Speaker 1: It's time to talk Sixers, Simmons off balance and an
Speaker 1: incredible bank shot is good Here on the Broadcast, the
Speaker 1: official podcast of Sixers dot Com. If drive dom he
Speaker 1: goes in that slabs it. Oh man, what a play
Speaker 1: by it be. Now here's today's episode, a new day,
Speaker 1: an opportunity for the seventy Sixers to move forward after
Speaker 1: a tough loss in Milwaukee on Sunday night. Brian Seltzer,
Speaker 1: welcoming you into the latest edition of the broadcast. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for checking it out. Our guest on this
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast, it is going to be excellent
Speaker 1: to sit down with the one and only Bob Cooney
Speaker 1: morning Man. Well, now he's a morning man, a really
Speaker 1: early morning man on our flagship station for Sixers Radio
Speaker 1: Broadcast ninety seven five The Fanatic. You can hear him
Speaker 1: each day from six to ten, and you'll hear from
Speaker 1: him and his thoughts on the state of the Sixers
Speaker 1: in just a matter of moments. Reminder that to subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast, you can go to a couple of places.
Speaker 1: You can go to iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. Type
Speaker 1: in Sixers Podcast Network. We also have our own SoundCloud
Speaker 1: page at SoundCloud dot Com backslash sixers sixers with nineteen
Speaker 1: games to go in the season, there in the thick
Speaker 1: obviously of the Eastern Conference playoff race as of Monday
Speaker 1: in sixth place with the record of thirty four and
Speaker 1: twenty eight. Always a good opportunity, regardless of the stage
Speaker 1: of the season to touch base with Bob Cooney. Now
Speaker 1: an early morning riser is a part of the Fanatic
Speaker 1: Morning crew, and selfishly Bob a hard adjustment on this end,
Speaker 1: not being able to see around in person as much.
Speaker 1: How you doing, I'm doing well, Brian. How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'd even say great because I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what Sunday Nights was doing the postgame show on ninety
Speaker 1: seven five to the Fanatic, And I will tell you,
Speaker 1: I don't think I have a better, more enjoyable experience
Speaker 1: on the air than the nights when I get to
Speaker 1: hear a Bob Cooney voiced ferguson commercial running. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's the highlight of your life. There is the
Speaker 1: enthusiasm that is booming. You gotta bring it right, Brian,
Speaker 1: you know what it's all about. Uh, well, there was
Speaker 1: lots of energy with that. There's lots of energy at
Speaker 1: the start of Sunday's game for the seventy six ers, Yes,
Speaker 1: there was, and there's also a lot of energy at
Speaker 1: the end. It was just not on the seventy six
Speaker 1: ers side of things. Um, it was a strange game.
Speaker 1: It was kind of like, if you can remove any
Speaker 1: rooting interests, an entertaining game for sure. A lot of
Speaker 1: star power turnovers here we are again. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: the way they come, Brian, I think it's not. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, can you live with a turnover when you're
Speaker 1: trying to run a play and the defense makes a
Speaker 1: good play on it, maybe a deny in the post
Speaker 1: or something like that, All right, you can live with that.
Speaker 1: But but when you're trying to break an eat nothing
Speaker 1: run and you try to throw like a cross court
Speaker 1: one handed bounce pass through traffic, Uh, that I don't
Speaker 1: think Brett can live with, you know, the silly things,
Speaker 1: maybe Joel trying to throw a fancy pass or something
Speaker 1: like that, Like, you can't live with those. He's gonna
Speaker 1: have to live with. Joel's gonna turn the ball over
Speaker 1: a lot simply because his ball handling isn't there yet.
Speaker 1: He's still raw in that in that area, I believe
Speaker 1: because he hasn't He hasn't played a lot of basketball
Speaker 1: over the last five years, and I think the last
Speaker 1: thing to come as always your ball handling. I don't
Speaker 1: just mean dribbling, I mean the passing. I mean just
Speaker 1: handling the basketball. So they're gonna have turnovers there. But
Speaker 1: I didn't like the way they played with a lead.
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, they still kept the up tempo a lot,
Speaker 1: even if twenty one point lead nineteen point leads, and
Speaker 1: they kept staying up tempo. I think there could have
Speaker 1: been a way they could have slowed it down a
Speaker 1: little bit, and maybe that would have prevented some turnovers,
Speaker 1: and it surely would have taken some time off the clock.
Speaker 1: For as ridiculous as the Sixers run was to start
Speaker 1: the game, when the games played at this evel, you
Speaker 1: know the opponent's gonna make it at some point, and
Speaker 1: you thought that maybe that midway stretch of the second quarter,
Speaker 1: you were like, maybe that was it, because it seemed
Speaker 1: like the Sixers got it back to a comfortable point
Speaker 1: ut of the first half, twelve point game, and then
Speaker 1: the way the Bean and the team came out to
Speaker 1: start the third quarter, like all right, they're rolling, but
Speaker 1: on the road high stakes, and I think the desperation factor.
