually consider what might have been available
• 52:44
  Speaker 3: or what was actually available. Right, they could have gone
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: they could have gone a different direction, like they could
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: have given up assets and traded for Brandon Ingram, who
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: has been mostly hurt this season, and even when he
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: is healthy, like, are we really sure he's a better
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: player than Paul George even now, I'm I'm not so sure.
• 53:01
  Speaker 3: Then also there's the Jimmy Butler thing, but again you'd
• 53:04
  Speaker 3: have to give up assets and then you'd have to
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: pay him, which nobody really wants to do right now.
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: And if you go away from all the big names,
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: like if you're one of those people that are like, oh,
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: they should just build up their depths, split up the money,
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: the idea of that is a lot better than the
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: actual thing. Like a current example that I can think
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: of is they could like trade it for Bruce Brown,
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: which was like twenty million, and maybe signed to other
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: players for around like the ten to fifteen million dollar mark.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: And I just I don't understand how that team would
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: be any better than what we actually had exactly.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: I'm with you, my man, I am with you. So
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: all right, Well, let's get into some storylines that we're
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: seeing on the court here and even off the court
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: with this with the Sixers team, I think the biggest
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: question at this juncture in the season is what the
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: hell should happen with Joellipeed at this point. It's incredibly
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: frustrating of course for US fans. Be frustrating for some
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: season ticket holders. I know a couple of them who
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: just really haven't had the opportunity to see him yet.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: I would imagine things are frustrating for joe El Embiid
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: as well. It's not like he doesn't want to be
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: out there on the court here, but in terms of
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: his health and not rushing him back, knowing how important
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: he is to the team, the organization, even the city,
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: for God's sake, What are your thoughts on him coming
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: back really maybe him sitting things out for a while here?
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here, Harrison.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: It's a really difficult question to answer. Obviously, I don't
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: know the specifics on what's going on with Joel Embiid's knee.
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: I've talked to doctors who have suggested that him sitting
• 54:44
  Speaker 3: out and actually just letting it heal letting it, I
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: guess get back to the point where it once was
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: is recommended. But there's also cases against that where you
• 54:56
  Speaker 3: can't really do any more damage so you might as
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: well play. So it's really difficult to say without knowing
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: the specifics with his knee, I think it just really
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: comes down to Kenny actually play, and if he can,
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: then he should. Yeah, if it's something where you're able
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: to kind of prolong his career or prolong the health
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: of his knee, I always kind of err on that
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: side of things. I think more times than not, taking
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: a long term.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: View is better.
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: But but yeah, it just really comes down to that
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: if Joel feels like he can play, he should play.
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: And if he doesn't, then I think that everything should
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: really realistically be on the table.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really so disappointing with this season how it's gone,
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: and mentioned earlier just the injuries, my gosh, the injuries
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: not just of Joel and Beat but other players on
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: this team Andre Drummond, kJ Martin, Caleb Martin and Jared McCain,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: you know, and other players have had to step up
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: into various roles. When you look at what this season
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: has been, it's it's not optimal, folks, It's not optimal
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: at all. So Harrison, like who on this team has
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: not only surprised you from their play on the court,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: like those who have had to step up and who
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: have had to step into various roles, but who might
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: also be a key piece for this team really moving
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: forward here.
• 56:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So two names immediately come to mind, one a
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: little bit more than the other, But the first one
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: is Justin Edwards. I think, Yeah, he's exceeded expectations across
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: the board, being an undrafted free agent signing with a
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: team on a two way contract. I thought it was
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: a nice addition, but I didn't realistically expect him to
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: contribute year one, and he's not only filled in for guys,
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: but he's been one of their better rotation players this year.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 56:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's been really fascinating to see play out
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: like it's a six to seven wing. Offensively, he does
• 56:52
  Speaker 3: everything that you would want him to do. You can
• 56:53
  Speaker 3: kind of dribble a little bit. I wouldn't call him
• 56:56
  Speaker 3: a creator, but he doesn't look like a newborn deer
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: dribbling the basketball either. He's a capable shooter. We've seen
• 57:03
  Speaker 3: that he can get to the rim, finish above the rim,
• 57:07
  Speaker 3: and defensively, I do think there are some things that
• 57:10
  Speaker 3: he needs to clean up, but I also think right
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: now he's someone that can be a capable second or
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: third option kind of defender in a way, kind of
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: like what James Ennis was a few years ago. They
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: never really put him on the main guy, but they
• 57:26
  Speaker 3: put him on one of their better offensive options. And
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: I've just continue to be impressed with him. And I
• 57:36
  Speaker 3: think defensively, like I said, there is work that needs
• 57:39
  Speaker 3: to be done, but he's shown me that there is
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: something there, there is something to build on, and I
• 57:45
  Speaker 3: think given how young he is and how much runway
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: he has, there's nothing to suggest that he won't get
• 57:51
  Speaker 3: better defensively. Yeah, so I've been very impressed with him.
