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TABLE TALK: The NBA And Sixers Seasons Are Around The Corner! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, it's Jeff. I wanted to let you know
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: we've recorded this podcast episode and Table Talk Interview show
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: on Monday, September sixteenth, twenty twenty four. By the time
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you hear this, some things may have changed here or there,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: but we hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Table
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: over eleven years strong. And look, folks, we haven't gotten
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: into any NBA or Sixers talk in quite some time,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: specifically here on our Table Talk Interview show. But that
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: ends today. That ends this week. We've got a great guest.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: We wanted to get into some NBA storylines that have
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: been brewing during the course of this offseason, and also
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: get into some Sixers talk as well. Because Camp, yes,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: camp is right around the corner. We're gonna be seeing
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Sixers basketball before we know it, So why don't we
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: get to our discussion right now. It's gonna be a
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: great one joining us this week. It is great to
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: have him back. He is from Pickswap Media. Absolutely love
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that podcast. They're gonna be getting back into things as
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a Sixer season is right around the corner. And he
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: is also with Fox Sports Phillies The Gambler, and he's
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: doing some writing over at Draft Kings as well. We
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: got our good friend Sean Bernard Hey doing buddy, Yeah.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Doing well, Jeff. I appreciate you having me back on.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Always good to chap it up and excited about the
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: NBA season finally coming here. I know I love football
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: as well. There's but doesn't quite catch my heart like basketball,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: So looking forward to getting fully back.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I feel you, I feel you, man, I mean, I
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: am the football guy on this podcast platform. Eric is
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: more like the NBA guy. Lenn is more the Major
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: League Baseball guy. But we still we still all love
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: these sports. We still love them too. But like I
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: find an injured, the last time you were on, you
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: weren't doing it any I don't think you were doing
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: writing for DraftKings, but you're gonna be doing some writing there.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Like where can people go to look at your stuff
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and read your stuff over at DraftKings?
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely pretty new. So I'm about a month and
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: a half into the job at DraftKings. But you can
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: check out at DK network on pretty much all socials
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: there and dknetwork Dot com so a lot of fantasy
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: football writing that I've been doing for them. When basketball
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: season does roll around, will have much more in that
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: direction as well. But kind of finding my way with
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: some DFS stuff, some kind of fantasy football talk, all
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: that type of thing.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: So nice, some good, so fuck nice.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's get into this upcoming NBA season
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and sixer season as well. First, there's something I wanted
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: to dive into with you right off the bat, Sean,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and that is the new rule that we're gonna be
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: seeing this year during NBA games, a new coaches challenge.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Coach is gonna have the opportunity one opportunity to challenge.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: If he is successful with that challenge, he or she,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I should say, then even though I don't think there
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: are any women coaches, then they get another challenge during
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the course of the game. A lot of folks not
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: too happy with this change, Some do like the change. Here,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get your thoughts on how this may
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: affect the game moving forward here. Do you like the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: implementation of this coaching challenge?
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Or no? What are your thoughts here?
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: I think ultimately probably more on the no side, but
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: I do see the pros and cons to both of it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: For all, whenever there's a rule change like this, I'm
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: always interested to see in practice more so than in theory,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: and how it actually plays out. I think what we
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: all fear and what I think the NBA should be
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: trending towards steering away from is what it is those
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: last two minutes that end up taking forty five minutes
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: of actual time in itself, and that to me is
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: a little bit more what this trends to my kind
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: of grand fix for this, and the NBA has not
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: taken my advice on anything, but I would love to
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: bring in like a review specific referee who isn't involved
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: in the actual game by game plays, but when there
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: is a situation that it's more of an immediate response.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: That's kind of my pitch to fix things.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: That's not what the NBA is doing yet, but I
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: think it's two things up a lot if there was
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: just kind of a referee off to the side that
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: can give a quick response of yes, you missed this one,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: or no, you got that one right bear, whatever the
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: case may be. But ultimately I do think we are
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: an in store for a few more reviews this year.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: It's a fantastic idea that you have. And I'm not kidding.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I swear I'm not kidding when I say this. Why
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: don't these sports leagues have fans like us submit information
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and ideas where we can actually, you know, provide some
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: input into the games that we all love, common sense
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: based stuff, Because how many times has the NFL changed
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: a rule and it just doesn't work, it's garbage. The NBA,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: We've seen different rule changes over the years with the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: NBA hockey as well. It runs the gamut with regard
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: to these professional sports leagues. I swear to God Sean,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: if they just went to the fans, we could we
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: could implement amazing changes to these games and organizations and
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: things would be a lot better.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, that is what
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: it's about, is you should be trying to put the
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: best product on the floor or the court or whatever it.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: May be for your fans there.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: So when that's the case, when you're getting feedback like that,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I definitely think that is something that leagus should be better
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: about being more receptive to.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, all right, Well, heading into this season, I think
