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Will The Sixers Elevate Their Game Down The Stretch? (PST Episode 656) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, close
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to thirteen years strong. April will be our thirteenth year.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Can I believe we are still doing this? I'm Jeff Warren.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: We are my buddy Len Hunsicker almost thirteen. Buddy, that
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: makes two of us. You are still here. Nothing just
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the silence. The silence speaks volumes, folks. I know there's
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the things that we have discussed on this podcast platform
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: over the years, not just in the world of Philly sports,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: just like in general. Like we have had a good time,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: you know what. I think bringing Eric on was a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: good idea because I don't know if you'd still be
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: here if Eric was you know what I mean.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Having the having the flexibility of like, you know, hey,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I can't do it this week, can you do it that? Yes,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: it makes it a million times easier.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I remember when we had to have our discussion. I
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: remember when we had to have our co host discussion,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: because remember we were at Eric's house that one time
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: and we were like, I remember you were getting a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: little frustrated, I think with me with how serious I
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: was taking the show and you're like, listen, we need
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: to talk.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: This isn't this isn't high level exactly broadcast, you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: let's dial it back a bit.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I remember that. I remember being like, I remember talking
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: to my wife and she's like, yeah, you need to
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: realize this isn't like your full time job. This is
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: not bringing in all the money.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I'm glad she backed me up on that.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Absolutely yes, But like we've had aside from that, there
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: hasn't been like discord. I don't over these past almost
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: thirteen years.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: So definitely not.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: It's a good run. Let's do another thirteen here, come.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: On, I'm not gonna be alive that long.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Oh my god. Well maybe our co host won't. Who knows, jesus.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: He kind of touched on it a little bit.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, I didn't know if if he had mentioned it
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: at all.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Touched on it a little bit.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: He did.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: So, well, folks, we got a good show. We got
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: a great show actually this week, because we're gonna get
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: into some Phillies spring training storylines. I can't believe I'm
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: saying that right now. Baseball is back. Baseball's back then,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: thank god, No.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Oh my god. It's been really nice to you. Know
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: when you're when you're freezing up here, it'd be like, oh,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: that looks nice. Even if you're not there, it does
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: look nice.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And to piggyback off of that, we're also going
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to be diving into some of the decisions that NBC
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Sports Philly has made. As we all know, they're not
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: bringing back Tarren Hatcher. Mike Schmidt, he's not going to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: be back either. He's stepping away from the broadcast booth
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: after I believe twelve years or so. We just want
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: to give our thoughts on how the broadcasts have been
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: changing in terms of the personalities over the years and
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: really what it means to the overall product. From there,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: we're going to be diving into some Eagles off season talk,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and then from there I'm gonna get into some Flyers
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: talk as well. Should we be rooting for this Flyers
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: team to get possibly into the playoffs as we have
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: this latter part of the season ahead of us here,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: or do we hope that they just bag the season
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: and look for some real top talent in the NHL Draft,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: essentially tank the season. So we're gonna dive into that
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and then what we're thrown down on the table. We
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: got our good friend Sean Bernard from Fox Sports Phillies,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: The Gambler. He's from DraftKings as well. He does writing
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: over there, does some writing at Crossing broad too. We're
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: gonna dissect this Philadelphia seventy six ers team as they
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: have come out of the All Star break and what
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: can this team be really for the rest of this season?
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Can they get to the postseason? And there's a bunch
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: of storylines we're gonna be getting into. So then let's
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: start off our discussion with baseball. Yes, baseball, it's on
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: our screens. We got to see the Phillies playing down
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in Florida. Man, it was just like it was. It
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: was just so nice to see it really was, because
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: you got Kyle Schwarber hitting hitting some bombs. And also
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: you've got one guy who I mentioned on the show
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: last week and Justin Crawford who is uh doing some
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: interesting stuff thus far. Yeah, some good defense we've seen
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: from him as well. We've actually seen him batting well
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: out of the gate. There's gonna be some ups and
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: downs with him, but it's just it's exciting that we're
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: actually seeing him doing what he's doing so far. In
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: my opinion.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I mean having that the first game, I
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: mean his first Batty comes up and hits a double
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: and you're just like, okay, yeah, you know, trying to
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: not keep yourself from like, you know, Rookie of the Year,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you know, right, right, or anything done like that.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: But yeah, and then, in true Philly's fashion, two batters
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: after him didn't advance him at all. The third.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Get used to that.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I really think. I mean, he and of
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: course Andrew Paynter two the biggest storylines heading into this season.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: We're already seeing some good stuff from Justin Crawford, and yes,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: temper expectations, folks, but I think think the fact of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the matter is he's gonna end up being the center
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: fielder for this team. And at the end of the day,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: while there will be some hiccups here and there in
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the batter's box, it's exciting to know that the farm
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: system is getting back to some sort of relevancy and
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: we're seeing that with him, you know, we're gonna see it.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: We're seeing that with Painter in some way shape or
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: form Aiden Miller perhaps as well. I mean our friend
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: of the pod Eric Morritelli from that balls out of
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: here dot Com over at fan Sided was on the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Table Talk interview show this week, or I'm sorry he
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: was on last week. I'm sorry he was on last
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: week and talking about he thinks how Aiden Miller could potentially,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you know, he could he could make things difficult in
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: terms of some decision making for the Phillies front office,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: in terms of what to do at the start of
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the season. So I just think the farm system is
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: producing now. I mean it's not like it's not like
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers farm system by a stretch, you know, but
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the fact is they're producing, and that's that's a that's
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: a good thing I think for this Phillies organization.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, yeah. And I think the one of the
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: cool things about this spring training is that with the
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: World Baseball Classic coming up, it's gonna be a twofold
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: benefit because first of all, you're going to get to
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: see games that matter in starting in early March. So yeah,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: that'll be that'll be something cool. It's not just like, Okay,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: here's this team and here's a guy that's going to
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: be the backup outfield or in Lehigh Valley next year.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: You know, like this year that's got no hope to
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: make the team. You're going to be seen a lot
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: of those guys through the course of this spring training,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: just like you do any spring training really yea. But
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: so you've got those games that matter, you know, national matchups,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: that'll be cool with all those stars. But then while
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: they're gone, that gives hopefully more opportunity for some of
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: these kids. Hopefully we do get to see more of
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Aiden Miller. You know, maybe maybe they move bom across
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: the diamond to first base and Bryce Harper's absence and
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Aiden Miller gets some reps at third or or the
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: you know, they just move some guys around and just
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: try some different things that would be really cool to
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: see and and just seeing you know, some of those
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: young guys just continue to get reps, continue to get
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: at bats, Guys like even like a little bit further
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: down the prospect list, like a run Escobar, Guys like
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Dante Nori, people like that that you know you've heard
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: good things about last year. Can they build upon that?
