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TABLE TALK: A Look At The NBA Eastern Conference · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here. We wanted to let you know that
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we recorded this podcast episode on Monday, September twenty five, twenty twenty three.
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By the time you hear this, somethings may have changed, but we
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hope you enjoy the show. All right, folks, welcome to Table Talk
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here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports
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podcast show in the world. That's right over ten years strong, and we
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got a lot of great content, a lot of great discussions come in your
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way this week here on the PST podcast show and here on Table Talk.
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This week we got a great guest. I can't wait to get into the
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discussion with him about the upcoming NBA season and specifically with regard to the Eastern
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Conference. What it looks like, some changing dynamics within this conference as it
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relates to the seventy six ers, what's gonna happen with the Celtics, what's
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gonna happen with the New York Knicks as well. It's gonna be a great
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conversation, let's get to it, and joining us to talk about the Eastern
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Conference this upcoming NBA season. We love having him on the show, and
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it's about time I invited him back from the Dime with Josh Rodriguez podcast.
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We love him. Mister Josh Rodriguez, how you doing, buddy, Jeff?
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That's going on, man, Thanks for having you back on. It
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was a pleasure to have you on as well. So everybody, if you're
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listening to this show, Jeff was on the Dime. He previewed the Sixers
1:33
with me and Quab go check it out on YouTube. It's a great episode.
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It's a fun episode too. Look, I was not too happy about
1:38
James Harden on that particular episode. I'll unders nobody in Philadelphia is happy with
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James Harden, so I don't blame you. Absolutely. Well, look,
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when I like I said, you know, talking about James Harden and to
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get into this Eastern Conference discussion, of course, I think, and we're
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a Philly sports podcast show talking about the Philadelphia seventy six or something. I
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just wanted to do right off the bat with you, and specifically with regard
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to James Harden, because I think at times I'm too close to this as
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a fan of this team to be objective. And when I was on your
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podcast just talking about how the city of Philadelphia just doesn't really care for this
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guy too much. And I think, you know, whether it's him,
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whether it's even Dame Lillard. We're gonna get into him in just a little
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bit. It seems like the path that they're going on isn't necessarily good for
2:24
players in the future if players start to kind of do the things that they're
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doing in a league where players have a lot of power, and I love
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that. I love when players have a lot of power and various sports.
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So I'm wondering, how do you see this situation with James Hardness someone outside
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of the Sixers fan base here, Josh, all right, so before I
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answer everybody who's listening, if you ever heard an episode with me before on
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the show, I did very optimistic with the six years. It's very very
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optimistic. Josh has been very objective, folks. Yeah, I think with
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that said, I feel like the windows definitely closing and closing fast in the
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sense where like I feel like this is probably the last year the Sixers can
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get their ish together before MBAD starts looking elsewhere, because to me, you
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have a roster that needs to win now. I mean, you have someone
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young and Maxi, which is cool. I think he's somebody who can build
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around, for sure, but I think with the way that hardened him wants
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out and the way that's been handled with Doc Rivers a new coach coming in,
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you know, failures in the second round of the playoffs, I think
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someone Liken Bead. You know, if history it's you know, recent history
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tells us anything as that Superstars gonna wint out. They're gonna want to win,
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that go on their own terms. So I mean, Bad hasn't said
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anything, but I would be worried objectively speaking, especially the way this hardened
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situation is playing out. I just I just don't get a good vibe in
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Philadelphia, especially because I feel like their champiship window like it's it's not it's
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not closed one hundred percent, but going into the season, they're not a
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favorite to make the finals. They need to have Harden back in some capacy,
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or they need to make a trade and some capacity that brings them back
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enough manpower to help and beat There's a lot of things that need to happen.
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So yeah, objectively speaking, man, it's not looking good by it's
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not looking real good at all. And I can't I can't see James Harden's
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path here, his path of what the twenty two twenty fourth season means for
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him. I can't see his path right now because I cannot see him getting
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on the floor at the Wells Fargo Center and just wanting to tear it up,
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wanting to be that team player. And then we know that trade talks
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have broken down with the Clippers and probably a number of other teams as well.
