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TABLE TALK: Where Do The Sixers Go From Here? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey there, everybody, It's Jeff. We are recording this podcast and Table
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Talk interview on Monday May sixth, twenty twenty four. By the time you
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hear this, some things may have changed here there, but we hope you
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enjoy the show. All right, everybody, welcome to Table Talk here at
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the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
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in the world, that's right over eleven years strong. Here, we got
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a great discussion coming your way here on our Table Talk Interview show this week
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the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Yes, is we know their season is over
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and what is going to be happening with this team in the future. There's
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a lot of different storylines that we're going to be following throughout the course of
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this offseason and at the end of the day, what is this offseason actually
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going to look like? We got a great discussion, got a great guest
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coming your way, let's get right to it and joining us for the first
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time here at the PST podcast show to get into this Philadelphia seventy six ers
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team. What's gonna be happening during this upcoming off season and just what's gonna
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be happening to this crew in the future. I love reading his material over
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at the sixercents dot com. You know, we love our fan sided sites,
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and they've been doing great workover at the sixercents dot com for quite some
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time now. You can find them on the Twitter slash x at t van
1:29
Camp twenty two and also, folks check out the Planet seventy six podcast all
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Things Sixers throughout the year. He and his co host, they do a
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fantastic job. We've got Troy van Camp. Troy, Buddy, how you
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doing. Yeah, man, happy to be here, Thanks for having me
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on. And I'm excited to get into what we're gonna get into today,
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Like I'm excited to talk to you for the first time. Like that's what
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I'm excited about here, Troy, Like I'm excited to talk to you.
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The subject matter in itself is gonna maybe a little rough. It's like a
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dagger in my heart like with many of us Sixers fans because I how the
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season ended, of course, but just where this organization is going. Like
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I said, great, great being able to talk to you, but I
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don't know, I may end up crying a little bit during this conversation.
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Yes, absolutely, all right, Well, I wanted to start off the
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conversation with you, Troy, with a with a little bit of reflection on
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this past season. I mean, it seems that every freaking year Joel Embiid
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gets injured, and it really does affect the psychology and mindset of the team,
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something we've talked about theme we've talked about here at the PSD podcast show
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over the course of many years when this happens, I mean, there were
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some there were some very good players on this team that really could have stepped
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it up in key moments when Joel Embiid was not on the court. A
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number of times this could have happened, but it didn't happen a lot of
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the times, and I just it's amazing. When Embiid wasn't on the court,
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we just saw a lack of offensive execution. They commit dumb turnovers,
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dumb fouls, and inevitably, there seemed to be a real lack of overall
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effort. So that's where I'm coming from when I'm doing my reflections, especially
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on this past season. Were you seeing some of these same things and what
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does that really say for the twenty twenty three twenty four sixers team overall?
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That we just had to sit through and watch this year. Yeah, I
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definitely can relate to that. I saw much of the same things. I
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mean, you hit the nail on the head with what you opened with,
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is that we've kind of said the same thing year after year. You know,
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I go all the way back. I don't think I'll ever forget you
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know, twenty nineteen, the series against the Raptors. I mean, we
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won't forget that for a lot of reasons. But the non embeed minutes in
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that series, I mean, he was like the Sixers were like a minus
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ninety eight or something in the Seven Games. It was like something crazy like
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that. Yeah, Like, I don't think I'm exaggerating by much. And
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it's it's been the similar story all, you know, every year, and
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this year in particular. You know, I like what the Sixers did with
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you know, some of the pieces that they brought in, but obviously it
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wasn't enough to the Nixon Round one. So I definitely saw some of those
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kind of same things that you know, again, there were opportunities even in
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the nixt series for Paul Reid to step up, and I initially over on
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Planet seventy six, we previewed that series, and I was like, I
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think this could be a big series for Paul Reed, and it just wasn't.
