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TABLE TALK: Assessing The Landscape Of The NBA & WNBA · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's going on, everybody. It's Jeff here. I wanted to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: let you know that we recorded this podcast episode on Monday,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: December ninth, twenty twenty four. By the time you hear this,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: some things may have changed here or there, but we
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Table Talk here
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. That's right
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: over eleven and a half years strong. We got a
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: great discussion coming your way this week on our Table
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Talk interview show. We want to get into the NBA.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of great storylines going on, a lot
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: of interesting storylines as well, whether it contains to the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers, the Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: as father time is catching up with him. What's gonna
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: be happening to that organization. Let's look at the Eastern
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Conference as well, it's an interesting conference. The Western Conferences
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: as well. We've got a great discussion, let's get right
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to it. He is one of the co hosts of
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: The Dime with Josh and Quab Love that podcast. I
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: listened on Apple podcast and you should listen to it.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: On whatever podcast platform you are on. We've got the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: one and only quab here with us quap Man.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: How you doing, Buddy, I'm doing good, Jeff, Thank you
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: for having me on. I mean, we love your show.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: We love having you on our show. I appreciate to
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: be here.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Man, It's always fun going on the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Dime with you and our good friend Josh Rodriguez. But
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: really quick, I'm just I mean, I promoted the Dime.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Where else can folks find you out there? I think
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: you're on YouTube? Correct?
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, we're on YouTube, the Dime, NBA almost every
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: other social media you can find us as on the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Dime NBA. You can follow us on Twitter or x
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: whatever whatever you call it now threads, but follows on
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: YouTube the dom NBA. Make sure to subscribe. We have
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of shows. We try to do reaction shows
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: a couple of times during the week, and we also
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: have like fun shows we do join the week, so
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: make sure to check us out.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome, all right, buddy. Well, let's get into this
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: NBA season. What we've been starting or what we've been seeing,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and it's a great conversation to start off with the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six Ers. Consider this is a Philly sports
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: podcast show. We got to get into this awful season
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: they've been having. Look, I know you're not shedding any
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: You're a Brooklyn Nets fan, so you're not shedding any
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: tears about the Philadelphia seventy six Ers season. But it's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: just amazing to me. And it's the NBA, but it's
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: amazing to me how one guy, the focal point of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the team, who's missed so much time at the start
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: of the season and even over this past month because
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of that, things just started tumbling down for the Sixers team.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, they were at the bottom of the barrel
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: in terms of the Eastern Conference standings. And of course
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about Joe Ellenmbiid. He's now back and the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: thought is that he's gonna help right the ship here
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: for the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. The record as of
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: US recording this is seven and fifteen. Never in a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: million years did I think I would ever he's utter
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: that phrase. But yeah, objectively, okay, objectively, where do you
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: think the Sixer season can really go from here? Now
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: that Embiid is getting back on the court and hopefully
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: getting back into form for US Sixers fans, But objectively,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: where do you think the sixer season can go from here? Quap.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: I've had this discussion with with Josh on the show
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: and a couple of some of my love French who
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: also like Philly fans. It's actually, I know it feels
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: dire and terrible right now. It really does because of
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: how the season started and all the stuff that happened
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: with Joel, like how how how he's looks has been crazy.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: But honestly, you guys can still make the playoffs, like
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I'm not even And that might seem like the overly
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: optimistic like view, but to me, and I've said this before,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: for the East is not that strong apart from the
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: top two teams, and we're I think we're gonna talk
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: about one of the top teams that are in the East.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: A lot of the teams are in the like we'll
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: say the second tier of the top teams all have
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: question marks. Every single one of them have question marks.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: You can talk about Orlando, who has a winning record
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: at home, they haven't lost the home, but they're without
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: their top two stars. Teams like Miami or Wishy Washy,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: even the Knicks who have championship aspirations. Will in some
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: of your wins they look unstoppable, but then they will
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: lose to like the Jazz or the Pistons, like right away.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I just feel like when it comes to the Sixers,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: obviously the main thing is getting and beat healthy as
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: he is, like, he's still kind of getting there right now.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: But you guys are able to string a couple of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: wins together, especially in the East. It's still a long season.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: There is a chance you guys can make the playoffs now.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I know, as as Philly fans, it's kind of like, yeah,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: he's always like, oh, here we go again, Here we