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I mean, yes, I'm speculating, but still I can't see his
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path. What do you see with his path? If anything? Yeah,
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I mean because who wants me at this point? Right Like, this is
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a guy who's forces his way out of like three different franchise. I know
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he's he's not the player he used to be. And even if he is
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the player he used to be, there's still questions about how he performs in
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the playoffs. Yeah, he didn't perform well in the Celtics series the last
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two games, so there's a question mark about that. Even if you're a
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six yer, stand do you want him back? Because you see how he
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plays in the biggest moments of teams like season. So there's a lot of
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dramas around in James Harden. I think he thought he was just gonna go
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back to Houston and they would want him immediately. But then I think he
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Audoka came in, it was like, now we're not having that. So
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I don't think there's a spot out there outside of the Clippers. And I
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think you can get a pretty decent packets back from the Clippers. But I
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don't even know where James Harden's gonna be playing basket. I don't know who
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would want James Harden. She's one of those situations where it's just like,
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it's not when people say this about Mellow, right, we're like, oh,
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Medo's black ball dot the league. It wasn't that Melo's blackballed dot the
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league. It was just had Mellow. You know, his services at the
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time weren't needed by teams and they didn't want to deal with someone who was
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kind of me first, and they didn't pass the basketball. And James is
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coming up to that. Yeah he's not there yet, but that's it reminds
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me of that, where she's like people just want to bother with the drama
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and he's not good enough anymore to be dealt with. That's a good comp
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No, seriously, it's a good comp with with the mellow stuff because I
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feel like we're almost there with him as well. And then it bleeds into
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what you kind of touched on earlier in the next subject I wanted to get
5:49
into with you was Joel and b the worry man in the concern that he's
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gonna leave Philadelphia in the foreseeable future as a Sixers fan. I mean,
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this may be his last season in Philly, depending on how things go during
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this twenty twenty twenty fourth season. And again, since we're a Philly sports
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podcast show, Josh, how do you see Embiad's future with the Sixers kind
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of playing out? And I'm wondering if it's gonna dovetail into perhaps your team
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who you follow, the New American Nicks at some point. I don't know.
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I'm just speculating perhaps, But I mean, I just don't know how
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Embiad's future with the Sixers team really looks. Again, I'm very close to
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it. Yeah, it's all speculation at this point because I don't know Joel
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and Beat. I have no idea what he wants in life. I had
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no idea what makes him happy, but I had no idea what his goals
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are. You know what I mean. People could say I just want to
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win. I just want to win, but some people just don't want to
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win. Some people want to be have a comfortable life with their family.
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I mean, I know, in Beach from Africa, maybe he's you know,
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he's settled in Philadelphi. He doesn't want to move again, Like I
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have no idea. He hasn't really made any type of concession that he wants
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out of Philadelphia, which I think is good because even someone like Jannie is
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like, well we'll see, you know, like Yannest is throwing hints out
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there a little bit, and he doesn't really do that. I mean every
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once. I think he had this one comment over the summer that was kind
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of alluding to that before the most party. Beach is pretty good about wanting
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to stay in Philadelphia, wanting to win a championship. So I think unless
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he girl was completely south, I can't see him beat winning out. I
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mean, even if let's just say Harden, it's not back with the six
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Ers. The Sixers don't get a good package and then they're out in the
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second round again, I don't think. I don't think it beating one out.
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You have a new head coach of Nick Nurse, who's won an NBA
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championship, Give You on Star and Tybee Snaxy. There's always ways to rebuild
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the roster, and I think as long as they have that there, I
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think I think he would want to stay absolutely all right, Josh really quick,
7:29
so we can let folks know where they can find your content out on
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the innerwebs. As I mentioned, The Dime with Josh Rodriguez podcast is out
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there. You are on YouTube, there's other podcasting platforms you're on. Let
7:40
folks know where they can find you on the interwebs. Out there, buddy,
7:43
Yeah, So, I mean the podcast is The Dime with Josh and
7:45
Quab. It's on YouTube. It's also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just
7:48
searched The Dime with Quab and it should come up. I think so at
7:51
least, Yeah, you did rename it. You did rename it from The
7:57
Dime with Josh. Yeah. And then my best friend he's also my co
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host now. So it's been a good time since he's hopped on. Quab
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is great, Quab is fantastic. We're gonna have him on in the foreseeable
8:07
future as well to talk some NBA with him. But I wanted to get
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more into this Eastern conference here with you, Josh. So let's take a
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look at a team that wants to get back into some serious playoff contention in
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the future, and that is the Toronto Raptors. It reports indicate recently that
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there have been talks about Dame Lillard possibly heading to Toronto. But I do
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wonder how much sense a deal like this would make for the Raptors at this
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particular point in time. I wanted to get your thoughts on this and and
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if they were to be able to get it done, what it could do
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for Toronto. I think it makes no sense for us for Toronto. I
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get it. You might a game that comes to your sl I understand it
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one hundred percent. I mean, but you have the reality situation is this,
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Pascal Siaka is gonna be a free agi next year OGDM, but nob
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he's gonna be a free agent next year. Yeah, the Blazers are gonna
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want something back. So you're gonna say that, Okay, we're gonna give
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you. We're gonna want game, but we're not gonna give you Pascal.
