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TABLE TALK: What Will The NBA Bring This Season? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we're recording
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this on Monday, October two, twenty twenty three. By the time you
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hear this, some things may have changed, but we hope you enjoyed the
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show. All right, everybody, you're listening to Table Talk here at the
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Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in
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the world that's right over ten years strong. And we got a great discussion
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coming your way on Table Talk as we do every week. This week here,
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we're gonna be focusing on some NBA storyline as I feel like the season
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is almost upon us. Look here in six Ers Nation, we are bleuh
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right now in terms of how we're feeling about this upcoming season, and rightfully
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so, we got a great guest coming on to talk about a lot of
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NBA storylines as we're looking at this upcoming season. So let's get to it.
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It's great to have back on the podcast coming to us from Celtics Blog
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dot com. You know, we love our SB Nation sites and you can
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find them on Twitter at Jack Simone NBA. We've got the one and only
1:17
Jack Simone. How you doing, Buddy, I'm good, thank you for
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having me back on the show. Always happy to talk basketball, especially when
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there's a lot going on. There's a lot going on, and like,
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honestly, I don't even I sent you the topics that I wanted us to
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get into, and I didn't even put any Sixers stuff in there because we
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are Philly Sports podcast. I am so tired of talking about the Sixers,
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James Harden, the future of Joel Ebid and I don't know, maybe we're
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gonna get to that, and maybe we're gonna get to some Sixers storylines.
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Who the heck knows in terms of the topics we're gonna get into and how
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the discussion made dev eight. But still, there's a lot going on in
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the NBA during this off season that's really going to translate, I think,
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jack to a very very interesting upcoming season. Absolutely, I mean, you
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look at I'm sure we'll get into if a Dame is traded, realidays created,
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all these guys changing teams. It's gonna be a very interesting season,
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to say the least, for every team, including the six or so.
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I'm super excited. I'm over the off season. I just want to bask
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absolutely, absolutely well Okay, let's get into it then. To start us
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off, you know you do, of course, you do a lot of
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writing for the about the Boston Celtics. What's happening with that team. They're
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a team going through some transition here during this off season as we look towards
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this twenty twenty twenty four season, they've lost some talent. They've gained some
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talent for sure, especially with a blockbuster trade just a few days ago.
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So I wanted to get your thoughts on the Celtics off season and potentially what
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challenges you can see this team having this season. Yeah, so, I
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mean, look, I grew up watching Marcus Smart in a Celtics uniform,
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so it was it was very tough to see him go right clearly, just
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just to get that out of the way, But I think the Celtics got
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better. I mean, realistically, you replaced Marcus smartin is starting a lot
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up with Drew Holiday, who is as much as I love Marcus Smart,
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he's just Marcus Smart with the jump shot exactly, which is an all Star.
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Right. If Marcus Maruts shot forty percent from three, it's still be
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on the Celtics. They replaced Robert Williams with Kristaps Porzingis, and then you
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lost Brogden and Great Williams in order to bring in that depth. But you
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brought in two All Star caliber players to pair with your core of Taytor and
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Brian. You kept Derek White, you kept dal Horford. This team looks
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really, really, really good. And a point John Carrallis have locked on
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Celtics made this and I was listening to it last night. He said,
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you replaced the only two poor shooters on the team with guys who shoot forty
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percent from three. This offense, which was good last year, is going
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to be even better this year. And I don't think the defense will fall
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off nearly as much as some people projected to because Drew Holiday is an amazing
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defender. And I was, yeah, I was gonna ask you about the
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defense. You know, it seems like you may have lost a little bit
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in terms of the defense. I know, Celtics Nation, you know,
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it's just kind of a little bit concerned about where the defense is going to
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go from here, especially in an East that has very prolific offensive players.
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So you don't seem to be as concerned. But from what you just said,
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it's gonna definitely be different because Rob is such a unique defensive player and
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Marcus Smart brought a lot of that hustle. But like I said, Drew
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Holiday All Defensive First Team last year, Christop's person doesn't get enough credit for
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his defense. Are under him, They're gonna have to play different, But
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I still think this is a top five defense in the NBA next year.
