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Challenges Persist For The Sixers (PST Episode 548) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey there, everybody, it's Jeff. We recorded this podcast episode on Wednesday,
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January tenth, twenty twenty four. By the time you hear this,
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some things may have changed here and there, so we hope you enjoy the
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show. All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast
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show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over
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ten and a half years strong. We've got a great show coming your way.
0:46
We're actually going to be starting off the show talking about the theme songs
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and ranking the theme songs for each major network during the NFL season. You
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know, we've got CBS, Fox, ESPN, Film Network. We're gonna
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rank them best to worst themed songs. And then from there we've got some
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Philadelphia Eagles talk. We're gonna be getting into some Phillies talk and whether or
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not their priority now should be resigning Zach Wheeler. And then of course we're
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gonna get into some Flyers talk. There was a trade that happened and we're
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gonna we're gonna talk about that at length. But we're thrown down on the
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table. This week. We've got Jonathan Guy from the Sixercents dot Com.
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He's gonna join us and take a look where the Sixers team is heading in
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the Eastern Conference, challenges that they're having and some good things we're seeing as
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well. I'm Jeff Warren and I'm here on my good buddy, Len Hunsicker,
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Matt len Man, how are you, buddy. I'm doing good.
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I'm I'm enjoying my first Trogues Nugget nectar of the season, and it's it's
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going down well. I was gonna say, is it delightful? It's got
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a good taste. I haven't had one in a I haven't had one in
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a little while. I got I gotta get something. It's up there among
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my favorite beers. I know you like that. Oh my gosh, boy,
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now I want one. I'm drinking supid lipped and brisk iced tea right
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now and you're having a You're having a tasty beverage here, tastier than mine.
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It's quite good. Yes, quite good. Oh man. We're gonna
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get into the Philadelphia Eagles in a little bit too. But I gotta tell
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you, buddy, like I'm like, we're gonna get into him. I
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don't know why I'm starting off with that, dude. I know it's been
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on my mind. But it's like it's like number two on our agenda to
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get into. But all right, let's let's get into theme songs, folks.
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Okay. I was telling Land because I was sure that he probably was
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like, where is this coming from on the agenda? So I've got the
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theme songs and jingles that we have heard decade after decade from CBS Sports,
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Fox Sports, ESPN, NFL network when it's NFL season, these theme songs
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that we all know and hear just constantly throughout the football season. It was
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about halfway through this particular season where I was just enraged, but I was
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I think it was like Fox, NFL and I heard the theme song and
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I was just so tired of hearing it, and I'm thinking to myself,
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why can't they just change these theme songs every now and then? I mean,
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there's professional musical writers out there that right jingles. Why can't they just
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change this stuff? And I was talking Lynn, I was talking to you
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about it before we hit the record button, and Uh, I think this
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will be interesting ranking these particular theme songs from best to worst. And uh,
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I've got my list for sure, and uh, we're gonna play We're
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gonna play these for everybody, just so you know they you're gonna, you
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know, kinda yeah, give people a refresher. Yeah, I'm gonna.
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I'm gonna, I'm gonna put them in, uh into the show here as
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we're kind of moving along here, So I don't know what, what are
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your thoughts on this bit here? Did you think I was crazy? I
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think you. I think you want them to like subcontract you to come up
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with music. You want to be paid for this. I just do,
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like, really, this is how you This is how you you get that
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out there into the universe. Maybe, I mean they'd have like real fast
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metal, you know what I mean, like yeah, yeah, they they
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get two notes in and be like, okay, we're all right, We're
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done with this guy exactly. All right, Well, let's play some of
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these theme songs right here, folks. Here is the CBS theme song during
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the NFL. Here it is all right, len that was CBS. Here.
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Let's play Fox Fox NFL for everybody right now? All right, yes,
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uh not one of my favorites. You may know where that's going to
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be ranked. So let's move on to ESPN. Here here we go,
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all right, and now we are going to end things with the NFL networks
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theme songs. All right, that's the four len We have heard these throughout
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the course of our lives. How many times? How many? What I
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feel like is thousands upon thousands of times? They are seared into our brains.
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And I'm wondering, let's rank. Should we rank from best to worst
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here? Or should we go from worst to best? What do you think?
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I say we go from worse to best, worst to best? All
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right? What's your worst here? Which is the one that really, if
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we'd have to say, it gets in your crawl? I mean, there's
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one that I like definitively more than the rest of them. There's like a
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solid number one and then everything else. If you put it in whatever order
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you wanted, two through four, I'd be like, sure, Okay,
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I guess I'm gonna put NFL Network at four. I like the bells to
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start off. Yes, I feel like it falls off a little bit after
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that. I got you, so I'll put them at four. I'm with
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you. I like the Bells. I don't have the NFL network rank number
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four, okay, but I get where you're coming from. For me,
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it's actually Fox NFL. I think that theme song sucks. I think it
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is awful, It's terrible, just about How can I say this as somebody
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who I have a master's degree in electronic media. So and I remember during
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my graduate studies we'd actually learn about music visuals that you see on the screen
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and how it all plays in conjunction with each other. And it seems that
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Fox in general, whether it's their graphics, whether it's it's their music,
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it just stinks. And I'm talking like Fox the network, Fox NFL quite
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frankly, Fox News. I'm not talking about the content. I'm talking about
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like the music and like the graphics. It just stinks. It's terrible.
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So for me, number four is Fox NFL. Who is your number three?
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Number three is CBS. I mean, I don't you know, I
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don't like it. Yeah, I mean, I you know, it's okay,
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it's there. I mean, and again, I think you get more
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fired up with this. But when we talked about this pretty earlier, because
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you don't like the guys on and I think and you mentioned specifically Howie and
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Terry Bradshaw on Fox. I can't stand for Bradshaw. Yeah yeah, And
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I I make a habit out of if I don't like something, I don't
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watch it, so I don't hear I don't feel like hearing these chuckleheads just
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you know gab you know, for two hours before a game, so don't
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watch it. You know, if the Eagles are coming on at one,
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I turn on that channel at one. I don't care about all the two
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hours of stuff before that. I don't watch it. So I guess that
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allows me to be a little less sick of it than I think you are.
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Either. They do play the themes, you know, I'm familiar with
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the themes because they play them, you know, coming in and out out
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of you know, commercial breaks and stuff like that, so you do get
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you know, a heavy dose of them. I guess CBS is and Foxes
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kind of reminds me of you know, the playoffs. I guess, like
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a big time of year, you know games, and I'm excited to watch
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coming up. So I think that's why I have them ahead of the NFL
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network. All right, I got you, all right, I do have
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CBS a little higher than you, so we're definitely gonna be talking about them
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in a little bit as well. So like my my number three actually goes
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to uh, Monday Night Football because I am looking at the I'm listening to,
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I should say, because this is about theme song, Okay, And
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yes, I know I said, you know how the music correlates with the
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visuals and stuff. But from a pure music standpoint, I don't get that
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punch, like that punch in a way that I get maybe from some other
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theme songs that you know, we have we just heard. So Monday Night
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Football for me, ESPN, that's going to be number three. So what's
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your number two here? Number two is Fox again, okay, you know,
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just yeah, I'm I'm I'm looking forward to these you know, big
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games, you know, coming up, and you know, hearing those those
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songs played in and out of break. You know. Again, I don't
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have a strong feeling on it, but obviously you know what my number one
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is now, so go ahead with your number two. Okay. So my
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number two is definitely going to be the NFL Network. And I'm going to
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NFL Network because of what you actually said initially, how you like the bells.
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The bells remind me of just the old time, like seventies and eighties,
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you know, documentaries that we would watch and that ended up having like
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the strings and the orchestrated type of stuff. But I love the NFL film
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stuff. Yes, NFL films, thank you. Yes. I really like
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the bells coming in because there's a nostalgic feel about it. So that's I'm
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going NFL network number two. Okay, that's fair. Obviously Number one for
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me is gonna be you know, ESPN. It's the Monday night football theme.