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We're not going to give you OG Now you accomplish that somehow someway with Portland.
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You have Dame Og and Pascal for one year and the Eastern Conference that
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has the Celtics the Bucks, now the Calves are bat like. It just
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doesn't even make sense. And then you have to convince past Gallery sign.
9:15
You have to convince Og just resigned. And then on top of that,
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Dame I don't think he even wants to stay in Toronto. He probably won't
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be shoup the training camps. You have to convince Dame to show up the
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training camp to have a whole year in Canada, and then to it's just
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it's too much, like just too much has to happen. I get it
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from a standpoint of like they might think they're really close, but they're they're
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not. You're not You just like fired a head coach, you have a
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you head coach, right right. I know it worked before because Nick Nurse
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wins champions first year, but that's that's very rare. It's just if I'm
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Toronto, it's it's the wrong move. Honestly, I think I'm not saying
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this because I'm on your podcast. I think Philly makes the most sense for
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you to want to win in Miami. Filly in Miami. But Miami just
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doesn't have them. They don't have the assets. Yeah, and the deal
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hasn't been done. I mean, Dame has to realize the fact that like
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Miami just simply doesn't have the assets to go to Miami. I know,
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there's a whole thing. Well, you can get a third team, Yeah,
10:05
that's possible, but the Blazers and Joke grow and they have to look
10:07
out for themselves in their organization. So yeah, this is another thing where
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it's like, I don't know where this is going, but Toronto would be
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an absolute disaster in my mind. Yeah, I don't think it would be
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good for them from a long term perspective at all. And I don't think
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it would be good for Dami either, you know. At the end of
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the day, and again we know Dame Lillard is and like you said,
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you know, getting him become the training Campinets next year, like like,
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what's that going to look like? Yeah, it's just so much hurdles.
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It's many valuables have to go your way to just make the four seat in
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the play Like why yeah, yep, absolutely all right. Well, let's
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take a team that you follow very closely, a team that you have been
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following for a long time because you are a fan of them, and that
10:45
is the New York Knickerbockers. The Knicks here. They took a step forward
10:48
this offseason in my opinion, and I'm thinking they're gonna be one of those
10:52
teams in the Eastern Conference that may look to rise, you know, the
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out of the middle of the pack here. So I'm interested in hearing about
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where you think the Knicks might be going in the future this coming season.
11:03
I mean, I think the future is bright. When I think about the
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future with the Knicks. I don't think about Julius Randall or even like really
11:07
Jalen Brumson to a certain extent. I think of like Clinton Grimes and Emmanuel
11:11
Quickly, like a RJ. Barrett, and you know, they're not stars
11:15
or all stars and whatnot, but they are like a core group that plays
11:18
well together, that does all the little things, and that just makes me
11:20
excited as a Nick. It's it's one of those things where it's like this
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year I think could be a three seed, four seed when surprised me if
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you like three to five something of that nature. But I am really excited,
11:31
man. I don't I don't think there are a championship contending team,
11:35
even though I think you could have made the case they could have won the
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East last year with things how how they folded out with like, you know,
11:39
Milwaukee going to like I was so excited, mated, But but yeah,
11:45
I mean I think they have. It's it's not one of those things
11:48
where it's like, you know, how the Knicks word of the four seed
11:50
a couple of years ago. Then I don't think it's like I think they're
11:52
going to be a playoff team for the next like five, six, seven
11:54
years, as long as they keep the core together and you know they're gonna
11:58
need an addition or two. But I do think they got better this year,
12:01
and I do think they're gonna be team that wins probably close to fifty
12:03
games, and it's going to be like from here on out a perennial playoff
12:07
team, which is a wild thing to say about their Absolutely, I mean
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they've built something here. They've built a foundation for the future, which is
12:13
what you're talking about. And you know, you take a look at you
12:16
know, with the with the seventy sixers, quote built a lot of pieces
12:20
did not work out. They shipped one out down to Miami, you know,
12:26
and because they didn't want to pay him, they would rather paid Tobias
12:28
Harris and kept him. You know. It's just it's amazing where these two
12:35
teams have gone from a dynamics perspective within the Eastern Conference. And I can
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actually see the Knicks probably having a better season than the Philadelphia seventy six Ers
12:43
quite frankly, Josh, Yeah, I think so too, just because there's
12:46
so much turmoil with the Sixers going on right now. Yeah. I mean,
12:48
obviously you have Joel Embie, who's the best player at of both teams,
12:50
and you can argue with hard even if he's healthy, maybe he's the
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second best. But there's so much turmoil, and then there's just it's just
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hard for franchises to to win consistently. And the Nicks are the first time
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in a really long time, like they know themselves, they know their identity.