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And and among you know, some of the other guys, it wasn't
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either. So I think what that says for this team overall is that they're
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just not there yet. And you know, we kind of hope that they
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were going to be. We kind of hope this season was going to be
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different. But you know, here we are talking about a Round one loss
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and some non embid minutes were a huge factor in that, and we know
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the things that he battled through. But man, oh man, like I
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mean, this this season, I think is it's broken down to three parts,
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right, Part one that we were on a tear with embiid kind of
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up toward the top of the Eastern Conference. He goes out for two months,
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and then part three is his return in the playoffs and just weren't able
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to get in sync enough to win the series. It's amazing the guy had
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freaking Bell's palsy, Bell's Paulsy, you know what I mean. And and
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and we've offended him on this podcast for so many years, as have you
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guys too. But like when people are calling Joel embiad a bum, like
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a bum. I don't know. He's playing on one knee, he's got
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he's got one functioning eye, basically Bell's palsy. I don't know. I
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don't think he's a bum necessarily. I just wanted to throw that out there
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for some folks. And look, this podcast show has probably alienated some people
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over the years. We don't do hot takes. We just do serious,
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honest type of talk here. And the fact that people are calling him a
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bomb, I think is a little like, you know, a little rough,
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a little crazy. Yeah, I mean, he had fifty points in
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this series. Even Sixers fans like not actually calling him bum, but saying,
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all right, let's trade him, let's do let's redo this, and
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like, you know, because they're talking about he he had a struggling game.
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But then it's like, hey, four days ago, this guy did
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have fifty points. You do know that, right? Yeah, yeah,
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exactly. Well, we're gonna get to some Joel embiid talk in a little
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bit here. But the theme of this podcast, Troy, is where DoD
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the Sixers go from here, and there certainly seems to be some varying options
6:04
for this organization. As they really regrouped during the off season here and I
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guess first and foremost we should talk about the front office. I'd really like
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to get into this a little bit more with you here and one Daryl Morey
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in particular. First off, do you think his job is safe? Does
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he stick around? And the ultimate question, should he's stick around? Given
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the Sixers early exits from the playoffs? Since he's been the GM, what
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are your thoughts about Daryl Mory? Does he stay? Is he safe?
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Should he be here? What are your thoughts on him? Yeah, that's
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certainly a timely question and appropriate one to ask. I I've been one to
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defend Darryl's not nearly as much as my co host on Planet seventy six.
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He absolutely admires Daryl and everything that he does. But I think he should
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stick around. On I think he will stick around. You know, I
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think he is he is safe. I like the majority of the moves that
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he's made again even this year, like there's been some pieces. You look
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at the trade in the beginning of the season, you know, getting Nick
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Patoom here, you think about bringing in campaign. A lot of people scratch
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their head at that one, but he was big in this series, could
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have even played a bigger role if he was on the floor more. Yeah,
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So I think I think there are some things that he's done that have
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been very, very good, and you know, ultimately, I don't think
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he's the one to blame. Now, there's some other things that we can
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get in. Well. Then, yeah, I was gonna say, you
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know, with campaign, you know, possibly needing more time, a lot
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of us maybe wanted to see him on the floor a little bit more.
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I guess it's there's that balance within our fandom. I think of, you
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know, whose fault and failures we really need to shoulder the blame on.
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And I don't think it's always one person in front offices or coaching staffs or
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anything like that in any sport, and especially in the world of Philly sports,
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Like, I don't think it's just Daryl Mark Moore's fault that this turned
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out the way it did. I don't think it's just Nick Nurse. I
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don't think it's just Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey having a gain a bad game
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here or there. It's it's a collective type of balance of failure in a
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way. So I don't know, are you are you saying in some way,
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shape or form, you know Nick Nurse should bear part of this responsibility
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as well. Yes, absolutely, And I do think there's an ownership part
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for everybody, you know, to kind of look in the mirror and say,
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okay, what you know, what did I do wrong? Why did
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we just lose the Knicks in six games? You know, I went into
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that series and I still like some of it doesn't make sense as to why
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the Knicks are good, like in my opinion, like I get that they
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are and they're talented and they have but like I mean, we the Sixers
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absolutely have two of the three best players in that series, no doubt,
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absolutely, no doubt. And then supporting cast wise, the Sixers aren't that
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far off from where the Knicks are. And so when you go into a
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series like that like that's that was almost more frustrating to me than the Celtics
9:01
series last year, because well, you could have said, all right,
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tip your cap, we were over we were over outmatched. Yeah, and
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against the Knicks. I didn't think that that was the case. I didn't.