Speaker 1: You could see Milwaukee really knew it needed to get
Speaker 1: that game, having lost four in a row, and their
Speaker 1: guy led them to it. Yeah, yeah, he's an amazing
Speaker 1: talent on kompo Is And yeah it was. It was.
Speaker 1: It's odd, like we've seen it many times. I've seen
Speaker 1: it through the years I covered the NBA. You have
Speaker 1: also when a team jumps out to that lead, you
Speaker 1: expect the other team to make a run and come
Speaker 1: back and get into it. And Milwaukee did that in
Speaker 1: the first half. To do it twice as odd. So
Speaker 1: that the fact that they did it the second time.
Speaker 1: Here's where I think the six Ers are going to
Speaker 1: have some problems, Briy, And it certainly seemed to be
Speaker 1: the case on Sunday night. At one point they had
Speaker 1: ersan Ilia Silvia, you have Darius Saritt, you have m
Speaker 1: Marco Bellonelli on the floor at the same time, not
Speaker 1: three guys that are really quick afoot, you know which,
Speaker 1: which is fine, But so it seemed to me that
Speaker 1: the defense defense's design was all right, let's run the
Speaker 1: three pointers off the line, get out there, don't allow
Speaker 1: three pointers and let and make them, you know, beat
Speaker 1: you with the dribble drive where you have Joel embiad
Speaker 1: in the back wherever it is. They did do that,
Speaker 1: but Milwaukee converted like every time, and there was a
Speaker 1: lot of three point plays in there, a lot of
Speaker 1: baskets and fouls, so, uh, you know, you're picking your poison.
Speaker 1: Are we letting up three pointers or are we running
Speaker 1: them off the three point line? And when they did
Speaker 1: allow three pointers, Milwaukee shot a pretty good percentage there
Speaker 1: in the second half. And then it went the other
Speaker 1: way where um Onto Takumpo would would drive a lot,
Speaker 1: and he found like Zeller, why Zeller's having a game?
Speaker 1: But that's what happened because you're you're driving in odd
Speaker 1: man situations two on ones from the lane on down
Speaker 1: and in Bead stuck does he go after the ball?
Speaker 1: Does he play off? And and and I think that's
Speaker 1: where your your comeback came from from Milwaukee obviously, um
Speaker 1: And it's you know, I want to get into the hole.
Speaker 1: And Bead playing his eighty second game thing a little bit.
Speaker 1: He's been terrific this year. Ben Simmons breakout. You can
Speaker 1: see the potential that he's got, but you look ahead
Speaker 1: where there's someone like Janis and first of all, amazingly
Speaker 1: he's only twenty three. I kind of, you know, I
Speaker 1: was looking some stuff up last night. I was like,
Speaker 1: maybe this guy's like twenty four to twenty five. Now,
Speaker 1: he's still only twenty three years old. Unbelievable. And you're like,
Speaker 1: he has that gear where it seems like he's been
Speaker 1: in the league long enough where he can have a
Speaker 1: stretch like he did late in the third quarter where
Speaker 1: it's total, I'm a star, I'm going to take the
Speaker 1: game over. And while we've seen that in flashes with
Speaker 1: Ben and Joel, it's like it's neat to kind of
Speaker 1: think out and project given how young and relatively in
Speaker 1: experience they are. They get a couple more seasons under
Speaker 1: their belt, you know, that seems like it's something that
Speaker 1: comes over time where you can really start to impose
Speaker 1: your will over an extended stretch of a game. I
Speaker 1: absolutely think. So let's go Ben's case. First, he's going
Speaker 1: to have to develop a shot. We all know that
Speaker 1: in order for him to take over a game, he's
Speaker 1: going to have to develop a shot. He can still
Speaker 1: take over a game even without it. I think. You
Speaker 1: know people who say defender, all they have to do
Speaker 1: is back off of him and he can't do anything. Well, No,
Speaker 1: he can drive the ball right at your chest and
Speaker 1: then still beat you around the basket because he can
Speaker 1: use both hands. So I think for him to consistently
Speaker 1: be a guy that can close out a game, he's
Speaker 1: got to develop that ten twelve fifteen footer and I
Speaker 1: don't see that being a problem moving forward. Joe's problem
Speaker 1: right now is simply his ball handling. You know, he's
Speaker 1: a wonderful shooter. I still think offensively and defensively, he's
Speaker 1: like a five year old soccer player. Where wherever the
Speaker 1: ball is he wants to be, And that'll come with maturity.
Speaker 1: You know, stop running after the basketball, Get where you're
Speaker 1: supposed to be, post up, whatever it may be. Get
Speaker 1: their stay there. If the ball comes to you, great,
Speaker 1: If it doesn't, you know, then you're on to the
Speaker 1: next adventure. But both of those guys have the tremendous
Speaker 1: ability to take over a game now, and as their
Speaker 1: games grow in the cases that I just mentioned, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be mind boggling to watch them. Sunday Milwaukee a
Speaker 1: tough one for the squad. But as we step back
Speaker 1: a bit and look a little bit more big picture,
Speaker 1: less granular to barrowe off to used Brett Brown word Sixers.
