Speaker 1: Ben Simmons has been doing a lot lately. Slammington to
Speaker 1: a trailing seventh to the right, a jam, Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: running rough shot right down broad steet, stealing Simmons steals
Speaker 1: the ball, Harris for three, oh yeah, steal, run out, assist,
Speaker 1: and I fucking bits a fire Harris and just providing
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers with all around excellent, all league caliber play.
Speaker 1: I think what Ben has done. Talk about the positive
Speaker 1: is the guy who understands what he's really good at
Speaker 1: making other people around him a better than That's NBA
Speaker 1: TV's Jared Greenberg and will examine simmons progress this season
Speaker 1: and his impact on this episode of the broadcast. How
Speaker 1: are you doing out there, seventy Sixers pod people? Busy
Speaker 1: stretched for the team right now? It is playing pretty well,
Speaker 1: continuing to rack up the winds in the top half
Speaker 1: of the Eastern Conference. Still perfect at home and knocking
Speaker 1: off some quality opponents as of late. Got a win
Speaker 1: over the Toronto Raptors that was nice on Sunday, defeated
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets in a defensive physical tussle on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and coming up Thursday night, the primetime pairing with the
Speaker 1: arch nemesis Boston Celtics. In the midst of all this,
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons has been terrific and we will talk about
Speaker 1: that storyline with Jared Greenberg of NBA TV and just
Speaker 1: a matter of moments. But first a reminder that to
Speaker 1: subscribe to our podcast, you can go to any one
Speaker 1: of your favorite podcasting platforms Spotify, Pandora, Apple Pods, Google Pods, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: tune in, SoundCloud, wherever you go. Just type in seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers podcast. We're seventy six Ers Podcast Network and
Speaker 1: that will take you to our feed. Ben Simmons came
Speaker 1: into this week fresh off two fantastic games, a career
Speaker 1: high thirty four points plus seven assists in these seventy
Speaker 1: six ers historic blowout win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Loba
Speaker 1: Simmons Hetty Jamnet, Ben Simmons is going to town on
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Cavaliers, reminding the Cavaliers of Larron James. Then
Speaker 1: the very next night against the Toronto Raptors, a near
Speaker 1: triple double for Simmons as he finished with sixteen points,
Speaker 1: eleven boards, and nine dollars. Here's Ben in the Lane
Speaker 1: takes it all went down that Slabs it he wind
Speaker 1: Mills and n gassoul Are you kidding me? Ben? Sevens
Speaker 1: wheels that slams it? What a playue? Wow? What a
Speaker 1: slam by Simmons. Yes, Ben Simmons has indeed been in
Speaker 1: some kind of groove lately. He even earned some votes
Speaker 1: for Eastern Conference Player of the Weekends. I was lucking
Speaker 1: them every time I was in the floor. Wh goss,
Speaker 1: how many meds I've laid. A month and a half
Speaker 1: into the NBA season, Simmons leads the league in total
Speaker 1: steals and steals per game. He's fifth and assists twelfth,
Speaker 1: and field goal percentage, and to the great website Basketball
Speaker 1: Reference dot com, the Aussie is fifth in defensive wind shares.
Speaker 1: Might try to play the game on how to play
Speaker 1: without over thinking, I'll listening to anybody else, so good time.
Speaker 1: I'm getting better, Ben Simmons. In addition to all of that,
Speaker 1: is also the topic I wanted to get into with
Speaker 1: this week's guest on the Pod, Jared Greenberg. He's the
Speaker 1: host of NBA TV's crunch Time, which airs every Wednesday
Speaker 1: and Friday from sevent eastern to the night's final buzzer.
Speaker 1: Crunch Time is the league's Whip Around show, capturing all
Speaker 1: the excitement around the NBA from down to the wire
Speaker 1: finishes to game winners and defining moments throughout the night.
Speaker 1: And of course, the seventy Sixers will be back on
Speaker 1: the NBA on TNT this Thursday as a part of
Speaker 1: TNTs doubleheader when the Sixers visit the Boston Celtics eight
Speaker 1: o'clock Eastern. Then later on that night stick Around a
Speaker 1: Great Western Conference game between the Portland Trailblazers and Denver Nuggets. So,
Speaker 1: Jared Greenberg, it is great to have you on once again.