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: go again.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: So I know, I feel like as as a fan
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: for you, I know, has it just been such a
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: struggle to watch this team as the way.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: It is just it is just because I mean, there
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: are certain role players on this team, and poor Nick Nurse,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to be honest with you, eventually, so much you can
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: do with role players being asked to do certain things
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: over the course of over a month. You know, at
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: this point it's like, what are you gonna do? And
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: it's just painful to see somebody who has developed like
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxi trying to put the team on his shoulders.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: He is so good in so many aspects of the game,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: but he just can't do it all himself. You can't
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: do it all himself. So yeah, yeah, it's been really interesting.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And I gotta say, the last time I was on
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the dime with you and Josh and I predicted a
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: sixers Knicks Eastern Conference Finals. Oh boy, somebody should punch
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: me in the face for that right now.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, we all had, we all thought like
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: looking at the roster, and I guess from the from
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the perspective like if this roster is healthy, it's you could.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: You could When you make that statement, it doesn't fill
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: that far all right now with the injuries, it looks crazy.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I think. The one and it's it's annoying to say,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: but the one. One of the positive that that has
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: come out from the way the season started is the
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: way some of the younger players have been able to
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: develop and help. Like, right, I don't think a lot
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: of people expected Jared McCain to come in and help
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: so much and be such an impactful player for you guys,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: And that's to me, that's such a positive. So he
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: becomes a factor as you guys get more healthy. Yeah,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: it's just again, just have to get healthy. Yeah, that's
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the problem, the little the issue right there.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: You're after year year after year existence. But as we
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: move along to the conversation here, Quab, you know, a
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: lot of us thought that the Cleveland Cavaliers, we're going
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: to be a pretty good team this year. But man,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: they are number one in the East as of us
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: recording this They've only lost four games on the season.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering, like, what are your thoughts on what kind
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: of basketball we've been seeing from the Calves and honestly,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: like whether or not they're for real because I think,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: like I said, I thought we were they were gonna
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: be a good team coming into this season for sure,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: but right at the top of the East and really
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: kind of dominating some teams here and there. I don't know,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: do you think they're for real? What are your thoughts
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to me?
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: The games I've I've been able to watch of them,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: they they look like they're for real. Yes, again, deer
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: roster makeup having two All Star potential All Star guards
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: with Donovan Mitchell jareds Garland, and then just a very
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: strong front court with with Mobley with Jared Allen. Yeah,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: and you see how well Mobley has just been developing
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: over the years, and just they have a very deep
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: team with like different pieces that can come in and help,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: like u Niang Isaacacorro, one of my favorite places always
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: mentioned every time we talk about the Cavs, I mentioned
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Ty Jerome, like Ti Jerome comes very impactful. And again
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: them having didn't they made the coach coaching change adding
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: a former NETS coach Kenny Atkinson, who shouldn't have been fired.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: But that's a whole story it is, and the way
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: he has to move in the ball and playing and
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the one one of the things they've been doing really well,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: which they did in the past previous years, they've been
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: playing faster with a team that has two very dynamic guards.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: They used to play so slow, and they used to
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: get into actions with like eight seconds left on their
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: shot clock and used to affect them. Now they get
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: they've moved the ball so much quicker to get into
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: actions faster. So long winded answer, Yes, I feel like
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: they're for real. They're They're definitely for real. They're one
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: of the best teams in the East, and I feel
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: like they're gonna keep winning.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I get that feeling too again. You talk about having
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: to stay healthy. If they stay healthy, I think they're
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: gonna be able to run the table for sure. So
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: all right, well moving along here, let's, you know, let's
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: look at some teams that are interesting at this point
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: in the season here, because throughout the NBA, I think,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of course there's a lot of teams, a lot of
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: storylines that we're all following. But one of those teams
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: that's really interesting for me is the Suns and where
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: they are gonna go in the future. They appear to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: have a pretty good roster and one that could certainly,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: you know, get into the playoffs for sure, but I
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: wonder if they're closer to blowing it up rather, you know,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: more closer than we actually think perhaps. And I say
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: this because like the Sixers, they need you know, who
