Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers Podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. It
Speaker 1: is that time of the week once again, another mail
Speaker 1: Bag Monday. Here on the broadcast. I'm Brian Seltzer. Great
Speaker 1: to be speaking with you, Lauren Rosen, and I think
Speaker 1: before we even dip into the bag and see what
Speaker 1: content there is in there this week, we can agree
Speaker 1: that the world is a little bit stranger this Monday
Speaker 1: compared to last Monday. Wow, it has been a wild
Speaker 1: seven days basketball and otherwise. To say the least, I
Speaker 1: will say the way to oversimplify the week that we've
Speaker 1: had is to look at how many submissions we had
Speaker 1: for mail back Monday. Because I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: my submissions really spiked. People want to know what's going on.
Speaker 1: They might be a little bit disappointed to find out that, really,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone knows exactly what is going on currently,
Speaker 1: but we're going to do our best to answer your questions.
Speaker 1: Thank you as always for engaging with us, and maybe
Speaker 1: most importantly of all, hope everybody is safe and healthy
Speaker 1: and finding ways to enjoy what is a truly crazy, wild,
Speaker 1: terrible time We're going to throw this disclaimer out there
Speaker 1: right off the bat. We are recording this edition of
Speaker 1: mail Bag Monday at around ten am on Monday, January eleventh.
Speaker 1: Something could happen in the next five seconds that totally
Speaker 1: changes the narrative of what we thought for this podcast
Speaker 1: when you're listening to it. Who knows, the seventy six
Speaker 1: ers might be entirely healthy. Maybe they're on I don't
Speaker 1: even know what a many hiatus. We don't know. This
Speaker 1: is just the world that everyone lives in right now,
Speaker 1: and I think that what we are hearing is, at
Speaker 1: least at this point in time. What's clear is that
Speaker 1: the NBA is doing everything it can to push forward
Speaker 1: through dealing with the big spikes in COVID nineteen cases,
Speaker 1: not just worldwide in the United States as well, but
Speaker 1: within the league itself. Over the last three to four days,
Speaker 1: there have been a couple dozen positive test results have
Speaker 1: come back, and not just the sixers have been impacted,
Speaker 1: but teams learn across the league, from the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: to the Miami Heat to the Dallas Mavericks. And like
Speaker 1: you said, first and foremost, before we talk into the
Speaker 1: particulars of how does this affect a team success long
Speaker 1: term and short terminal, is like you just want everyone
Speaker 1: to be as safe as they possibly can. And I
Speaker 1: think we talked about this. I don't all the content
Speaker 1: is running together with this condensed season, but I don't
Speaker 1: know if we discussed this on seven six Live Countdown
Speaker 1: presented by Tisso or on last week's mail bag. But
Speaker 1: I do think we have to offer props to all
Speaker 1: the people that are continuing to make this happen, because
Speaker 1: clearly there is a level of risk when you're playing
Speaker 1: in these games, when you're supporting the players playing in
Speaker 1: these games, and you're traveling with the players playing in
Speaker 1: these games that we've now seen for sure that there
Speaker 1: is risk involved. And our jobs are awesome and it's
Speaker 1: so much fun to be part of such a great league.
Speaker 1: But with everything that's going on, like, props to the
Speaker 1: people are that are still making this season tick in
Speaker 1: some way, even if it's different than what we're used to,
Speaker 1: because this is not easy. So shouts to everybody that's
Speaker 1: making it happen. Well said, And I'll put it more
Speaker 1: overtly and plainly and directly than that. We're not just
Speaker 1: talking about players and coaches. There are people working around
Speaker 1: the clock behind the scenes who are putting themselves at
Speaker 1: greater risk for exposure to coronavirus just to try and
Speaker 1: make sure these games get off the ground. So that
Speaker 1: is I think from both of us, an all encompassing
Speaker 1: shout out to the people who are intimately involved in
Speaker 1: the inner workings of this current version of the NBA season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: big shouts, And then of course to the fans also
Speaker 1: for continuing to rock with us in a very strange,
Speaker 1: strange time. Yeah. But if nothing else entertaining getting to
Speaker 1: see some different looks than you would have. I mean,
Speaker 1: we certainly wouldn't have gotten to see the seven sixers
Speaker 1: outside of you, like my segue, outside of this situation,
Speaker 1: we never would have gotten to see the lineup that
Speaker 1: we saw on Saturday, which actually ended up being weirdly delightful.
Speaker 1: So shall we discuss We will get to that in
Speaker 1: just a moment. We have to reset. Of course. If
Speaker 1: there are any first time Mailbag Monday listeners, welcome in.