Speaker 1: Right now, thirty four and twenty eight they are in
Speaker 1: the middle of the pack in a very tight Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: I mean, it really is crazy. Just two games out
Speaker 1: of third, which is held by Cleveland, and then a
Speaker 1: game and a half in front of Miami for eighth
Speaker 1: as we speak now, and then there's Detroit which is
Speaker 1: four games behind Miami freight. So it seems like at
Speaker 1: this point, with nineteen games to go, Sixers look like
Speaker 1: they're going to be in it. Did you think that
Speaker 1: we would be in a conversation talking about the possibility
Speaker 1: of home court advantage with nineteen games to go in
Speaker 1: the year when things started back in October? It's amazing,
Speaker 1: isn't it? And in talking to people where the reaction
Speaker 1: everything after Sunday Night's game against Milwaukee, the loss is
Speaker 1: what the hell's going on here? You know? Part of
Speaker 1: that stuff? You say, well, all right, sit back for
Speaker 1: a second. Realistically, this could be a forty five win team,
Speaker 1: This could be a four seat in the playoffs. Tell
Speaker 1: me you wouldn't have signed up for that before the
Speaker 1: year started, you know exactly. So you know, I was
Speaker 1: on this like thirty eight thirty nine win before the
Speaker 1: season started. That was kind of my perdition. Players getting
Speaker 1: used to each other. So they're exceeding where I thought
Speaker 1: they were going to be, which'all in all lends you
Speaker 1: to say it's been a successful season. Successful season. I
Speaker 1: think it's you know, they've had a little tough stretcher.
Speaker 1: They got three more games on the road, if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, three straight on the road, right yeah, after Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: and then I believe they close out. I want to
Speaker 1: say something like ten of their last sixteen, maybe eleven
Speaker 1: or at home. They have a nice home stretch to
Speaker 1: finish the season. I think that's gonna bode really well
Speaker 1: for them. I really I was going through the schedule
Speaker 1: like I was doing the Eagles thing like game by
Speaker 1: game win win win, lost, win law. So I think
Speaker 1: it's going to really play out well for them, And
Speaker 1: a fourth seat wouldn't surprise me. By well, listen, you've
Speaker 1: been doing this forever, and you know, like I kind
Speaker 1: of thought to talk about, well, this is an easy
Speaker 1: portion of the schedule coming up was a little bit overblown, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: the opponents weren't quite the same caliber that we saw
Speaker 1: for the first half two thirds of the season. But
Speaker 1: if you look at the way the schedule structured, just
Speaker 1: how condemned instant packed in the games are after the
Speaker 1: All Star break, I mean the last two weeks, and
Speaker 1: then you're throwing guys like Ben, Joel and Dario who
Speaker 1: were actually out in Los Angeles for the All Star Game, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was out of twenty five days,
Speaker 1: the Sixers might have physically been home in Philadelphia. This
Speaker 1: is going through this coming Sunday's game at Brooklyn. I
Speaker 1: think maybe they've been at home or will be at
Speaker 1: home for about four days total. Because it's like you
Speaker 1: have that three game road trip end with a back
Speaker 1: to back that you play at home against Charlotte, and
Speaker 1: then the next afternoon you're on a flight to Milwaukee
Speaker 1: and you're on the road for another eight days. It's crazy,
Speaker 1: it is, and it's and you know, and you and
Speaker 1: I have done the travel on that. It's hard. It's
Speaker 1: really really hard to do. It doesn't matter your opponent.
Speaker 1: That's why I thought Bride so the Cleveland win was
Speaker 1: a great win in Cleveland. Obviously all that that entails
Speaker 1: the next night to come home against Charlotte mentally and physically,
Speaker 1: that's a really, really tough home because you just beat
Speaker 1: Lebron James and all everything that was surrounding. You know,
Speaker 1: all of that that's mentally fatiguing, let alone the physicality
Speaker 1: part of it. You know that it takes to come
Speaker 1: back and play the next night to get behind. And
Speaker 1: I'm watching, I'm thinking, you know what, maybe this is
Speaker 1: just one you gotta chalk up. And they made a
Speaker 1: great comeback and they played well, and they played hard,
Speaker 1: and I thought ersoni Eli Silva, you know, I'm a huge,
Speaker 1: huge proponent for was really good, like stepped right in
Speaker 1: and he and Joel and b looked like they played
Speaker 1: together for twenty years. That I thought was a great stretch.
Speaker 1: And I had to go back to those two games.
Speaker 1: After the disappointment that I fell to the Milwaukee game,
Speaker 1: I had to say, Okay, they just had a really
Speaker 1: good two games stretch. Maybe this Milwaukee game was the
Speaker 1: one game where you say, all right, those things happen.