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: needs him bid to stay healthy. The Sons need Kevin
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Durant to stay healthy. And when he's not on the court,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the team is one in seven. I mean, the recipe
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: might not actually be there for them. Is my initial thoughts,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: again based on Durant and sometimes him not being able
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to be on the court. What are your thoughts on
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: whether or not they actually may want to blow it
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: all up, you know, perhaps with a Trader two.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I don't like, I don't know where to what direction
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: they would have to go in terms of trying to
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: blow it up because they gave up so much to
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: be where they're at right now. Yeah. So, and I
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: feel like the new owners, he was very aggressive and
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: like he wants to build a championship roster. He wants
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: to compete. Yeah, And similar to what you said, they
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: run into the same problem the Sixers are running into
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: where your best player is out and you kind of
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: have other players trying to step up. But I feel
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: when I watch the songs, I feel like they feel
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: like they can beat anybody when you're healthy, right when
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: when Katie's on the floor with some of the moves
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: they made an off season at in Tys Jones adding
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: I'm drawing a blank here, but they had another backup
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: point guard because that was one of your issues with
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: your point guard play. Yeah. I think the one. The one, actually,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: I'll say two things that they've had problems with was
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: your front court with Nurkic. He hasn't really been playing
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: that well and it's been it's been the bane of
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of US Suns fans, existence, yes, but and
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: the other things. When they made the trade for Bradley Beal,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I necessarily don't know if that was a good fit
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: with the contract he has and his no trade But.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: That's where I was kind of going with this here.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: You know, That's where I was kind of going with
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the question here because I I not that they should
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: by any means blow it up. But again, when Durant's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: not out on the court, it's a different team, and Beals,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: of course is not able to carry everything here. So
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: that's where I was kind of going with this that,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe they would need to restructure some things.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, again, it's tough because tough Bill still has
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: no trade clause. So it's like, and that's the one
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: piece I feel like if they would have to move,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: would be like the piece they could maybe move, but
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: it's hard with it was hard with the no trade clause,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: and in their minds they felt like they they wanted
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: to get three stars on the floor so in case
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: one of them is out, they can still keep winning,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: similar to similar to the Sixers, where it's like okay,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: well and beat it's not there. Paul George and Maxie,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: should be able to should be able to carry right,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: ends up being tougher when it's like, hey, it's not,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: it's kind of still it kind of still looks rough.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I feel like if they again just against similar to
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: the Sixers, if they're able to keep your head above
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: water until everybody's healthy, you never know come playoff time.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you never know. You never know with some
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: of these NBA teams for sure. Again, folks were talking
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: to Quab. He is one half of the awesome team
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: over at the Dime with Josh and Quab. Check out
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: what they're doing on YouTube and you can subscribe on
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: whatever podcast platform you're listening to us on. But I
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: want to get into the West here because I think
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the West, Quab is such an interesting conference at the moment,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: specifically with the MAVs, Grizzlies, and the Rockets all within
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: uh you know, they're all within the same realm here
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: with only eight losses, they're all jocking for position to
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: see who's going to kind of be that number two
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: seed throughout the course of this season. It really seems
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: that Okac is going to remain at the top of
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the West. I think that's that's conventional wisdom. But who
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: do you like at this point in the season when
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: it comes to who could really challenge Okac From the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: teams I just mentioned MAVs, Grizzlies, or Rockets. What are
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: your thoughts here?
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: It would probably have to be the MAVs. Okay, they
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: did just make a finals run, right looking at them,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: drew the course of the season without all even without Luca,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: they've still been able to maintain a maintain winning They
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: have a like secretly, they have a very very deep team.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: We just wouldlayers being able to step up your style
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: of play with having two athletic bigs that they can
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: switch in and switch out. It's they're They're really fun
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: to watch when they get it going again. But a
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: lot of these, some of the other teams you mentioned too,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: is just they've been really good too. With the West.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: It's weird because I feel like it's gonna come playoff time.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Is gonna come down to matchups?
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there some teams.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Any team can beat any team, Like when it comes out,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: is there is there a team you see where you're
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: just like that could they could probably take over?