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: And you know, we won't see a lot of it
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: this year because they will be in the minors and
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: those games aren't always televised, but you will at least
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: get a peek this year, and you'll be able to
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: see them and maybe in more so of an extended
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: you know run, because like I said, you know, a
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: lot of the big bats might be away at at
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: you know, the WBC. Yeah.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Another another storyline I'm gonna be really keeping my eye
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: on Len too is the fact that the Philadelphia Phillies
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: their biggest free agent acquisition uh this year, it was
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: actually a guy named Adolas Garcia. And you know what,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of people just aren't talking about it because
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: it's it seems like there's just I mean, there's not
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: really that much excite in terms of like what he
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: might actually give the team. Is he gonna be like
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: wit Maryfield. You know, some people are saying yeah, But
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: like I think, I think it's gonna be interesting to
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: watch what he does during spring training, non non tendered
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: at the start of the offseason. He's looking to bounce
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: back after back to back down years with the Rangers.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I think Adulas Garcia and where his game goes kind
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: of right out of the gate is going to be
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: an important storyline for this Phillies team.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I mean absolutely, this is the you know, in a
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: lineup where it's pretty much the same and you're hoping
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: for something a little bit different, and you're hoping to
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: get more than you got out of Castianos last year. Yeah,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: he's gonna be He's either gonna make them look really
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: smart or really dumb. I mean, like you said, he
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: had two bad years. Twenty twenty three, he was absolutely
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: lethal in leading the Rangers to that World Series championship.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I mean he was lights out, you know at the plate.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: So if maybe these past two years were some sort
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: of you know, medical aberration, and you know, we get
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: the guy from twenty twenty three, I mean, Dombrowski's gonna
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: look like a genius. But you know, if not, then
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: it's just going to be okay, more the same. You
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: got essentially the same bat that you had with Casianos
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and slightly better defense and right field. He will bring
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: you better defense in right field than Casianos brought. But
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you know, can he can he do it with the
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: bats still, that's going to be a huge thing to monitor.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Yep, let us know what you're thinking about. If you're
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, leave us a comment below about what
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you're specifically going to be focusing on in this Philly
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: spring training. We'd love to hear from you, and as
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: we're moving along here, Lenn, I think it's going to
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: be interesting for us to really kind of take in
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: with the broadcast is going to be at this point,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: because I think we were all a little bit shocked
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: when we learned this past week that Tarren Hatcher her
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: contract was not reading dude by NBC Sports Philadelphia. I
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: really thought she brought a lot to the broadcasts. I
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: really did.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed her being out in the crowd. You know,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: she's talking with fans in Ashburnaley and they're eating all
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: different kinds of food every now and again. You know,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: she brought a different angle to the broadcasts in general. Meanwhile,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: you've got Mike Schmidt who's on during Sunday home games.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: After twelve years, he is stepping away, and I didn't
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: mind that at all. To be honest, I would fall
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: asleep when Mike Schmidt would be talking, quote analyzing the game.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: No disrespect to one of the greatest third basements to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: ever play the game, but I just I think it's
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: interesting how these decisions are being made because the Phillies,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the Sixers, and the Flyers, they have a say in
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: some way, shape or form and the hiring and firing
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: and contract decisions pertaining to they're broadcasting folks. And that
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: was the case with Tarren Hatcher, and it's it's interesting
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: these type of decisions that are made. I thought Tarran
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: brought a lot to the broadcast, and now she's not
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: gonna be there. You know, there's maybe they're getting away
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: from the quote sideline reporters type of stuff because there's
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: you know, there's no more Serena Williams, Katie em Er,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: There's no more of these ladies and and guys necessarily
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: like I miss I miss Murph, you know, I was.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I was just gonna bring him up in terms of
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: what you're going to see him. You know. I think
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: maybe they're gonna do like you have Jim Salisbury be around.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, he is coming back, I think.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: You know, yeah, buy and large, like the typical you know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: person in the crowd and things like that. It seems
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: like they're going away from that. And I agree with
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: you on on both both counts. I liked Hatcher. I
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: thought she was you know, personal, did good stuff with
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the you know, outside of the game stuff like whenever. Yeah,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I always enjoyed like whenever, you know, she'd be talking
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: about a ballpark food item and she's vegan, so she'd
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: be like, oh, I took the chicken out of the sandwich,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: and they'd take it back to the booth and Kruck
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: would start, you know, you know, cracking on vegans, and
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: you know, those who would go back and forth. It
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: was a good dynamic. It was it added, you know,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: a little funny thing to the broadcast. So yeah, I
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: mean I think that kind of sucks. I mean, but
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: I think she had done something nationally, like in playoffs
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: like a couple of years ago, and I remember thinking
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: to myself, Oh, I wonder if this is the beginning
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: of her moving up the ladder from a regional thing
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: to it more of a national thing. Maybe maybe that's
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: something that she has in her back pocket or something.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, I don't know what else
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: she has currently going on, but that maybe I don't
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: know who knows. But yeah, and then with Schmidt, Yeah
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I tend to agree with you because those lazy Sunday
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: afternoon games and just yeah, I mean it's lazy.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: His lazy voice. Maybe want to fall asleep.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, you gotta you gotta spread the spread the
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: wealth I mean it's not you know, you're not always
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: gonna have you know, Kruck in the booth there, and yeah,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: not really a fan of Schmidt. Not really too much
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: of a fan of Tomorrow in the booth, to be
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: honest with you. So yeah, they're gonna have to I know,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Cruks kind of on a limited schedule, so they're gonna
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: have to figure some stuff out there to make that
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: broadcast a little better.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you, Ruben Tomorrow's junior, that guy just lands
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: on his feet everywhere he goes. I mean, I mean,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: aside from being a GM then to a first base
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: coach for another team and.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Then bad boy when he was a kid announce her
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: like he he may have. I mean, I don't know
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: if he's ever been a manager for the Phillies. I
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: don't think he has. But I mean other than that,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, has he filled every position within this this
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: team probably has he held every job that you can
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: have with this team at this point. So yeah, it's
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: it's pretty interesting. It's just like, all right, my time
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: at this position is ended. All right, I'll take this
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: job within the organization absolutely. I mean, hey, it's that
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: kind of stability is pretty good. If he can get it.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, he's got the relationships obviously within the organization. They
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: love him for whatever reason. So Len, take that swig.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a break. As you're taking a swig,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: What do you got some good whiskey?
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: There?
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Is that from your birthday? Is that from your birth No?