Speaker 1: And especially about the Cleveland and Charlotte wins, something that
Speaker 1: it seems like Sixers fans and followers, the team, and heck,
Speaker 1: probably people within the organization itself. I've been talking about
Speaker 1: for a good portion this year is how do we
Speaker 1: get to a point where we close out games? And
Speaker 1: they did it on the road against arguably the best
Speaker 1: player in the league, and then they had a massive
Speaker 1: comeback against the Hornet. So actually wanted to queue up
Speaker 1: a cut. This was from Brett after the game, coincidentally
Speaker 1: enough in Milwaukee, and then get your take on Brett
Speaker 1: talking about how things go with the way the Sixers
Speaker 1: are designed, especially trying to close late games out and
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. So here we go. We have
Speaker 1: a team that needs to free each other up. We
Speaker 1: don't have somebody. We're just gonna give it to Giannis
Speaker 1: and he's gonna dance, so bledsoe, he's gonna dance. So
Speaker 1: watch Jabari. You know, I want a wing on Middleton.
Speaker 1: I want a wing that's not who we are. Whatever
Speaker 1: we do, we have to get done as a team.
Speaker 1: We have to have violent cuts, we have to have
Speaker 1: adult screens, and we have to cut to meet him.
Speaker 1: Joel is the only real like, let's give it to
Speaker 1: Joel and let him go to work and type of guy,
Speaker 1: and so you need body movement and team movement. That's
Speaker 1: why we leave the NBA and passes we was second
Speaker 1: and assist percentages and the past is king. So you
Speaker 1: take what we saw Sunday night where Giannis goes totally
Speaker 1: bonkers and he pretty much put the bucks on his back,
Speaker 1: and then you look at the way the Sixers got
Speaker 1: it done at Cleveland Thursday and versus Charlotte Friday. I mean,
Speaker 1: that is an interesting and juxtaposition that you got to
Speaker 1: keep in mind think about how things might play out
Speaker 1: going forward from here the rest of the season. Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's funny listening to Brett's cut there, and I know
Speaker 1: what he's saying. I think it's for the greater goal, Brie, Like,
Speaker 1: the greater goal is to pass, pass, pass, and move
Speaker 1: learn how to play that game. The isolation can come
Speaker 1: when these guys get to be a little bit more
Speaker 1: veteran like obviously, and we're talking about they're such babies
Speaker 1: in this league, you know what I mean. They've hardly
Speaker 1: played any games on the grand scheme of things, So
Speaker 1: I understand what Brett's saying. Hopefully at some point they
Speaker 1: will incorporate that so that you can go to isolation
Speaker 1: that you can break down a game that if you
Speaker 1: need a basket from somebody, you have multiple people you
Speaker 1: can go to. And I don't think it's that far off.
Speaker 1: I really do think it's right around the corner. We're
Speaker 1: recording this podcast on March fifth, we turned back the clock.
Speaker 1: One month ago, Sixers were right on the cusp of
Speaker 1: starting that big blitz and surge of the month of February.
Speaker 1: They were a five hundred team before that long homestand
Speaker 1: started against the Washington Wizards. Do you think this time
Speaker 1: a month ago the Sixers would have thought that they
Speaker 1: were going to go after someone like in our SONI Iliasova.
Speaker 1: I guess the roundabout, kind of weird way that I'm
Speaker 1: asking this question is like it kind of felt like
Speaker 1: they were going to make a move at the trade
Speaker 1: deadline or surrounding that if someone was bought out Marco Bellinelli.
Speaker 1: But do you think they might have even exceeded their
Speaker 1: own expectations going through that winning streak and getting as
Speaker 1: close up to home court advantage as they did, and
Speaker 1: that might have put the thought further in their mind
Speaker 1: to get aggressive and go after someone like it really
Speaker 1: was bright. It was just like validation. No, no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: because I really thought when it happened, what I said
Speaker 1: to myself was, wow, the sixers are gone. Hmm, this
Speaker 1: could be fun. Like, let's pick him up, and you
Speaker 1: know what, maybe instead of getting in at a good
Speaker 1: seed and playing in the playoffs, maybe we get a
Speaker 1: better seed and maybe we can win in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I honest to god, I really thought that Brian Colangelo
Speaker 1: and how much Brett had to do with it, I
Speaker 1: thought that they were I thought that the thinking at
Speaker 1: the time was, Wow, we're playing really well. Let's add
Speaker 1: another piece. Let's let's see what we can do. It
Speaker 1: doesn't kill you, obviously, as far as anything by taking
Speaker 1: these two guys on and buyouts. As I said earlier,
Speaker 1: I was a big I was a big proponent. I
Speaker 1: never liked that they traded Ilia Silva last year, and
Speaker 1: I joked with Brian Colangelo about that endlessly, to the
Speaker 1: point where he said, all right, you can stop writing
Speaker 1: that now. But I just thought he was a great
Speaker 1: fit for this team last year, and so to bring
Speaker 1: him back it did it said to me in my head,
Speaker 1: I said this out out though a few people. I
Speaker 1: could just have seen Brian and Brett say this might
Speaker 1: be fun to bring him back and see where we
Speaker 1: can go with it. And I think they've, you know,
Speaker 1: majorly strengthened their bench because of it. Can you correct
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. I think it was even going
Speaker 1: back as far as the day after the end of
Speaker 1: the regular season press conference last year, where Ryan pretty
Speaker 1: directly and publicly said, stretch four is something that we're
Speaker 1: going to have on our minds going into the offseason.