Speaker 1: We are now almost a month into doing mail Bag Monday,
Speaker 1: and what we do is throughout the week we gather
Speaker 1: and call some of the top submissions that we receive
Speaker 1: on social media, and yes, also through our Mailbag Monday hotline.
Speaker 1: So what you do is this, Follow Lauren at Lauren
Speaker 1: m Rosen on Twitter and Instagram, follow me at Brian
Speaker 1: Seltzer on Twitter at Seltzer six, or snaps on Instagram.
Speaker 1: If at any point in time, whenever day or night,
Speaker 1: rain or snow or sunshine or whatever it is, just
Speaker 1: reach out to us, drop us something on social, or
Speaker 1: call the voicemail line which is two on five four
Speaker 1: zero three seven six three seven, also known as two
Speaker 1: on five four zero three pods. Leave us a message
Speaker 1: on social the voicemail and then if we read your
Speaker 1: prompt or response on an episode of Mailbag Monday, you
Speaker 1: will be put into the automated name picker system to
Speaker 1: win a seventies six or swag bag. It's that easy.
Speaker 1: It's too easy. It's too easy, and we really are
Speaker 1: reading all of them and going through all of them,
Speaker 1: and of course, notably wish we could answer all of them.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much everybody that's already been participating
Speaker 1: in this. We are having fun and I hope you
Speaker 1: are too. And while it might not be that much
Speaker 1: of a consolation prize, because it doesn't give you any
Speaker 1: swag or gear or merch. Even if we don't read
Speaker 1: or play response on Mailbag Monday does not necessarily mean
Speaker 1: we don't chuckle or laugh when we see your comments
Speaker 1: in the mansions. I will say shout out to the
Speaker 1: mentions right now six Ers Twitter, You guys are so elite.
Speaker 1: I feel like I say this every time, but like
Speaker 1: obviously there are certain things that like not great when
Speaker 1: we talk about scrolling the internet. A bright spot to
Speaker 1: me has always been six Ers Twitter and the intelligence
Speaker 1: and like the wit and the intellect of this group
Speaker 1: of people that follow our team. It's a pleasure, especially
Speaker 1: in a difficult time, to see what you guys have
Speaker 1: to say. So keep doing what you're doing. Not that
Speaker 1: you need my permission to do so at all, but
Speaker 1: keep doing what you're doing. Alrighty, it is time to
Speaker 1: untie the ribbon and open up the mailbag. Dip in
Speaker 1: for our first submission for this week. You have one
Speaker 1: new message on Twitter, as Seth and Curry zero four,
Speaker 1: Grady says, forget the loss or front of the game
Speaker 1: the seventy six Ers played against the Denver Nuggets on
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon. The confidence this will give Tyrese Maxie going
Speaker 1: forward is a major w I wholeheartedly agree Laren set
Speaker 1: the scene for us, give us some of the numbers
Speaker 1: on Tyrese and by any chance someone had missed it,
Speaker 1: and then respond to our man Seth and Curry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well we alluded to it already, but obviously on Saturday's game,
Speaker 1: if you were spenting your weekend under a rock, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't know necessarily that Tyrese Maxie had his first NBA start,
Speaker 1: along with Isaiah Joe and Dakota Matthias in their first starts,
Speaker 1: along with Dwight Howard and Danny Green and not their
Speaker 1: first starts, but those were the five. And then Paul
Speaker 1: Reid and Tony Bradley came off the bench, making what
Speaker 1: is now known as the seven Sixers who fought saliantly
Speaker 1: against the Denver Nuggets. They really, honestly, the first half
Speaker 1: of basketball on Saturday was just such a pleasure to watch.
Speaker 1: I think nobody knew exactly what was going to happen,
Speaker 1: but being in the building honestly watching other folks in
Speaker 1: the building react because keep in mind, the only people
Speaker 1: that are there right now are staff, and so to
Speaker 1: see staff, I think everybody was really tense. Leading up
Speaker 1: to the moment that the game started, and then to
Speaker 1: see this group of guys just fight and scrap and
Speaker 1: have a good time and really give a really good
Speaker 1: team that played in the Western Conference Finals last season
Speaker 1: a run for their money. It was just so cool
Speaker 1: to see. And I think Tyrese obviously was the biggest
Speaker 1: story that came out of it, but let's not forget
Speaker 1: about everybody else that just made that game even happen.
Speaker 1: Shout out to all seven of them for playing heavy minutes. Tyrese,
Speaker 1: of course, I'll now finally get to his historic stat line,
Speaker 1: but thirty nine points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals.