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: It was actually one of the bottles, like a bottle
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: that I had before. Okay, the onslaught of whiskey that
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: that you guys had all gotten me. So yeah, so.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: You've got enough whiskey to last you, like the next
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: ten years.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I don't need to buy anything else. I don't need
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: to get anything else for quite some time.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, everybody, we are going to take a break.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Len's gonna take another swig here, and we're gonna be
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: back in just a bit. We're gonna dive into the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Eagles some Flyers talk, and also gonna dive into the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Sixers with our interview this week. Stick with us, all right,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: we are back again. Jeff Warren here, Lenn Hunsicker, almost
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: thirteen years doing this podcast, and uh, we're gonna dive
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: in some Filmladelphia Eagles talk right now. Gonna kind of
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: quick go through some storylines here because there are a
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: lot and uh, you know, the GMS, and we're just
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: doing some interviews, Howie Roseman doing some interviews with reporters,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and there's just talk. Of course, we're gonna get into,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: like our thoughts on AJ Brown possibly being traded. But Len,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I think one of the most important storylines for this
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Eagles organization and the team in general and the offense specifically,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: is the fact that the offensive line is going to
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: be coming back in full Jordan mylotta to Landon Dickerson,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: he will not be retiring. Cam Jurgens is going to
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: be back. Tyler Steen, Howie Roseman said, is going to
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: be the right guard. Lane Johnson of course, as many
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: of us know, has said he's coming back for another
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: season as well. Yes, it is an aging offensive line.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I am wondering if they're gonna need to really start
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: addressing what the offensive line is going to need to
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: look like with this the next few years, maybe with
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Lane retiring, maybe with Landon Dickerson deciding he may retire
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: as well. Wonder if offensive line is really going to
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: be a priority in this upcoming draft. But I am
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: glad that the corps is going to be coming back.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I've heard some folks say, you know what, I'm not
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: necessarily excited about it because of the injuries this past year.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: How the injuries did affect you know, the tush push,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: how the injuries did affect the run game in general.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: There are some folks who are on both sides of this.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: For me, I'm glad, I'm glad the corp is coming back.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Where are you coming out on this here?
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm glad they're back. I mean, I went healthy.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: They are all still pretty damn good players, So I
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: mean that that to me is first and foremost, you know,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: among everything else. I'm definitely happy they're all going to
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: be back. I think that, you know, if they do
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: decide to maybe draft an offensive lineman or even two,
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: it'll be a good bridge, I think. I think, you know,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: since Staltlin is no longer there, you know, maybe they
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: can kind of, you know, not override the coaching of
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: the new offensive line coach, because you don't want to
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: do that. But at the same time, you know, if
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: there are things that they picked up from him over
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: the years, yeah, you know, maybe impart that onto. You know,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: any young offensive lineman that they decide to bring into
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: the organization. I think that would be good there as
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: kind of like a mentorship, a bridge thing. But yeah,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I mean there is a downside to it too. I
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: mean expecting this offensive line, really any offensive line, but
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: especially one that's getting older and has been banged up,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: expecting them to play a whole seventeen game season is
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: quite frankly asking too much. There's no way that's going
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: to happen. Lane usually now misses a couple of games
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: a year at least. You know, the the issues with
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Dickerson and even Jurgens to a certain extent health wise
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: are there. So if this is going to happen, so
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: they need to they need to make sure that the
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: guys that they have coming in behind them can kind of,
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: you know, shouldered load a little bit because they're going
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: to be counter on at some point this year.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Yep. Absolutely Moving over to the AJ Brown situation and
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: in a storyline here, Lynn, I really believe that Philly
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Sports Radio has taken this storyline and blown it up
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: so much as they do every single freaking off season
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: with something, whether it's the quarterback, a star wide receiver
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: like AJ Brown, there is always something on the horizon
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: that they are trying to just gin up all of this,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: this this ridiculousness, you know. And Howie Roseman said today,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: he actually said, in terms of the AJ Brown quote
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: trade rumors, I think at the end of the day,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of conversations in the off
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: season about players on your team on other teams. You know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: that's really the job. That's the fun part about the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: off season is the opportunities to improve your team, the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: opportunities to make trades. But at the end of the day,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: we're trying to get better and it's hard to do
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: that if you're just subtracting great players. I think that's
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: him basically saying, in so many words, we're not We're
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: of course never gonna shut the door on any possible opportunity,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: but you know what, AJ Brown is one of the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: greatest wide receivers in the NFL at this point. It
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: just absolutely boggles my mind. I think I think AJ
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Brown is very misunderstood, especially when it comes to mental health. Uh,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: it's been being it's been reported on as well by
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: other reporters just how the guy. The guy is very genuine,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I believe, and his mental health aspects of his life
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: have been misunderstood. I really don't think the guy's like
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: a jerk or anything like that or wants to create
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: discord in the locker room or on the sidelines necessarily.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'm defending them a little bit too much. Maybe
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: that's what I want to believe. Not the best wide receivers.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: But I agree because I've seen like clips of him,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: you know, you know, just on whatever online and just
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: him interacting with people in a supermarket or you know,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: just just doing stuff or whatever, and just like he
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: comes across as a very very likable guy. Yeah. So
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: it's just like, yeah, it doesn't square with the guy
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: that's causing a problem in the in the locker room
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: week in and week out, which I don't believe. I mean,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: do I do? I think he you know, protested he
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: doesn't get the ball enough. Yeah, and so does every
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: wide receiver that you know of the past forty years
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: probably exactly. So I mean that, and should he have
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll come back to that. You know, you
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: complain about not getting the ball. Should he have made
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: that catch towards the end of that forty nine Ers
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: game in the playoffs? Absolutely that that is a drop
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: that cannot happen. So yeah, I mean I'll definitely, you know,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: rake him against the Coles for that. But I mean,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: by and large, do I want him back on the team. Yeah,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: because unless and that's why I mean, I get Rosemond
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: saying what he's saying, because you need to keep your
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: ears open. Maybe they maybe somebody comes with something that
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: you just you can't ignore. And if that's the case, cool,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: But don't get rid of the guy for the sake
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: of getting rid of him. I mean, he's too he's
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: too good a player for them you and you need
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: all the weapons you can get. I just I don't
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: get the the stuff that that comes out about, oh,
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: we got to get rid of this guy. Like you said,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: you know, the media, the sports talk radio, which it's
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: just I don't know. I have my own thing where
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: it's like you see people in life and then there's
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: somebody that that they just can't let go over whatever,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: and it's just like, don't you realize what a parasite
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: this person is? And that's how I feel about sports
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: talk radio. Don't don't don't all you people, and I
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: know they're they're just trying to gin up ratings for
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: themselves and make a buck. But like you guys every
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: day that listen to this ship, don't you don't you
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: realize these guys are parasites exactly, and they're just coming
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: up with the goofiest stuff that they can possibly come
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: up with just to get you torqued up and listen,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: and you fall for it every single day every time.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: When when are you guys get to win?