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It's like, it's iconic, it's you know, to me, it's
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not just you know, sports themes. I think it's a recognizable television TV
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theme show song. Yeah that you know if you peak, if you ask
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people that you know aren't big sports fans if that song came on, and
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they'd be like, oh, it's a Monday night football song. Yeah,
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like it's just known a it's iconic. And I guarantee you if they ever
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took your advice and change that song, they would get And that's why none
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of these, none of these you know, networks are changing their music.
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But especially in the ESPN's case with that song, they would get major backlash
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if they if they dropped the traditional Monday night football song. I think it's
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that there's no way. Yeah, it's interesting what you said right there,
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because we talked about that four hit the record button as well. It's like,
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why don't these networks actually change these theme songs, because I mean,
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it's at the end of the day, there's nostalgic feelings around a lot of
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these songs you hear, whether it's Monday Night football or you know, you
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can hear the CBS theme song and you'd get nostalgic even thinking about certain games
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in the past. And I guess you don't fix what's broken. I think
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that's what you said earlier, Lehn. And let's look the NFL. I
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mean, there's a reason these networks pay all this money for the rights to
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them. It's it's a ratings juggernaut. So you have these established songs that
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are part of this established package that everybody watches. That these rights are so
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valuable, you are not gonna mess with anything in that formula at all.
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Otherwise, you know you were you know, why why are we changing something
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that works? And that's what I mean. You have a bunch of TV
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executives that you know like, Okay, this is working, I'm gonna play
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this safe. I'm not gonna, you know, do something that's gonna cause
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backlash and cost me my job, right right, That's that's why these these
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songs aren't going anywhere for me. My number one obviously it's the last one
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for me. It's actually the CBS theme. And I was a little surprised
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by that because I was I was sitting there, I listened to these a
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number of times, and I knew that. I'm like, all right,
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Fox, it just stinks. It's not it's not powerful enough for me.
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Monday night football. Like you said, it's iconic, but it was it
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wasn't like necessarily powerful for me. I like the bells with the NFL network,
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but with the NFL CBS theme, it just like punches you right in
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the face, right out of the gate, punches you in the face,
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and it's saying, you know what, You're gonna see some football. Now,
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you know what you're gonna You know you're gonna see lend You're gonna see
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football. Maybe maybe it speaks to your enter cave man, and that's why
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you like exactly, it's like football is coming. Just get ready to sit
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there, gain about five hundred pounds and watch the game. Yell at the
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rests while Pizza Crust is hanging out of your mouth. You got Dorino's on
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your stomach. Yes, I love it all right. Well, i'd love
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to know folks uh uh other folks choices and what they're thinking out there.
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If you'd love to shoot us off an email, Philadephia Sports Table at gmail
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dot com. We'd love to read your email and your rankings here on the
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show in the future and respond to it. So good bit there. I
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enjoyed that. I enjoyed it there, No, it is. It is
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interesting to compare you, and I had to go back and kind of like
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I knew what the fox in the NFL or like ESPN you obviously I knew
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that the NFL. Now I was like, I have I have to listen
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to that. I don't know what that is. Yeah, and then once
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I heard us, like okay, all right that yeah, yep, sly,
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all right, we'll sticking to football here. Let's get into this Philadelphia
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Eagles team. I was just wanting to get into it, like right off
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the bat, because I'm so downtrodden by where this season is. When this
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team was ten and one, for God's sake, Jalen Hurts was the perennial
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MVP of this league and now this team where they're at, you know,
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I mean, yes, and they're in the playoffs. They're in the playoffs,
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and it's just the most underwhelming Eagles playoff team I think that we have
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ever seen, I think ever here. And I don't know, are you
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looking towards Eagles offseason, because I am at this point, you know,
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I'm looking at the fact that they're probably gonna have a new defensive coordinator.
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Actually, I'm sure they're gonna have a new defensive coordinator hired at some point.
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They currently have nine draft picks, four of them in the first three
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rounds. They've got thirty two million dollars in spending with regard to free agency
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that they can that they can throw around that money, and you know,
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I guess, and I guess for me, I'm asking the question in the
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back of my mind. Can this team rebound with these assets in the offseason.
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I mean, I personally think they can lend because regardless of the outcome
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of this playoff game too, I do think, and I hate using this
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word, but I do think there's reason to be optimistic about this team moving
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forward because there's plenty of promising young talent on the team too. Aside from
16:22
some of the veterans, I'd still think Jalen Hurts is a damn good quarterback.
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He's quarterback number one for the foreseeable future. AJ Brown, Devonte Smith,
16:33
Dallas Goddard. They're locked in as top receivers for at least two more
16:37
seasons, and then you've got four of the five starters on the offensive line
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under contract for next season as well. Jason Kelcey is the only outlier,
16:47
but a lot of young talent the defensive side of the ball. That's where
16:49
things get a little tricky. It gets a little murky considering they're Swiss cheese
16:55
here at the moment. But I'm feeling a sense of optimism for where this
16:59
team can go after this season is behind them. So I don't know what
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are your thoughts here in terms of, like I said, just looking toward
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the off season and where you're just at with this team and this organization.
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We I'm looking forward to making money off them again this week. First and
17:15
foremost, you made your first bet this week, right yep? And I
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bet against the Eagles and they they did what I thought they were gonna do,
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and now I'm betting against them again. Taking that taking that two point
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five points with Tampa. They're not gonna win this game. I'm telling you
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right now, they are not going to win this game. I mean it's
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bad. Like I said to a couple of people at work, like they
17:40
quit on this guy. And that's why, Like, and I want to
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ask you, like, let's say this game goes the way we both I
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think think it's going to go. If it's bad, do you consider getting
17:52
rid of Sirianni? I think they do. And that's I think that's the
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first time I said that honestly, Like I mean, like, ordinarily I
18:02
might not say that, but man, like that that Giants game, you
18:06
know, there was a point because those scores are readily available to everybody.
18:10
You saw that Washington was up ten to seven on Dallas, and whether it
18:14
was sustainable or not, at that point you have to be like, Okay,
18:18
we've got a chance to win the division and this team rolled over and
18:22
died. I think they had quit on him. There's a part of me
18:25
that wonders, like how much of his success was stiking and Gannon? Maybe
18:30
is he a product of his coordinators from last year. I think that's a
18:34
fair question. I really are question it's so yeah. So I wonder if
18:41
if they go out there and lay an egg does lorigo Okay, they they're
18:45
too talented on offense. They they've they've given up on this coach. Got
18:52
I gotta do something. I wonder if that happens. I've said a couple
18:55
of times on this podcast platform here that and I don't think I don't know
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if I said it last week when you were on the show Lend, but
19:03
I feel that I'm getting the same vibes of Chip Kelly's tenure where early season,
19:11
like the early tenure of the season was like, oh wow, this
19:14
is fantastic. Remember the Eagles went to the playoffs the first year, you
19:17
know, And yes, it's different. I think Nick Sirianni has a little
19:19
bit more rope because of a Super Bowl appearance. However, I'm getting,
19:25
yeah, just getting the same vibes though, where where falling off a cliff
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was absolutely the same feels that I'm having now, which was what I had
19:34
then, And I think a lot of us are feeling that way. And
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it leads me to believe that Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurry are having those same
19:41
feels as well, and they don't want to repeat certain things, and they
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don't want to go down certain paths, and it leads me to believe that
19:48
there really could be a change. And I think the percentage of there being
19:51
a change is a lot higher right now, especially after this Giants loss.
19:56
I don't necessarily want to put a number out there, but I'd say it's
20:00
around sixty something. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if he's if
20:04
he's gonna, you know, if it's gonna affect the way he coaches.
20:07
But I really do think he may be coaching for his job in this game.
20:11
I mean, if they win, if they win against Tampa and then
20:12
go fall against a you know, a better team, you know in the
20:17
next round, maybe you can, you know, talk yourself into Okay,
20:21
you know he's maybe he's on a short leash, but we at least bring
20:26
him back again. But if they go out there and get stomped by Tampa,
20:29
I think you have to do something. Yeah, so, you know,
20:33
so then you know, he goes, you know, Harball gets tired
20:37
of the NCAA stuff you bring in Harball, And I watched Jeff just have
20:44
a nuclear meltdown. Oh God, please, I don't know what i'd do.