Speaker 1: What do you make of this recent tear by Ben
Speaker 1: simm You know, I think what what what Ben has
Speaker 1: done really well is identify what he's really good at.
Speaker 1: Simmons saw the run jam and that's where Simmons is
Speaker 1: at his very best. Well, he can get in the
Speaker 1: open floor, he gets the rebound and immediately gets him
Speaker 1: in transitiones talk about the positives. It's it's a guy
Speaker 1: who understands what he's really good at and you know,
Speaker 1: making other people around him better. I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: we we often just cast a you know, a blanket
Speaker 1: over great players and just say that they're good at
Speaker 1: making others better, Michael Jordan or Lebron James, m whoever
Speaker 1: you want. And I don't know that that's always the
Speaker 1: case with really good players in the league, but clearly
Speaker 1: what what Ben Simmons does is find ways to get
Speaker 1: other teammates involved or make sure he's getting guys in
Speaker 1: the right spots. And I think that, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's what's really impressive about him. And then you know
Speaker 1: defensively too, you know obviously how he's up for the challenge,
Speaker 1: and he's he's not too proud of a young player
Speaker 1: to understand that, all right, I may not be averaging
Speaker 1: thirty points or I may not be leading my team
Speaker 1: and shot attempts, but I'm going to make sure that
Speaker 1: I take on that challenge on a nightly basis. And
Speaker 1: I think he does it too at guarding a variety
Speaker 1: of different positions on the court, which I think is
Speaker 1: is a hugely important attribute for players in this league.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I really enjoy about talking
Speaker 1: to national media members is that you get a broader
Speaker 1: perspective on how people view storyline surrounding a team, rather
Speaker 1: than some of the hyper focused scrutiny that takes place
Speaker 1: in a local market. So if we step back out
Speaker 1: and we look at things for thirty thousand feet, what
Speaker 1: level of intrigue was there on a national level surrounding
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons entering this year in regard to what the
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers chances made huge, absolutely huge. Um, I
Speaker 1: won't forget over the summer on NBA TV, we do
Speaker 1: the schedule reveal and we brought Charles Markley and he
Speaker 1: predicted that that show that he had the Sixers coming
Speaker 1: out of East. Can I get it? I guarantee it.
Speaker 1: I guarantee you that Villa de sem Sixers are gonna
Speaker 1: win the Eastern Conference. But he said it with a caveat.
Speaker 1: He said that the Sixers are probably the only really
Speaker 1: good team among the there's a lot of them now
Speaker 1: this year, obviously, but among the teams that you think
Speaker 1: have a even a chance of winning a title this year,
Speaker 1: the Sixers are the only team where you're wondering if
Speaker 1: their best players are good enough to get them over
Speaker 1: the hump this year. Right, Simmons and Embiid had to
Speaker 1: take a massive step forward for the Sixers to to
Speaker 1: elevate themselves out of a team where in the last
Speaker 1: few years they've you know, quote unquote only gotten to
Speaker 1: the second round of the playoffs. So I think that
Speaker 1: what Simmons the level of intrigue was huge, you know,
Speaker 1: his um everything from his leadership skills to his obviously
Speaker 1: shooting uh talking jumpers, three pointers, free throws, to his
Speaker 1: ability to help close out games. I think we're or
Speaker 1: a huge question mark around the league before we dive
Speaker 1: into what Simmons has done this season. What did you
Speaker 1: think he wrapped up last season after that seven games
Speaker 1: second round playoff series with Toronto. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: an All Star at twenty two, which all things considered
Speaker 1: his no small feed. No, you're right, and obviously he
Speaker 1: had a strong case his rookie year to be an
Speaker 1: All Star, and I know he was disappointed that he
Speaker 1: didn't make it that year. Um, you know, I thought
Speaker 1: that there was steady improvement in certain areas. I think
Speaker 1: certainly defensively we saw it. I think obviously in the
Speaker 1: scoring we saw it. His efficiency numbers last year were
Speaker 1: off the charts. I think the question at the end
Speaker 1: of the year is the same at the question and
Speaker 1: now it's it's it's from you know, the shooting standpoint.