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Okay, See, I was gonna say the MAVs too, Like
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: I was gonna say the MAVs, like, I mean, they
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: have they're deep, they have they have a really nice bench,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: you know, great pieces and role players too.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: You know, again, it all comes down to health. They're
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: able to stay healthy. I think they could run the table.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And I look, I think Okay, see, I made the
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: prediction at the beginning of the season that they were
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: gonna go to the chair the NBA Finals, probably win
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, But the MAVs are the one team
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: in the West that I could see possibly taking them out. Yeah,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: it's unfortunate when we look at our teams, the nets
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: for you, the sixers for me, some sports.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Sports you got. You gotta try, you try, you gotta
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: gotta try and enjoy the season even when it when
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: it looks so dire, like you're just just hope for
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: the best, you know.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to think, and not to like,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: you know, not to get off the you know, the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the topics that we were gonna get into. But you
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: mentioned Jared McCain before, like we could honestly have a
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year and Jared McCain he like, you
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: know what, all right, then the season was not for
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: nothing when you have Jared McCain possibly developing. Could he
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: be the next Hyree's MAXI to an extent, who knows
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: down the road, And it's you need something to keep
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the season going alive for you, with the for you,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: with the nets. What is it that's keeping the season
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: alive for you? You know?
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I think when beginning beginning this, before the season started,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: when I looked at the roster, I was like, and
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: talking a couple other people out. They were like, Oh,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: your team's gonna tank, and I'm like, yeah, but you're
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: not as bad as people think. Yeah, And that's been
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: the of course watching them, that's been the season basically,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: they've they've been able to beat teams that people think
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: they shouldn't be there. To me, I enjoy watching it
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: because you're competitive, they're kind of you could tell you're
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: building up to something. You have a coach that cares
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: about winning, even he feels like they should win every game.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: And to me that that's great to build that type
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: of mindset for a team that everybody's like, oh they
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: want to lose, yes, yes. So looking at that, I
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: was like, and I'm thinking, I think people expected them
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: to be more like maybe when the Sixers were going
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: through the process and they were just like, hey, here's
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: a G League team, we're going to lose, we don't care.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Those times, to me, those times were crazy, like and
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I think I just I had a conversation with a
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: friend the other day because we're talking about we're randomly
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: watching TJ McConnell highlights.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's pretty random.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: That's so random, And we were like, is TJ McConnell
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: the most successful, like one of the most successful store
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: worries to come out of the of that era, of
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the the process era where it was Yeah.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Like I think so there's an argument to be made
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: for that, Like yeah.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you could talk about EMBIID, you can
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: talk about all the even ben all the people we have,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: but like TJ McConnell's story is kind of if you
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: really think about, it's kind of crazy. It is. It is.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: It's certainly not julil okafor I'll tell you that right
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: name for the past, Yes, the past, all men. Well, look,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: there's a there's another name in the NBA here that
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get your take on and kind of
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: dive into here. And it relates to this. This gentleman
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: relates to the to the Los Angeles Lakers, a Lakers
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: team who is a mediocre team. They already kind of
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: look cooked this season already. And the gentleman I'm talking
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: about is one Lebron James looks like at this point
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: in his career, he's just kind of losing to father time.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: You know, the greatness of him and who he has been,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: what he has meant to the game certainly is not
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: gonna last forever. This is a Lakers team that's twenty
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: seventh in defensive defensive efficiency, twentieth and three point rate,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and they've already started calling each other out in uh
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: postgame pressers. Not a great team again by any stretch.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: What is your sense of what happens to the Lakers,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: quab And and Lebron overall? As he's not getting any
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: younger and this Lakers team is extremely uninspiring. What are
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: your thoughts here?