Speaker 1: And it worked great when our son was here. It did,
Speaker 1: and that again one of the reasons I just didn't
Speaker 1: understand really what they did. But they did what they did,
Speaker 1: and that's fine. And I don't want to say they've
Speaker 1: corrected it, but you know, they revisited it. Let's put
Speaker 1: it that way. And I just think to me and
Speaker 1: you and I did it together. We watched practices with
Speaker 1: her son. It's not just games, it's it's practices and all.
Speaker 1: And he had one thing last year. He was in
Speaker 1: a little bit of a shooting slump, and he stayed
Speaker 1: after for over an hour, over an hour over their
Speaker 1: shooting and just shooting, shooting, shooting, And then I had
Speaker 1: somebody come up to me and say, you know this
Speaker 1: is impressive because I was standing there watching and I said,
Speaker 1: it is for a veteran to stay grind of the season,
Speaker 1: stay extra hour, And the person that said to said, no,
Speaker 1: it's even more impressive because his family just came in
Speaker 1: this morning and it's the first time he's going to
Speaker 1: see them in six weeks. And as much as he
Speaker 1: wanted practice, get over and leave, he knew he had
Speaker 1: to put in his work first. And guys like Ario
Speaker 1: SARTs see that, and you know, guys Joel Embid, younger guys,
Speaker 1: they see that stuff. And as much as he adds
Speaker 1: to them on the court, that's vitally important to the
Speaker 1: growth of this program. Looks like he and Joel have
Speaker 1: been doing it for really three games already this year.
Speaker 1: Is It's amazing, isn't nice? Little giving go the other
Speaker 1: night against Charlotte, little backdoor cut and passed by Joel.
Speaker 1: And then and then Sunday night when they were playing Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: Urson went down the lane and just a little shovel
Speaker 1: pass or maybe it was Joel one of them. You know,
Speaker 1: they just look like they they're very much in communication
Speaker 1: together on the floor. And it's such a different spot
Speaker 1: now because the team is at a point where it
Speaker 1: can make a decision like do we want to keep
Speaker 1: someone such as Trevor Booker who has a great track record.
Speaker 1: I thought he did well and sure you want the
Speaker 1: team to ask me to do or do you make
Speaker 1: an aggressive push for someone like Elia Silvan. It's also
Speaker 1: kind of telling that guys, even going back as far
Speaker 1: as this summer to JJ Reddick, when you hear veterans
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, the factors that appealed to them
Speaker 1: coming to the seventy six ers. Uh style of play
Speaker 1: is one. Young talent is another. And then especially between
Speaker 1: Reddick and Bell and Ellie and Iliasova, it's like Brett
Speaker 1: Brown is at the top of the list. You know,
Speaker 1: it pretty much speaks to you could say where his
Speaker 1: reputation lies. Yeah, yeah, when when when they picked up
Speaker 1: um um JJ during the summer, I met with the
Speaker 1: Mountain Vegas. He was nice enough to wait for me.
Speaker 1: I was just landing. He was nice enough to wait
Speaker 1: for me. I texted him in all and we talked
Speaker 1: and I and you know, for a little I just
Speaker 1: said why and he said, Brett he did. He just
Speaker 1: looked at me, said Brett. He goes listen Bob. I
Speaker 1: had offers from many West Coast playoff teams, but I
Speaker 1: just thought that the best fit was here. I wanted
Speaker 1: to play with these guys here. I wanted to play
Speaker 1: for Brett. And that's that's big. And for all these
Speaker 1: people calling for Brett's head and all after a loss
Speaker 1: like the one against Milwaukee on on Sunday night, uh,
Speaker 1: there's a lot more to it than that, and uh,
Speaker 1: Bret's a big piece of it. And I think that
Speaker 1: when you step back and again take a longer view,
Speaker 1: you know, if you get up maybe at thirty thousand
Speaker 1: feet in view the situation. I mean, you know, August
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, he's talking about tempo, three point shooting, and
Speaker 1: more than anything else defense. Right now, the Sixers are
Speaker 1: a top five defensive team. Of the last month and
Speaker 1: a half. You could probably make the case statistically at
Speaker 1: least that they've been the best defensive unit, if not
Speaker 1: number one, number two in the league. Three point shooting
Speaker 1: has been steady, top fifteen, top ten, and you know
Speaker 1: that the pace has been consistent as ever. So I
Speaker 1: think from those three prongs, now that the talent has
Speaker 1: been able to be filled in, you can see the
Speaker 1: vision being fulfilled. Yeah, and now that now when you
Speaker 1: even fill it more, now the incorporation of scheme really
Speaker 1: comes into play where not just pace, not just three
Speaker 1: point shooting, but specifically what are you doing you know
Speaker 1: in certain situations because you have the ammunition and that
Speaker 1: you can use to do what he envisioned. You know,
Speaker 1: I know Brett still has a lot of plays in
Speaker 1: his you know that he carries in his bag that
Speaker 1: he hasn't even been able to bring out yet. So
Speaker 1: there's still a lot more to Brett Brown as far
Speaker 1: as coaching goes, I think, but I think he's done
Speaker 1: a wonderful job. And it's not just the coaching on
Speaker 1: the floor, it's the building of the culture and you
Speaker 1: and I have seen it from day one. I remember
Speaker 1: meeting with Brett over in Camden back in twenty thirteen
Speaker 1: because he knew I was from South Jersey, asking me
Speaker 1: questions about where players might live when the facility was
Speaker 1: built in Camden and talking about that, like his vision
Speaker 1: was so long ranging. It wasn't x'es and o's, it
Speaker 1: wasn't feeding the post or shooting threes, and it's the
Speaker 1: culture has really come to where he envisioned and it's
Speaker 1: it's only going I think, I really do think this
Speaker 1: it's only going to get better and better from here.