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Exactly? When are you gonna learn? You know, look, this
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: is what this is always. What has amazed me is
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: that I believe Eagles fans in general, and in Philly
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: sports fans in general, we dive so far into each
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: sport that I think we are like the greatest fan
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: base in terms of that, like actual smart fans who
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: know and understand the sport that they're watching. But then
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: on the flip side of that, what you just said is,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: we've got we've got the We've got a certain sector
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: of the Philly Philly sports fan base that gets taken
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: all the time, that gets taken all the time by
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: w IPI And.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: I've heard saying, you know, yeah, there are some very
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: smart people within the fan base, but I've I've heard
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: some people that love the teams say certain things and
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I've just been like, he graduated high school.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Huh yeah, Okay, yes, absolutely. Look, before we move on
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: another Eagles storyline that we wanted to touch on, Howie
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Roseman has said that Cooper Degene is staying in the
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: slot in the future and that they're going to be
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: looking to acquire a cornerback opposite of Quinnon Mitchell. And
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: it leads me to believe that it's really difficult in
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the NFL draft len for teams to get lucky in
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: terms of having a starter right out of the gate,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: right out of the gate that they that they draft.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: The Eagles actually were able to do it, and in
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: my opinion, just completely lucked out with Quinon Mitchell and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: subsequently getting Cooper Degen in the second round a couple
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: drafts ago. I mean, it's just amazing how that worked.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I don't necessarily know if that's going to work again,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: because it just doesn't happen in the NFL where you
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: draft a cornerback in the first round and all of
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a sudden they're dominant and they're understanding the g It's
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the hardest position in the NFL to get acclimated to
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: when you leave college. I think the Eagles are gonna
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: end up making a trade for a cornerback that is
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: gonna be on the market. I'm sure Howie Roseman's already
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: making phone calls to see who this is because it
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem like it's gonna be a Dory Jackson. I'm
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: fine with that, but I think everybody is. Yeah, So
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be interesting to see who that's
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: gonna be and whether whether they give up a second
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: round pick a third round pick for whoever how he
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: is gonna bring in. I think that that cornerback opposite
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: side of Quinnon Mitchell is gonna end up happening and
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: we're gonna acquire or they're gonna acquire that particular guy
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: via via trade, either draft day or or before.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask you when you when you
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: had brought up the topic, if you had thought maybe
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: that's where they were gonna go with first round pick.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I know, obviously we're gonna get way into draft stuff
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: over the next couple of months here, but if that
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: was like something that you thought they might do to
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: try to, you know, catch lightning in a bottle twice.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: But you think they're gonna go more of the trade.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Route, Yeah, I do, because I think what they want
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: to do is see they've seen success and NFL teams
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: have seen success with just building in the trenches anymore.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I mean super Bowl winning teams that's where that's where
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the success really is at. Yes, Sam Darnold was the
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: quarterback who ended up winning this past Super Bowl, but man,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the dominant trenches on defense, the offensive line for the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks, I mean, those are the guys who really
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: ended up winning the game. Happened for the Eagles when
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl two years two seasons ago
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: as well. I think how he's gonna want to shore
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: up the defensive line, get that next dominant pass rusher
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: in there, because who knows what's gonna happen with Jealx
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Hunt and Nolan Smith in terms of their contracts in
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the future. It's not like they're necessarily the dominant type
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of pass rushers that we were hoping for at this point.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean they're good. They're good rotational
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: guys and guys that you can if you're gonna row,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: you know, pass rushers in waves at a team, you know,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: on you know, switching out first down, second down, third down. Yeah,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: I mean they're good for that, but yeah they're not.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Those guys aren't going to get you eleven twelve sacks.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Right here exactly. So I think that Eagles first round
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: pick is likely going to be a trenches person. I
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: could be completely wrong. Look, I didn't think Sean Manyon
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: was going to be hired by this team.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: A mock draft it was on the ESPN the other
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: day and had them going after Oregon's tight end Sadik.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: I don't know if if, if Goddard doesn't come back.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Who knows what's going to happen. Look, man, I mean
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Howie Roseman hardly ever. I mean, what was Ledo Shephard
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the last cornerback that was taken in the first round
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: until Mitchell Yeah yeah, and then he took two in
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: a row. So who the hell notes what's going to happen?
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: But I do think a cornerback is inevitably going to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: be acquired through some sort of trade. That that's what
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I think is going to happen at the end of
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the day. So that's my thoughts there in the Eagles.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Why don't we head why don't we head into some
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: flyers talk here, because you know, as we're assessing this
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: team and just how how crappy it really has been.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've been brought back down to reality, and
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: of course injuries have been plaguing the team in terms
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: of where they might be might have been able to
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: go during the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six seasons.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: So our question here is the end of February, as
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: we're heading into March, should we be rooting for the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Flyers to get into the playoffs or do we hope
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: that they just bag the season and look for some
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: real top talent in the NHL Draft. And as much
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: of an optimist as I am, Len, I'm thinking the
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: latter at this point, I really am, because I just
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I just think they have some good players on this team,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: but they need to get some greater players on this team.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: They really do.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Man. Yeah, yeah, And hey, if you've listened this show
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: over the past two years, you already know what I'm
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: gonna say.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: And honestly, I'm not even saying tank because I don't
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: think they have to, because they're just not talented enough
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: to hang. I genuinely, I don't think you need to
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: start sitting, you know, Travis Connecting Games here and there
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: and do the whole NBA, you know, Utah Jazz thing
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: where you're just you're sitting guys because you know, oh,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: you want to get the top pick in the draft
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: or whatever. There. I was looking at Tangathon, and I
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: was looking at teams that were higher than them in
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: the order and just thinking, they're a better team than that.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: They should jump ahead of the Flyers. That teams like
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: the Panthers or you know, have a higher pick than
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: the Flyers, they're better than that. They'll jump ahead of
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: La Kings. They should jump ahead of the Flyers. So I'm like,
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: in my head, I'm already trying to do that math
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: of like who's gonna Who's gonna, you know, just be
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: better than the Flyers and bump ahead to another pick.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: So I do think that's naturally going to happen. I
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: don't think I have to sit he and root for
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: them to tank, because I just, I mean, I don't
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: know if you're hoping for a playoff run, I just
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know what you expect in terms of long
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: term growth this team. They just don't have the talent.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: It's not there.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: I think what you're talking about the reality is the
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: reality in front of us. And before the Olympic break,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: len I did have that hope. I did have that
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: hope that, you know, maybe Tyson Forrester is able to
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: come back and with him being back, just being able
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: to make some sort of quote run. But over the
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Olympic break, you actually saw what the Olympics looked like.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: You saw what good teams actually looked like. And I
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: had that overwhelming feeling, whether I was watching the USA team,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: whether I was watching Team Canada as well, had that
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: overwhelming feeling that the Flyers are even that much more
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: of a boring team that has just given us nothing
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: over all these years. And I said that to Rachel
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Donner on the Table Talk interview show this past week
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: as well. And yes, they're in the midst of this
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: rebuild that I feel like is just taking such a
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: long period of time. And Danny Brier in this front office,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: they're going to need to take some gambles. They're going
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to need to gamble and say, you know what, we
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: got to try to bring in some top talent or
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: we got to try to do something here, because like
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the playing It's Safe is just going to continue to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: keep this reality that's in front of us now that
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: this is just kind of a boring team that doesn't
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: have all the talent in the world that they need
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: to get to that next level. So when is the
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: rebuild really good? When's that light switch aspect of this
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: rebuild going to happen? And I'm like, after watching the
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Olympic Hockey, I was like, oh man, this team is
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: really and that's.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: The thing the Olympics. I mean, that's tough because that's
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: you know that those are all all star teams like
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: that are USA and yeah, but you can watch the
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: ANI on any given night and you can watch the
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Flyers and then you can flip over and you can
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: watch the Avalanche or or the Lightning or the or
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: the the Golden Knights or any of those teams and
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: or the Dallas Stars and be like, oh, that's what
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: it's supposed to look like. I mean you can. All
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: you have to do is watch another NHL broadcast and
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: chances are you're going to see a team that makes
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: you go, oh man, I wish my team looked like that. Ye,
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: because there's just so many better teams than the Flyers
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: and more exciting and more fun teams to watch. The Flyers.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: And that's not to say there's nothing to watch for.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, we've got the whole you know, mitchkov thing.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: You know, Okay, he's had a couple of weeks to
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe get in the shape that that Rick
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Tockett wants him in. And maybe this this break, you know,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Tacket was off with Team Canada. Maybe there's there's a
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: reset there that happens and and and within their relationship.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Rasmus rist Delanen kind of played himself back into being
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: seen as a valuable cog. Is he a trade deadline guy?