13:03
The head coach is not in danger of getting fired like exactly. There's
13:07
some type of stability there. So it wouldn't surprise me either. I Mean,
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I said I think the Nicks can fished anyw from three to five.
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That's because I think Boston Milwaukee are still the cream of the crop there and
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then I just think it's a wildcard between like the Sixers, Knicks and calves.
13:20
I think the calves got better and then the heat, Like I just
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don't know what to expect from a regular season. We got to take them
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absolutely absolute, well, we're gonna get into some teams. Now bring them
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back our upper down segment, folks, for the long time listeners are gonna
13:33
know this segment up or down and brief explanation as to why, let's get
13:37
to our upper down segment right now or down? And we are back here,
13:43
of course, and we're gonna start off with the Milwaukee Bucks. What
13:46
are your thoughts here, Josh on the Bucks during the course of this offseason,
13:50
what we expect from them this coming season. Are they trending up or
13:54
down in your opinion? And why? I think, Okay, so this
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seem to sound bad at first, but I think they're trending down only for
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simple fact that I think like if if it's like, ah, that's the
14:03
gut feeling, yeah, it's like I think they've reached their peak. In
14:07
their peak, I think it's so won a championship, Don't get me wrong.
14:09
I think it's so May the argument that the best team in the East.
14:11
Don't get me wrong, but I do think their time as like perennial,
14:13
like Eastern Conference favorites. It's probably this is the last year that it's
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going to be that. If they are this year, yeah, and then
14:20
it's just gonna slowly just dissipate from then on out. I think that we're
14:24
starting to see the end of the beginning of the end of the prime,
14:28
this prime Milwaukee Bucks, whatever team, whatever it is. I mean,
14:31
maybe they just went one championship, maybe they get back to the finals.
14:33
I don't know what it is, but I think it's it's starting to come
14:35
to an end. So it's trending down. I mean not not down in
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the sense where it's like, I don't think there'll be good this year,
14:39
but down in the sense where it's all right, Eastern Conference teams are gonna
14:41
start catching up. Makes sense, makes sense. I completely agree. Let's
14:45
move on to the Boston Celtics. Are they trending up or down as we're
14:48
looking to this season? What are you thinking, man? I think,
14:50
dad, a little bit. I'm not gonna lie, man, I I
14:52
still think they're they're searching for that missing piece or for that identity. Yeah,
14:56
I think they're still there's still questions whether or not Joe Mozilla's that guy
15:00
there. They got got really lucky escaping the seventies six years. They got
15:03
embarrassed by the heat, even though they lost in seven. I mean they
15:05
were down three zero in that series. You know you trade for Kristoff person,
15:09
Yes, you don't even know if he's gonna be healthy. You lose
15:11
your heart and soul marks smart. I think there's a lot of question marks
15:13
going into the scene with the Celtics. Of course they have potential to go
15:16
to the finals. Of course they have potential to win at all. But
15:18
again, like if you're gonna ask me, do I feel better about them
15:22
going into this season, I don't. There's too many questions marks, there's
15:24
too many valuables I have to go their way, and for that reason,
15:26
I slightly down. Just like the Bucks, I think they're trending down as
15:30
well. Let us know what you're thinking, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot
15:33
com. We'd love to read email here on the show and respond to it.
15:35
How about the Memphis Grizzlies. They picked up some pieces wondering if you
15:39
think they're trending up or down this coming season? What are you thinking?
15:43
I think for this season, I think it's up, but I think it's
15:46
up in a sense where it's like I take them seriously to win anything.
15:48
I think they'll be better this year. I think adding Marcus Smart will be
15:52
is a good addition. Losing Dillon Brooks and getting rid of that drama is
15:56
also a good thing. I mean, nobody wants that distraction on their team.