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All right, very good, Well moving on. You mentioned earlier Dame Lillard.
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He's heading to the Bucks, and that means that the Bucks just got
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a lot better this season for sure. This coming season, man, it's
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gonna be interesting to watch this team and watch how he just intertwines with what
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they're gonna be doing on the court. I mean, he's got everything on
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his resume except for the championship. We know what kind of personality Dame Lillard
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is as well, so that's gonna be an interesting storyline to follow in terms
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of just his relationships with team members, coach, front office, all of
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that. So as we look to this coming season here, Jack, how
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do you see Dame Lillard's presence really taking shape within the Bucks organization on the
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court end, within the East itself. Yeah, I mean, Dame was
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excuse me. Dame is awesome. Dame's an amazing players, the top five
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point guard. His offensive game is getting completely transformed the way the Bucks play
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on that end of the court, and they needed that. They were like
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fifteenth and offensive rating last year. Their defense was great, but they needed
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an offense to spark. I was saying this on my podcast, like Dame
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to the Bucks is the most balanced of any Eastern Conference team he could have
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gone to, because like if it was the Celtics, they would have given
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up role players and paired him with the stars. If it was the Heat,
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they would have given them enough players who didn't play and the paired him
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with stars. The same thing with other teams. They had to give up
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Drew Holiday to get Dame. Like Drew Holiday was an All Star last year,
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he had an amazing season. So they had to sacrifice something to get
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Dame, and they sacrifice defense, And so the Bucks don't have perimeter defenders
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as much anymore. They're gonna be depending on largely Jay Crowder, who is
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fine, but he's old and pack on it, and who was agatting.
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Fine, but it's just maybe not who you want as your primary defender.
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So it's gonna be interesting to see how they managed that. They have a
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new coach in Ajia Griffin or excuse me, Adrian Griffin. Adia Griffin's his
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son plays for the Hawks. New coach gonna have a lot of new stuff
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going on. But the Damon Yanna's two men game is enough to scare anybody,
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So that's gonna be fun to watch. I'm glad you mentioned the perimeter
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defense of the Bucks, and it makes me wonder, you know, in
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this day and age in the NBA, and we do tend to see at
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times, team by team less and less of that perimeter defense from now every
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now and again with regard to various teams, and I look at it,
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it's like it's sometimes I think it's like a lost art form in a way.
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You know, you see it with the seventy six ers. You know,
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over the years, the loss of that perimeter defense has really kind of
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essentially hurt the team at times. Do you think that, again, it
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is a lost art form in a way where teams are saying, I'd rather
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have the offense, I'd rather have the dominance at this particular area of the
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quarter, at this particular area of the stat sheet in order for us to
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continually hope to win games. Do you think do you think that art form
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of the perimeter defense is kind of like losing its luster over the years.
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Definitely, And it's weird because Marcus Smart just one defensive Player of the Year
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like two years ago as a perimeter defender, but like it looks specifically you
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look at the Bucks, their defense has always been play solid, but funnel
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everything into burg Lopez and he's been great. Burk Lopez is amazing and a
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lot to do that even more this year. But I feel like you might
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see a little resurgence of it because you're seeing a lot of good defenders pop
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up around the league, Like Herb Jones is a really good defender, you
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know, o Giana Nobi is all your guys like he's Evan Mobley, He's
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a good primimeterader. So you see some guys like coming up. But a
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lot of the defense around the league is everyone help, everyone scramble, everyone
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protect the rim. Everyone you know, close out. So it's like it's
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a lot of running, but it's maybe not necessarily as much that you know,
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stay in front of your guy, hard nosed defense, you know,
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at the point of attack. Although I mean, you see some guys like
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that like Drew Holiday, Marcus Smart, Derek White, Alex Cruzoe, but
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it's definitely not as much of a focal point as it used to be.