20:48
I honestly don't know what I do. And would you would you stop
20:52
rooting for the Eagles if Jim Harball was a head coach? No, I
20:57
don't think so. No, I know, you know me. It's Eagles,
21:00
you know all the way. But I would be frowning. I'd be
21:03
frowning a lot, which you would. So one of two things is gonna
21:10
happen. Either you would you would completely you know, you would give up
21:12
on or you would talk yourself into Harball and be like, you know,
21:17
all right, he's a jerk, but he's our jerk, and you'd start
21:19
to justify. Do you think I'd do that? I could see it,
21:23
and I'd become a mental case. I become a mental I could see it,
21:30
folks, if you don't know out there, I just disliked Jim Harbaugh
21:33
so much. I think he's bad for football. I think he has been
21:36
bad for football for a long time. How it started for me, and
21:40
it goes back to when he was the head coach for the San Francisco forty
21:44
nine ers, and it was that Detroit Lions game where Jim Schwartz was the
21:47
head coach, and it was that scrum that got into at the end of
21:49
the game where Haulball was just a complete jerk off, just a complete jerk
21:56
off to Jim Schwartz after winning the game. I mean, I've got no
22:00
skin in the game. With regard to Jim Schwartz. I couldn't care less.
22:03
I know he became the Eagles defensive coordinator, going to the Super Bowl
22:07
and all that stuff, but really that was like the first taste, bad
22:11
taste I had in my mouth. And then all the stuff with Michigan over
22:14
the years, and then this year of course, just two suspensions. The
22:18
guy's just bad for football in my opinion. Yeah, well, yeah,
22:22
there's good because he at Stanford. Yeah, one at San Francisco, one
22:26
at Michigan. I mean, he's got a cheating record. He's got a
22:30
cheating record. He's not coming to the Eagles. I'll tell you that right
22:33
now. That's not gonna happen. He's not. Don't know that. If
22:37
I can't, I can't think about it, folks. I can't think about
22:41
it, Lynn, I can't. I can't do it. I nothing would
22:45
make me happier, man I I I you know what, I'd rather have
22:51
hard rock nick on the sidelines. Wow. Well, maybe maybe after you
22:56
know, Jim Harvell takes that job, hard rock Nick can be come his
23:00
his big dom who I'm way tired of at this point. The way that
23:06
they've made this guy a folk hero. Yes, that's my that's my equipment.
23:11
Yes, other than the way the Eagles have played, that's my equipbal
23:12
with their seasons is like why why why are we? Why are we you
23:18
know, making this man a fall hero right now? I don't get it?
23:22
I know, well, I mean to answer the question in your mind,
23:25
like do you think this team can rebound in the future with the assets
23:29
they do have? What I was talking about earlier, you know, whether
23:32
it is a new defensive coordinator. I don't know about this Wink Martindale stuff.
23:36
I mean the Giants stink, Yeah, are we going to bring somebody
23:37
who stinks in here? But anyway, with the Eagles having nine draft picks
23:42
and four in the first three rounds, the thirty two million dollars to spend
23:45
in free agency, I mean, do you do you have that sense that
23:49
there is actually optimism after this season for where this team and organization can go.
23:55
Well, first things first, Wink Martindale's defense sure look good. Last
23:59
week against the Eagles. Again. You know, maybe the Giants don't have
24:06
the best you know, talent. I'm not sure if the Eagles do either
24:10
at this point defensively, but I mean, to me, it needs to
24:14
be a defensive heavy off season and you got to hit on those early draft
24:19
picks. You have to hit on those early draft picks. And you got
24:25
to build around Jalen Carter too, by the way, you got to build
24:27
around Jayen Carter for the future. Yeah, I mean, I just the
24:33
there's a there's a lot they need to do in that back seven of that
24:37
defense. Yeah, I mean, so, I mean, yeah, will
24:44
I be interested in the off season, Yeah, I mean I want to
24:45
get through this, you know, first, and you know, we'll still
24:48
we'll see what they do. You know. I think I saw a thing.
24:52
Brandon Graham was on w ip and he's like, look, we're going
24:56
to do it. You know, I got all these guys fired up.
24:57
It's like, boy, I've been hearing this for weeks exactly. Yeah,
25:03
So you know, we'll see what happens, all right, all right?
25:07
Yeah, I mean Jason Kelsey was on w IP so and you know it's
25:11
it's it's we got to rebound from this one game, one game, and
25:14
we got to it's not one game. It's not one game, Jason.
25:18
Yeah, it's been it's been a few games. And even when you were
25:21
still on that winning streak, those last few wins, I mean, was
25:25
there a game this season where the Eagles just went out and you didn't sweat
25:30
at all during the game. I think there might. I think there may
25:33
have been like two complete games all season, maybe really, you know what
25:36
I mean, Like I mean the Buccaneers game when they went on that run,
25:40
like towards the you know, towards the middle of the season, we
25:42
were playing all those good teams. They were squeaking out wins, but they
25:45
were squeaking them out, and it was just like never, you know,
25:48
I don't know, I never felt like definitively great. Yeah, no,
25:52
I completely agree with you. And like I said, I think of all
25:55
the games they won, maybe two of them may have been complete games.
25:57
The other ones they just squeaked out or or even you know what, you
26:00
can say it got lucky and in some cases absolutely Yeah. All right,
26:07
Well we are going to take a break here, folks, but before if
26:10
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26:14
If anything happens to your feed, you can always head on over to
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26:30
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26:37
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26:44
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The show is at Philadelphia Sports Table. So we're gonna take quick breaking
26:52
now to pay some bills. We'll be back in just a bit. All
26:56
right, we are back, and Len Man, let's talk some Phillies hot
27:02
stove season. You know, topics here in the main one dealing with Philly's
27:08
pitching, and reports indicate that they're kind of, you know, shifting their
27:12
priority to re signing Zach Wheeler, which I personally like, you know,
27:18
they were they did mount you know, somewhat of a serious effort to get
27:22
Yamamoto, but of course, as we know, Yamamoto went with the Los
27:26
Angeles Dodgers. But Todd's Lecky apparently wrote that the number one priority here for
27:33
this Phillies front office is signing Zach Wheeler to a contract extension. And overall,
27:40
yes, completely agree with it. I think that's what this team needs
27:44
after resigning Aaron Nola and Nola essentially you know, taking a quote discount.
27:49
I think signing Zach Wheeler your number one has to happen. I don't want
27:56
him to get to free agency. I really don't, because we've had a
28:00
pretty good and I think that Philly's nation in general when not that we've taken
28:06
Zach Wheeler for granted, but I think, you know, when he's on
28:08
the mound, we kind of know what we're going to get from him,
28:12
and we are going to get a dominant pitcher who just you know, continues
28:18
to continues to drive it home. And it's been fantastic having him as that
28:26
number one. I think they really need to resign him and really make that
28:30
a priority here. And I would you agree with that? You know,
28:34
I agree to an extent. Do I want him back, obviously, But
28:38
to me it's more of what does the contract look like. And I'm not
28:41
talking about dollars because he's thirty three years Yeah, because he's thirty three.
28:45
I just looked he's going to turn thirty four on May thirtieth, so you're
28:49
going to get about halfway through the season, and then he's going to be
28:52
a couple months in the season and then he's going to be thirty four.
28:56
A five year deal scares the hell out of me. Yeah, if you
29:00
if you could give him a high money three year deal, I would be
29:04
I'd be on board with that. Maybe maybe you pay him a little bit
29:08
more than you than you normally would on a three year deal, whatever your
29:12
your average annual value you thought it was going to be, maybe you bump
29:15
that up a little bit for less years that I would do. But five
29:22
years, you're getting into a point where he's, you know, thirty nine
29:26
years old, and that kind of I don't know, like the back end
29:30
of that deal. I mean, presumably by the time a three year deal
29:33
would end, one of or hey, hopefully both of you know, Andrew
29:38
Paynter and Mick Abel will have shown them themselves to be competent. If not,
29:44
you know, good starting pitchers. Yeah, so you can kind of
29:47
bridge the gap to those guys on a three year deal five years. I
29:52
just feel like the max good that you're going to get out of him as
29:56
three years anyway, I think, you know, if you signed to a
29:59
five year deal, those last few years of that deal aren't going to be
30:03
I don't know, it might be injury riddled, might be not as effective.