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: His own tip of a trade deadline guy? Yeah? You know,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: might they trade some guys to the trade deadline? I
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: don't know, but I mean there are definitely things to
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: watch for this year with the Flyers. Hey, once the
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: college season ends, you know, does Porter Martone really have
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: much else to do at Michigan State. Yeah, maybe he
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: comes on for the last couple of games with the
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Flyers and we can get a look at him. So
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying, you know, oh, I'm not going to
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: watch the Flyers because there's plenty to watch for. But yeah,
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: I just if you're if you're rooting for this team,
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: to make a playoff spot. You're just rooting to kick
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: the can down the road because you're not going to
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: acquire talent that way.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and that's that's that's where we need to be
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: at right now. Like I'm done. I'm done with the
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: hope at this point, like I'm just doing it's just.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're I mean, they're absolute positive ceiling if
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: everything breaks around is first round exit. Yep, with the
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: people they have on this team now, and that is
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: the best you're ever gonna get with the talent that's
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: on this team right now. Yep.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. All right, buddy, I'm gonna let you go. We're
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: gonna go to break. Excuse me, and uh, I guess
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: do you have any final thoughts here before I get
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: into some sixers talk with with our friend Jean Bernard.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: No, I do not know.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: All right, good deal. Keep sipping away at that bourbon,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: keep enjoying yourself there.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: On this I will.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: On this late Wednesday night, I gotta get some sleep here.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: I've been man, I've been running myself ragged. Yeah, I
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: got I got stuff going on in life as well.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: You're you're pretty busy, but I'm gonna I'm gonna go
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: see if there's a West Coast game on somewhere and
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: I'll watch that.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: All right, very good, All right, folks, We are gonna
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: take a break when we get back. We got a
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: lot of Sixers talk to get into with one of
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: our favorite guests, Sean Bernard, and uh, we're uh, we're
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: gonna take a break. Like I said, right now, we'll
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: be back in just a bit.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: And now on the table.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: All right, we are back. It is good to have
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: with us our good friend Sean Bernard from Fox Sports, Phillies,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: the Gambler. He's also doing some great work over at
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Draft Kings and crossing broad I absolutely love talking to
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: him about basketball, the NBA, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. Sean,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: my friend, thanks so much for jumping on this week.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it, man.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, appreciate you for having me. Jeff.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: I not quite as high of spirits surrounding those seas
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: teams I think the last time we spoke.
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: But still a little bit of room for optimism.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: So ready to dive into exactly what's going on and
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: what to make of the second half of the season.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, my friend. Yeah, Look as we're coming out of
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: the All star break here. And you know, as I
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: have been reflecting on this Sixers team, this is, look,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: I think, one very talented group of players. On paper,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: they are a pretty you know, quote loaded roster, I think,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: but they've they've shown us that over this season. But
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: they have also shown us those red flags continuously and
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: consistently as well, those red flags that are persisting on
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: this team. And as a result, that narrative sean that
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: persists that they're just this great group of guys that
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: have this great talent, but they fizzle out over the
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: latter stretch of the season, you know, and this has
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: been an ongoing narrative now for how many years here,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: you know, to get to the playoffs. If they do
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: get to the playoffs, things just fizzle out. Do you
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: see this narrative persisting over the next few months, and
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: if so, how can this team really alter that narrative
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: in your opinion?
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think what I was so optimistic about this
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: specific six Years team dating back to the start of
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: the season is it looked like there was some real
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: progress and win without Joel Embiid, that it was no
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: longer fully dependent on can this guy carry us to
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: victories when Joel Embiid is on the floor, this is
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: a good basketball team.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: When he's off at the team kind of falls off
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: the cliff.
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: The more of this season that Joel Embiid has become
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: more available and playing at a higher level that I think,
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: frankly fair expectations were for the bulk of when he's
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: been back. They became increasingly dependent on a guy who's
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: still one of the best players in basketball when he
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: is physically right right there. So what I think has
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: sort of come with that is we're back on the
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: boat of living and dying with Joel Embiid, and for
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: better or for worse. And we know the track record,
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: we know the history of that. But I think following
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: the trade deadline and seeing this recent five game stretch
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: without Embiad in particular, you see when this roster is
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: without him, that they can be a little bit overexposedive
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: guys in their role that you know, a guy like
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: like Trendon Watford or Quentin Grimes or even Kelly Uber.
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: You can go down the list of when they're in
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: the right role.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: I believe in all these guys individual talents, but win
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: Embiid's not there, and there is just kind of a
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: lack of creation and a lack of offensive scoring.
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: I think there has been some aggression.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: So my level of optimism for this team being able
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: to beat that narrative and kind of change the story
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: of the perception of them a bit lower than.
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: Was the case a couple weeks and months ago.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, end of the day, it's because of the construction
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: of this team, right, I mean, at the end of
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: the day, that really is what it's about. But as
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at this team what it is right now,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: where they can go in the future. I really wanted
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: to dive into the development of VJ. Edgecombe and what
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: we've seen from him in recent weeks and even in
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: recent months too, because he really seems to have elevated
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: his rebounding game, which has I think become kind of
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: a secret weapon for this team. And while I think
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: that maybe an underrated storyline, I think when it comes
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: to rebounding on this team in general, it shouldn't be
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: an under the radar type of storyline. I mean, you
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: look at offensive rebounding, by the way, with this Sixers team,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: they're towards the bottom of the barrel and it's difficult
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: to fall out of a basement window, but this team
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: somehow still struggles in terms of the rebound game. VJ
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Edgecomb has found ways as far as far as I'm concerned,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: when I'm watching this team, he's found ways to help
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: the team when his shooting hasn't been there Sean, So
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: we can see that there's so much potential for him
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: in the future. How have you been seeing him develop
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: over these past couple months here, I mean, feel free
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: to get into some details here about VGM what you've
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: seen and the positives that he does bring to this team.