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like you said, he's not he's not getting any younger.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Is he's still he's still been impressive? Uh, some of
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: the games he plays like it's just like okay, there
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: their games he has I'm like, that's that's ridiculous.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: I know that during the beginning of the season he
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: made a statement that he wants to play every single game,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: and I think the last game he last game he
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: sat out. I feel like they should have been like, no, yeah,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: it's okay to take it, you know, I mean tell you,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I mean sit down. Some games get recharged, like you
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: have a lot of miles on your body. To start
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: the start of the season, they were playing well because
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Anthony Davis looked like an MVP candidate. And it comes
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: down to when you watch that team, is like if
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: if a d doesn't play out of his mind and
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Lebron also like they're not, they don't, they don't win. Yeah,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: and you can attribute some of the where they at
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: right now, some of your losses to also injuries. Also
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: because a lot of your top players, a lot of
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: the not your top players, a lot of the players
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: that would be in your rotation have been out in
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: and out of the in and out of the in
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: and out, in and out the league. Wow, in the lineup,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: in out the lineup? Thank you drawing a blank? Yeah,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: out the lineup. So I mean, look, if people say
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Lebron looks old, I mean because he's.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Old, he's old. Any think he's twenty five, Come.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: On, he's old. I mean, I get it, he's old.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: But just because sometimes he has some effective games, you're
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: just like, oh, he still has it. But when the
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: bad games are going to happen, I don't know if
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: this the roster construction lends itself to a winning team overall,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: especially how tough the West is. Yes, the West is
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: very There are teams that are right now that are
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: out the playoff contention and out the plane who some
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: people expected to be in playoff contention. Like, the West
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: is tough. So I feel like maybe they should have
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: sad to say, I know, he wants play the game,
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: maybe more rest days, try to try to get other players,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: try to shore up the bench somehow. I think that's
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: their main issue, is that when they go to the bench,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: it just it just tails off. And that's been the
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: case for many years. Yes, so I feel like maybe
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: that's why that's why they've been they've been playing as
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: bad as they've been playing and so on uninspiring. Yeah,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: that's that's my assessment of it. How do you feel
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: about it when it comes to Lakers.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I think both Lebron James and the
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Lakers organization themselves are both in a tough position because
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: you have one of the greatest that's ever played the game,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and as such, I think is able to dictate certain
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: terms himself. Yet you have an organization, a multi billion
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: dollar organization, that says, we'd like to really kind of
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: dictate the terms of what happens with this team. I
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: look at the Philadelphia seventy six ers and Joel Embiid.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: He's been a staple of the organization. They go to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: him to talk about roster construction, makeup of the team,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the coaching staff. He's part of the process here. And
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I don't mean like the process. I'm saying part of
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the front office process essentially. I mean we know this.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Lebron James, it's the same way. He's part of the
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: process too, and it must be so difficult for him
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: as a player. Like I said, father time is just
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: not on his side here and getting to that point
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: of realization where like you said, I'm still playing really
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: well every now and again, and I'm one of the
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: greatest that's ever played this game. I can still do it.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: But how does it affect roster construction? How does it
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: affect the other guys on the team as well, who
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: know who they're playing with, but what kind of player
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: are they going to see night in and night out.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: In a way, it's got to be a difficult situation
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: for both organization and for Lebron too. It's just it's tough.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: You know, there's egos involved. Not egos to the point
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: where it's gonna necessarily be detrimental, but egos where you know,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: it's like, I'm if you're one of the best of
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: all times with something, you're not gonna want to give
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: it up. You're just not going to want to. You're
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: gonna try to. You're gonna try to keep that for
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: as long as you can. And rightfully so, there aren't
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: too many of him in the world. So I uh,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: that's that's where I'm kind of coming out on it.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: You know, it's a not one way or the other.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: It's not really Lebron's fault. It's not necessarily the Lakers
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: organization fault. It just is where they are right now.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: And I think it's an interesting storyline for sure. But Quab,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: before I let you go here, and while we're kind
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of running low on time, I wanted to talk about
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: not NBA at all with you, but I wanted to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: talk about the w NBA because I do hope that
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: women's professional basketball is really able to sustain even more
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: success down the road. We saw some fun storylines over
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: this past w NBA season. I've gotten into the w
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: NBA a lot more over the years. What do you
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: think about whether the w NBA should really expand its
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: reach and also the popularity that it's really gained over
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the past season. What are your thoughts.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: I'm a I'm a big fan of the w NBA.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Are many many many years. I love it. I I enjoyed.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed this past season. Like you said, the popularity
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: kind of skyrot skyrocketed. And part of that, A huge
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: part of that has to be was that the there
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: was more time spent on marketing yes, and storylines, yes,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: telling stories with some of these players. That was that
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: was That's been an issue with the with the league
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: for so many years, where there wasn't enough investment into