30:07
You know, we saw Roy Halliday basically turn into a pumpkin overnight.
30:11
Yeah, you know, at the tail end of his career, and I'm
30:15
scared that would happen with you know, with Wheeler, and then all of
30:18
a sudden he's still got a couple of years left on the steel. I'd
30:22
still rather have him than give him up, though, you know what I
30:23
mean, even if three years Yeah, I mean, look, and I
30:27
think that's what the Phillies are going to do for I saw something earlier today
30:32
where somebody was talking to Jason Stark and he said that they're even more adamant
30:37
about signing Wheeler than they re signing Wheeler than they worry about getting Nola done.
30:41
So that to me tells me that he's a priority. And I have
30:45
a feeling even if they have to go further than I would be comfortable with
30:48
them going, they're still going to do it. So I would be really
30:52
surprised if they didn't make him an offer that you know, makes him say,
30:59
Okay, I'm not gonna go into because honestly, if you've give them
31:02
that deal, you know he's going to say, look, I'm going to
31:06
hit the market as a thirty four year old. What kind of money?
31:08
What kind of deal am I going to reasonably get on the market that might
31:11
be better than this what they're offering me now? Right right, So,
31:15
as long as they showing the money up front, I think it would be
31:18
the smart thing for him to do to take that deal. Yeah, I
31:21
didn't know after reading. After reading, Phillies nation dot com put up an
31:25
article about this. Our good friend over there who's come on the show,
31:27
Tim Kelly wrote an article about this as well. And I did not realize
31:33
that Wheeler's wife, Dominique, is from New Jersey and the proximity, you
31:37
know, it's just it's perfect from a family perspective. I mean, Wheeler
31:41
and Dominique here that they have two kids, and you know they're expecting a
31:48
third child. From what I understand here in the article. And yeah,
31:51
so I mean at this point you're looking at you know, do I want
31:53
to uproot my family? Right? I mean? Yeah, that's you know,
31:57
that's part of the human side of this deal that you know, the
32:01
cat most fans you know, probably don't think of They're just looking at their
32:05
team, their guys. Yep, what does this mean for everything? You're
32:07
not looking at them as people and you know the other stuff they have to
32:10
consider. Yeah, and if they were to announce a contract extension, say,
32:15
you know, end of January or you know, within February. I
32:19
got to be honest with you, if it's five years, if it's four
32:22
whatever, I'm gonna fel I'm gonna feel pretty good about it. I really
32:24
am, because that means that there is some sort of fluidity with the pitching
32:28
situation this coming season for sure, and and even next season too, and
32:32
like it actually would make me feel good as a fan. Lne. Yeah,
32:37
No, agreed, absolutely, because you know, yes, Painter and
32:40
Able or you know, they're they're good prospects, but they're still that,
32:45
you know, so until they come up here and they prove it, and
32:49
even then you know they're gonna come up, and they're going to be young
32:51
guys, and they're going to get hit around a little bit because that's what
32:52
happens to young pitchers. So it's going to take them a little while to
32:57
get their feet wet and become reliable, depend well starting pitchers. So yeah,
33:00
I think Wheeler is an important guy to have to make that bridge.
33:05
But you know, yeah, it's yeah, it would certainly make me feel
33:08
better as a fan. Yeah, well, lenn As we're moving along here,
33:13
you just use the phrase important guy and uh, you know, within
33:17
Flyers Nation and the excitement about where the rebuild was going to be going,
33:22
we we there was an important guy, you know, that we thought was
33:25
going to be on this team potentially for years to come. But no longer,
33:30
no, no longer. That gentleman cutter. Gautier is a oh my
33:37
gosh, I just will keep it clean for this show. But what a
33:42
use the words the outline? I'm not I'm not gonna use that. We
33:47
have some we have some really really nice listeners, and I don't want to
33:52
offend anybody out there, but would I put the outline you would offend a
33:58
certain segment of the population with the word that you use exactly exactly. Jesus.
34:05
Well, we're gonna get into our thoughts on this trade that just happened
34:08
this past week. Flyers and the Ducks came to an agreement. The Flyers
34:13
ended up getting a pretty good defenseman now in Jamie Drysdale. In fact,
34:16
he played his first game tonight and again we're recording this January tenth, twenty
34:22
twenty four, and it's nice to see a really good defenseman out there too.
34:28
It was really good to assist a couple of shots on the goals.
34:30
So yeah, I mean, he's he's I mean, if he lives up
34:32
to his talent level, that could be your number one defenseman, something that
34:37
they need. Just you know, he's only twenty one, so it's about
34:40
living up to that. And you know he has had a couple, you
34:45
know, injuries that don't seem like the chronic, but you know, you
34:47
do worry, you know, whenever there's injuries early on. But yeah,
34:51
I mean he for for giving Goutier up and you know, especially where his
34:58
stock is now after the most recent World you know tournament. Yeah, I
35:04
mean, it was good to get a guy like Drysdale back. Absolutely.
35:07
Let's give a little context in a little history about Gotier and where this all
35:15
came from, or we should say there's a gap. There is a gap
35:19
as to why he made the decision that he made. So look, early
35:22
signs were all pretty positive, Gautier shot. He showed up to Developmental camp
35:29
after the twenty twenty two draft, took interviews with Flyers Beat writers at the
35:32
time, and as of late April twenty twenty three last year, he went
35:38
on a Boston area podcast and he seemed very much on board with the idea
35:43
of playing for John Tortorella. He shared, I don't know if you saw.
35:45
He shared an amusing antecdote about meeting him at camp the previous summer.
35:51
He seemed a little arrogant, quite frankly in that video podcast that I saw
35:55
the highlights for land anyway. Well, now you're looking at it in hindsight,
36:00
Yes, I am. You know, had you watched that before any
36:02
of this with down you like he believes himself exactly. Yeah, this guy,
36:08
this guy anyway. According to Danny Briere, following Gotier's standing or stand
36:15
out showing, I should say at the IIHF World Championships for Team USA,
36:20
and that was late in May, of last year, he informed the Flyers
36:22
had change your heart, didn't want to be on the team anymore, he
36:24
didn't want to be in Philadelphia, didn't want to sign with the Flyers.
36:30
So Flyers kind of had to keep this on the d L, you know,
36:34
they and they tried getting in contact with him, apparently a number of
36:37
times, but he refused to speak to the front office. I just cannot
36:42
imagine. I honestly cannot imagine the ego, the arrogance to to to be
36:49
this way, and for his camp to say, you know, this is
36:52
the way that we got to play things here. So, oh my gosh.