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the one question a lot of US NBA fans are
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: going to be keeping our eyes on as it pertains
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: to you know, other teams in the league and other
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: teams that are really interesting to us. Is we're going
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: to be keeping our eyes on this Los Angeles Clippers team.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: And I think whether or not Kawhi Leonard and the
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Clippers themselves, if they actually do have a window of opportunity.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: It's something I've been thinking about here. Look, they have
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: no Paul George, no Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonards could be
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: thirty three years old, He's only played more than sixty
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: games in a season like once over the past few years,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and that was just this past season. So I'm wondering
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: what your thoughts are with regard to the Clippers, an
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: organization that I've always found to be very interesting in
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: different ways in terms of their windows of opportunity. They
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: have a real bit of a revamped roster. Now, what
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: do you think their window of opportunity is here if
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: they have any.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of excitement with the new building.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Of course, the stadium over there, which does looks very
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: cool in itself there. It's also been very funny kind
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: of following this from a Sixers lens how there is
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: kind of this twilight zone where both the Clippers Sikes.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: There's kind of swapping players, even this year with Niko
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Batum heading back there Mobim besigning them. With the free agency,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: of course they got James Harden, and then in Philadelphia
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: with of course Paul George coming here and all the crossovers.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: That there have been, so it has been kind of
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: funny to watch there.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: As far as the outlook for this Clippers team, I'm
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: not overly optimistic, to be perfectly honest, that I think
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: it will be a fine, good regular season team. I
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: think they will be in the mix, they will make
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: the playoffs. But I just have my doubts about Kawhi Leonard.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: And when it comes to health. There's no doubt as
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: a talent what he's capable of, and when he is
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: locked in and on the floor a night by night basis,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: he truly is capable of some of the most dominant
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: stretches of basketball that we've seen. I mean, that Raptors
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: title a prime example of a guy just carrying that
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: roster on his shoulders. He's still capable of that, but
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: I don't think his body's ready to still let him
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: and I think ultimately that's why I just don't quite
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: see it with this Clippers team.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, but I still think it's interesting.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Lick.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: You said, you know, you got former sixer players that
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: are gonna be playing for that organization. When these two
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: teams do face each other in the regular season, it's
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: gonna be really interesting. It's gonna be a fun watch.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: But I also wanted to talk about another specific team
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: that I've been given a lot of thought to during
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: this offseason, and it's gonna be an interesting one for
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the Minnesota timber Wolves. It's probably, I think one of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: their most anticipated seasons in the team's thirty six year history.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards, I think he's poised to continue to do
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: some development with regard to his game, Rudy Gobert, Jade McDaniels,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: they made defense look kind of cool again. So I'm wondering, like,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on what we may expect from
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the timber Wolves this upcoming season and could could they
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: actually be the team to beat in the West? What
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: do you think?
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I give them a ton of credit for sticking
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: through what they believed in building up that two center lineup,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: with Carl Anthony Towns with Rudy Gobert. They obviously made
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: a hefty investment in trading for Gobert, and then it
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: looked bad for the first start for the first season
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: that they played together, but they stuck with it and
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: obviously they had the success that they did last year.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: For me, I think Anthony Edwards is the real storyline
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: here that there's no doubt that that is the guy
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: who the keys to the franchise should be in his
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: hands for the long run there. I'm curious what that
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: kind of power balance looks like and how much they
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: do transfer over that. I do think there's a ceiling
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: for rosters that are heavily relyant on Rudy Gobert, and
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: that's something I think they're going to have to figure
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: out in the playoffs. Even last year, I thought you
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: saw that. As far as to Rudy's credit, he played
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: the most diverse defense that we've ever seen from him
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: last year, but there's still stretches where you can capitalize
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: him on certain matchups and that he's not built for
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: just in every style of defense or every format or
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: what he's being asked to do. So I personally would
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: like to see them lean into a little bit more
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: five out style of basketball where you're talking about Carl
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Anthony Towns as the true center on the defensive end,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: and then offensively, you're leaving those lanes open for guys
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: like Anthony Edwards to attack the paint and create in
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: those areas. So I think there's some kind of stylistics
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: things that they have to tweak, but the talent is there.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Anthony Edwards has arrived, and depending on how far he
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: can take this lead next year, you can't rule them
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: out from being serious contender. Yeah.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, you said something there shown that I
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: kind of want to follow up on because I think
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: it's interesting you said, you know, that first year that
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert comes in there together, it just didn't work out.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: It took a while for the chemistry to kind of
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: manifest itself, and I think we see that from time
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to time with regard to NBA teams, even professional sports
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: teams in general. But I think the impatience of fans,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the impatience of ownership, front offices, management kind of just
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: takes away from what could potentially be for a team
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: or for the chemistry within a certain team. I think