Speaker 1: You know, jumpers, threes, and free throws. Brett Brown recently
Speaker 1: came out and said, following a series of games over
Speaker 1: the weekend, that he had a quota of one three
Speaker 1: pointer a game for Ben Simmons. This is what I want. Okay,
Speaker 1: you can pass this along to his agent and his
Speaker 1: family and his friends into him. I want a three
Speaker 1: point shot a game minimum. Did you see that? What
Speaker 1: did you make of that comment? I loved it. And
Speaker 1: I think that Brett, this is a tough one to
Speaker 1: really juggle in Bret Brett. As you know, Brian just
Speaker 1: had a lot of these tough situations during his ten
Speaker 1: year as six Ers head coach, and he does a
Speaker 1: great job of of of doing saying the right pr thing,
Speaker 1: but also at certain times sending a message to your
Speaker 1: locker room that you want to be heard. And I
Speaker 1: think I think that the number one is a good
Speaker 1: one for Ben because I'm of this opinion here that
Speaker 1: he doesn't need to become Clay Thompson or Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: As we've seen from the threes that he's he's taken,
Speaker 1: the couple he's taken this year that he's made. The
Speaker 1: teams are giving him so much space, So why not
Speaker 1: one time a game take advantage of that. So maybe
Speaker 1: later in that game or maybe in future games, teams
Speaker 1: start to think about defending you out there. So I
Speaker 1: thought the number one is is good. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just it's just starting for him. He's jumping off for
Speaker 1: Simmons extra dread the second three of the season, Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons feeling goods And I don't want to play team
Speaker 1: psychologist on this end. They certainly chill out enough of
Speaker 1: their resources is for someone professional to do that, But
Speaker 1: it's almost seemingly as if Ben knocked down a couple
Speaker 1: of threes. The two that he's hit so far have
Speaker 1: been set up for him. They've looked really pure when
Speaker 1: they've gone through the net, and you almost wonder if
Speaker 1: Brett's taken this opportunity to be like, all right, you
Speaker 1: know what, He's tried it a couple times in a game.
Speaker 1: He's made them. Why don't we jump on this momentum
Speaker 1: and see if we can bolster that confidence and see
Speaker 1: if we can have it be a more regular thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with you, like you know, and I just think
Speaker 1: it adds such a dynamic for this team, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's not it's gonna be highlighted this year because
Speaker 1: of the lack of three point shooting, and I know
Speaker 1: of late they've certainly been a much better three point
Speaker 1: shooting team, But let let's be honest here. I think
Speaker 1: they're going to come back down to earth with some
Speaker 1: of these numbers that they've hit love late, But because
Speaker 1: they don't have that JJ reddick anymore, it's gonna be highlighted.
Speaker 1: But even if they did have a JJ Reddick, I
Speaker 1: do think it's understand what it does for the rest
Speaker 1: of the team if you're a guy who teams feel
Speaker 1: like they don't even need to have anybody within ten
Speaker 1: feet of you if you're out on the perimeter. Another
Speaker 1: big storyline surrounding Simmons won that seventy six Ers leadership
Speaker 1: between Elton Brand and Brett Brown have pointed two and
Speaker 1: you've already touched upon a little bit. Jared is his defense.
Speaker 1: Now we all know Kawhi Leonard had a postseason for
Speaker 1: the Ages last year, Ben Simmons was asked to a
Speaker 1: Lion share the defense on him in the second round series.
Speaker 1: The Sixers felt like he would be able to pull
Speaker 1: something from that. Now that the series is Phoenished. I
Speaker 1: want to just ask about Bennon what you saw from
Speaker 1: him this series he went up against Kawa. Can you
Speaker 1: just speak about the growth of him over these past
Speaker 1: saving games to have the responsibility to go have to
Speaker 1: defend Kawhi Leonard, especially in the mood and the mindset
Speaker 1: that Kawai was in. I think Ben's defensive effort and
Speaker 1: commitment to trying to guard Kawhi Leonard will serve him well.
Speaker 1: It too will be a memory. I'm certain that will
Speaker 1: will help better shape his approach. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: we've seen that translate just the experience of going up
Speaker 1: against guys like Kawhi Leonard in the second round, it
Speaker 1: was Dangelo Russell against the Brooklyns in the first round.
Speaker 1: Have you seen that translate in terms of how Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons has gotten off to a start defensively this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's an aggressive this. You know, Um, there's
Speaker 1: the the deflections and you know we're covering loose balls
Speaker 1: and and and just knowing where to be. I think
Speaker 1: even even the harshest of critics of Ben Simmons would
Speaker 1: admit to the fact that his basketball IQ is is
Speaker 1: off the charts, um and I think you see that.