9:11
The only head scratching thing I had with Nick Nurse along with you know,
9:13
maybe campaign getting some more time I thought he made his greatest move of
9:18
the series was to bring back Buddy Heald in Game six, but then he
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didn't play in the third quarter after you had seventeen or whatever in that first
9:24
half. So yeah, little head scratching there. I gotta tell you.
9:26
Two months ago, and even up until about a month ago, one of
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my co hosts, Eric and myself were saying, you know, there's there's
9:33
no way the Knicks are a better team. There's no way the Calves are
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a better team. You know, there's no way that they're a better team
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than the Philadelphia seventy six ers because of the talent that was here. Again,
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like you said, a collective blame to go around, everybody needs to
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shoulder the responsibility as we're moving forward here during the offseason, and in terms
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of moving forward with our conversation here, the Sixers, they're gonna have some
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money to spend this offseason with various contracts coming off the book. So you
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know, let's really kind of get into this offseason what you think it may
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look like here. I mean, folks are of course talking about Paul George
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joining the team, and honestly, Troy, I'm kind of like indifferent to
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that potential acquisition here, because it's like, all right, you know,
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is he really going to put him over the top? I don't necessarily think
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so. I don't know. What are your thoughts on the organization trying to
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sign Paul George possibly this offseason? Here? Yeah, man, that's a
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that's a good one. And I'm happy you shared what you did because I
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don't I don't know why. I really don't know why, but I am
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a Paul George fan. Yeah, And and because of that, I think
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I would be stupid to say, because I'm a fan of his, to
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say, let's not do it, right, I like the idea. Well,
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here's the thing. Here's the thing really quick, Troy. It's it's
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like I like him, Like you said, I like him. I like
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him as a player. But it's kind of what I initially just said and
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was asking. It's like, is he going to put this team to that
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next level? They haven't been able to get out of the second round,
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couldn't get out of the first round this year? Is Paul George really gonna
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make that difference? I just I don't necessarily think so, so I could
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be wrong with yeah, And I'm a little up in the air, you
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know when you put it that way, because again, the question is ultimately,
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and Darryl said today in his press conference, right, like, there's
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gonna be a lot of different moving parts. You know, we know Joel's
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here, we know tyresis here. Yeah, but like if if you either
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go get someone like a Paul George and you pay him a lot of money
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to do that, or you go again with this depth rout and a lot
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of people are in that corner saying, all right, let's just get a
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little bit better depth wise, and again I think I mean, Kelly Ubrey
11:41
was amazing this year. Yeah with the Sixers, Yes, needed and you
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know there's some other guys that are here that can fill those roles. But
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is that gonna take us over the top? Right? I mean a lot
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of people are getting away from this big three idea. You know, you
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look at a team like Denver and what they've been able to do with some
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role players and the reason I do like the Paul George and if you apply
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it to the Knick series. Now this is a big if. But if
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let's say Paul George was here, and if he was healthy and he's in
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place of Tobias Harris. I'd be pretty confident we're still playing basketball right now.
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You know what, I completely agree with you, Yes, I completely
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agree with you. I mean, I mean, when Toby has zero points
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in a game, fucking zeer. I can't believe I just swore like that.
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I usually don't swear on these table talk interview shows. I got it
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out of you. I got it in DD like zero zero. Come really,
12:31
I'm sorry, Go ahead, I think I interrupted your thoughts. No,
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No, you're good. But yeah, I mean that's kind of the
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way I look at it. Now, does he take us over the top?
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I you know, I don't know. I'm on the same boat as
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you. But I think here's here's kind of my thought, and it's kind
12:45
of a cop out answer. But if you don't go get a star like
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Paul George or Jimmy Butler or even a brandon Ingram who I've seen linked.
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If you don't go get a guy like that, then you better make sure
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that the pieces you bring in for you a more affordable money. You're pretty
13:03
sure that they can get us to that next round. Solid. Yeah,
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they got to bell have to be you have to be, and it has
13:07
to be better than this year. Right, you didn't get out of the
13:09
first round. It has to be better. So that's my thought. All
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right, Well, moving along here with our conversation Tyrese Maxi, he really
13:15
came into his own this season, established himself to be I think a real
13:18
superstar this past year. Here, I mean offensive growth, defensive growth.