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent there, and I think you touched
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: on it. Like, what's most impressive to me about VJ
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: edge Come in particular is, of course he's going to
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: have the hot nights against the Timberwolves where knocks down
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: six to three pointers. It'll have the eye flashing, highlight
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: reel dunks and all those kind of things. But he
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: just finds a way to impact winning on an every
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: night basis. And some nights that is stepping up as
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: a playmaker running the offense at a bit of a
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: higher level. Some nights that is defending opposing team's best player.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: Some nights that is helping out on the glass, and
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: of course he does have his scoring out first as well.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: So he's very much become like the glue to the
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: Sixers starting unit, which is not a quality that we
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: commonly see for rookies. Like this is a guy that
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: is very much plays winning basketball, impacts it at a
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: high level. And I still believe, in all the ceiling
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: conversation is a long haul for what he can grow into.
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: But that level of maturity, that level of kind of
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: understanding to play within his box to an extent, I
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: think it's really impressive to have that type of head
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: on his shoulder.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: So there are times.
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: Where I would critique I with like a little bit
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: more aggression in the offense, But anytime that I'm kind
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: of being credible, we're grading on a pretty tough scale here.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: If this guy is wildly overachieved in the expectations that
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: I had.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Said, do you think sometimes, because I wonder that too,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: you want to see more aggression from an offensive standpoint
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: with him? Do you think he just doesn't want to
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: screw up, because like, there are times when I'm like,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: he's a rookie, he's learning the game still, he's learning
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: his role. You have said that he is that glue
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: here for this team. But there are times from an
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: offensive perspective, I feel like that hesitation we see from him,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: it might be that he just doesn't want to screw up,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: you know, So do you see that too.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: I think he's very respectful of like the hierarchy of
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: the team. There has no problem taking a back seat
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: to guys like Tyreese, Maxi and Joel Embiid, which is
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: a good quality overall. That's a team first mindset. But
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: there are times where I look around, particularly in the
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: non EMBID games, where it's like, Okay, Maxie's going through
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: his thing, where he'll have his nights where he's not
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: shooting efficiently. Quentin Grimes has been really hot and cold,
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: and frankly, he's been more cold than hot over this
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: past of games that it's like somebody's got to step
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: up and generate some offense.
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: So VJ would love for you to take the reins
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: a little bit.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: But again, this is being pretty hypercritical for guy that
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: has again over exceeded any expectations.
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: I had said.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And a guy who over these years who has
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: really exceeded the expectations game and who we can point
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: to is saying, Yeah, this guy's going to be the
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: foundation of this seventy six ers team moving forward. Is
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Tyres Maxi? I mean, definitely the savior of this team
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: in so many ways. And yes, and you and I, Sean,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: we have talked about him a number of times when
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: you've been on the show here, but his averaging of
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: twenty nine points per game, the fact that he was
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: an All Star and I think can be really considered
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: an NBA superstar at this point, really goes to show
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: how critical he's going to be in the future for
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: this team an organization from a short term perspective, from
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: a long term perspective, so much weight of who the
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six Ers are are on his shoulders. And
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: while we are all certainly disappointed after the trade deadline
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: for a number of reasons, you know, the McCain trade,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: no real bench depth was added. What has become of
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: the level of importance of Tyres Maxi to this organization
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: more from like a macro standpoint as you are seeing
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: him as we're recording this towards the end of February
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Here when we look at him in
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: a macro standpoint, short term long term future seasons where
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: he's at here. What's that level of importance that you
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: are seeing with Tyres Maxey.
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's everything to this organization.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: That he's the heartbeat, he's the face, he's the franchise,
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: as Joel Embiid coined him himself. And I do think
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: that there was like a pretty conscious effort by the
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: Sixers directly to start to push.
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: Him as the coming into this year.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: And yeah, he's improved leaps and bounds every single season
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: in the NBA, but he adds more skills, more to
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: his bag, more ways that he impacts winning. And it
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: is interesting that I think Maxie is viewed as like
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: a very you know, in a strange place from a
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: fan base perspective, because I do think that there is
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: this faction of Sixers fans that are certainly ready to
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: completely turn the page of the Joel Embiid era han
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: the Keys entirely Tyrese Maxi. I also think there is
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: another side that is, like, if we're gonna be fair
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: about this, there Ken Tyrese Maxi like elevate an entire
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: franchise the way very few players can. The short list
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: of guys that can really do that is maybe six
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: seven eight guys in the league right and Joel Embiid
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: is one of those who's managed to overcome that. But
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: there's not a lot of guys you can just plug
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: and play and it's gonna be a winning basketball team
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: around it. And I do think when like looking at
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: Maxi directly, I think it's fair to assess that he's
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: more of a ceiling raizer than a floor raiser. What
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: I mean by that is he absolutely can be a
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: guy that hits those big shots in the playoffs, that
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: has built for the big moments like that. I'm not
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: so sure that he is a guy that like can
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: just ensure that you have a winning record every time
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: that he is a part of your franchise and the
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: way that Joel Embiid kind of has for this past
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: decade of thing. So there's different qualities, there's different values
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: of that. If you're talking about winning a championship, the
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: ceiling raising conversation is far more important on that.
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: But I mean any.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: Sort of criticism I think is more widespread to the
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: rest of the roster and the lack of options about
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: Maxi directly, I will say his efficiency and some has
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: taken a bit of a hit. I kind of chalk
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: that up to Nick Nuris has played him way too
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: many minutes from start to finish this year. Has led
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: the league in minutes basically from start to finish, with
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: after forty minutes for a good portion of the season
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: right there. So if they can find a way to
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: spot this guy, give him a little bit of rest,
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: I think some of that efficiency will pop right back
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: and he can look like the clear top ten player
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: in the league that he did for the vast majority
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: of the season.
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: But overall, Max, he's been great, and this is only
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: the start. He's still twenty five years old. This is
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: not the big version of who's going to be as
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: basketball player. Did yet I was.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Hoping he would get a little bit more arrest if
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Daryl Morey was going to add some bench depth, to
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: be honest, and we didn't see it. It's really been disappointing,
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: and I'd like, I didn't want to let necessarily go
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: down that road with you here, but because we've talked
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: about it on our platform, but you're here, Sean. I mean,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: we were disappointed in terms of the trade deadline for
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: a number of reasons, but I just cannot understand why
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: the lack of bench depth was not addressed at all
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: with this team given what Maxie is doing on a
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: nightly basis.
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent there, And it was a huge
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: missed opportunity that the trade deadline is obviously your biggest
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: chance in the middle of a season to upgrade a roster,
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: and the Sixers basically punted on that chance right there.
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: And I'm a Jad McCain believer that I'm a guy
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: that dude does think him is a talent, is going
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: to be pretty special as a basketball player when he
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: does get fully healthy and by the way, doing some
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: pretty solid stuff with the thunder already right there. So
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: I disagreed with it in principle, the trade to just
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: give up one Jad McCain, and I think, sure we
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: can have the duck, the tax conversation, the financial aspect,
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: but I think the reality is this boils down to
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: the Sixers did not see the long term vision for
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: what he can be. And if that's the case, like sure,
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: but where you lose me on that is I can't
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: really get behind it from either mindset.
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: Here.
