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TABLE TALK: Should There Be Optimism With The Sixers? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. I wanted to let you know we recorded
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this podcast episode on Sunday, February eighteenth, twenty twenty four. By the
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time you hear this, some things may have changed, but we hope you
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enjoy the show. All right, everybody, you're listening to Table Talk here
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at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast
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show in the world. That's right over ten and a half years strong.
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Actually April is going to be eleven years. We've been doing this podcast.
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Unbelievable. We're still having fun, so very passionate about the world of Philly
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sports. I am Jeff Warren. We have got a great table Talk discussion.
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Come in your way this week. We're going to be getting into the
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Philadelphia seventy six ers. What has been happening with this team and really from
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a more long term macro perspective of where this team is going this season down
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the stretch, even as we look towards whether or not we think that this
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team is gonna have some success in the postseason. Got a great, great
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guest, let's get to it and joining us to get into this Philadelphia seventy
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six Ers team We love having them on. You heard them during our Eagles
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postgame podcast shows a lot during the course of this past Eagles season from the
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Honorable Mention podcast. I listen on Apple podcasts. He's on various podcast platforms
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YouTube. I believe as well. We've got the one and only Matt Rogers.
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Buddy. How you doing, man, Good good, Always good to
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be talking talking sports with you. Today we're talking some six Absolutely, Mat,
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I've cool. Usually we talk Eagles, we do, but I've been
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wanting to bring you on to talk about this Sixers team because there's certainly been
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some trials and tribulations this team has gone through, as we know. Look,
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losing Joe el Embiid was absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen to
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this team this season, given Joe Ellenbiid's play on the court, the fact
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that he was putting up he was having a record season, like we're talking
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a record NBA based season. So sad to see what had happened to him
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and his knee. But the fact of the matter is Darryl movie, Darryl
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Daryl movie. Daryl Morey made some moves during the Daryl Morey, Yes,
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Darryl movie. Of course, I'm screwing up names. That's what I do
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on this show constantly. You should hear the hockey talk sometimes, Matt.
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Oh my gosh, with those Russian names and those those European names. Holy
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cow, it's awful. It's terrible. I mess up Smith and Jones.
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I'm talking last names. That's what I give. But you might have given
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him a nickname though, like I'm Moniker, I'm Darryl Movie, you know,
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around the trade. I love it. But really bringing in Buddy Heal,
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what a great move that was, and I think that's that could potentially
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be one of the more quote underestimated moves that Daryl Morey has made during the
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course of his tenure as the Sixers GM when we look maybe four or five
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years down the road based on how this particular season goes. But I really
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wanted to start our conversation off Matt talking about one gentleman in particular who I
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absolutely have come to love, the city of Philadelphia has come to love,
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and that is Tyrese MAXI. I think you just give the guy a lifetime
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contract at this point, you know, give him a contract for life,
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because at this point in his career, I mean, he is so entrenched
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as a member of this organization right now. I mean, given the uncertainty
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of Joe L. Embiid, like no player has the ability to like woo
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the crowd quite like Tyrese Maxey, especially you know, when we see what
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his future could potentially be. He's continuing to develop as well, and I
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just love what we have seen from him. I really have. And while
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I don't necessarily think we talked about on this podcast show a little while ago
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how he needed to really take the keys and really start driving this offense,
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he hasn't, like, you know, blown the doors off the Wells Fargo
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Center by any stretch. But he's still that very consistent teammate. He is
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still a consistent presence. He's still putting up some really good numbers in Joel
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Embiid's absence, Tyrese Maxey is really entrenched as a key component in cog to
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the Sixers team. As we're moving forward here, I don't know what are
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your thoughts have been or what have your thoughts been with regard to Tyrese MAXI
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what he's been given the team, not only this season, but even in
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Joel Embiid's absence. I mean, I think I think this period is important
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for him. When it first happened that NB went down, I'm like,
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ah, this sucks for Maxi. But the reality is, I think it's
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kind of important to have some period like this, at least for him and
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his you know, we talk so much on this show and others about sports
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psychology. I think the opportunity for MAXI to have a period where he's saying,
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like, you know, night and night out of the success of this
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team is gonna be on my shoulders and seeing how that feels, seeing you
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know, maybe developing a little bit more. I know that they have a
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great relationship, so I'm not trying to start anything or I'm not trying to
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say, uh, Tyrese Maxi doesn't have this respect, but it's different.