Speaker 1: You see it on offense, we don't necessarily always credit
Speaker 1: him with that. On the defensive ende, Sivinth seals the ball,
Speaker 1: Sivins driving it is a let he goes to Harris,
Speaker 1: Harris puts up Ben jams At quit ten seconds ago,
Speaker 1: sixers take the day. He's a ball boy. He's all
Speaker 1: over the place where he needs to be. And like,
Speaker 1: you know, you just gave the perfect example there. Um. Listen,
Speaker 1: nobody was slowing down Kawhi last year in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But to take on that talent and also in the
Speaker 1: first round, to take got a talent but cancel Lessel,
Speaker 1: they couldn't be two more different players. And to be
Speaker 1: willing to do that, m you know, it's a big thing.
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know if he's going to
Speaker 1: be First team All Defense this year, Ben Simmons, but
Speaker 1: but I think he's a guy that's that's going to
Speaker 1: be over the course of his career considered. Uh, you
Speaker 1: know for that at some point. That's the perfect segue.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about this. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to cast Brett Brown as an inflammatory
Speaker 1: take man, but he does have stances and he threw
Speaker 1: out there earlier this season that he feels like Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons has asserted himself early on as an All Defensive
Speaker 1: team candidate, perhaps even in the conversation for Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year. Now he's like walked in and like
Speaker 1: that's a different species right there, and you know, to
Speaker 1: try to get that as much as we can as
Speaker 1: the Holy grill, you know, I think he's got to
Speaker 1: be considered for an All Defense it's a team and
Speaker 1: who knows, tell me somebody that's doing better as a
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year. You know, it's not far reaching.
Speaker 1: You understand the way the league works on a national level.
Speaker 1: What does it take for a player to gain that
Speaker 1: type of consideration being the running for those recognitions, Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a little different based on each position,
Speaker 1: right and it's it's a bit unfair, but it's kind
Speaker 1: of the mindset of the voter, and that is, if
Speaker 1: you're not going to be a big man and you're
Speaker 1: going to be in consideration, then what you need to
Speaker 1: have the reputation of being it's a guy who, on
Speaker 1: a nightly basis, no matter who your team is playing,
Speaker 1: is always guarding for the bulk of the game, the
Speaker 1: team's best their opponent's best perimeter offensive player, night and
Speaker 1: night out. And that's kind of what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Whether it's the point guard, whether it's the two guard,
Speaker 1: whether it's a wing like a Kawhi Leonard. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a reason why a guy like Paul George last
Speaker 1: year was in the mix and it still went to
Speaker 1: a big guy and Rudy Gobert. But if you are
Speaker 1: guys who on a night league basis, we're watching highlights,
Speaker 1: because if you're not, you know, if you're not like
Speaker 1: guys who's you know in the league pass every night
Speaker 1: with hoops Jockey, and I'm sure there's probably a few
Speaker 1: voters out there who are just catching highlights. If you're
Speaker 1: not seeing that guy that you're considering for Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year guarding the stars of this league every night,
Speaker 1: then it's gonna be hard to keep him in the mix.
Speaker 1: So I think that that part of the reputation for
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons to even give him a shot. And right now,
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I think he's probably very much on
Speaker 1: the outside looking uni for that Defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year conversation at this point in this season. But he's
Speaker 1: got to be every single night. We've got to see
Speaker 1: him on the opponent's best player. That's a little different
Speaker 1: for perimeter players or to take non bigs. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're a big like a Rudy Gobert or an
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis or in the past, the guy like a
Speaker 1: Marcus Aul. You know, we're looking at your your block shots,
Speaker 1: what type of you know, rim defender you are, how
Speaker 1: many rebounds you're getting, what a team's field goal percentage
Speaker 1: is um and and and the other part of it
Speaker 1: is is always which is you know, always an interesting
Speaker 1: one for me is even though it's an individual award,
Speaker 1: we're always going to look at where your team is
Speaker 1: in defensive rating. That that that's always you know, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be hard for a guy to win Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year of his team is let's say, outside
Speaker 1: the top five and defensive rating. When you look at
Speaker 1: the seventy sixers on a broader level beyond Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: what are some of the other subplots, Jared that interests
Speaker 1: you At this point of the year. You can't you
Speaker 1: can't talk about this team without talking about indeed, you
Speaker 1: know that's that that that's that's probably the biggest thing.