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: we saw that with the te Wolves quite frankly, and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I think it just goes to show that, you know what,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: sometimes general managers, sometimes front offices really don't know the best.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: You know, they want immediate gratification when it comes to
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: their investments, and rightfully so, however, sometimes things do take time.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Seeing that in the NFL right now with a lot
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: of different storylines, I think there's something to be said
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: for that, and I think that Sixers Nation as well.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: We've been through the gamut. We know that with Joe
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: El Embiid and the many pieces that this organization has
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: tried putting around him, but sometimes being patient, it just
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: needs to happen.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: In sports.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, you're absolutely right there, and it is an
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: immediate gratification kind of culture that we live in for
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: those types of things. But I think Timberwolves are an
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: excellent example of it is that they did stick with it.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: I think there's other teams.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: You can look at the Boston Celtics team that just
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: got over the championship hump. How many times we talked
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: about Ken Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown play together or
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: is too repetitive? And all they did was cycle the
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: pieces around and let those guys figure it out. I
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: think that's something that we can look negatively upon for
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: the Sixers organization, that we've tried all these different kind
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: of formats that it's been James Harden, it's been Ben Simmons,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: it's been Jimmy Butler. There has not been that time
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: to let these guys figure out how to play with
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: each other, get on the same page, and all those
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: types of things, and sometimes I think that's necessary.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: So hopefully that is the start of this core of
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: the Sixers.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Let's hope. And it's a great segue into some Sixers
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: talk here. Want to get into what we're going to
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: be seeing with regard to this team this upcoming season,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: some storylines that we're following here. I've been wondering who's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: gonna be the Sixers starting shooting guard for the majority
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: of this coming season here, Sean, I mean Eric Gordon,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of course, seems to be the conventional choice, and it
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: seems to be the common type of choice. However, his
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: shooting has kind of waned from what you know, we've
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: all seen, and you know we see the stats kind
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: of waned over the past few seasons, and his defense
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: certainly has a lot to be desired. I do wonder
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: if the Sixers and Nick Nurse would go with perhaps,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and I doubt it, but I'm just throwing this out there.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Perhaps rookie Jared McCain and against his his defense is
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: pretty iffy as well. What are your thoughts on who's
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: going to get that starting shooting guard spot at the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: beginning of the season for the Sixers and why do
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: you think? Do you think McCain might have an opportunity
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: or is this going to be a Gordon show?
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm very excited about seeing Jared McCain on the
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: NBA floor and of his Do you think in the
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: long haul it will translate? But I do think there
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: should be some pretty temperate expectations for the type of
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: opportunity that he sees, at least in year one. I
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: think it's gonna be a long process. Still pretty young
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: and a guy that like I don't see making much
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: of a year on impact. As far as the starting
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: the lineup as a whole, I think it's gonna be
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: a little more position less than people give it credit.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: My expect for the Sixers team, it would be, of course,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: the big trio with Tyrese Maxi, Paul George, and Joel Embiid,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: and then looking like it's trending towards Caleb Martin and
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Kelly Ubra being.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: The other two starting spots there.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I do think the Ubre is gonna be the more
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: malleable of those that I could see him sliding into
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: a Ben roll, and I think there's a pretty strong
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: argument for him being better suited for a Ben roll.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: But I also think that this contract came with the
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: expectation that he would be a part of the starting lineup,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: particularly the Woes announcement was phrased for him to be
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: the starting shooting guard. In that I do think that
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: there's a little bit of politicking with that that Ubre
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: will start as the starter for the Sixers team, even
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: if it isn't for the long haul.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right again, folks, we're talking to Sean Bernard
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: from Fox Sports Phillies the Gambler Pickswap media podcast. I
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: absolutely love here and Shawn and his co host with
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: regard to that podcast, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: listening to us on, and you're not gonna be You're
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: not gonna be disappointed. During the course of the Sixer
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: season and also DraftKings as well as doing some writing
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: over there. Follow on the Twitter slash x at Sewan
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: under score Bernard one great great follow And as we're
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: moving along here with the discussion about the Sixers, I
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: absolutely love that Joel Embiid now is essentially, you know,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the guy who we know. He's created some opportunities for
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: other players to come on board the Sixers organization over
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the years, but he's essentially the one that recruited Andre
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Drummond to Philly. And again it's it's one of those
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: more I think underrated storylines heading into this coming season.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: As we can we continue to see Embiid suffer through
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: late season injuries. It's just something we've gotten used to
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: as a fan base. It's it's horrible when it happens.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: You know, we just sit back in our chairs and
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: couches like slumped, shoulders down and everything. But I do
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: wonder if we're and we've talked about this before, Sean,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I do wonder if we're going to see even more
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: load management with Embiid this year, perhaps more than any
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: other year, now that the team has a very competent
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and durable backup center with regard to Andre Drummond, what
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts here?