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You get a different level of respect for somebody when the principal isn't there and
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you've got to carry the whole burden on your own shoulders. And so I
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think that that will help from a team building aspect, and I think it'll
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be when embiid gets back, the whole team is gonna you know, It's
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kind of like when you're when you know, in that Tampa Bay Bucks game
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with the uh when when Devonte Smith is getting you know, coverage is rolled
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to him that are usually usually to AJ Brown. It's just totally different.
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The whole team can play more freely when AJ Brown's on the field because you
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can't double even though he's worthy of being double covered, you can't double cover
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a Devonte Smith. And that's how I see this time for Tyresse Maxie.
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Is the time really where he's the number one whilide receiver. Yeah, I
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think that's a great way to view him here, and I think that goes
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for the long term as well. I really do. I think I was.
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I was reading a recent article on Philly Voice and Eton Chander, who's
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one of their contributors. There, he wrote something along the lines of Maxie
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can write his own narrative here of what Philadelphia can truly be, and that
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the Sixers new foundation is is. I love how he said it is built
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on the smile of Tyresse Maxi and I think that in itself increase He's so
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poetic, such a tough guy. But really, I mean, as flowery
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as that is, it is so very true like that Maxie really can write
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his own narrative at this point and he has the ability to even grow more.
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Look, I find it amazing that Joel Embiid had the ability to grow
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even more as a player given what we saw in the twenty twenty two twenty
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twenty three season, and then we saw what he was doing this year up
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until the injury, and we're like, my god, he's still growing as
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a player. Tyrese Maxie is going to be in several more All Star Games
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in the future, this past one being his first one. And I think
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I think that you're gonna end up seeing this front office actually making some moves
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in the future, hopefully to you know, give him some compliments as well,
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some compliments to his game. I think I think, you know,
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we were just talking about Darryl Movie a second ago, and I'm gonna stick
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with that. I I you know, I'm kind of starting to think,
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Maury, I'm starting to give him a lot more respect. I was very
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skeptical of him coming from Houston. You know, I was along the lines
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of, you know, what has this guy actually done to get the kind
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of rep respect? But you look at every offseason and you can tell that
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he's not staying in pat but he's also not going way overboard, like he's
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trying to give this team a better opportunity. You can see through the moves
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that he's making, he's given this team a better chance to compete every night.
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I mean, even you see little moves like a Beverly for a campaign,
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you can understand the rationale. You're seeing what he's doing there, and
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I really like it. I think I think it's important, and I think
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that they've really you know, surrounding Maxie with good shooters. He's improved as
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a shooter himself, but surrounding him with the heeled, with Oubray, you
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know, these other guys who are really able to stretch the floor, it
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makes him more dangerous because when he's cutting, those guys are getting wide open
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shots. And that's why you know Healed is hitting at forty five percent since
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he's been on the Sixers. I think Darryl Movie has learned a little bit
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of something about how to look at roster construction, especially after bringing James Harden
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to Philadelphia and what that was for this team. And I don't know if
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he would say it. I don't know if any reporters would ask him what
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he has actually learned from that experience of what not to do. But I
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think there is something to be said for him understanding what he really needed in
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terms of the roster for the future, and that that brings us into a
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discussion about Buddy Held. And I was recently on the Honorable Mention podcast talking
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to you about Buddy Held, who has been fantastic and again a very very
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short sample size folks here. I mean, for God's sakes, he's from
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three point range. My gosh, it's just it's great and the versatility that
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he is giving this Sixers team on the floor. And I mentioned during the
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honorable mentioned podcast and discussion we had too, I mean he's doing like pick
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and roll stuff and I'm like, I guess I haven't really seen this from
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Buddy heeld. I didn't realize he was able to do this, you know,
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Tennis system one that was a career high for him too, right,
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I mean it's incredible. Yeah, you just bring it out, new facets
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of his game only just a couple of games in this is very exciting.