Speaker 1: He's the first six er rookie to score at least
Speaker 1: thirty nine points since Alan Iverson did it in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven with forty points. He was eighteen eighteen of
Speaker 1: thirty three from the field rather and just brought so
Speaker 1: much energy and joy to the court in all of
Speaker 1: his minutes. Afterwards, Tyrese very on Brand said that he
Speaker 1: really wanted to win. Tyres is a kid that's super competitive,
Speaker 1: and he felt that the win was in reach and
Speaker 1: it was and all he wanted was to get the win.
Speaker 1: But he did acknowledge that it was pretty cool to
Speaker 1: know that you can score thirty nine points in an
Speaker 1: NBA game. So was that a good scene center for yourselves? Fantastic?
Speaker 1: And I think there were pretty clear indications that Tyrese
Speaker 1: was not the type of guy who necessarily lacked for
Speaker 1: confidence or energy before getting that opportunity against Denver on Saturday.
Speaker 1: But like you just said, and this was something that
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers talked about after the game as well. Everyone
Speaker 1: knew that Tyrese was a talented kid coming out of Kentucky,
Speaker 1: possible high upside, There was every reason to believe all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But right, you don't know what you can
Speaker 1: do when you get extended minutes. And he showed an
Speaker 1: amazing ability to get the Sixers organized on offense against
Speaker 1: a high quality opponents, to finish at the rim, to
Speaker 1: knock down a couple of threes, And right, you didn't
Speaker 1: know that you could score thirty nine points in an
Speaker 1: NBA game. And I don't care what the circumstances are
Speaker 1: that surrounded that he scored thirty nine points in an
Speaker 1: NBA game, And some of the splits that he put
Speaker 1: up have only been done by a select handful of
Speaker 1: players ever, and all these guys who are either essentially
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame or going to be in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, and listen, I'm a I'm a
Speaker 1: lover of all people, most people. I try to be.
Speaker 1: I give everyone the benefit of the death. That is
Speaker 1: just my disposition and nature. I am always entertained to
Speaker 1: see people say things like, you know, he scored thirty
Speaker 1: nine points, but well he you know, did it against
Speaker 1: a team when you know the rest of the squad
Speaker 1: was out for that game or something effect of he
Speaker 1: scored thirty nine points and he took thirty three shots. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, he hit eighteen of those shots. That's
Speaker 1: better than fifty percent. Like I don't, I don't get
Speaker 1: into that. And for the fans, I'm almost unlared. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm kind of This has now gotten me
Speaker 1: going off in a tangent pair. This is good. I
Speaker 1: know everyone wants to say, well, there's no one else playing.
Speaker 1: The Denver Nuggets had their top guys out there playing
Speaker 1: heavy minutes one and two. For a handful of people
Speaker 1: out there, I am sure a good number of you
Speaker 1: endured and persisted through the process years not too long ago,
Speaker 1: and this is no disrespect to some of the players
Speaker 1: I'm about to name, but Joel and Bead played under
Speaker 1: circumstances like that, maybe not quite as crazy as as
Speaker 1: Saturday in terms of the inexperience of the surrounding cast
Speaker 1: that was put around Maxie Bannon Simmons at times like
Speaker 1: these guys didn't score three and nine points in the game.
Speaker 1: Not saying that they couldn't because they've shown that they can.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's an impressive performance. And I think
Speaker 1: just sometimes let's let's enjoy what we see, and especially
Speaker 1: under these circumstances, and in these times it was impressive.
Speaker 1: It was going to be an otherwise tough, rough, ugly day,
Speaker 1: and here a kid who came out and gave us
Speaker 1: all something. Depending on how you you, you follow your
Speaker 1: rooting interests to feel good about and see promising. All right,
Speaker 1: well look I'm done for the rest of the mail bag.
Speaker 1: See later. I thought gonna get like a new segment
Speaker 1: for Celtz is like when Seltz gets passionate about something
Speaker 1: like a Seltz rant segment. All I'll add is any
Speaker 1: time a players score like like you said, any time
Speaker 1: a player score thirty nine points. Very impressive when Shake
Speaker 1: Milton did it last year, extremely impressive. This team lost
Speaker 1: by twelve. This team could have lost by fifty, and
Speaker 1: they knew that for sure. There were seven of them.