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree with you that I do think this
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: will be the most proactive load management game plan we'll
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: see Joel Embida. And I think that goes for two ways.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Andre Drummond obviously a part of this. A guy A
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: phrase that I've used when speaking about Andre Drummond is
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: an innings eater. To me, that he's kind of one
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: of those starting pitchers that you know you can throw
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: on the mound and he's gonna just give you the innings.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: He will be out there, he'll get through it. That's
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: who Drummond is.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: That like, yes, you can kind of have your questions
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: about how he fits is if you're building around him
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: as a real talent, but he's gonna be by far
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: the best backup center that Joel Embidas has as he
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: was for that brief half a season that he's spent here.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: So I think drum is a big part of it.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: And I also think the Paul.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: George edition is super notable here that you can win
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: games when it's just Tyreez, Maxey and Paul George as
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: your two stars on the floor. That's never been the
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: case in that Joel Embidaia before. It's very basically for
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: when you look at the records and the kind of
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: the stats for how things go when Joel doesn't play,
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: this team doesn't win, and it's kind of been more
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: pretty cut and dry with that. So I do think
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: that that will be the plan from the Sixers perspective.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: But they're gonna be very careful and making sure there's
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: a game plan in place to keep Joel Embid as
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: healthy as possible, and I do think that ultimately that's
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: gonna result in a lot more time away from him
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: on the floor, which will be a good thing in
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: the long run.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Great discussion with you, Sean. But before I let you go,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: as camp is just around the corner here, just a
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: couple more weeks before we get to it, I'm wondering,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: what's an underrated storyline that you are going to be
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: following throughout camp again starts in two weeks. About two
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: weeks from now, we're going to get to see these
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Sixers players out on the court, you know, trying to
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: get some stuff done before some preseason games here. What's
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: an underrated storyline that you're gonna be looking at?
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, it's how does Gashan Yabucel fit into
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: this sing Oh yeah, really cool story for the way
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: that it came together. There a guy who obviously shined
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: in the Olympics with Team Franz. This is his second
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: chance at the NBA that he was drafted by the Celtics.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: He's done a lot of changing to his game since
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: that point. It's been a couple of years that he's
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: spent overseas. His first go round in the NBA that
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: he was more kind of a traditional big man type role,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: is a little heavier than he is right now, was
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: not a good enough shooter at that time. He's really
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: worked on his game and on his body, and I
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: believe it's the three years that he spent overseas. He
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: looked phenomenal at the Olympics, obviously earned this opportunity and
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: had to pay out a good portion of money out
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: of his own pocket to even free himself up to
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: have the chance to come back over to America. So
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: you guys motivated, He's hungry, and he fits a position
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: of need that the Sixers team probably the biggest concern
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: would be that power forward position. That's what he seems
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: like he's trending to be so he shot over forty
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: percent from three the past couple of years in Europe.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: I'm optimistic about the way that it translates the level
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: of player in the style of player that he is,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: so I'm very curious to see how this completely fits together.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Again, folks. Sean Bernard from Pickswap Media Great great podcast,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: also Fox Sports Phillies, The Gambler and Draft Kings at
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Sean Underscore Bernard one on the Twitter slash x buddy,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: it was great talking to you as always. I seriously
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: love having you on. You do great work. Come back
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and join us down the road. We'll talk more sixers, my.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Friend, absolutely man, I hope too, and hopefully in for
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: a lot more wins this year for sure.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on table
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
• 16:58
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• 17:02
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• 17:06
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• 17:09
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• 17:13
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• 17:16
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• 17:20
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• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Take care and we'll catch you next time.