Speaker 1: He's wrapping up here in number five with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid has been with the organization for four years,
Speaker 1: but as of Sunday, completing his eighty second career game,
Speaker 1: twenty two point four points, just under ten rebounds, just
Speaker 1: under three assists, two blocks in just under thirty minutes
Speaker 1: a game. I mean, it's tough to argue with that.
Speaker 1: It is. And you know what I did. I went
Speaker 1: back and I looked at the first year. Most of
Speaker 1: them were eighty one eighty two games of like Shaquille O'Neill,
Speaker 1: Tim Duncan, David Robinson, a couple more guys, and he's
Speaker 1: absolutely right there, Like he is right there with those guys.
Speaker 1: The one thing, if his numbers are down a little
Speaker 1: bit from their's, and they aren't far maybe someone I
Speaker 1: think Shack was like thirteen rebounds or fourteen rebounds a game.
Speaker 1: Shack played ten more minutes a game than Joel Embiid.
Speaker 1: Like those guys that came in, Robinson, Duncan, Shaquille O'Neill,
Speaker 1: they played close to forty minutes a game their first year,
Speaker 1: while as we see in Joel's first year, which just
Speaker 1: ended the other night, with eighty two games, he's under thirty.
Speaker 1: So he's putting up these numbers in like ten minutes
Speaker 1: less time. So he's right there. You know, it took
Speaker 1: a while to get there, but I think I think
Speaker 1: his progression and will be exactly and probably surpass what
Speaker 1: fandom had in mind when when he was drafted. I'm
Speaker 1: still trying to figure out what type of figure he's
Speaker 1: going to be in the context of the league. Obviously
Speaker 1: within the Delaware Valley beloved gets on the court, there
Speaker 1: have been some situations this year where you can tell
Speaker 1: it gets a little intense. Obviously Russell Westbrook comes to mind.
Speaker 1: But then you know, there's the moments like Cleveland Thursday
Speaker 1: night where he embraces Lebron and you can see Lebron's
Speaker 1: eyes light up when he sees him, and even observing
Speaker 1: some of the stuff during All Star Weekend, his interactions
Speaker 1: with players, like that conversation that was caught on the sideline, yeah,
Speaker 1: with Horford and then like Kyle Lowry pumping him up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but he really does seem to command a lot of
Speaker 1: respects somehow this quickly amongst some of the games the league. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is fun to watch. I think they see what
Speaker 1: he could be by watching him on the floor, and
Speaker 1: then they get to know him and they see just
Speaker 1: this unbelievably big personality that is so engaging and so attractive,
Speaker 1: like it's like a bug lights Like he's the guy
Speaker 1: you want to be around, you know. Um, I think
Speaker 1: the Russell Westbrook stuff is fun. I think it's good.
Speaker 1: You know, you're creating a rivalry, all right, you know,
Speaker 1: you want to be the big dog. You go after
Speaker 1: the big dog. So I think it was neat that
Speaker 1: that Joel decided to make that a personal thing. Nothing
Speaker 1: dirty or anything like that. But I like that. I
Speaker 1: like the fact two guys can go out there and
Speaker 1: so to speak, punch each other all night long, and
Speaker 1: then afterwards, you know, kind of smile and laugh about it,
Speaker 1: and hey, I gave it my best, you gave it
Speaker 1: your best, better team one to night and then move on.
Speaker 1: So I think we're gonna see a lot more of it.