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Absolutely. All right, Well, let's get into one team here that I'm
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really interested in talking about in terms of their futures, and they it's because
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you know, they're the golden child of the NBA at times here and we've
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seen it for I mean, I've been watching the NBA for decades and that
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is the Los Angeles Lakers. And with regard to the Lakers, you know,
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they really didn't make any big splashes this offseason, but they really seemed
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to be a team that's actually just prioritizing continuity. So and again they're they're
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a team with some depth, I think, and they can offer their fans
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and you know, the team itself like a lot of different lineup changes.
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I think there's some interest and intrigue with this Lakers season that we're that is
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right around the corner here. So what are your what are your thoughts on
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the trajectory of the Lakers this season and kind of how they've been handling things.
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I mean, as a Celtics see. I probably shouldn't think this way,
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but the Lakers had a great offseason, like they did really well,
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like they've been since for them. They brought back to Angel Russell and the
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Mater what you think of him on a solid contract. Yeah, Brey Hatchie,
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Murray's back, Jared Builds back. Like you said, continuity is key,
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Austin Reeves is back after a solid People World Cup, even though the
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US disappointed. But then you brought in guys like Christian Wood who maybe isn't
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the best defender, but he can play a role there. Right, Cam
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Reddish can play a role there. Torrian Prince can play a role there,
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Jackson Hayes can play a role. They brought in a lot of guys who
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can fit into what they're trying to do. And they're just fresh off a
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Western Conference Finals birth. As soon as they got rid of Russell Westbrook.
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And I'm not saying Russell Westbrook's bad, I think he's a better fit on
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the Clippics. Right. He didn't work, didn't work in it with the
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Lakers, but you saw them take off and now with even more continuity and
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togetherness, I think they're gonna be a really good team. In the West
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this year. And it leads me to the next topic I wanted to get
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into with you, Jack, and that is one Lebron James. I mean,
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a twenty year career. We've seen what he's done on the court.
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We've been, of course following what he has done off the court as well,
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and it's safe to say that his play is going to be coming to
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an end sometime in the foreseeable future. We've certainly seen, you know,
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his quote drop off over the course of these past few years, and I'm
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wondering how much time do you think we're gonna be able to get to see
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him on the court. And again, it's twenty years. There's so many
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folks out there that are like, They're like, I can't wait till this
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guy is out of the NBA. You know, Lebron this, Lebron that.
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Then again, there are folks who do appreciate the game of basketball what
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he was able to do for it, and it's just going to be interesting
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to see what his legacy is going to be when it's all said and done.
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So again, how much how much more time do you think we're gonna
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get to see him on the court? And what do you think that legacy
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is going to truly be when we put it under even more of a microscope,
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What are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean I think he plays two
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more years. I think he plays this season, and I think he plays
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one year wherever Bronnie James gets drafted. That's what he said he wanted to
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do, and that's just too crazy and unique of an experience for him to
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pass off. I don't know how much Bronnie James is gonna love having his
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Dawn on the team with him, right, but that's still a very cool
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thing. And as far as Lebron obviously, you see him go up against
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the Celtics all these years and he's killing them, and they had their battles.
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Paul Pierce got as much as got his. But yeah, he is
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a top two player of all time. It's him and Michael Jordan atop the
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mountain top and it's not particularly close. Like Lebron James was completely dominant for
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his entirety of his time in the NBA. He made I don't even know
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how many straight conference finals in the East. He's won four titles with three
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different organizations. Winning follows him wherever he goes, and you can say,
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oh, you know he had these teammates. He said, everyone has the
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teammates exactly. That's the worst conversation ever. Like Jordan had Pippin, you
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know, Curry had KD, KD had Curried, everyone has all star teammates.
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What are we doing? Lebron James is amazing. I think his legacy
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is a top player in the NBA that there's almost nobody that is completely well
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liked. But it's also weird because there's nobody quite as polarizing as Lebron James.
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But I thinks what it's all said and done, yeah, people will
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respect him at least I hope so, because he's been amazing. Absolutely has
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Again, folks, we're talking to Jack Simone from Celtics blog dot com.