Speaker 1: After the first five minutes, they were down ten. It
Speaker 1: looked like it was going to be ugly. As it
Speaker 1: looks like it could have been really ugly. The whole
Speaker 1: first half was competitive. The second half got away from
Speaker 1: them a little bit, but then they crawled right back
Speaker 1: into it. And like you said, they were playing against
Speaker 1: the Nuggets starters. The Nuggets had a basically full rotation
Speaker 1: to throw out against guys that had never played heavy
Speaker 1: NBA minutes. So something that I want to say about
Speaker 1: Tyrese before we move on, the rest of the sixers
Speaker 1: will come back, their health will come back. Tyrese, in
Speaker 1: all likelihood will not be playing as heavy of minutes
Speaker 1: as he got on Saturday for the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: But it is cool to see that when rookies go
Speaker 1: and play on a good team that they can still
Speaker 1: find ways to shine, they can still show their potential
Speaker 1: because it is hard for a guy like Tyrese Maxe.
Speaker 1: We saw it with Mattisse Thyble last year. Rookies to
Speaker 1: come onto teams with really good star players and find
Speaker 1: a way to make an impact. It's much easier to
Speaker 1: be a rookie and go play on a team like
Speaker 1: let's say the six Ers five years ago or another
Speaker 1: team that's struggling, where rookies can start and Tyrese can
Speaker 1: get minutes like that every night. This team is not that.
Speaker 1: So for him to have this type of opportunity on
Speaker 1: a team that's going to end up having a run
Speaker 1: that's deeper than a lot of other teams where rookies
Speaker 1: are going to get to play more, is just really cool,
Speaker 1: really gratifying to see. Good for him. Scoring thirty nine
Speaker 1: points against an NBA team is just not something that
Speaker 1: that many people can do, even in the NBA. So props.
Speaker 1: Bunch of Mansion came through on Saturday afternoon as Tyrese
Speaker 1: was going off. Tyrese Maxie Internet man at I like
Speaker 1: the Sixers, love that handle, getting in there with us,
Speaker 1: saying best body control and finishing in a Sixers uniform.
Speaker 1: Since number three referring to Alan Irison, it would be
Speaker 1: great if Tyrese could continue to trend in that direction.
Speaker 1: One great performance a Hall of Famer does not make,
Speaker 1: but certainly let's just hope Tyrese can keep stacking up
Speaker 1: great games as he continues to get opportunities this season.
Speaker 1: Just before we move on, I also want to just
Speaker 1: mention that it was an absolute delight to watch Tyrese
Speaker 1: play against Nikola Yokich. And obviously they weren't necessarily matched
Speaker 1: up intentionally at all during that game, but just the
Speaker 1: sheer size difference, it was just so funny to watch
Speaker 1: both excellent at their craft. Yoki is enjoy to watch,
Speaker 1: He's a phenomenal, such a good, such a unique talent,
Speaker 1: but Tyrese is a smaller NBA player and Yokich is
Speaker 1: about as big as they come. And to watch Tyrese
Speaker 1: navigate a round yo kitchen score on him a couple
Speaker 1: of times was just, as a fan of the game,
Speaker 1: delightful to watch, really cool, a little funny and special.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the flashball moments that I'll remember
Speaker 1: from that game, is just watching the two of them
Speaker 1: be the best players on their respective teams on that day.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'll never forget that. How about rating Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year John Morant getting in there in real
Speaker 1: time while the game was going on on Saturday afternoon
Speaker 1: shouting out Tyrese Maxie. That was kind of cool. Love
Speaker 1: to see it. Maybe some more similarities between those two
Speaker 1: players than we thought of when we talk about I
Speaker 1: don't know, stature, vibe drive for the game, they actually
Speaker 1: are a little bit similar. So it was cool to
Speaker 1: see someone like Jaw sound off Dwayne Wade. He got
Speaker 1: some respect from around the league. Some of the legends
Speaker 1: were watching, and that's cool. Do you Wade? That was
Speaker 1: neat very I'm not sure what else we can say
Speaker 1: to that, but when Dwayne Wade is watching your game
Speaker 1: and give you some respect on the old social sphere, cool.
Speaker 1: It was very cool and well deserved. Also some awesome
Speaker 1: content while we're just doing the full deep dive into
Speaker 1: Tyrese's game, if you want to check out the Sixers
Speaker 1: feeds from Saturday, Nina rasbun, Nick McCain, Maggie's, there would
Speaker 1: be absolutely Alex Subers bodied the content on Saturday. There's
Speaker 1: some really cool stuff. Six Ers wore their new uniforms,
Speaker 1: we had a new filter on our photos. It was
Speaker 1: just a cool day and I think Tyrese now has
Speaker 1: some lasting memories and cool photos and videos and gifts
Speaker 1: to commemorate the performance. Yeah, the City Edition, City Edition
Speaker 1: photo filters, top notch, top notch, pretty cool. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: It'll be cool, honestly. Also to see the whole team,
Speaker 1: where the Blacks, even the warmups. I thought the warm
Speaker 1: ups were very cool. It was very jarring to watch
Speaker 1: seven players engage in layup lines because I don't even
Speaker 1: know if you can really call it layup lines if
Speaker 1: there's no line like, there was no waiting. They were
Speaker 1: all just darting around around the arc. It just warm
Speaker 1: ups looked exhausting because there was no stand and wait time.