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: the league, right into into people, like knowing the players
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: and growing the league. Yes, Like if I if I
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: was to ask you about like a random Sixers player,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: you you would probably know about where they where they
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: grew up, where they played, so much information about like
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean because you've you've seen like stories,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: you've seen like little docs about them, and they've been
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: promoted in that type of way. The the b NBA
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: didn't didn't have that for many years, and it seems
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: like these previous discs, especially this past season, there was
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: more of that which helped. Like there's been a lot
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: of great players that have played in the league, a
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: lot of great players that are in the league, and
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: a lot a lot of great young players that came
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: into this this this league this past year. Yeah, that
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: there's there's more light being shine on in this team,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: and I feel like it needs it needs more. It
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: needs more because it's a great league if you enjoy
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: basketball like it's a great, great competitive league.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's not just Caitlin Clark as much as we've
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: liked following her story. What was her rookie season going
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: to be? Like, I mean, you got you got Chelsea
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Gray out there, who's a great player, Brenda Stewart, you know,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Alyssa Thomas with the Connecticut Son. Really good players and
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: great storylines for us to follow in the future. Some
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: of these ladies are gonna be around for quite some time.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: And it's not just Caitlin Clark. But I think you
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: did hit on it that you know, the market. I
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: think she helped with the marketing of it this year
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and it allowed other players to not only get some
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: name recognition, but the recognition in terms of the sport
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: that they so rightly deserve.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. Like for example, like
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: you just mentioned, Chelsea Gray is my favorite, my favorite, Okay, cool,
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm on I'm on record, Like if you know,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: like I love I love her again, I think she's amazing. Yeah, Like,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: but not many people like know that she she played
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: a duke and she was injured and that's why she
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: was a late pick And when she played on this
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: when she played on the Sparks, she won a championship
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: before she went on Vegas. Like, there's there's so many.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: All these players have great stories and great like have
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: had great careers that could be we can shine more
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: light on. Like you said, Kaitlyn Clark's popularity helped because
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: there was so much attention on the lead because of
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: what she did in college. Yeah, and it also helps,
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: like the difference, the difference between especially the the WNBA
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: and NBA. Is that a lot of these players but
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: not a lot of all these players in college they
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: build a fan base because they're there for four years
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: before they're allowed to make it to the league. So
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: you have people that is following their careers all the
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: way till they become professionals, and a lot of them
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: become professionals and it's like nothing, yes, yes, like oh,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: what happens now? It's more. You could tell there's more.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: There's more popularity, there's more, just a lot of social
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: media marketing and all of that. It's shining more light
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: on the league. So it just needs to keep going.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: It needs to keep it needs to keep growing on it.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: And also they need more teams, more expansion, absolutely, like
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: more and more roster, more roster space. There's there's too
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: many good players that don't have a home right now.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Bring a team to Philly, Bring a team to Philly.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: There's they're bring a team, man, Bring a team to Philly, y'all,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Like that would be amazing. Bring a team to Philly,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Like I need another team to spoil. Like I've been
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: supporting the Liberty just because they're my local team. I
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: love a team in Philly, like there needs to be
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: more teams because there's so many there's so many good
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: players that don't have a home right now.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Absolutely great way in this conversation again, folks Quad. You
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: can hear him and his co host Josh Rodriguez on
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the Dime with Josh and quab Quap. Tell everybody where
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: they can find you on the interwebs out there on
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Twitter and the other social sites.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Personally, you can find me at quab aka yes on
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: mostly mostly anything, Instagram, Twitter, all that, but you can follow.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Make sure to follow the Dime, NBA, follow us on Twitter,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: x threads, especially YouTube. Check out the YouTube where we're
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: trying to put out enough content daily and constantly. And
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: like we love basketball, we love having good time with it,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: so come come join us, leave comments all that we
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: enjoy it.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: It's great having you on, man, You and Josh do
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: a fantastic job. I'd love to have you on at
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: some other point down the road, my friend, to get
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: into some NBA basketball.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Of course, of course, anytime, and we're gonna have you
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: on too. So when we talk about when when Philly
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: starts going on the wind streak, when it happens.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: From your lips to God's ears. My friend, happens.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: When it happens, We're gonna have you on it's gonna happen.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Quab is absolutely correct. Let's get a team at WNBA.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Team to the city of Philadelphia. Come on, get it
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: done already, man, what a great conversation. Always love talking
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: NBA with Quab and that's gonna do it for us
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: folks here on table Talk this week. If you like
• 27:18
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• 27:21
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• 27:24
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• 27:28
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• 27:31
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• 27:34
  Speaker 1: head on over to Philadelphia Sports table dot com. We've
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: got all of our shows over there, and I just
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: hit the microphone. Don't you love home production sometimes?
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Folks, you all take care. We've got a great Opposition
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Territory pod coming to you this week as well as
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: our regular show that'll be dropping Thursday morning. Take care,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.