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Absolutely, it's but I also think that's Darryl Moury being able to kind of
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look at the overall picture and to see, you know, what could he
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be long term for this Sixers organization as well. Could Buddy Heald actually be
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a key piece with Joe El Embiid and Tyree Maxey moving forward? And again,
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I think that's Darryl Movie here looking perhaps outside the box. Matt,
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I don't know what do you think? Absolutely, I think I think it's
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a I think it was an excellent move. He's really a three slash four
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and on a given night, so is so is Tobias Harris. And so
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you really take a little pressure off to Bias here because there's a lot of
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I think there's a there's a in the in the fan base, there's an
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interest in wanting to see him try to take his game to another level.
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And I think he's very comfortable with who he is. He just doesn't want
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to be the guy. Yeah, and he's comfortable being you know. I
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kind of compare it to the mentality of like a Kevin Durant is like I'm
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gonna come out here, I'm gonna get my cool thirty points. You know.
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He doesn't have the talent quite not quite a big drop from Kevin Durant,
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but in that same kind of mold where I'm not coming out here gunning
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to get thirty five points. I'm cool with my twenty eight and making the
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right plays. And that's who Tobias Harris is. You see, we talked
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about it on the non e mentioned podcast. It's like, you see he's
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averaging seventeen points and some change, and it's like, how does he get
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that's because he's literally scoring seventeen points every night. He's not scoring forty and
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then six. He's scoring like twenty two and then fifteen, and then seventeen
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and then eighteen and then sixteen. It's like, that's how he arrives at
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that. And then you have Healed, who really is more of that third
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piece, who is really trying to go out there and score that. You
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know, twenty two to twenty five points, it's perfect. You know,
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you get a emb dropping thirty five, You got Maxi with twenty five.
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That gets you to sixty. You get your twenty two from from Healed,
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and then you've got your eighteen from Tobias. You're already at one hundred points
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and nobody on the bench has scored yet. So that's that's how they're building
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this thing, and they're just trying to let the train get rolling before MBI
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gets back gets healthy, they could be dangerous. They very could, They
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very could. And you know, towards the end of our conversation here,
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Matt, I really want to talk about where we think the Sixers team can
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go down the stretch. But Joel Embiid isn't the only Sixers player that hasn't
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been out on the floor, and I really want to talk about one particular
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gentleman named d Anthony Melton. I mean, he's been dealing with a lumbar
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spine issue. About three weeks ago at this point, he completed an offloading
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period and he was at that point ramping up to potentially play. I mean,
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it's been seventeen games since we've seen him on the court. He's been
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traveling with the team from my understanding from reports, and it just there doesn't
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seem to be any positive news really coming out about the Anthony melt I think
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they really are missing him, especially from defensive perspective out on the court.
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Do you think we're one Do you think we're gonna see d Anthony Melton at
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some point here during this season? And if we do, do you think
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that's going to enhance this team's ability to have some positive play down the stretch.
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Oh yeah, I mean I think whenever I hear back though, I
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get real patient. It's because backs are tricky. They are. You know,
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he's been dealing with him for a while too. Back injuries. It's
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hard to it's hard to pin down, you know, when when things are
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going to go well. Things could go well. He could come out and
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drop thirty and then the backflare up again. He'd be out for another two
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weeks. And so whenever I hear backs, I I, you know,
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always preach caution, caution, and I think that they give him all the
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time he needs. Ramp him up slowly, try to bring him along.
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How you bring Joelle and beat along. Let him him be a key piece
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on that second unit along with Uber and those guys and uh, you know
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it, bring him in on a you know, defense, offensive switches with
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the the starting unit. I think I think he could be a key piece.
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But I don't think that people need to feel like he needs to get
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back right now. I wouldn't. I wouldn't waste it because you could end
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up having him being out for the for the remainder of the seasoned. Backs
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are really absolutely tricky, absolutely, It's it's what I'm thinking as well here,
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and I think they really are missing him out there. I really do.