13:24
Maxi was that I think one silver lining in my opinion this past season.
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You saw a couple of games he had in the playoffs and you're like,
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my guy, especially what it was a game five? Game yeah, game
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five, where you're like, you know what, it sucks that they lost
13:41
the series because I don't know if it will be as remembered as such area
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such a remarkable moment like Tyrese Maxey's first superstar playoff postseason moment. I don't
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know if it's going to be remembered as that. And that's what my co
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host Eric and I were talking about in the show last week. It's like
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they don't get at this series. He may not be remembered for that,
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and it really sucks because he's freaking fantastic. He's amazing. Where do you
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see Maxie's role within this team and organization as you as you look into your
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crystal ball there into the future Troit. Yeah, it's hard not to love
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that kid. Man, he is amazing. It's funny you said superstar because
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after that Game five ending we recorded that night, I don't even know few
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fifteen minutes after the game ended, and I opened with tyresh Max, he's
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a superstar. If you don't agree, go to Bata wall Like this kid
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is incredible. I just I absolutely love him. And so I think his
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role with the team. A lot of people were saying, like, oh,
14:45
maybe this is his team now instead of em Beats. I don't think
14:46
it's quite there because Joelle Embiid is an MVP and he was on an absolute
14:52
tear this season, had better numbers than he did as an MVP. Yep,
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you know, and e Beats here to stay. But I think Tyree's
14:58
obviously this year what he's done, because he's improved every year. But I
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think what he's done this year is to that point he solidified himself as a
15:05
superstar. A lot of people thought when he was shooting really well his first
15:07
couple of years it was kind of a fluke. But it's not obviously the
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way you know, the way he shoots at a high level, and he's
15:13
so freaking fast. It's it's he's a blur and it's amazing to watch.
15:18
And so I'm happy he's here. I think he's gonna get all the money
15:20
that he could want, and he's gonna be if I look into my crystal
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ball, he's gonna be here for a long time, all right, So
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very good. I like that. And I gotta say too, since his
15:28
rookie year, he really doesn't turn the ball over that much. Like you
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look at his like dribbling style and just where where his placement is on the
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court, and the guy just rarely, very rarely turns the ball over and
15:41
and and they need more of that. They need more of that because turnovers
15:46
have freaking killed them down the stretch and into this playoff postseason here it certainly
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did so anyway, folks, again, talking to Troy Van Camp from The
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sixer Cents the sixercents dot Com. Check out everything they have gone going on
16:00
over there, and also check out Planet seventy six all Things Sixers throughout the
16:06
course of the year. Great great podcast. Follow Troy on the Twitter,
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slash x at TV. I'm sorry at t van Camp twenty two. Did
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I mess that up earlier? Did I mess your Did I mess it up?
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I don't think so. Okay, that's perfect te t Van Camp twenty
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two on Twitter. Give him a follow, He's a great, great follow.
16:23
And as we're moving along with our discussion here, Troy, I think
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the real question on everybody's mind is whether or not the Sixers front office is
16:33
actually going to make a move to trade Joel Embiid. I mean, I'm
16:36
not even in the right frame of mind at all at this point to even
16:40
think about even think about the pros and cons of doing so. But I
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guess at some point we're gonna need to get that discussion started here. So
16:49
I don't know, it pains me to even think again about the pros and
16:52
cons of doing so. What are your thoughts as to really what happens with
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Embiid his future in Philly? Does he come back next year? Does he
17:00
get upset with the organization? What are your overall thoughts about Joel Embiid and
17:06
what may happen with him this offseason? Yeah, when it comes to Joel,
17:10
I'm I'm definitely team run it back. You know, let's let's get
17:12
him here. As long as he wants to be here, and obviously even
17:18
throughout his career, there's there's been a sense of loyalty with him, and
17:22
it's really really cool to see. I mean, because if you look at
17:26
I mean, this is, this is I'm just thinking about this right now,
17:29
and it might not even be that true. But if you think about
17:30
guys around the league and the NBA that are star level and on teams that
17:36
are looking or have a desire to win a championship over the last several years,
17:41
who is a player that hasn't won a championship yet and yet is still
17:45
on that same team. That's a great question. Yeah, it's I mean,
17:48
it's him. It's him, right, yes, And so let's hope
17:52
that that trend continues where he's kind of the only one with that, and
17:56
then hopefully the trend breaks because he's gonna get a title exactly. But yeah,
18:00
I think he's here. I think, you know, even though he
18:03
gets some flak from fans and things like, you can't perform in the playoffs
18:06
and all this, again, you got to tip your cap to what he
18:07
did this postseason, dealing what he was dealing with and still going out and
18:11
making a difference clearly because they weren't the same team with him not on the
18:15
floor. So I think he's here, and I think he's here for the
18:18
long haul. I would love to see, you know, him retire a
18:21
sixer man, absolutely, Oh my gosh. I would love it too.