• 57:55
  Speaker 3: And the other name that I had is a den
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: Bona who played a little bit at the beginning of
• 58:01
  Speaker 3: the year with mostly a healthy roster, but he looked
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: very raw, looked like he was playing at a completely
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: different speed than anyone else. But he's really thrived given
• 58:13
  Speaker 3: these minutes, not just from em Beat's absence but from
• 58:15
  Speaker 3: drummonds absence. I think there's absolutely a foundation there to
• 58:20
  Speaker 3: build with. I think timing wise, he's a tremendous shot blocker.
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: That's as advertised of course on his activity is good and.
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: He really fies into his role.
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: There's very few possessions where he's not setting a screen right,
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: not rolling to the rim, and that's what you really
• 58:36
  Speaker 3: want to see, just guys figuring out where they can
• 58:39
  Speaker 3: fit in and contributing. Obviously, there are many aspects of
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: his game that still are raw, even inconsistent, but just
• 58:50
  Speaker 3: game out the game. I see myself liking what Adam
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: Bona has and I think he will just get better
• 58:57
  Speaker 3: with time.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Two great players for us to keep are to keep
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: our eyes on for sure, folks. And again we're talking
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: to Harrison Grim from Libertyballers dot Com. Make sure you're
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: giving him a follow on the Twitter slash x at
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: Harrison Underscore Grim. He's a great, great follow. And as
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: we're moving along here, you know, want to get into
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxi because so much of this team has been
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: placed on Tyrese Maxey's shoulders, and part of me, I
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: mean part of me kind of I kind of feel
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: bad for the guy. Then again, knowing Tyrese Maxi, his character,
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: what he is to this team, it's like, okay, yeah,
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: bring it on, put put everything on my shoulders. Here.
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering what are your thoughts on what we have
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: not only seen from him, because we've recently seen a
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: bit of a resurgence here this season, Like, what have
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: you seen from him this year in a very difficult
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: year with regard to where his role on this team
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: is going because of the challenges that have persisted, and
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: what the weight of this season on his shoulders has
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: really meant to him and his play on the court.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: Your thoughts here, Yeah, So that's a great question. I
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 3: think this year Maxie has been asked to do the
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: most he's ever been asked to do. And when you
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: really jump into the advance, that's you see that. Like,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: I think his catch and shoot threes are at an
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: all time low minus rookie year where he obviously wasn't
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: playing much. His off the dribble threes are are way up.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 3: He's being asked to do a ton. He's being asked
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 3: to score, be the number one option and also the
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 3: facilitator because the Sixers backup guards, you know with Mchain now,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: they just have not been playing up to par. So
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 3: we've seen a massive minutes load from him, a massive
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 3: usage load, and I think early on you really saw
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 3: that kind of tickets toll. His numbers were pretty far down,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 3: and like you said, over this past month, it seems
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 3: like he's really kind of turned a corner being that
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 3: prime offensive guy. I believe he hasn't scored less than
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: twenty eight points in January sixth or something, and we're
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: at the end of January now he's coming off of
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: a season high forty three point performance, and it seems
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 3: like something just kind of clicked, and it's really really
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 3: difficult to be the number one guy team's game playing against.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: And I think like not a lot of people realize
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 3: that that's why Maxi looks so different when he's playing
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 3: with Joe el Embiid, why he looks so open and
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 3: just so effortless. But I do think that this season
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 3: in particular will be really really good for his development
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 3: going forward, getting these reps with just the best defender
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 3: guarding you, and a lot of teams have thrown blitzes
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 3: at him where they're throwing two guys trying to get
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 3: the ball out of his hands, and you see encountering
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 3: these things with just a lot more initiative, a lot
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 3: more quickness. I think long term it's really gonna benefit
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 3: Maxi in his career, regardless of what happens with the
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: six Ers, if it's a retal rebuild. What I do
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 3: think long term, this season will be really good for MAXI.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great assessment there, Harrison. I
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: really do, because like he he really is, like he's
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: got the heart, He's got this soul to him, you
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: know when he's out there, Especially like you mentioned, over
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: the past few weeks, it really has been amazing to
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: see and just really what he means to the team,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: to the fan base and the city. It's gonna be
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: really interesting to continue watching him the rest of this
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: season and then for hopefully for years to come. But
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: before I let you go, Buddy, I wanted to discuss
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: a recent piece that you had put up on Liberty
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Ballers about teams around the NBA showing some interest in
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: some talent that are on the Sixers roster right now,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: that talent being a Gershon Yabaselli and Eric Gordon. So
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: I'd like to kind of get into both players here
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: before I let you go, in terms of which teams
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: might not only be interested in both of these guys
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: and what they can actually yield in terms of assets
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: for the Sixers. So let's start with Gershon Yabaselli, Like,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: which teams do you think maybe he could potentially go to?