Speaker 1: And I do think that he and Ben have a
Speaker 1: nice yin yang aspect to their personality. I do. I
Speaker 1: think Ben's more than you know, sit back watching like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this guy's crazy. But they do play
Speaker 1: off of each other. Well, yeah, I Ben won't be
Speaker 1: the kind of guy. I don't think that that's ever
Speaker 1: going to you know, given the raise the roof and
Speaker 1: trust the process and come on, guys, get into it.
Speaker 1: But but he'll subtly do things that will get the fans,
Speaker 1: you know, like like really really into it. So I
Speaker 1: agree with you. The yin and yang of it, I
Speaker 1: think is a good good call on your part, Like
Speaker 1: he'll give a long stare after a big emphatic dunk.
Speaker 1: Yeah like that. Yeah, No, it's it's it's the subtleness
Speaker 1: is there? Um wanted two. I think we talked about
Speaker 1: bands jump shot a little bit and not to be
Speaker 1: labor a point, has it looked to you to the
Speaker 1: naked eye that there's been a little bit more of
Speaker 1: that first uh the last couple. I do. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think he's I think that twelve fifteen mostly twelve. I
Speaker 1: think he's he's getting a little more comfortable taking it. Um.
Speaker 1: I think he has to obviously, Um, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: I there's so many times though he he gives it
Speaker 1: up without even I think knowing that he gives it
Speaker 1: up like like he'll be a defenderal back up and
Speaker 1: he's already looking to pass, Whereas if he was even
Speaker 1: thinking shoot as he's picking the ball up, he could
Speaker 1: just be like, Oh, they're gonna leave me, let me
Speaker 1: pop this. So once he gets more comfortable with his
Speaker 1: shot and more confid I think we'll see it more
Speaker 1: and more because I'm in a point where I'm trying
Speaker 1: to figure out how much of it is lack of confidence,
Speaker 1: how much of it is him just being so determined
Speaker 1: and believing that his drives are his highest percentage shots
Speaker 1: because he I think it was two jumpers he made,
Speaker 1: one of them that he took on Lebron James in
Speaker 1: Thursday's game. So to me, that's like, all right, you're
Speaker 1: not going to take a shot like that at the
Speaker 1: elbow if you don't have some belief you know. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like a rush shot, clock situation or anything like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But then in hearing him talk about it, because people
Speaker 1: do ask him about a lot, he's just like, I
Speaker 1: just feel like my percentages and my odds are at
Speaker 1: their highest if I can like load up and just
Speaker 1: drive it inside. Because he's got that frame that he has. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I don't know. Yeah, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a problem. I don't think that's a problem
Speaker 1: that he thinks. I mean, look, if if you're gonna
Speaker 1: ask pretty much anybody, what's your highest percentage shot, they're
Speaker 1: gonna say, oh, two handed dunk down the lane is
Speaker 1: pretty good. But yeah, he'll he'll get more comfortable with
Speaker 1: the league, He'll get he'll get more knowledgeable about I
Speaker 1: think he's a past first guy obviously. Um So sometimes
Speaker 1: when that happens, you do pass up shots that you
Speaker 1: don't even know you're passing up. I think when he
Speaker 1: becomes really aware of that, like like I said, when
Speaker 1: he's going to throw that pass and sees the defender
Speaker 1: backing up that maybe, all right, let me hold this
Speaker 1: a half a second longer. I can make this shot,
Speaker 1: and then he takes it. Uh, that'll come. I think
Speaker 1: it'll come with play and time and obviously with the
Speaker 1: confidence of making the shot. What did you think his
Speaker 1: uh splits were going to be this year, turning back
Speaker 1: the clock to October, I think I think it might be. Uh,
Speaker 1: it might be chronicled somewhere. I think I went something
Speaker 1: like sixteen eight and seven. All right, that's like eight
Speaker 1: and six something like that. And it was after preseason,
Speaker 1: after seeing him. M I'm pretty sure that I wrote
Speaker 1: it down that it is somewhere, but I you know,
Speaker 1: this guy's just the game's so easy to him, and
Speaker 1: he really does look like that, and he just has
Speaker 1: a talent bride that's like nobody else possesses. You know,
Speaker 1: he's I remember first time I saw him in Las
Speaker 1: Vegas and then interviewing people that played with him, They're like, look, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's six ten, but you can't believe how fast he is.
Speaker 1: You can't believe how quick he is. You know, his
Speaker 1: handle is unbelievable. We see that stuff and we just think, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a six ten guy. Oh it's cool he can
Speaker 1: handle button. No, but no, he's got six one guard
Speaker 1: skills and um and he's always around the basketball, you know,
Speaker 1: and it does the game just seems to come really
Speaker 1: really easy too. Or you can put something like that
Speaker 1: down on the block and post him up. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's that's the isolation I was talking about too. You know,
Speaker 1: like you you can do that. You can you can
Speaker 1: run something opposite side where it looks like you're going
Speaker 1: to Joel and do a swing swing and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, oh cheez, there's been Simmons one on
Speaker 1: one on the block, and yeah, that's that's a that's
Speaker 1: a nice mismatch to have. That's the greatest thing about
Speaker 1: this team right now, they get anytime they go on
Speaker 1: the floor, they can have two of the biggest offensive
Speaker 1: mismatches in the league. Right you know, you're absolutely and
Speaker 1: like that's cool, and you can make the arguments say, oh,
Speaker 1: but when they double team Joe, you know he turns
Speaker 1: the ball, okay, but a double team is kind of
Speaker 1: what you want. And that's why they're surrounding him with
Speaker 1: three point shooters. When he learns to catch the ball
Speaker 1: and feel the double coming, he can kick it out
Speaker 1: to the right player, or it's a kick and a
Speaker 1: pass and a pass and there's your wide open three.