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Check out everything that's going on up there in Boston, Celtics Land at Jack
12:03
Simone NBA on Twitter And do you have anything else you want to promote?
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I know, you know you do the podcast as well. Yeah, I
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mean I appreciate it. How about them Celtics podcasts? There you go my
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co host Sam. So That's that's about it though, but I appreciate it,
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thank you, No problem. Look, we just want Philly sports fans
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to be nice to you. That's what we want, that's what we aim
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for here exactly well as we you know, move along in the discussion here,
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Jack. You know, every single off season there's a ton of storylines
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and wanted wanted to get into some overrated storylines with you, and then we'll
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end the next topic with some underrated storylines of this season. With regard to
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overrated storylines, man, there are some storylines and just get completely blown out
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of proportion because people are just trying to keep the NBA off season interesting at
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times. Some are great storylines, some really stink. So I'm wondering,
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what's the one overrated storyline from the off season that you're just so tired of
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hearing about that you can't wait till it's just put to rest. At this
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point, it was Dame to Miami because I was just I think everyone would
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have the same answer. It was over it. It's devil and you know
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it's still the Heat. I'm over it. I don't care. Do whatever
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you want. You made the Eastern Converence, you made the finals, right,
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the Heat have been great for the past four years. Yeah, I
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don't care what you do, feel like because you haven't done anything. I
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hear, we hear all these rumors. Oh they're gonna do this, They're
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gonna do that. He had a terrible off season. They lost Maxy,
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lost gape Vincent, they lost Oladipod. It was hurt. So that's whatever.
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But like they're placed it with okay players like I like Josh Richardson,
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he's pretty good. Thomas Bryant's fine. Hemmy Hawk has looked great, you
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know, in summer League. But like they had a bad off season.
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They were banking on Dame Lillard and they didn't get Dame Lollard. And not
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only did they not get him, but Dame went to the Bucks and Drew
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Holliday went to the Celtics. They're two rivals. Got better. Like I'm
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over the heat. They're gonna be good next year, don't get me wrong.
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And I think Tyler Hure is underrated at this point because everyone just downplayed
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his value. But like, I just don't cared. Ever you want.
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I thought you might say that, but I really thought you were going to
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say the James Harden and seventy six ers soccer, which is it is exhausting,
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Jack, It is exhausting to the point, like I said, where
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I'm like, I don't even care about the season coming. Of course I'm
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kidding. It's like it's like sorry, like kidding, not kidding type of
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thing. But I am so tired of it. It is the most overrated,
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in my opinion, storyline because of where James Harden is at is in
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his career, the fact that this guy has all the leverage right now with
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regard to wherever he's gonna go, how he's playing out this situation. I
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am so tired of James Harden. I'm so tired of the Sixers organization where
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they're at right now. It's I'm surprised you didn't say that because of the
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rivalry with these two teams. Yeah, it's it's definitely frustrating. I can't
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imagine, like I almost feel bad, except it's self. It's perspective,
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so maybe not as much, but right the one shining like spotlighter or Okay.
15:01
Thing about this is if James Harden holds out, the new CBA prevents
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him from just leaving next summer, Like even though he's a free agent next
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summer, if he holds out, he just he can't go anywhere. Philly
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still has control over that, so there's some leverage there for the six years.
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It's very weird though how it plays out, I don't know what's happening
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like that. That's gonna be a real mess. And I'm going to Celtics
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Media Day once we wrap up here, Philly medd is gonna be something.
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Oh, it's gonna be It's gonna be incredible. It's gonna be incredible.