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: What kind of assets the Sixers and Darryl Morey could
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: get for him.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts here, Yeah, I think Gershan's a
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 3: pretty easy answer. I feel like I feel like there's
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 3: going to be twenty nine teams offering offering him a
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 3: contract from the summertime. And when I say that, I'm
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 3: not talking about them offering like big money. But he's
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 3: gonna have offers from pretty much everyone for the minimum
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 3: at least, and he's certainly going to have some offers
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 3: above that as well. There's a few teams, quite a
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 3: few teams. I should actually say that I could see
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: him fitting well into the two that I feel like
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 3: would probably be the best fits and could actually get
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 3: him would be the San Antonio Spurs. Obviously, there's the
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: French connection with wend Yama, yep, Greg Papa. He seems
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 3: like a very greag Popovitch kind of player in the
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: sense that he'll just do whatever everyone else doesn't want
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 3: to do, right, And I think, and I think a
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 3: lot of players respect that. But I also think coaches
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 3: do as well. So I think the Spurs make a
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 3: lot of sense. I think the Milwaukee Bucks also make
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: a lot of sense. There's a few different routes they
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 3: can go in terms of their finances, but if they
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 3: chose to open up some money, maybe a mid level exception,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 3: something along those lines, I think he would be a
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 3: tremendous fit with the Honest and obviously he's a proven shooter,
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 3: so he'd fit right in. In terms of value, it's
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 3: really difficult to gauge that. Like, for example, I think
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 3: if the Sixers wanted to today, they could trade him
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 3: for a second rounder. Yeah, obviously they're not going to
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 3: do that, but if you pile on more second rounders,
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 3: I think it becomes a longer and harder decision to
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 3: make for the Sixers. If a team offered like a
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 3: heavily protected first round pick, that's where I think the
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: straw would break the camel's back, if you will. It's
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 3: really difficult to say, but I do think his value
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 3: is higher than what people might initially think because minimum
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 3: contracts have become more valuable than ever. That's that's also
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 3: why we're talking about Eric Gordon is also on a
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 3: minimum contract.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's talk about Eric Gordon. Yeah yeah, get
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: into Eric Gordon here and your thoughts on possible teams,
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: and you know, the Sixers possibly looking to get some
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: sort of asset for him.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So Eric Gordon is a little bit different than
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: Gerseean in the sense that he has a player option
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 3: after this year that he can technically pick up, although
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 3: it would be kind of stupid for him to do
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 3: so just from a finance standpoint. But Eric Gordon I
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 3: think makes sense for I mean, what does he do.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 3: He's a He's a shooter, and we've really seen that
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 3: in January. So if you just look at the list
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 3: of teams with three point makes and I'll skip over
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 3: the teams which are going to be overtly tanking, but
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 3: at the bottom, the Orlando Magic, they're a team that
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 3: could really use a three point shooter. I'm not sure
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 3: if the Sixers want to help them, but they're a
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 3: team that really needs one.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 3: The Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets are bottom five,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: and that's been a huge area of concern with them,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 3: so I think they'd be pretty interested in adding someone
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 3: like Eric Gordon for a relatively cheap cost. And then
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 3: also there's the Pelicans, who may or may not be
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 3: selling it a little bit unclear on that, and the
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: LA Clippers to round things out. So I think teams
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 3: like the Nuggets, teams like the Magic, teams like the Lakers.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: All of those make sense trying to satisfy their current
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 3: stars help the team, but also at a price that
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 3: isn't going to break the bank.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: Well, we may see some movement sooner rather than later.
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: Who knows what's going to be happening with this team,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: but folks, you want to check out Libertyballers dot com.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: A lot of great writers and contributors over there, Harrison
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: being one of them at Harrison Underscore Grim on the
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Twitter slash x buddy, it was great talking to you.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking the time come backin
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: us down the road.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 3: I'd love to have you back on absolutely Thanks for
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 3: having me and go birds.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: And that's gonna do it for us this week. Make
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: sure to share the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show with
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: your friends and family members who may be Philly sports fans.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: You can always head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: dot com to access all of our podcasts or any
• 1:07:19
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• 1:07:23
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• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: make this podcast happen and to give us great content,
• 1:07:29
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• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: great week, and we'll catch you next time.