36:57
Anyway, skipped out on developmental camp this past year, and again just
37:01
the camp just no communication at all with the Flyers. They wanted to make
37:07
their stands clear, and they absolutely did so before anything leaked, I guess,
37:10
you know, out to the press or wherever they had to make this
37:15
trade wind and and yes they were forced into it, But as you were
37:19
saying with Jamie Drysdale, I think it's I think this has the potential to
37:23
work out, especially for the Philadelphia Flyers, because they were able to get
37:28
something that they really did need for the future. Now, is he gonna
37:30
be the top defenseman on this team. We don't know, of course,
37:35
but the talent is there for sure. And obviously go to he was a
37:39
cancer that we didn't know. You know, we had such high hopes for
37:44
him, but if you're gonna have an attitude like this, you're an absolute
37:46
cancer. And he would have been in the locker room. So I'm glad
37:49
he's gone. And like you said, yes, hindsight is twenty twenty,
37:52
but I'm still I'm so upset about this man, I really am, because
37:57
you take an entire say the entire rebuild, but a lot of what this
38:01
rebuild was was going to be contingent upon what he was going to be able
38:05
to do in the ice and building essentially components of this team perhaps around him
38:13
down the road. And it's just it amazes me that somebody so young could
38:19
be just so freaking cocky about who they are, their stock in themselves and
38:24
inevitably in what the league is as well. I'm just I'm absolutely disgusted by
38:30
it. So I don't know, quit talking here. What were your initial
38:34
thoughts, buddy, And you know, I think it probably ended up working
38:37
out for the best. Yeah, I mean, we talked about it before
38:43
the show. I initially I saw it on Facebook and I had to double
38:45
check and make sure it wasn't like you know, on Twitter, there's those
38:49
fake accounts where like the the the address is like a letter or so off
38:53
of what the real account is and they get people. Honestly, my first
38:58
thought was that's what I thought this was, and I had to go back
39:00
a couple of times and be like, oh, wait, no, this
39:01
is the Flyer's actual account. Holy hell. And then you know, read
39:06
up on it. Best case scenario and here's the thing, And I don't
39:09
know that we'll ever get it, because you know, I think Gotier and
39:14
his people just want to move past this and get on with their lives.
39:15
But I would really like to hear from all parties what all went down and
39:22
what all, because to me, the best case scenario is Goate is a
39:27
dumb, naive kid who doesn't know what he wants. A best case scenario
39:34
because because he did, you know, people were like, well he you
39:38
know, he got picked by the Flyers, you know, a choice where
39:40
he went. He told the Flyers leading up to the draft. You know,
39:45
I was built to be a Flyer. I want to play for this
39:46
team. So he told them, yes, draft me, you know.
39:52
Take contrast that with you know, Mitchkoff who basically told Arizona this past year
39:58
who was who was picking six, do not take me. I will not
40:01
show up, you know, And we tend to and Eli Manning did that
40:07
with the Chargers. Eric Lindross I think, did that? You know this
40:09
is I guess this has turned about his fair play because this happened in our
40:14
favor with Eric Lindross. Now it's happening against us with Cutter Gotier. But
40:19
you know, we do tend to complain when athletes do this and like,
40:23
oh, who do they think they are? Blah blah blah. Now I'm
40:27
thinking, in retrospect, I'd rather have them say that up front leading up
40:30
to a draft than tell us no, take me, and then a year
40:34
later decide, now I don't want to be here. That's a good point,
40:37
I honestly, quite frankly, that's a good point. As upset as
40:39
I am with this, you know, it's good that he wasn't on this
40:43
team already and setting those expectations even higher and then saying, yeah, you
40:49
know what, screw you guys. So I completely get where you're coming from
40:52
there. And I think that's why we just you know, just be up
40:54
front, just be honest. If you don't want to be here, then
40:58
tell us that beforehand. Yeah. Again, maybe maybe he was excited at
41:01
some point and maybe something changed. I don't know, but it's just that
41:06
that kind of stuff just irks you because you know, I'm looking at this
41:09
Flyers team and you know, we've been talking about this the past couple of
41:14
weeks. Do we want him to you know, should they still rebuild?
41:16
Should they should they go for it in terms of the playoffs, and the
41:21
cupboard is still I mean, at least when you had Gotier and Mitchkoff,
41:25
you had two offensive prospects you're dream about on your first line or even your
41:30
first two lines. Yeah, now you're just down to Mitchkoff and and you
41:34
know, there's really not enough to be up front in the forward position to
41:42
you know, make this a you know, yeah, there's some pieces that
41:45
are nice, you know, Forrester looks like he's going to be a decent
41:47
player. Bobby Brink, you know, has shown some stuff this year.
41:51
Oh and Tippett has shown some stuff. But you know, are those first
41:54
line guys. Yeah, are those guys absolute killers on your first line?
41:59
No, And you know you thought you had two pieces that now you're only
42:02
down to one, and that one piece is playing in a contrary where who
42:07
knows if World War three is going to break out? And this is ever
42:09
you know, you know what I mean, Like, it's plays for a
42:13
country that does not have good relations with the United States, So who knows.
42:21
So all of a sudden that that forward pool in your prospectful looks a
42:28
thin. Yeah, that's absolutely a little thin. You know, at some
42:31
point down the road, we're probably going to we're probably going to know the
42:35
reasons behind Gautier's decision to spurn the Flyers. Here, all we can do
42:40
is guess. There's so many different theories that are out there. I'm not
42:44
going to go through all of them because some of them I think are absolutely
42:46
ridiculous. And there are certain Philadelphia media outlets that are just trying to get
42:51
some clicks and trying to get some publicity themselves, which which really kind of
42:54
does stink for diehard Flyers fans who are really excited about where this team not
43:00
only has been going this season, but where they could go in the future
43:02
too, So I don't want to get into the hypothesis of like where this
43:06
actually came from the whole Kevin Hayes angle and you know, yeah, that's
43:10
that to me. For God's say, Yeah, it really doesn't. So
43:15
I mean, at the end of the day, I think his camp,
43:17
probably being as young as he is, and probably his camp being as young
43:22
as they are as well, saw an initial organization that was in turmoil and
43:29
probably just what was like, oh my gosh, you know what the heck
43:31
is going on here? I had a guy and Chuck Fletcher draft me,
43:35
and now he's gone, and you know what the hell's gonna happen with this
43:37
organization moving forward? Oh my gosh, I don't know. And just just
43:40
a panic mode. I mean that's what I honestly think happened, something as
43:44
simple as that, like a panic mode of well, here's the thing,
43:46
you're dumb enough, the panic because the Flyers fired Chuck Fletcher and I don't
43:51
want you on this team anyway. Exactly, exactly. Yes, all right,
43:55
buddy, good conversation. I'm glad we got to talk about the Flyers
43:59
for sure, as we did last week as well. Before I let you
44:02
go, Before we get to what we're thrown down on table this week?
44:05
Do you have any last thoughts as we're getting ready to head out of here
44:07
again? We got the Eagles playoff game this week that I'm just not looking
44:12
forward to. But you know what, Sixers, we're gonna be talking to
44:16
Jonathan Gibe here in a minute, you know, interesting stuff with them.
44:20
Unfortunately, they lost to the Hawks tonight in overtime, which really stunt But
44:24
look, they're a team where we're gonna be talking about the health of Joel
44:30
Embiid and some of the other players on this team as well in just a
44:31
few minutes. But I don't know, you have any last thoughts before we
44:36
head out of here? No, I mean, I just I'm excited to
44:39
see, you know what the Flyers continue to do here. It always feels
44:43
like like your highest on these teams when they're coming out of their worst thing
44:46
and it's like, oh, okay, the rebuilt's happening now, and yeah,
44:50
the possibilities are end less than they're exciting, And I feel like that's
44:52
where we're out with the Flyers now, more so than the other teams.
44:55
I mean, obviously the Phillies and and Sixers you know, I I still
45:00
have some level of belief in and then yeah, it'll be an interesting off
45:05
season as far as Eagles go. I genuinely, man, they got to
45:08
hit on these picks and they got defensive studs like they because they that talent
45:15
level is not what it is on the offensive side of the ball. It's
45:17
amazing, dude at all. Javon Hargrave getting rid of him, and you
45:22
see just where this pass rush dropped off significantly. Yes asan Reddick what his
45:28
fourth season with over ten sacks and stuff, which is great, but just
45:32
hardly any pass rush at all. Man, they got to get back to
45:36
that. And I thought we thought it was going to be okay this year.
45:38
Just not at all. Yeah, yeah, not these defensive coordinators.