Speaker 1: If you've ever watched an NBA team warm up, you
Speaker 1: know that there's a lot of waiting. There's dapping up,
Speaker 1: there's dancing, there's good vibes, there's chatting, no time for that.
Speaker 1: They were just running around in their black uniforms like
Speaker 1: doing their best. It was It was so weird to watch.
Speaker 1: But all that is to say the warmups, the black
Speaker 1: all black warmups looked really cool. Agreed zero four Grady,
Speaker 1: thank you for that submission on Twitter. Let's go to
Speaker 1: the voicemail one. You have one new message. David Lowe
Speaker 1: from Alton, New Jersey, hello and good evening. I think
Speaker 1: Tyree Maxi is a great player. I love what I
Speaker 1: see out of him. But to be honest with you you,
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be even played this game at all. I
Speaker 1: think the Sixers should go out when for Joey for
Speaker 1: Sixers twenty four seven. It's a great group. He just
Speaker 1: past on the give a big shano here, see you, Joey.
Speaker 1: Let's win it for you, buddy, Dave, thank you very much. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think Tyrese Maxie, as we just talked about for
Speaker 1: about ten minutes, great potential surrounding him. And I also
Speaker 1: wanted to touch upon this Laurens something that Dave mentioned
Speaker 1: and referenced. I'm not sure how many fans out there
Speaker 1: are aware of this, but over the weekend we got
Speaker 1: some unfortunate news that a long time seventy sixer fan,
Speaker 1: Joey de Benedetto, who started the Sixers Facebook group six
Speaker 1: or twenty four seven almost a decade back, suddenly passed away.
Speaker 1: So certainly, Dave, thank you for bringing that up and
Speaker 1: unfortunate news. I can't say that I know Joey personally.
Speaker 1: I admittedly am not a big Facebook person, so I'm
Speaker 1: not on there or on those platforms much. But just
Speaker 1: over the last couple days after seeing pictures on social
Speaker 1: media with Joey and Mark zoom Off and alla abel
Speaker 1: Nabbey and seeing a lot of comments come in of
Speaker 1: people in the Sixers fan community online reacting to Joey's
Speaker 1: passing unfortunate news and yeah, Dave, we embraced that sentiment, yes, thoughts, prayers,
Speaker 1: everything with his family. We talk so much about our
Speaker 1: appreciation for Sixers fans, but it's like so real and
Speaker 1: people that bring this community together, whether it's in person
Speaker 1: at games, in the parking lot at the center or online,
Speaker 1: especially this year, we just have so much appreciation for
Speaker 1: folks that are keeping the Sixers community together, like Joey.
Speaker 1: So he's definitely top of mind for a lot of
Speaker 1: people right now. And if there were any way from
Speaker 1: the reading I've done about Joey for me to have
Speaker 1: done that last little bit in all caps, because apparently
Speaker 1: when he was on six or twenty four seven he
Speaker 1: always wrote in all caps. However, you could do that
Speaker 1: in an auditory way using your voice, I would have
Speaker 1: done that last part in all caps. We love the
Speaker 1: enthusiasm our guy. Jake Silverman on Twitter suggested that for
Speaker 1: this week we just call it Maxie Mailbag Monday, and
Speaker 1: given how much we've riffed about him already, I think
Speaker 1: we probably could have invoked that ruling for this week.
Speaker 1: We've got some other topics to touch upon, like is
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers when fully healthy strong start for real?
Speaker 1: And what about Danny Green? But first, this very brief
Speaker 1: programming note. The Scoop, as you might have seen in
Speaker 1: your feed, a new series from us all the news
Speaker 1: you need about the Sixers the morning of and after
Speaker 1: every game in five minutes or less. Soon within the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks, we're making that its own separate,
Speaker 1: exclusive feed. So to subscribe or to follow it, all
Speaker 1: you got to do is search seventy Sixers Scoop wherever
Speaker 1: you get your pods, and then follow along and you'll
Speaker 1: get the Scoop, the almost everyday daily podcast from the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers Podcast Network, freshen your feed the morning of
Speaker 1: and morning after every Sixers game. Back to the mailback,
Speaker 1: you have one new message. We returned to Twitter, Mic
Speaker 1: Butts wondering can this situation got to assume he's referring
Speaker 1: to COVID be a make or break week for the Sixers,
Speaker 1: even this early the season. Lauren, you want to go
Speaker 1: first on that one, sure, I'm going to say no.