Speaker 1: So that'll all come. A double team right now is
Speaker 1: causing turnovers a lot with him and a lot of
Speaker 1: times with Simmons. But once they learn this game, that's
Speaker 1: gonna mean a lot of different things in a positive way.
Speaker 1: It's funny that sometimes you don't get to appreciate something
Speaker 1: we have a player until you get to watch him
Speaker 1: firsthand and see it a little bit for me guiltiest charge.
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick didn't quite recognize and appreciate just how excellent
Speaker 1: he was off the ball, always doing things. I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: Bell and Ellie kind of the same deal. Like it's
Speaker 1: moving often, he gets opportunities driving to the basket. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I feel like that's something between the two
Speaker 1: of them. You can really see now and watching Bill
Speaker 1: and Ellie for about a week and a half, two weeks,
Speaker 1: why they felt like they could just kind of throw
Speaker 1: him into the packages that they have for JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: and let him go to work. Oh, no question, And
Speaker 1: it's I tell this story a lot. When the six
Speaker 1: or signed Reddick, I went back and watched his high
Speaker 1: school state championship game his senior year. You want to
Speaker 1: talk about constant movement. Oh my god, Brian, I was
Speaker 1: tired watching Like the kid never stopped moving never. I
Speaker 1: think he went off for forty They were running everything
Speaker 1: they could at him. He just figurated through picks all
Speaker 1: over the place. Catch shoot boom, catch shoot boom. He's
Speaker 1: been doing it all his life, and it really is
Speaker 1: if you're really in the basketball isolate him. A couple
Speaker 1: of times just when they go down the floor. Just
Speaker 1: isolate him and watch the work he puts in just
Speaker 1: to try to get off a shot, just to try
Speaker 1: to get open for a shot. It's amazing. And then
Speaker 1: once he catches it to be able to drain it
Speaker 1: at the consistency he does, it's it's it's I JJ
Speaker 1: Reck was a guy when I was covering in the league,
Speaker 1: bride that when I went to a gym and you
Speaker 1: know me, I go out on the floor early. He
Speaker 1: was one of the guy that was must see, watch
Speaker 1: shoot before the game. He's just like the one that
Speaker 1: he had against the Bucks where it was a transition
Speaker 1: play I think, and was a bouncing ye like looks
Speaker 1: at the ball bouncing, but looks at his feet at
Speaker 1: the same timing. Sure he gets behind, snatches it and
Speaker 1: throws it like that. That comes from a lot of
Speaker 1: time in the gym. Ridiculous. Yeah, all right, wrapping this up,
Speaker 1: what do you think we're gonna be talking about in
Speaker 1: about five weeks from five weeks from now, You're talking
Speaker 1: about how they match up with those Washington Wizards, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna say, yeah, if they take the first two games,
Speaker 1: which will be played at the Wells Fargo Center. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know they have a shot at advancing to the
Speaker 1: next series, which I hope will be against those Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: All Right, all right, how do you like that? All Right?
Speaker 1: I want that Celtics Sixers rivalry back. I think that
Speaker 1: that's and people have been kind of getting around the storyline.
Speaker 1: And I think that when whether it's coaches or players
Speaker 1: have been asked about it, they kind of, at least
Speaker 1: from the Sixer side, have been reluctant to say, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the rivalry is like kind of getting back, probably mostly
Speaker 1: out of respect to Boston because Boston obviously has done
Speaker 1: a lot. But I agree with you, that would be
Speaker 1: fantastic if it became a Sixers Boston thing. And tell me,
Speaker 1: the NBA wouldn't love it, right, young Towers, because you've
Speaker 1: had the West dominating for years and you get this
Speaker 1: rivalry back on the East coast. I mean, it would
Speaker 1: just it's it's NBA euphoria tremendous. Yeah, great wisdom, mister Cooney.
Speaker 1: Thanks man, you are the best. Mister Seltzer. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you big. Thanks to Bob for stopping by and hanging
Speaker 1: out on the podcast. Thank you, as always for listening.
Speaker 1: We'll have a day after game rewind edition to the
Speaker 1: podcast available on Wednesday following the six or stop in
Speaker 1: Charlotte for a seven o'clock game on Tuesday night, so
Speaker 1: if be sure to check your feeds for updates, talk
Speaker 1: to you then see it