16:00
If you have a healthy Bane, if you have a healthy Stephen Adams
16:03
and jaw comes back and he has his head tight on tight, Yeah,
16:07
I think I think it's it's up, But I don't think it's up in
16:08
the sense where it's like, I don't think they're beating Lakers. I don't
16:11
think they're beating the Suns. I don't think they're beating the Nuggets. So
16:12
even though it's up a little bit, it's like, what is up for
16:15
the Grizzlies. You know, they've you almost became a one seed. So
16:18
it's it's up. But the Western confidence is better than it was in the
16:22
past few years, I think, and so it's it doesn't do anything for
16:26
them. Very true, very true. All right, what about the Cleveland
16:29
Cavaliers, a team that's looking to get back into some you know, respectability
16:33
and uh you know, looking possibly make some playoff waves in the future.
16:37
What do you think about the Cleveland Cavaliers up. I think it's up.
16:41
Yeah, you know, I like they're all season. Addition, the Max
16:42
Rus is gonna help them out a lot. They address the fact that they
16:45
didn't have any shooting Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. You know, for a
16:48
duo that's played one year together, they play very well together. They're good
16:52
defensively. I know they got bullied in the Knick series, but you know,
16:56
if I'm a cass fan, I think I could look at that and
16:57
like, Okay, that was an anomaly. Even though I don't believe that's
17:00
the next man, I think you can make the case for that they were
17:03
a good regular season team. I think it'd be a better regular season team
17:04
this year, probably have a better seating. So I think it's up.
17:07
I think they are at dark horse in the East for sure. And that's
17:11
because, like I said before, their question marks with the six Ers.
17:12
In the question marsh with, you know, maybe the Bucks aren't as good
17:15
in the Celtics, So I would say up for the Caps. Alright,
17:18
very good. Josh, got one more question for you, but beforehand,
17:22
let folks know your Twitter handles so they can follow you there and check out
17:25
what you're doing on the Twitter dot com. Appreciate it, manh Yeah,
17:27
my Twitter is at Josh Underscore Rodriguez Underscoring. If you want to follow the
17:30
podcast as well, it's at the Dime NBA. Alright, very good,
17:34
finish our discussion here. The NBA has changed a rule that we're going to
17:38
be seeing this upcoming season as it pertains to the flop. The flop that
17:44
we see so often on the court and something that Joel Embiid from the Philadelphia
17:48
seventy six ers has very much perfected during the course of his ten in the
17:53
NBA. Yes, he's probably the reason why this was implemented. So if
17:57
the reference of the sure, yeah, absolutely, if the referees do see
18:00
a flop, it's gonna be an unsportsmanlike technical foul here. So I don't
18:06
know, I kind of have some thoughts on this too. You know,
18:08
there's part of me that that sees this as something that needs to happen,
18:12
the unsportsmanlike technical foul. I'm not one hundred percent sure about. But I'm
18:17
just wondering, like, what your thoughts are on the implementation of this role
18:19
and how do you think it's gonna be enforced. How do you think that's
18:23
gonna go. I think it's stupid. I think if there's a flop,
18:27
just don't call a flop. Right, let's just move on. College basketball
18:33
does something like this where the referee does like the hand signal and then they
18:37
look at the at the video and they determine whether or not to flop.
18:40
So I actually like that because it doesn't really stop the flow of play.
18:45
Let's just say if there's a no call and then you could look back on
18:47
it. People might not like to like it because it stops playing that jet
18:49
refees you have to review. Reviewes don't really bother me too much. But
18:52
yeah, I don't know it. To me, it's just don't call the
18:55
flop. Like if you want people stop sloping, stop calling the flop.
18:59
Like better at your job and joeling me. Just a side note, he
19:03
just makes you laugh, man, because it's almost like he's kamakaze sometimes,
19:04
like he just goes to the hoop and this is not him flopping. But
19:07
he'll just fall to the ground for no reason or exactly. It's like,
19:11
dude, like laying on your feet, bro, like you're just taking a
19:15
layup. Relax exactly exactly, and then he ends up with all these injuries
19:18
at the end of the season. I'm sure there's I'm sure that those particular
19:22
plays to the rim do not help his situation. It was an open twelve
19:26
foot jumper. You're not at a roll to the stands. Relax man again,
19:30
folks, Josh Enriguez, Josh, Buddy, it was great talking to
19:33
you. Fantastic discussion. Come back join us down the road. I'd love
19:37
to have you on again. Man, Jeff, anytime, Man. You
19:40
one of my favorite. Always a great time talking to Josh Man. He's
19:44
got a lot of great insights on various dynamics within the NBA and again specifically
19:48
the Eastern Conference here as we're looking down this NBA season. So thanks again
19:55
to Josh for taking the time to join us. And that's gonna do it
19:56
for us folks here on Table Talk the this week. Hope you enjoyed the
20:00
show. Hope you enjoyed the content. Look, if you are new to
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We'll catch you next time.