Speaker 1: I think that it's a little early still for everything.
Speaker 1: The team was the top of the league before this
Speaker 1: all happened, and even that felt a little bit early
Speaker 1: to react to. Obviously, there was a lot of good
Speaker 1: stuff happening that we want to cling onto for the
Speaker 1: rest of this season, but I don't necessarily feel comfortable
Speaker 1: saying that this week. If things continue the way that
Speaker 1: they are and the team is so severely shorthanded, I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you can actually take from this
Speaker 1: week in terms of projecting out the rest of this season.
Speaker 1: I also think that the teams that the Sixers are
Speaker 1: competing against, even though it didn't necessarily happen over the weekend,
Speaker 1: will also face a similar situation where they're going to
Speaker 1: have to play undermanned. They might have to take a few,
Speaker 1: let's say, scheduled losses due to COVID. So I don't
Speaker 1: think that we can react to that harshly to what's
Speaker 1: going on yet, But I do still think that there
Speaker 1: are plenty of things to be learned. As we saw
Speaker 1: on Saturday, and opportunities for growth this week. Personally, if
Speaker 1: they drop a few more, it would be very unfortunate.
Speaker 1: But I don't think I would be willing to overreact
Speaker 1: your thoughts. Sels, I would agree with you. I would
Speaker 1: also if we had a way of getting back in
Speaker 1: touch with Mike and interacting directly with him for this
Speaker 1: particular question that we're trying to answer is what do
Speaker 1: you define as make or break? Because the seventy sixers,
Speaker 1: depending on how long some of these absences last, still
Speaker 1: be and we're gonna get to this a top whatever
Speaker 1: seed in the Eastern Conference, that's going to be something
Speaker 1: that we have to wait and see. But when I
Speaker 1: look at the standings for both the East and Western Conferences,
Speaker 1: the bottom team in each conference is no more than
Speaker 1: five games out of the top spot through about ten
Speaker 1: games into the seasons. So to me already, that suggests
Speaker 1: that a there could be parody and there are a
Speaker 1: lot of teams that are dealing with unexpected personnel issues
Speaker 1: and availability that are coming out. More specifically, in the East,
Speaker 1: there are eleven teams that are within a game of
Speaker 1: five hundred or better. Every team in the top eight.
Speaker 1: There's actually nine teams including the Miami Heat, which is
Speaker 1: Sixers played in a two game series later this week
Speaker 1: that are at least five hundred and you know, like,
Speaker 1: I think one more thing about this. This has been
Speaker 1: a really rambling rant like performance by me today. There's
Speaker 1: a lot to say. It's okay, me too. In the
Speaker 1: immediate schedule for the Sixers, two teams that stand out
Speaker 1: to me in the Eastern Conference that going into this
Speaker 1: year you would assume the Sixers would have to jockey
Speaker 1: with for positioning atop the East are the Miami Heat
Speaker 1: Sixers have a two game series against them on Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Thursday, and the Boston Celtics, who are going to
Speaker 1: be in town for a two game series next Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Thursday. And you could argue that, aside for what
Speaker 1: did or did not happen over the weekend, Boston is
Speaker 1: in a very similar situation the Sixers as far as
Speaker 1: the number of players that have been affected by contact
Speaker 1: tracing related to covid as is the Heat clearly so
Speaker 1: I will I may be buried the lead in my
Speaker 1: response there, but if you look at the games that
Speaker 1: are coming this week, whether or not it becomes a
Speaker 1: make or break week if the Heat are coming into
Speaker 1: town in a similar situation that the Sixers are facing.
Speaker 1: It's going to be hard to really see how these
Speaker 1: teams stack up to each other, but at least they'll
Speaker 1: both be in a similar situation, both shorthanded, both just
Speaker 1: trying to navigate a very bizarre week, and at least
Speaker 1: they can take solace in doing it together. How do
Speaker 1: we feel about that spin zone? I feel it's good spin.
Speaker 1: I just I need positivity, so I'll take that spin.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mike. What's next? You have one new message,
Speaker 1: Zach Union, asking any explanation why the Sixers had to
Speaker 1: play and the Heat and the Rockets did not. I'll
Speaker 1: give my explanation for the Heat and the Celtics, and
Speaker 1: I can only go based on what I read about
Speaker 1: what's happening around the rest of the league. So Avery
Speaker 1: Bradley was a player in question that really tip things
Speaker 1: towards the game being postponed, and based on reports, sounds
Speaker 1: like that the ability of the League and Heat to
Speaker 1: do contact tracing so soon to the seven o'clock tip
Speaker 1: off between the Celtics and the Heat, they couldn't do
Speaker 1: it in that amount of time, whereas with the Sixers,
Speaker 1: obviously they found out about Seth Curry after their game
Speaker 1: at Brooklyn on Thursday, and their next game wasn't until
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon. That's all I have to say about that.