Speaker 1: And then and then you know the supporting cast is
Speaker 1: going to be the next day five to shoot Tobias
Speaker 1: Drives put it up left hand laugh as good welcome
Speaker 1: factor to your to your top bias Harris. You know,
Speaker 1: I think there's something to be said for guys who
Speaker 1: get paid and who are true professionals, Like I've heard
Speaker 1: reports from people around the league that there are a
Speaker 1: few guys who actually or carter in the summer than
Speaker 1: Tobias House. Um. You know, it seems like over the
Speaker 1: course of the year, it's like he's got himself in
Speaker 1: such great shape. And I felt with the way this
Speaker 1: team was constructed this year and what they needed out
Speaker 1: of him, he could have a monster year. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, once about the middle of November hit he
Speaker 1: kind of he found it a little bit. And I
Speaker 1: just think it's a matter of consistency and they make
Speaker 1: clutch shots and they be a team that can withstand
Speaker 1: ms him as not being a perimeter or a jump
Speaker 1: shuter because they have enough guys who do it other
Speaker 1: than that. And then probably the third is just the
Speaker 1: you know, the rise of tible. Here's a steel by
Speaker 1: a taste in Siakaba slab a taste bible rocks around
Speaker 1: what a play. The rookie is doing it at both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. To me, that's telling that even
Speaker 1: and this is not to suggest that national media members
Speaker 1: aren't following game in, game out, but that he has
Speaker 1: made such an impression to the point where he's on
Speaker 1: the radar of some people on a national level. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he's exciting, you know, on this on this
Speaker 1: show that I host on Wednesdays and Fridays on crunch time,
Speaker 1: when we're doing our live lookings on all these games. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing the timing. I've lost track amount of
Speaker 1: times that we've dipped into a sixer game totally by coincidence,
Speaker 1: and there's tibe will just make it a huge defensive play,
Speaker 1: and then just how hard he plays. You know, he's
Speaker 1: he makes a defensive play and then he's never done right.
Speaker 1: He's always running the floor and he's hit some clutch shots.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's had games where he's had awful shooting nights,
Speaker 1: but he's he's a rookie. And then you know, you
Speaker 1: you obviously live with that and understand, but Tyble always
Speaker 1: has a smile on his face, He's always laughing, he's
Speaker 1: always having fun um so he's he's fun to watch.
Speaker 1: I think first and fore months, no doubt, but he's
Speaker 1: table fun to watch. The seventy Sixers have been fun
Speaker 1: to watch the first almost two months of the season.
Speaker 1: Fun to watch Jared Greenberg on NBA TV. Great to
Speaker 1: get his insights as well. Jared, thanks so much and
Speaker 1: her minded. You catch Jared on NBA TV's crunch Time
Speaker 1: each Wednesday and Friday from sevent eastern then it's final Horn.
Speaker 1: It's a whip around show. Crunch Time takes you through
Speaker 1: the excitement throughout the entire league, down to the wire,
Speaker 1: finishes game winners, defining moments all throughout the night. It
Speaker 1: is terrific. And the seventy six Ers one more time
Speaker 1: playing on the NBA on TNT Thursday when they take
Speaker 1: on the Boston Celtics at eight o'clock Easter. Before we
Speaker 1: wrap things up, one quick reminders. Seventy six Ers Camps
Speaker 1: prevented by Rothman Orthopedics is back for a seventy six
Speaker 1: Ers holiday hoops camps. You get to learn drills the
Speaker 1: pros us with three days of skills and drills. They're
Speaker 1: going to be held December twenty six, twenty seventh, and thirtieth.
Speaker 1: Registration is now open for boys and girls ages five
Speaker 1: through fourteen, with several locations across the entire Delaware Valley.
Speaker 1: Sign up today at seventy six ers camps dot com
Speaker 1: or call six one zero six six eight, seven six
Speaker 1: and seven six. Once again, thanks to Jared Greenberg from
Speaker 1: NBA TV for taking the time to talk on this
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast. Thank you for listening, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next time right here on the proadcast
Speaker 1: S