18:23
And here's the thing, Troy, It's not like the front office hasn't brought
18:27
him into the fold asked him you know, what do you want, what
18:30
do you need? What do you think we need you know? Or what
18:33
do you need throughout the course of a season. It's not like the front
18:37
office hasn't done that. From reports over the years, He's part of the
18:41
entire decision but maybe not the entire but a lot of the decision making process.
18:45
Joel Embiid's part of that, and you know it just it just hasn't
18:49
worked because of the injury stuff. I will say my co host Eric,
18:53
who wants Embiid here as well, he said, you know what, they
18:56
could get a huge haul for him though this offseason. They could. And
19:00
that's the other side of it, which pains me to think about at all,
19:03
and I don't want it to happen, but I think that is a
19:07
reality that they could get a huge haul for them. I mean, how
19:08
many number one picks over these next few years they get a ton, right,
19:14
and it's gonna be less and less every year. And I think the
19:15
thing to you know, the front office has to deal with in that matter
19:19
is Okay, how many times are we going to try this? Right?
19:23
Yeah? Right? Because if we go another four years, that trade value
19:26
goes down. And again it pains me to say it too, like how
19:32
many times are we going to try or how many times are we gonna Okay,
19:33
let's think toward the future a little bit. Tyresse is still young,
19:37
you know what about if we do ship them off, we could potentially be
19:41
really really really good in four or five years or something like that. And
19:45
it's painful, but the front office has to kind of think, Okay,
19:49
how many times are we running this thing back? Exactly? I'm getting old?
19:52
Heer, I'm in my mid forties. Okay, I'm getting old here.
19:56
I don't know how much longer I can wait here. Uh As we
20:00
end our discussion here, Troy, last topic for us, and uh,
20:04
I want to kind of get away from the Sixers here. Just it is
20:08
nice when you're not thinking about the Sixers, just enjoy some postseason basketball here.
20:12
Straight up, what teams do you think we're gonna end up seeing in
20:15
the NBA Finals? And who do you think is gonna take it this year?
20:19
Boy? All right, I won't hold you to it, i'd say
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right now as we're recording this on Monday, May six, you know what
20:26
are your You can hold me to it when it's right. Okay, there
20:29
you go. So I think I think New York gets past Indiana. I
20:36
think they give Boston a tougher series than Boston's gonna want. So I think
20:40
Boston prevails. I could see it going seven. So I think Boston's gonna
20:42
be in the finals. And this is more of a kind of want I
20:47
guess than what I necessarily think will happen. But I would love to see
20:51
Minnesota make it. That'd be fun, honestly, that'd be fun. Minnesota
20:57
Celtics, that'd be That'd be a fun fun. That would be cool.
21:00
And the winner, just because I am a Sixers fan, I'm not gonna
21:04
say Boston's gonna win it. So I'm gonna take Minnesota. They're already up
21:07
one right in the series. Yeah, I'm Minnesota, very nice. I
21:11
love it and it was great having you on Troy again, Folks, Troy
21:15
VanCamp the Sixercents dot com, Planet seventy six podcast. Hey, what a
21:21
great, great time conversation with you, buddy, Troy. I'd love to
21:23
have you back on at some point down the road. Come back and join
21:26
us, my friend. Absolutely no, I will thank you for having me.
21:30
It's been a blast and let's go six. That's gonna do it for
21:33
us here on table talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
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on Twitter at Philadelphia pst, threads at Philadelphia Sports Table, and over on
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Instagram as well. Take care and we'll catch you next time.