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: If Darrel Moury sitting there and saying I believe that
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: this Sixers team has a chance this year that this
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: team can absolutely compete in the Eastern Conference, then it's
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: got to be some sort of player that can help
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: in return. And that wasn't the case in the deal.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: It was just for future draft picks. And if the
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: mindset is this team isn't quite ready, this isn't a
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: year to go all the way in just yet, then
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: why are we punning on a twenty one year old
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: kid that showed some legitimate promise in his first year.
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: So I can't really get behind that from either angle.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: And even with Maury taking the slant of what we
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: did this Jad McCain trade in the early portion from
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: the trade deadline to be able to repackage those draft picks, well,
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: it didn't happen. So I don't really want to hear
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: that either, because it is a results based world. So
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: I do think it was kind of a pretty much
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: a failure from Daryl moy not to bring anything in return.
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: I do think for the wider scale of the season,
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: I approach it with the mindset of how this team
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: attacks the trade deadline will tell us how they really
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: feel about the chances this year, and unfortunately, not bringing
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: in a single player.
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: I think revealed their hand a little bit.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: I keep thinking to myself, Sean, there has to be
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: something that they don't know, or that we don't know.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: The front office does know, who knows. Maybe he murdered
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: somebody and we just don't know about it. I mean,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: something as extreme as that. Something had to happen with
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: Jared McCain that we don't know about. I'm kidding, of course,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: he obviously did not murder anybody. We're not gonna be
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: may Yes, it's a joke, folks, Okay, I know we
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: live in a world where people are gonna go, oh,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Jeff Warren's talking about murdering. Yeah, Jared McCain murdering people
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: know that is not it. And we are going to
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: take a break here for I definitely need to take
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: a break after that one. So that being said, we
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: got more talk, more NBA talk coming your way in
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: just a bit and again Sean Bernard coming to us
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: from Fox Sports Phillies the Gambler Draft Kings over at
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: crossingbroad dot com as well. I know your handle is
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: right there for folks who are watching on YouTube, Sewan
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: at Sewan Underscore. Bernard One, tell folks where they can
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: find you on the innerwebs out there if they want
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: to catch more of you out there.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can follow me on on Twitter, on the
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: x app at Shawn Underscore Bernard one. You can read
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: all my written work over on DraftKings Network as well
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: as Crossing Broad and always turn Announce some Podcasts've been
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: doing postgame shows for every six Ers game for the
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: rest of the season in a little bit of a
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: partnership with ninety seven five the Fanatics, So you can
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: find me a little bit everywhere. Check got Pickswap Media
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: as well, so turning out content and as many plays
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: as I can.
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: Always always a good time talking with Sean, and we
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: got more discussions coming your way. We're gonna take a
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: break and we'll be right back. All right, We're back
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: with our good friend Sean Bernard again from Fox Sports, Phillies,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: The Gambler, DraftKings, crossingbroad dot Com. He's on the radio
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: as well, folks. Maybe he is absolutely everywhere. And we
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: want to dive into now one of our longtime segments
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: that we're bringing back right now. It is our up
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: or Down segment. I'm going to be giving you a
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: player here and Sean I'd like for you to tell
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: me if that player's performance and value to the seventy
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: six ers have been trending up or down, give a
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: brief explanation as to why or why not. Let's get
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: to up or down right now. Let's start with Joel Embiid.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Up or down?
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: What do you think, Buddy, trending up for Joel Embiid?
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: Fe Okay, it's a little bit of an indictment on
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: the rest of the roster, but I think it's pretty
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: clear that this team is back to living and dying
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: with when this guy can perform his best. And he's
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: been wildly above the level of expectations that I had
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: coming under the air. A night and day difference from
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: what we saw last year. So Joelle Embiid looks far
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: closer to the prime version of Joell E Andbie than
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: I thought was possible at this date.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: All right, very good. Let's move on to Andre Drummon.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Up or down?
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: What do you think, I'll say, trending up for Andre
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: Drummond as well?
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: I thought too.
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: Yep, Yeah, I had the fear coming into this year
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: that he was going to be, you know, a bit
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: of the completely washed up corpse of Andre Drummond, and
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: that really hasn't been the case. That he's given him
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: some good minutes and they do have an interesting dynamic
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: with kind of the dem bona Andre Drummond won two
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: punch depending on the match up there. But Drummond, he
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: still has his flaws as basketball player, no doubt, but
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: for what they need him to be, I think he's
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: been pretty effective this year.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: All right, what about Kelly oubray Junior. Up or down for.
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: Kelly another up for me?
• 49:24
  Speaker 3: So we're staying positive right here, and this is a
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: guy who we will There is no other player on
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: the Sixers roster that has been as positively impacted by
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: the Paul George suspension as Kelly you Brad Junior. I
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: do think if that suspension did not occur, it's a
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: pretty likely world that Kelly you Brad Junior is playing
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: basketball for another roster right now. But they needed it.
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: He's their only true wing. He's a guy who I
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: think can be overexposed. We have that same conversation if
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: he's asked to do too much when he plays his
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: best basketball, getting downhill, attacking the rimp, defending at a
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: pretty high level. I really like what Ubray brings this team,
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: so he gets a little bit of a bum rap
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: in the fan base.
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: Overall, he does. I like what Uber brings the roster.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: There was some moments in the game against the t
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: Wolves this past week where I was like, I was
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: watching him and I was like, Oh, my gosh, what
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: is he doing out there? What is going on? But
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: then he has brilliant moments. I mean, He'll have a
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: game where he's just hitting everything, and then he's just
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: cold for a couple weeks and I'm like, my gosh,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: what is happening here? And that leads us to our
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: next guy here on up or down? Quentin Grimes trending
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: up or down? My friend, I'm trending down.
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: In the overall conversation for Quentin Grimes, he did have
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: an excellent game against the Timberwolfs, so hopefully that is
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: a step in the right direction moving forward for him.
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: But in the wider scale, like a big part of
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: the big part of the bet that I think was
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: made by Darrel Morey to trade away Jared McCain is
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: they viewed the three guards moving forward as VJ edgecumb
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: Tyrese Maxi, and Quentin Grimes now Grimes is an upcoming
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: free agent. It's gonna be really interesting to see what
• 50:46
  Speaker 3: kind of money we're talking and what kind of role
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: he's looking for, because I think he is pretty tapped
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: out or maxed out as a six man type guy.
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: But the Sions absolutely need him to be like a
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: high level creator, a guy that can be a punch
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: of energy, a punch of scoring, a little bit of
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: playmaking with it. I don't think he has fit that
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: description at a regular enough rate this year.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very good analysis right there. I got a couple
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: more guys from you are for you to get your
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: upper down. Your upper down thoughts here, den bona upper down.
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: It's that one's right on the fifty to fifty line
• 51:18
  Speaker 4: for me.
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: I'll give him up because I do think the last
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: couple of games he's been pretty effective there. He's a
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: guy where they're similar to Kelly you Bright to an extent.