Speaker 1: And if you don't have anything I'd learned that's attempted
Speaker 1: to just yeah, I'm tempted to just ride your way there.
Speaker 1: I mean, what I'll say is I hear the folks
Speaker 1: that are frustrated with the way that went down, because
Speaker 1: we don't know exactly what's going on, but the way
Speaker 1: that the Sixers had to suit up eight players, one
Speaker 1: of whom was never going to be able to play
Speaker 1: in the game, didn't feel great to then see teams
Speaker 1: the next day get a similar situation postponed with the
Speaker 1: opportunity to then go and win that game eventually. So
Speaker 1: far be it for me to criticize the league for
Speaker 1: what they're doing. But I do understand the folks that
Speaker 1: were frustrated by those decisions coming down in such a
Speaker 1: close proximity. But yes, like Selt said, every badly situation.
Speaker 1: The fact that they would have needed to contact Trace
Speaker 1: right before the game, and that's a pretty involved thing
Speaker 1: to have to do. It takes time, and they might
Speaker 1: not have had it does make sense as to how
Speaker 1: it happened this way, and it'll just be interesting to
Speaker 1: keep tabs on how these situations are handled moving forward,
Speaker 1: because it does seem like they're going to continue to
Speaker 1: happen as the season continues. We love every last one
Speaker 1: of the submissions we get here on the Monday mail Bag.
Speaker 1: We particularly love voicemails. You have one new message. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Ethan and I'm a long time listener.
Speaker 1: I'm curious do you think that the Sixers can maintain
Speaker 1: this first seed that we are in the East right now?
Speaker 1: And if not, where do you think they're going to fall?
Speaker 1: I personally think we can be the second or the
Speaker 1: third seed. I hope we can keep the first up,
Speaker 1: but we'll see. Thanks have a good day, so Ethan
Speaker 1: kind of bringing up Lauren a point that we discussed
Speaker 1: a few submissions ago. Can the Sixers keep up a
Speaker 1: strong start? And he specifically is wondering whether or not
Speaker 1: they can keep their perch atop the Eastern Conference, maybe
Speaker 1: be a top three seed. I think there's a good chance. Again,
Speaker 1: I think this goes back to other teams. If I
Speaker 1: just had to guess, either A already dealing with certain
Speaker 1: circumstances similar to what the Sixers are going through, or
Speaker 1: they're going to have to at some point in time.
Speaker 1: It's just the unfortunate reality of the world that we
Speaker 1: live in right now. But the top two teams in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference, within the last two or three days,
Speaker 1: they've had a combined fourteen players missing essentially or more.
Speaker 1: It actually might be sixteen. You're talking about the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers in the Boston Celtics. They're each seven and three.
Speaker 1: They're tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: So I would like to think that if bumps in
Speaker 1: the road are going to happen, and in while teams
Speaker 1: go through it, they certainly might seem like potholes and
Speaker 1: not bumps. It hopefully will level out, and then hopefully
Speaker 1: we'll level off and not exist at all. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I agree with you. I think it will level out,
Speaker 1: and I think for better, for worse, for medium. It
Speaker 1: will be interesting to look back at the first week
Speaker 1: of the season how the Sixers did in their opening games,
Speaker 1: what happened during this period when so many teams in
Speaker 1: the East were missing so many players, How this all
Speaker 1: netted out at the end of the season. It's again
Speaker 1: for better, for worse, for neutral. It'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: look back and just sort of see how it all
Speaker 1: went down. Just from a storytelling narrative perspective like this
Speaker 1: is fascinating what's going on, and hopefully and in all
Speaker 1: likelihood will never happen again. So just keep in mind
Speaker 1: this is a unique situation. There is a fluid situation,
Speaker 1: and eventually things will go back to normal. Ethan, thanks
Speaker 1: so much for hitting up the voicemail line two on
Speaker 1: five four zero three pods two on five four zero
Speaker 1: three seven six three seven, put on your phone, save it,
Speaker 1: call us whenever you have a seventy six ers thought
Speaker 1: or reaction. I think that segues to one of our
Speaker 1: next questions in quarries we got This time on Twitter,
Speaker 1: you have one new message, the real Gotem. I think
Speaker 1: that's it's either the real Gotem. And I say that
Speaker 1: because in a previous life, when I worked at ninety
Speaker 1: sevent five Fanatic, there was a caller who's amazing named Gotum.