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I think they're missing him big time. I wonder if, you know,
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as we're shifting gears here, I wonder if we are ever going to
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get any answers to Kelly car accident with his ribs. You think we're gonna
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ever know the story, Matt, No, we're not, because there are
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reasons exactly. I'm sorry. I just I wanted to throw that out.
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I just mentioned Kelly and I was like, man, I just want if
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we're ever gonna know he was abducted base Aliens. Yes, well, you
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know, as we you know, as we're thinking about the remainder of this
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season, Matt, I have hope for the Sixers. I do. And
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I mentioned it again, you know, don't mean to take like the content
15:16
that we talked about on the on the Honorable Mention podcast. Oh yeah,
15:18
to talk about it here, but really, well, yeah, when it
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comes to this Sixers team, I have a lot of hope. I really
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do. And it's tough right now when the best player in the world,
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the best player playing basketball, is not on the court. It is so
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tough to have an optimistic viewpoint of where the Sixers team can go. But
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I don't necessarily believe in the New York Knicks. I don't believe in the
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Cavaliers. I think that this Sixers team, when Joel eb does come back,
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hopefully d Anthony Melton can come back, but when Joel emb does come
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back, I think there's a very good opportunity that they can get in that
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number four seeded slot and have home court advantage, and I think that is
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going to be key for this team if they want to get past the second
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round of the playoffs. I actually have a lot of hope and I'm optimistic,
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and it may sound homersh but I have hope and optimism when it comes
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to what they can actually do in the postseason. I don't know what are
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your thoughts at this point. Yeah, I think I agree with you largely
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on what you're saying here. And I think something I want to add to
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that is that it's also refreshing because it's not for the first time in some
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time, it's not one of these win now, win now, or else
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moments. If the Sixers go out in the second round, there's going to
16:36
be nobody unless they go and get swept and then beads health they get swept,
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yes, you know, say for that, or gentlemen swept by a
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team that they're clearly better than, and everybody collapses, but say, thank
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go the way that they're going in the Bucks or the Celtics beat them in
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six I don't think that the fan base. I think that everybody kind of
16:57
knows what's going on here is that we're building for the future. And so
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I don't think that there's that intense pressure, you know, that's gonna make
17:07
people feel like, oh, I'm giving up if the Sixers, you know,
17:10
don't don't bring to the conference finals this year. I think there's there's
17:12
time to be patient because you can kind of see things growing. Our little
17:17
nick Sirianni, you know, flower plants, you know, he just held
17:22
up a plant, folks on zoom there nice in our little Nick Sirianti.
17:30
We could see our little vaccie, you know, growing a new autam and
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you can cut a Yes, we introduced this new pedal, this new flower
17:41
into the room. Healed, who's now got growing different color leaves that he
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never had assists. I didn't know this plant does this, And so I
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think that there's a lot of patients, you know, to wear out the
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plant analogies here, I think I think it's a hopeful time for a Sixers
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and it's like, finally, not ever since you know, the Sixers lost
18:04
on purpose and just damaged us psychologically for the first time. We're kind of
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just like getting to just enjoy and watch basketball and see how things go,
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and we aren't feeling like if we don't win, damn. This team exactly
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exactly great, great points and I guess to close us out here. The
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one thing I've also been thinking about as it pertains to this season down the
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stretch, as it pertains to us thinking about the postseason and us talking about
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these different caveats with regard to the playoffs, Matt, is the fact that
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the one X factor that we did not have and we do have now as
18:41
Sixers fans and the Sixers team has, is one nick nurse. Doc Rivers
18:45
is not going to be in the second round of the playoffs if the Sixers
18:48
get there, Doc Rivers is not going to be there. He may be
18:52
there for the Bucks, but he is he may not be there for this
18:56
city. He's not going to be there for this Sixers team. It's going
18:59
to be Nick Nurse, and that also provides me some optimism in terms of
19:03
where the team could go down the stretch and into the postseason too. I
19:07
would imagine you probably feel similar, right, Oh yeah, it felt like
19:11
it felt like guys, if you're listening to this and you like the six
19:15
or you didn't like the Sixers, when you were watching the Sixers in the
19:17
playoffs and things were going bad, Doc Rivers was watching with us, Yes,
19:21
like it felt like he had no plan and no way to implement a
19:25
plan. He's just like, you know, try to brace for impact as
19:29
well, and it's like bruh, Like you're the head coach. Yes,
19:32
yes, so we have a guy who will make a plan, yeah,
19:37
a play and will draw up some plays in some new schemes here and there,
19:44
won't just say it if it doesn't work. At least we tried and
19:47
we had a play in. Yes, sometimes I think people forget that.