45:43
Yeah, well, I mean they need to whatever they do, whatever they
45:46
decide to do defensive you need a new defensive coordinator and a whole new defensive
45:51
system in there. I mean, I don't want either decide where Matt Patricia
45:55
there next year. Well that's the thing. It's not just schematic, it's
46:00
systematic or systemic. I should say it's a systemic problem. At this point,
46:04
they have to actually have to go back to the drawing boards me take
46:07
a couple of years here exactly. Yeah, that's yeah, I mean this
46:12
might not be a quick fix. Nope, nope. All right, buddy,
46:15
I will let you go. Let you get some sleep here, and
46:19
uh, it's good talking to you at Len Hunsicker on Twitter slash x and
46:23
buddy, I'll talk to you at some point down the road. Yeah,
46:25
all right, feel feel free to follow me unless you're one of these fake
46:29
female bots that I get every single day for God's sakes, that I have
46:34
to block. And no, you're not real people, stop, I tell
46:37
you. Since since uh freaking goofy Elon took this over, man, it's
46:43
really the the Old West again, it is. I mean, there's just
46:47
no oversight on on who's creating fake accounts here and who's not. I thought
46:52
the bots were going to be taken care of, that's what he promised.
46:55
Yeah. Well they they've they've quadrupled them out, I think, so.
47:00
Yes, gosh, all right, well then I'll let you go, buddy,
47:05
and we're gonna take a quick break. We will be back in just
47:07
a bit with some sixers talk. Stay with us, all right, we
47:12
are back. Let's get into some Philadelphia seventy six ers talk. It's what
47:15
we're throwing down on the table and now on the table. And it is
47:22
great to have on the podcast joining us from the sixercents dot Com. Love
47:27
the writers over there, love the content they're putting up the sixercents dot Com.
47:30
We've got the one and only Jonathan Gibe. How you doing, Buddy,
47:34
I'm doing well. It's great to be back. Thanks for having me.
47:36
We got some big sixer stuff to talk about. Very much. Appreciate
47:39
you taking the time. Jonathan. Yeah, Yeah, go ahead, buddy,
47:44
Yeah, absolutely, I was gonna ask how you've been. I've been
47:46
doing okay, you know, I mean we we are a podcast that focuses
47:51
on the five major Philly sports teams, and right now, I mean it's
47:54
good to talk sixers because I need a break from this Philadelphia Eagles team,
48:00
really do. So it is you know, my my co host Len and
48:02
I. Yeah, we we had we had some interesting discussions for bringing you
48:07
on here, and uh, I just I need to talk some sixers because
48:12
like there's there's that hope that we have right here. But that hope,
48:15
Jonathan, as you know, is you know, it's kind of been up
48:19
and down a little bit as of late because of one joe El Embiid and
48:23
because of his health, And that's what I wanted to get into first in
48:27
terms of our conversation here. So, I mean, last week, my
48:30
co host Lenin and I we talked about how his health can really only hold
48:34
this team back during the latter part of the season and as we look to
48:37
the playoffs. And I think everybody knows that conventional wisdom, everybody kind of
48:40
knows that, but it seems like from an overall team cohesiveness perspective and Beads
48:45
health can either just make or break where this team is gonna end up going
48:50
this year. And with so much promise that we have seen during the course
48:54
of this season, and specifically at certain moments too, in certain games that
48:58
they have won, you know, in Beids health, it's just it's just
49:01
teetering up there at this point. It's like on the scale, just going
49:05
back and forth. So I'm wondering, on a scale of one to ten,
49:08
ten being the most concerned, how concerned are you about Joel Embiid's health
49:14
as we move into you know, this part of the season here. Yeah,
49:17
So that's a really good question. I'm gonna go with a level four
49:21
out of town. Okay, So I think it was when he first got
49:24
injured and wasn't playing like on Christmas Day, I was like, all right,
49:28
maybe not too much, but yeah, I mean the more concerning part
49:30
to me was that he got hurt, he came back for the next game,
49:34
and now he's out again. He's gonna miss two games in a row.
49:37
So it's like, did he come back too soon? Was it more
49:38
serious than originally thought? Was there a possible reinjury? So, I mean,
49:44
I'm optimistic that it's not like who too serious, but I mean,
49:47
yeah, I think the the radar meter on the scale is definitely going up
49:52
pretty fast. So uh. The one interesting thing I was going to bring
49:55
up is after tonight's game, he's only able to miss eight games to still
50:00
be eligible for an NBA award. Obviously that's mainly the MVP awards. Interesting,
50:05
Yeah, yeah, do you think that like that is something in the
50:08
back of his head and that he might push towards the end of the season
50:12
when he shouldn't if he's on that line of games played. I wonder if
50:15
because and and I guess it's not necessarily a question for you. It's just
50:21
one of those rhetorical questions of I wonder if because he has won the MVP
50:24
Award at this point in his career, that the next logical that award that
50:30
I want is to be able to hold that trophy, you know, to
50:32
be able to hold that championship. Therefore, it leads me to believe that
50:37
he would much rather have the championship than repeating as MVP. I think he
50:44
has shown over time. I think he has shown the fan base in particular,
50:49
even if his teammates, you know, and this is a team that
50:51
has certainly changed during the beginning of his tenure. I mean, my gosh,
50:54
we have seen so many changes that he has gone through. At the
50:58
end of the day, that championship, I think is really what he wants.
51:00
That's what's most concerning to him, instead of any other individual awards.
51:06
That's what I think. Maybe that's Pie and this guy think coming from me,
51:08
you know, I don't know. I like to think that's the case
51:13
too. I mean, we will see. He did campaign in previous years
51:15
and seems to have been declining how much he publicly campaigned. So I hope
51:20
you're right too, Yes, absolutely, all right, Well, let's also
51:23
get into some other injuries that we've seen with a couple other players that have
51:28
wanted to get your thoughts on here, Jonathan, because you know embiids he
51:31
has not been the only starter who has been injured as of late. Tobia
51:35
har and Tobias Harris he missed some time on the court, so did Anthony
51:38
Melton. I mean, these are two players who I think need to be
51:42
healthy as well if this team is going to remain a top team in the
51:45
Eastern Conference. They have their strengths. Of course, they have their weaknesses
51:50
as well, but I think you know, with these two particular players,
51:53
you know what they do on the court and what we've seen from them this
51:57
year. They're an integral part of this team. I mean, we saw
52:00
the Sixers team my gosh, they folded against the Jazz without both of these
52:05
guys on the court. So I was hoping you could get into what both
52:08
Tobias Harris is and d Anthony Melton's presence means for this Sixers team long term
52:15
this year as we haven't seen them, you know, every now and then
52:19
on the court as of late, you know, what does their presence mean
52:22
for this team? Yeah? No, I mean, it's huge, and
52:25
it goes far beyond the box score, which I feel like people don't always
52:28
realize. And it looks like we lucked out because Tobias's X rays were negative
52:31
on his foot ankle, and Melton, I think, came back to practice
52:35
on Monday, so we're optimistic also that they're coming back. Melton, clearly
52:38
his biggest strength is on his defense. He's usually guarding the first or second
52:43
best player on the opposing team, which is huge, Like that's someone that
52:45
when you don't have that, other teams can attack and play better on the
52:50
wing too. But he's able to stretch the floor, probably more than people
52:54
think because he even though he's not like a prolific shooter, he can still
52:57
knock shots down and that cress creates space on the floor. So Melton's huge.
53:01
But Tobias I've always supported him. I mean, you and I've talked
53:05
before. Everyone talks about his contract, but ye, like put that aside.
53:08
He makes he makes the like the most of the shots that he gets.
53:12
He shoots extremely efficiently. He is okay taking the third or fourth amount
53:15
of shots and he makes the most of that. And that's the kind of
53:19
player who compliments Joel and be the most and I think that's why he is
53:22
so important, someone that helps Embiid also play his game better. So I
53:28
think like they are extremely valuable, even when it goes beyond the box scot
53:31
score and Tobias I always bring up the last two postseasons. He has probably
53:37
been the most consistent player on this team, not only just being in the
53:40
lineup, but just on both ends of the floor. His game doesn't waiver
53:43
from regular season to postseason. Yeah, so I really think that's important.
53:46
We can't get these guys back soon enough. Absolutely. Look, there was
53:51
that one postseason games this last year where he had what two points, you
53:54
know, and that was kind of an anomaly. It was an anomaly.