• 51:25
  Speaker 3: There's games where you absolutely see it pops and when
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: he is locked in and on his timings correct, he's
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: everything that you want in a backup center. As far
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: as he's gonna catch flobs, he's gonna block shots. His
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: athleticism certainly pops off the screen. But there are times
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: where he's just committing dumbfouls on the perimeter and yep,
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: doing too much on the floor, too hyperactive out there.
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: So there's enough to keep working with, to keep believing in,
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: but he hasn't quite taken the exact steps that I've
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: hoped to really claim that backup center role this year, last.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: But finally not least Trendon Watford. What do you think
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: upper down?
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this one's definitely a down for me, and this
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: bums me out because I had high hopes for Trendon
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: Watford coming into the Sixers team, and I think what
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: we've sort of found out throughout this season is that
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: the idea of Trendon Watford is a lot better than
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: the actuality of Trendon Watford. That it's great that he
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: can be a big man that can get a board,
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: go coast to coast and playmake and I do think
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: he's a pretty excellent player when playing in transition, but
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: when you do get into the half court, there's some
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: real limitations that get put on display.
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: He's still not confident as a shooter.
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: He is a guy that teams tend to give a
• 52:23
  Speaker 3: little ghost defense to and essentially go four on five
• 52:26
  Speaker 3: on that side of the floor.
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a good playmaker. He's an interesting like skill
• 52:29
  Speaker 4: set as a player.
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: But Nick Duris has kind of reduced him his role
• 52:32
  Speaker 3: and almost taking him out of the rotation of late
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: and I think that is unfortunately here to stay.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: All right, that was our up or down segment, folks,
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: always always enjoyable. All right, as we're moving along. Now
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get in some NBA talk overall. And you know, look,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: we're all watching as the East is really taking shape
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: here after the All Star break. These next couple months
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: gonna be really key for the Sixers, for a lot
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: of other teams jockeying for position, and Sean, I just
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: like to know, you know, your thoughts on who do
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: you think could actually be a surprise team in the
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: Eastern Conference for the remainder of the season, because we
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: see it every year. I mean there's always a team
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: or two that say, man, they just creep in, They
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: just creep in, and we're like, wow, man, this team
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: has really surprised us. Do you have a team or
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: two that you're looking at right now as possible surprise.
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, to answer it in kind of two parts here,
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: As far as the team that I don't think many
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: people expected coming into the season, I think they absolutely
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: have to be viewed as contenders to win the East.
• 53:29
  Speaker 4: Is the Boston Celtics are legit.
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: Jason Jayn Brown has like taken that next league is
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: absolutely in that MVP conversation Jason Tatum sounds like it's
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: going to return in the pretty near future trade for
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: Nicola Vusovich at the trade deadline. This team just fights
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: and scraps every single night the second in the East,
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: and I think they're here to stay. So that's a
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: team that I absolutely think has a chance. From the
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: postseason perspective, They've done it before. It's not that long
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: ago that this team just won a championship with a
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: lot of the same core in place. So I give
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: the Celtics a chance. Then, looking down the conference a
• 53:58
  Speaker 3: little bit, the Charlotte Hornets. By what they're selling, man
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: that when that team is fully healthy and at its
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: complete core there with Conkinipple, with Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball
• 54:06
  Speaker 3: playing a lot more basketball, that is you know, translates
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: to winning, which has not been the case throughout the
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: entirety of his career.
• 54:12
  Speaker 4: I love what this team looks like when everything is right.
• 54:14
  Speaker 4: So there's a.
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: Youthful energy over there and just a really solid roster.
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: They play connective, they play hard. I go Hornets to
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: a team that will be a bit frightening in a
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: playoff series for a lot of ross.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: It's a very interesting team to follow, for sure. There's
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of interesting teams in the East folks to
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: follow at this point. And as we're end the discussion
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: here Sean, before I let you go, Buddy, I think
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: it's an interesting storyline that's gaining more and more steam
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: with how the NBA might be dealing with with tanking
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: in the future. Here, I really get tired of this
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: talk in just about every single sport, because teams are strategic.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: They figure out what they want to do or need
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: to do in order to put their franchises, and they're
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: teams in a good position for the future. Teams want
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: to look to the future and put themselves in the
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: best possible position, and at the end of the day,
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: they want to require top picks in their drafts. So
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, this has become yet another main topic in
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: the NBA now and it really does have some steam
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: to make. I think some real substantive changes through the
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: NBA front offices. Adam Silver's been talking about this. First,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: Do you think we're going to see some changes this
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: year to divert teams from tanking or is this just
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: lip service from Adam Silver? At this point, it's really
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: been known to want and have good relationships with both
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: owners and the players union. Here, what are your thoughts here?
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll start by saying that I think the act
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: how large of a problem tanking is is far less
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: significant than the amount of conversation is about it. But
• 55:43
  Speaker 3: with that being said, like the league's absolutely taking it
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: serious that I do think there'll be some sort of
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: rules put in place, some sort of action to kind
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: of change the outlook of things. I think every solution
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: that I've seen floated out there has like unintended negative
• 55:55
  Speaker 3: consequences for what like the league will look like moving forward,
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: stuff like you know, not being able to be in
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: the top five drafting in consecutive years. Well, okay, then
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: what happens with the draft order where all of a
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: sudden you're sliding teams down even though they have a
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: better record and all that kind of thing. So and
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: the same thing with like the draft pick protections like
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: I hear you, but I don't really think that's as
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: correlated as the level of tank that people are giving
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: it credit. And I think especially a sport like basketball,
• 56:17
  Speaker 3: where one player can make such a difference and if
• 56:19
  Speaker 3: you get a Cooper Flag or Victor Wemanyam, even Vija
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: Edgecomb here, think about how much that I know, decade
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: of this franchise like teams are going to continue to
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: find their ways. So I think there will be some
• 56:29
  Speaker 3: sort of change made by the league as maybe just
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: kind of a gesture to we're taking steps to actively
• 56:34
  Speaker 3: fix things. But largely I think the concerns about tanking
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: have been very overblown.
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, very good, and we're gonna we're gonna
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: continue talking about this topic, of course on this podcast platform.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: I know you're going to be talking about it, my
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: friend likely on Fox Sports Phillies The Gambler Folks. That's
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: where you can hear Sean and some great great co
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: hosts over on on that radio station, the radio the
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: radio station. I actually said that that phrase, can you
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: believe it, somebody should slim at me in the face.
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: There should be an actual like fist that comes out
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: right over here and hits me after saying radio station anyway,
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: Sean Bernard, folks again, draftkingscrossingbroad dot Com and Fox Sports Phillies.
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: The Gambler always love talking to you, my friends. Seriously,
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: I enjoy our conversations all the time. Come back join
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: us down the road. I'd love to have you on
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: the show again. My friend, absolutely appreciate it. Jeff, always
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: a pleasure, and we'd love the talk again soon. And
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for us this week. Make sure
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: to share the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show with your
• 57:29
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• 57:31
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• 57:34
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• 57:37
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• 57:41
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• 57:43
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• 57:47
  Speaker 1: ultimately we appreciate you. Take care and have a great week.
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.