19:51
Everybody keep talking about, oh, I can't get out of the second round
19:52
of the playoffs and stuff. Yes, absolutely, it's frustrating, But guess
19:56
what, Nick Nurse is the head coach of this team. I have in
20:00
him to get us past that. If if the opportunity presents itself, so
20:04
that buddy, we're gonna end things here. You got anything else before I
20:07
let you go? My friend, no, I think, I think,
20:11
but come come May m V m v P and B will be back league
20:15
beware. Absolutely absolutely again, folks, Matt Rogers the honorable mentioned podcast.
20:21
I listen on Apple Podcasts. Matt, I know you're on threads. You've
20:23
been big over there on threads as well. Honorable mention podcast is on threads
20:27
to tell everybody where they can find you online. My friend, Well,
20:32
it's a it's a weird spelling, but if you live work in the field
20:34
that I do, you know the quote nine to five. It isn't like
20:37
at nine to five. But uh it's political. You've heard the saying politico.
20:42
It is politicdope p O L I T I d O p E.
20:47
It is mostly a sports ch channel these days. I try to I try
20:52
to share my my uh my rants for my wife which she loves of course,
20:56
and my coworkers and for depth. Yes, so you can mostly me
21:00
talking about sports over there, but I will dabble in other things. Absolutely
21:06
absolutely. Look, let's make the folks who listen to this podcast know when
21:10
they see me on the interwebs out there, they know it's gonna be Philly
21:14
sports and political stuff. That's what it's gonna be because that's what I do,
21:17
folks. And guess what, Matt is very similar and that's why I
21:19
love them. Yes, yes, yes, great friends, Jeff. It's
21:23
always great talking with you all this stuff, and I'll see you again soon.
21:27
Absolutely again, folks, Matt Rogers The Honorable Mention Podcast got great guests
21:33
on all the time. We will talk to you down the road, all
21:36
right, Matt, do you It's always a good time talking to my friend
21:40
Matt. And like we're saying toward the end of the discussion there, yeah,
21:45
if you follow us on social media, you're gonna get a healthy dose
21:48
of Philadelphia sports and some political stuff on the side as well. So anyway,
21:52
again, thanks so much, Matt, and I'm so excited to see
21:56
where the Sixers team goes because again, I'm not downtrodden at all by what
22:00
we're seeing. Yeah, it gets frustrating every now and then, but like
22:03
I said during our discussion, when you lose the very best basketball player in
22:07
the world, in the world, you're gonna see a little bit of difficulties,
22:11
a little bit of challenges, some hurdles that the team is gonna need
22:15
to get over. We're certainly seeing that. I think Nick Nurse is gonna
22:18
be able to pull out some games from this team, you know, against
22:21
some pretty good teams in the future. So we're gonna wait and see what
22:23
happens here for sure, and we're gonna be talking about it a lot on
22:26
the PSD podcast show in the future. So that being said, we're gonna
22:30
end this table talk show. Follow me on threads at mister jeff Warren.
22:33
You can also follow the show at Philadelphia PST. Yes, we are still
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on the Twitter, slash x whatever you wanna call it. I'm there at
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Jeffrey Underscore Warren and the show is at Philadelphia PST. There. If anything
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happens to your podcast feed, head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
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We've got all of our shows over there for you to listen to.
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We've got some PST special shows we've it's been a little while since we put
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up a PSD special show, but still the ones that are up are fantastic.
23:00
Some movie reviews from some eighties movies that we dove into, lots of
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fun that talked about some music as well, so those are good shows anyway.
23:10
Take care everybody, and we will catch you next time.