53:57
But like you, you know, I've always been somebody who has supported Tobias
54:01
Harris. We understand what the contract was, but he's a steady Eddy type
54:06
of player. That's what he's always betten. Yes, he'll throw up a
54:08
stinker every now and then, but it seems like the fan base really really
54:13
hones in on those stinkers more than they do the consistency of what his game
54:16
is. That's been the most frustrating for me. Yeah. Absolutely, they
54:20
couldn't have said it better myself. It's way easier to critique him than it
54:24
is to give him praise. But if you look at his shooting consistently,
54:28
he's very efficient and gets the job done absolutely. All right, Well,
54:30
I want to get into some three point shooting with this team here, because
54:34
as of late, my gosh, Jonathan, it has been terrible for this
54:37
Sixers team. In fact, one of your colleagues I've recently read over at
54:42
sixercents dot com wrote about how this is just a major problem of course in
54:47
recent losses to the Jazz and the Knicks. So when you look at this
54:52
three point shooting here, what have you been seeing as of late when it
54:54
comes to their shooting beyond the arc? And can this be corrected soon?
54:59
Here? Is this just the just situationally or just you know, a blip
55:04
on the radar? How can this be corrected here? Yeah? So,
55:07
I mean you mentioned it. The Jazz eighteen point four percent we shot from
55:10
behind three point range, that's insane. The Knicks was twenty six point one.
55:14
And if you go back like two more games, so three out of
55:16
last four we were twenty eight percent and the Bulls loss. And I know
55:20
Embiid played during the Knicks game, but that was I think there's like a
55:22
little bit of continuity getting him from not playing to playing. So my true
55:27
belief is the biggest reason that the three point shooting suffers is the absence of
55:30
Embiid because the attention that he draws on the offensive end is probably unmatched to
55:35
the NBA. So when he's on the floor, shooters are getting maybe a
55:37
foot six inches more space to shoot, and for a professional basketball player,
55:43
that's huge, And I truly do think it's as simple as that. So
55:45
in my opinion, the best way to correct this is just getting Embid healthy.
55:49
I think that having him back in the lineup allows the shooters to feel
55:52
more free and something else I noticed, I think it's also part of the
55:55
three point shooting. Maxi sometimes when he's like the main guy and beads out,
56:00
he looks like he forces some things trying to get the offense going.
56:04
So I think Mbid getting back in the lineup is the biggest, biggest piece.
56:07
But I don't know if you see anything else that you think might help.
56:09
I think it's a great point, not just with Maxi, but I
56:12
think there's some other players too coming off the bench, where when Embiid is
56:15
out, they feel like they need to put more on their shoulders. And
56:19
maybe rightfully so, I don't know, because like on this podcast, and
56:22
I know, you know, you know you talk you know on your podcast,
56:25
and and and others have said that Joel Embiid this season has been it's
56:32
well, it's amazing how he continues to grow as a player. And when
56:37
you don't have that even that even who he was last season, but now
56:40
this season with that continual growth, it lends itself where I understand other players
56:46
on this team are feeling like, man, I really got to put that
56:50
much more on my shoulders, even if they probably shouldn't or even if they
56:53
can't. I understand that vibe in a way, but it may makes me
57:00
think that, Okay, that's when Nick Nurse needs to come in and say,
57:02
you just need to hone in on you know what your particular those positive
57:07
traits are that you have what you bring to the court. And I'm not
57:10
criticizing Nick Nurse. I'm just saying, like, I think it's natural for
57:15
this team and Joel embids teammates to want to put more on their shoulders because
57:21
that's what he essentially has been doing this season. I don't know if that
57:22
makes any sense to you. Yeah, no it does. He sets a
57:25
great example and then you see just how big of a gap he leaves when
57:30
he's not there. So no, I completely agree. I think there's a
57:34
reason they're trying to do that. Absolutely Again, folks talking to Jonathan Gube
57:38
from the Sixersense dot com. Check out everything they're doing over there, great
57:43
great fan sided site. You know, we love our fan sided sites here
57:45
at the PSD podcast show. And as we're moving along here, Jonathan,
57:50
you know, there there's a lot of talent on this team, and when
57:52
things gel, they look like a fantastic team that cannot be beat. But
57:58
we know that that is not all the case for sure. I Mean sometimes
58:01
we look at certain players and wonder why they you know, they aren't able
58:05
to get it together for a certain period of time. We mentioned earlier Tobias
58:07
Harris putting up he'll put up a stinker every now and again. We're wondering,
58:12
you know, why does that actually happen? But I'm wondering which player
58:15
on this team, in your opinion, really needs to start stepping up their
58:19
game at this point in January, given everything we've talked about challenges with regard
58:23
to injuries and you know, whether it's the upcoming schedule or whatever, who
58:29
needs to really start stepping up their game here on this team. Yeah,
58:34
I think the player that I'm looking at most is Kelly you Brice. So
58:37
like early in the season when he came in, he was scoring and he
58:39
actually looked really like showing consistent effort on the defensive end of the floor,
58:45
which is not something you can say he's done in his NBA career. But
58:47
over the past month or so, he seems to be a little more inconsistent.
58:51
I know that he's coming in and out of the lineup because Nick Nurse
58:53
has to start him some games and sit him because of the fluidity that we've
58:58
had with injuries. So I'm sure that can be tough, But I just
59:01
think that his consistency on defense needs to stick because he I mean, we
59:06
see Knights he shoots lights out, like he can shoot sixty percent from three,
59:09
and then there's Knights when he can't hit anything. Yeah, but we
59:13
know players go through those slumps, players have bad shooting nights. But what
59:15
you can make up Ford is showing that defensive like aggressiveness, specifically with melting
59:21
out like Ubright if he's engaged, can be top one or two defenders on
59:24
this team. So we really do need that. So maybe Nick Nurse once
59:29
we get a more healthy lineup, Kelly Eubray falls into more of a comfortability
59:32
with a role. But that's who I really am looking at to step up
59:36
defensively mainly. But is there anyone else you see on this roster that you'd
59:38
like to see step up? Oh? Boy, I think you nailed it
59:43
right there. I think you nailed it with him because I and something I've
59:46
talked about a decent amount of this podcast is the need. And I know
59:51
that defense is not sexy in the NBA anymore. I know that it's not.
59:53
But I think when it comes to playoff time, we've seen time and
59:57
time again with the Sixers team, you know, getting getting you know,
1:00:00
booted in the second round. If there were more defensive plays being made,
1:00:05
if there was a defense, if there was more defensive minded play from certain
1:00:08
players, then I'm not saying they would have made it to the Eastern Conference
1:00:14
by any stretch, but it may have helped. It may have helped for
1:00:17
sure, So I think with Kelly, what you're saying is absolutely correct,
1:00:21
for sure. Absolutely so. All right, Well, moving on to our
1:00:24
last topic here before I let you go, Jonathan to trade talk trade talk.
1:00:30
The deadline is going to be coming up here, so I'm wondering two
1:00:34
part question. I'll get in the first one here, which Sixers do you
1:00:37
think could be actually traded before the deadline. I know that piece was put
1:00:42
up on the sixercents dot com recently about this. You know, six potential
1:00:45
guys that may have been that maybe looked at as being gone from the Sixers
1:00:50
team. But in reality, logically, who do you think could be traded
1:00:54
before the deadline? Yeah? So, I think there's two names that come
1:00:58
right to mind. I mean, Tobias Harris is on the name in trade
1:01:00
talk year after year after year, and I'm not saying that I want want
1:01:04
him to be traded, but he's on an expiring contract, so that can
1:01:06
be attractive to certain teams who are trying to go for it. Now,
1:01:09
the other name I would keep an eye on is Jaden Springer. Now,
1:01:12
as I said, I don't want Tobias to be traded, and I don't
1:01:15
want Jayden to be traded. But if we're looking at who could be traded,
1:01:17
I think those are the two names that other teams would find most desirable.