Speaker 1: So it's either the real Gotem or the real Gotham.
Speaker 1: I apologize if I messed that up. Currently with the
Speaker 1: handle seventy Sixers season SZN, and this was something because
Speaker 1: we all with the mailbag, we don't always take the
Speaker 1: most recent submissions that we get on social media or
Speaker 1: through the voicemail. We go back over the course of
Speaker 1: the entire seven days that have passed since the last
Speaker 1: mailbag Monday. And this was in response to the seventy
Speaker 1: sixers performance at the start of the week. Does this
Speaker 1: not look like a team that is finally having fun
Speaker 1: and playing for one another? I love it and I agree.
Speaker 1: That was when Joel Embiid had the big thirty eight
Speaker 1: point game against the Washington Wizards. Yes, yes, I'm going
Speaker 1: back to those times when I project forward larned about
Speaker 1: the Sixers. That is the headspace that I'm living in.
Speaker 1: I agree, I feel you. I think this is a
Speaker 1: good question. I think it is a great observation. This
Speaker 1: does really feel like a group that is enjoying their
Speaker 1: time together, playing for one another, supporting one another, learning
Speaker 1: each other. And it is cool to see them have
Speaker 1: so much success early in the season but then indicate
Speaker 1: that they still want to improve, that they feel like
Speaker 1: they can get better. And when they talk about getting better,
Speaker 1: they often talk about making sure they're finding their teammates
Speaker 1: in the spots that they want to be found in.
Speaker 1: When they talk about improving, they say they're still learning
Speaker 1: each other's tendencies, each other's habits, each other's preferences. When
Speaker 1: they talk about getting better, they're not talking about how
Speaker 1: they specifically and as individuals can get better. They're talking
Speaker 1: about how they can get better as a team, which
Speaker 1: I do think is an excellent sign about the culture
Speaker 1: that's being created and the vibe that they're the communal
Speaker 1: type vibe that they're building together. And then, of course,
Speaker 1: look no further than the bench celebrations, the pregame celebrations
Speaker 1: during player intros have just been elite vibes. That's all
Speaker 1: I can say, elite vibes. When you're talking about culture
Speaker 1: and you're speaking about vibes, there's several players come to mind,
Speaker 1: but especially this guy. As we get to our final
Speaker 1: mail bag submission, you have one new message. Goat parentheses
Speaker 1: seven three. Can you explain how Danny Green is helping
Speaker 1: the younger players on the seventy six Let's give it
Speaker 1: up for Danny Green, one of the few mainstays in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup who was available for the seven sixers
Speaker 1: game against the Denver Nuggets. Danny Green. I cannot say
Speaker 1: enough positive things about Danny Green. And usually at this
Speaker 1: point in the season, Selton I would have interfaced with
Speaker 1: the players a lot more than we have currently. But
Speaker 1: what I will say is every interaction I've had with
Speaker 1: Danny has been just phenomenal. He is so thoughtful, so funny,
Speaker 1: just someone that like, if I were a basketball player,
Speaker 1: I would want to go to battle with Danny Green.
Speaker 1: And we saw that. Shout out again to our Nick
Speaker 1: McCain for capturing a really special moment among the seven
Speaker 1: sixers before they ran out onto the court. But Danny
Speaker 1: Green gave sort of a come together speech before they
Speaker 1: broke out of their huddle and ran out onto the court,
Speaker 1: and he said that it's not about playing hero ball.
Speaker 1: No one's going to feel bad for them. They need
Speaker 1: to come together and do this together and they can
Speaker 1: win that game. And it turns out they could have
Speaker 1: won that game they were in it, and Danny's leadership
Speaker 1: obviously playing a large role in that situation. I can't
Speaker 1: say enough good things about Danny Green. If I were
Speaker 1: assembling a basketball team, I would want him as one
Speaker 1: of the veterans and lucky, lucky enough for the sixers.
Speaker 1: He is one and near and near to our hearts.
Speaker 1: He's a hell of a podcaster, a great podcast. More
Speaker 1: can you say about Dandy Green? All right, we're gonna
Speaker 1: close up the mail bag on that. Thank you, sincerely.
Speaker 1: It was a crazy week ups then downs into who
Speaker 1: knows what type of territory. So thanks to everyone who
Speaker 1: either called in at two and five four zero three
Speaker 1: seven six three seven or hit us up in our
Speaker 1: mentions on Instagram or Twitter. Thank you very much, Lauren,
Speaker 1: A pleasure is always onwards we go into another week. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 1: thank you everybody for listening. We will see you before
Speaker 1: the game tonight. We are playing a game tonight in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: It'll happen soon.