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All right. Well, to close this out here, we talked about the
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overrated storyline heading into this NBA season. What's the one underrated storyline from this
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offseason that you don't think really has gotten enough attention prior to the start a
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camp? Like, what are you thinking here? You know, I'm gonna
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go with something a bit off base. All of these young teams around the
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league have added really good players. You look at the Magic they added Joe
15:48
Ingles and they were really good last year. They added shooting, that's what
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they needed. You look at the Pacers, they were good last year and
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Halibert was healthy. They added Bruce Brown. Excuse me, they're gonna be
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good this year. You look at even the Rockets, like people are saying,
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oh, they overpaid these players. They are good players like they're gonna
16:03
be competitive. I'm not saying any of those teams are gonna make the playoffs,
16:04
but I think you see a lot of teams struggle with these quote unquote
16:08
easy games on their schedules because like the NBA is just good. Now,
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there there are no teams they're bad. The one the two teams that are
16:15
projected to be bad are the Wizards and the Blazers. Jordan Pool is a
16:21
like fine player, Kyle kuz was a good player, and they have players
16:23
who can score. They have players who can do stuff. The Blazers have
16:27
DeAndre at now in Scoot and Simon's and show like there are no walk in
16:32
the park teams anymore, even the thunder who have been that team of the
16:34
past years, there's gonna be a playoff team. Like the whole league is
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good now, I'm super said, it's gonna be great basketball year round.
16:41
They need the league needs expansion. There needs to be new teams because it's
16:44
it's almost two towns. Absolutely absolutely. It's interesting you mentioned how good the
16:48
NBA is and how good just about every single team is, jack because we
16:52
talk on this podcast platform a lot about college basketball and how the dynamics of
16:57
college basketball has change to the point where myself Eric on our show, who's
17:03
a huge basketball guy, we're just not as interested in college basketball as much
17:07
anymore because of the product that we see almost nightly. With regard to the
17:11
NBA, it is really good basketball, and it's just part of me feels
17:15
bad because the college the college basketball scene just isn't what it used to be.
17:21
Yeah, it's because the college basketball offense hasn't changed in like thirty years.
17:25
There the same as it was. And that's fine, right, You'll
17:27
have the occasional player comes in and changes it. Like Trey Young was great
17:30
in college because he was different. You know, Trey Burke was a guy
17:33
I loved at Michigan. He was nasty, right, because he's different.
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But it's just they run the same offenses, so it's not as fun.
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The NBA is amazing, even FIEBA like is amazing. So I'm so,
17:44
so so excited for the season. All right, Great way to end the
17:45
conversation again, Folks follow him on Twitter at Jack Simone, NBA Celtics blog
17:51
dot com. Check out everything they're doing there, and Jack Man, it
17:55
was great talking to you. Let's talk more. Again this NBA season.
17:56
I'd love to have you back on the show, my friend. Definitely,
18:00
yeah, anytime. And I'm not a football guy and the pat sucks,
18:03
so Go Birds might as well. Jason Kelsey's great. I love it,
18:04
I love all of that. Adore myself. I'll adore myself to Philly fans
18:08
a bit more. It's definitely gonna be a fun NBA season. I'm glad
18:12
Jack brought up the fact that there are a lot of good teams. I
18:17
mean, there are a lot of teams that are looking to make some waves
18:18
that might not necessarily make the playoffs, but I think we're gonna see some
18:22
really fun, just good and entertaining basketball this coming season within both conferences.
18:30
Really. I mean, there's a lot of great storylines to follow, and
18:32
we're certainly going to be following them here at the PST Podcast Show well into
18:37
the future. So that's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk this
18:40
week. Folks. If you are not subscribed, subscribe to the PST Podcast
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Show on whatever podcast platform you are on. If you're on Apple Podcast,
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always head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot com. We've got all of our
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Twitter at Philadelphia PST. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren. I
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am on threads as well. If you'd like to follow me there, mister
19:26
jeff Warren, I'd appreciate that. So it's gonna be a fun time coming
19:33
here to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. This week, we got the
19:36
Phillies in the postseason, the Eagles are four, and oh, we've got
19:40
some interesting stuff going on with the Philadelphia Flyers. I just don't want to
19:45
talk about the seventy sixers, as Jack and I were just talking about.
19:48
However, we are going to certainly get into the Sixers and the Philadelphia Union.
19:52
Things looking up there as well. So that's gonna do it for us
19:56
here on table Talk. Everyone take care. We'll catch you next time.