1:01:22
Tobias can stretch the floor. As I said, he's an efficient shooter,
1:01:24
and I think Jaden Springer has some untapped potential that a lot of teams
1:01:29
would like to see. I mean, I don't compare his game exactly to
1:01:31
Isaiah Joe, but like the Sixers gave up on Isaiah Joe and we see
1:01:35
him thriving in OKAC, So I think that player development needs to be a
1:01:38
bigger thing here. We knew that wasn't a huge thing with Doc Rivers.
1:01:42
I think Nick Nurse is more brought into that. So I hope that neither
1:01:45
of them do get traded. But I think if you're looking at assets that
1:01:47
you want to make this roster better, those are probably the two players that
1:01:52
other teams would be most interested in. Yeah, I did. I think
1:01:54
in that article on sixercents dot com it was interesting Nicholas Batoom. You know,
1:02:00
I'm wondering if he could potentially be a trade piece as well. Yes,
1:02:02
he's averaging six point three points per game, three point eight rebounds,
1:02:07
two point two assists, in twenty four and a half minutes per game over
1:02:10
the past nineteen games. So I mean shooting what fifty five point three percent
1:02:15
from the field. And I mean, yes, he's older, you know,
1:02:20
you're thirty five years old. But I think it'd be interesting, you
1:02:23
know, if they could potentially get something for him as they are looking to
1:02:30
bring in, you know, a potential blue chip player, I guess,
1:02:32
which leads me to the last question here is what are you hoping that Daryl
1:02:37
Morey does right before the trade deadline? Here? I mean, what do
1:02:42
you hope really happens, whether it is you know, getting rid of certain
1:02:45
guys on this team, possibly getting a blue chip player, if they actually
1:02:49
could potentially do that, what are your thoughts here? Yeah, So going
1:02:53
into the season, when we traded hard and away early on the season,
1:02:57
I thought this roster as constructed was not going to be too great. I
1:03:00
thought they were like four to fifth, I mean or maybe third in the
1:03:04
East at like a ceiling, but they were a fear below Milwaukee and Boston.
1:03:08
Yeah, I no longer think that. I truly think if this team's
1:03:12
healthy, they're probably a little below Boston, but they're competitive with Milwaukee and
1:03:15
maybe better because of I mean, they just are extremely inconsistent. Lost four
1:03:20
or five they've done Milwaukee. They beat the Bucks this year, Yeah,
1:03:24
they absolutely And I think the Bucks are questionable. So you pointed out earlier
1:03:30
how this team has some talent, but I think the most important thing is
1:03:32
they gel together, like you said, and and Beid notices that this.
1:03:37
I think watching the Sixers, this is the most comfortable I've seen em Beid
1:03:40
on a professional basketball court with this team. And I think it's because there's
1:03:44
no other superstar quote unquote. I mean, I know Ben Simmons wasn't that,
1:03:47
but he got that kind of attention. Then you had Harden, And
1:03:50
I just think that Harris Maxi is a superstar, but he doesn't draw that
1:03:53
attention. He also knows this is Joell Eenbid's team. So I am very
1:03:58
hesitant at this trade deadline to to make any moves. Now, with that
1:04:01
said, I completely understand. Darryl Mory is someone who will turn over every
1:04:05
single stone. Yes, sometimes do it for no reason, just to just
1:04:10
it's almost seems like he, yeah, he makes a trade, I gotta
1:04:12
do it. I gotta do something. Yeah. Can you imagine him going
1:04:16
through a trade deadline. Without making a move, it won't happen. So
1:04:20
I also acknowledge that we could upgrade at like the three and D position,
1:04:25
but in the spirit of continuity, I'm looking for a three and D player
1:04:28
who can come off the bench but also start, so they don't have that
1:04:31
like ego where they need to start. The kind of person I'm looking at,
1:04:34
like, the one name I really like is Alex Caruso. We know
1:04:38
the Bulls are probably gonna be buyer sale hopefully. I know Zach Lavine obviously,
1:04:43
Demarto Rosen's being talked about Vucevich, so if they're blowing it all up,
1:04:45
Cruso might be might be an asset we could get. He kind of
1:04:49
fits that unselfish role. He's fits like a like a no ego, blue
1:04:54
collar kind of vibe that the city loves. And that's the kind of player
1:04:58
I'd like to see on this team. But in general, well, I
1:05:00
really don't want to mess it up because I said on the six per Cents
1:05:02
podcast, our number one goal is winning the championship, but a very close
1:05:05
number like one D is keeping Joel Embiid happy, and this seems to be
1:05:10
the happiest he's been playing in a while. I don't know if you see
1:05:14
any other trades that you might want to do, but I don't know.
1:05:16
I'd mean the one name out there that and I don't know how it would
1:05:19
work with this team, but I've always found you know, Pascal Siakam is
1:05:25
one name being linked to the Sixers as somebody who could potentially be interesting for
1:05:29
this team. But at the end of the day, like you said it,
1:05:32
keeping Joel Embiid happy is the top priority for what this front office needs
1:05:40
and should do. I we talked on this podcast so many other media outlets
1:05:45
as well. I mean over the past year, it was we got to
1:05:47
keep Joel Embid happy if he's going to stay here long term. And I
1:05:51
think this particular trade dead first off, getting rid of James Harden was absolutely
1:05:58
a way for them to keep Joel Embiid happy. And we've seen what happened
1:06:01
has happened with this season, and you know, to keep him happy at
1:06:05
the trade deadline, I think a Pascal Siakam perhaps uh might might might do
1:06:11
this team well. And uh then again, he could potentially clash with Joel
1:06:15
Embiid, you know, who demands the ball and in similar areas as we
1:06:20
know. But uh, I don't know, you know, maybe you get
1:06:24
rid of Paul Reid, you know, bring in uh Pascal Siaka, who
1:06:27
knows. Anyway, it's a I don't know, but I love your thoughts
1:06:30
about you know what, maybe Daryl Mordge you shouldn't do anything. Maybe he
1:06:33
just shouldn't do anything and keep the continuity where it's at right now. But
1:06:39
then again, you're banking on this team staying healthy too, So it's a
1:06:43
it's a fun discussion. It's tough. It is. It's tough, and
1:06:46
I don't think as constructed this team is like a title favorite or maybe can
1:06:51
win, but it's just that that growth like this team I think can get
1:06:55
out of the second round, which is what we haven't done in six years,
1:06:58
so being in the putive here, So yeah, hopefully we'll see We
1:07:01
will see again, folks. Jonathan Gube from the Sixersense dot Com. Check
1:07:06
out everything they're doing over there. Jonathan, buddy, it was great to
1:07:10
talk to you. Come back on the show. I'd love to talk more
1:07:13
Sixers, more NBA with you down the road, my friend, absolutely anytime.
1:07:16
I appreciate you having me on. Thanks so the Sixers are one of
1:07:20
those teams where I sit back and I'm like, I just don't know what
1:07:24
they should do. Actually, I mean, look, we had a great
1:07:27
discussion there with Jonathan, and I think that when you look at where this
1:07:31
team is at, there are different directions they could go. If Darryl Moury
1:07:35
wants to truly make a trade, if he wants to unload some guys,
1:07:42
if he wants to bring in potential compliments to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxi,
1:07:47
So there are definitely avenues that he can go. However, I really do
1:07:50
like what Jonathan was saying too. If it's like, if it's not broken,
1:07:55
let's not try to fix it. Let's not try to put a square
1:07:59
peg in a round hole here. Let's just not try to fix Joel Embiid's
1:08:05
happiness, because he is very happy right now. At least it seems like
1:08:11
he is probably the happiest that he has ever been in terms of a team
1:08:14
here in Philadelphia. So it could be really interesting. And we're gonna keep
1:08:16
talking about this Sixers team. We're gonna keep talking about what may happen before
1:08:20
this trade deadline, and that's gonna do it. For us folks, if
1:08:25
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1:08:56
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1:08:59
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1:09:08
follow at Len Hunsicker on Twitter slash x. I hate that I'm saying that,
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however, I guess we have to start it at some point. So
1:09:17
anyway, folks, take care and we will catch you next time. Oh
1:09:24
boy, let's go Philly Sports