Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: Search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. Mailbag
Speaker 1: Monday it is back for week number two and perhaps
Speaker 1: Lauren Rose and that's the best and most successful thing
Speaker 1: we can say about Mailbag Mondays so far. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: love Mailbag Monday. I love engaging with sixers fans, whether
Speaker 1: it's in person on Twitter, well not really in person
Speaker 1: this year, but especially digitally this year. So this is
Speaker 1: always a pleasure. I'm going to date myself going back
Speaker 1: five or six years now, but before your time, Lauren
Speaker 1: with the seventy Sixers, one of the early mottos of
Speaker 1: the process years from a marketing standpoint was together we build,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a nice holistic spirit with which
Speaker 1: to go about our mail Bag Mondays. We had a
Speaker 1: couple submissions last week. We have a few more this week.
Speaker 1: We're appreciative of everyone who has been hitting us in
Speaker 1: the mansions through DM some voice mails. That's great. I've
Speaker 1: had fun, yes, indeed, so thanks to everybody that reached
Speaker 1: out to us directly. I seeing what questions you guys
Speaker 1: are asking, because even not for Mailbag Monday, like when
Speaker 1: we cover the team every day. I want to be
Speaker 1: able to tell you, guys, what you want to hear.
Speaker 1: I want to be able to focus on players you
Speaker 1: want me to focus on. So always thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing your thoughts, and that goes well beyond Mailbag Monday.
Speaker 1: Whenever you do have thoughts or things you want to
Speaker 1: see more of, just let us know the true function
Speaker 1: of a reporter or journalist to serve the masses. So yes,
Speaker 1: getting feedback about what you want to hear from the players,
Speaker 1: from the coaches, what stories you want to see covered.
Speaker 1: We're all about it. So it's been great. Now if
Speaker 1: this is for you out there listening your first Mailbag
Speaker 1: Monday a understandable we've only done one previously. Be let
Speaker 1: us give you a very brief rundown of what it
Speaker 1: is we're doing every Monday. Lauren and I come to
Speaker 1: you right here on the pod and we run through
Speaker 1: a list of social media inquiries we get or we
Speaker 1: play back some voicemails. So to reach out to us,
Speaker 1: it's at Lauren m Rosen on Twitter for Lauren at
Speaker 1: Brian Seltzer, from me on Twitter at Seltzer six, or
Speaker 1: snaps on Instagram at Lauren m Rosen on Instagram for
Speaker 1: Lauren at least I have the matching handles. I can't
Speaker 1: get at Lauren Rosen like I want to, but at
Speaker 1: least I can match on both platforms. That's my consolation prize.
Speaker 1: I know I've been kicking this around. A very non
Speaker 1: important internal debate is should I transition my dark in
Speaker 1: the Closet kid picture account, which is at Brian Selzer,
Speaker 1: a private account. Should I switch that over to my
Speaker 1: public professional account. I haven't done it yet, but I might.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not that trivial. It is interesting to
Speaker 1: think about how you present on the internet. Apparently that's important,
Speaker 1: and apparently, especially right now, it's important. So keep me posted.
Speaker 1: Happy to work that through with you, unpack things if
Speaker 1: you'd like. I appreciate you being here for the consultation.
Speaker 1: We also have ways that you can reach us via voicemail.
Speaker 1: Go to Anchor dot fm slash seventy six ers, follow
Speaker 1: the voicemail link there, or you can hit us up
Speaker 1: at two on five four h three pods and leave
Speaker 1: us a message on our pod hotline. We love to
Speaker 1: hear all the comments. That takes the opinions and with that,
Speaker 1: oh we should also mention of course that if we
Speaker 1: select your name or not us, but if we input
Speaker 1: your name, which we will, if we read your submission,
Speaker 1: whether it's a voicemail or a social media message to
Speaker 1: our random name picker, and your name is the one
Speaker 1: that pops up at the end, you win a weekly
Speaker 1: Sixer swag bag. Love that. You know what else we
Speaker 1: should also mention what you said. We should mention one
Speaker 1: more thing. I have a second one more thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Sixers have the best record in the NBA. They
Speaker 1: do the only one lost team left. It's great, it's true.
Speaker 1: Can confirm it's I mean, I woke up this morning,
Speaker 1: looked at the standings, just smiled. It's really nice to see.
Speaker 1: I know it's still early, we don't want to overreact,
Speaker 1: but very cool to see, especially from such a new
Speaker 1: group that thinks they can still get better, no question
Speaker 1: about it. The seventy Sixers leaders in the pack in
Speaker 1: the NBA. And that'll be a nice transition segue into
Speaker 1: perhaps our overarching theme for this week's Monday mail Bag,
Speaker 1: which is after six games, which is at the time
Speaker 1: that we're recording this podcast. What pumps you up, what
Speaker 1: excites you the most about the seventy Sixers with a
Speaker 1: record of five and one, Lauren, Before I go to
Speaker 1: the mail bag itself, I'm gonna ask you what enthuses
Speaker 1: you the most about the five and one Philadelphia seventy Sixers. Well,
Speaker 1: I think I just gave it away when we did
Speaker 1: our little intro to talking about the Sixers. But the
Speaker 1: idea that these guys think there's still another level to
Speaker 1: unlock because if right now, obviously, again it's a little
Speaker 1: early to say they have the best record in the NBA,
Speaker 1: they're leading the NBA, but they are and they feel
Speaker 1: that they can still improve. So expect other teams, of
Speaker 1: course that have had rocky starts to start to improve.
Speaker 1: Things will start to even out. But the idea that
Speaker 1: the Sixers are not at their best right now and
Speaker 1: they are technically the best right now is awesome to me.
Speaker 1: What about you. This is not to disparage or slander
Speaker 1: any of the teams the seventy Sixers have played already
Speaker 1: or that loom on the immediate horizon for the next
Speaker 1: two games, but I felt like going into this season,
Speaker 1: even after training camp, it was so important for the
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers to capitalize on a stretch of their
Speaker 1: schedule that on paper seemed like it would be a
Speaker 1: little bit more manageable than what's to come, let's say
Speaker 1: at the end of this week, and they've done that
Speaker 1: so far. They're only lost, obviously without Joel Embiid at
Speaker 1: Cleveland on the second night of back to back, after
Speaker 1: playing at New York on the road the night before that,
Speaker 1: and now later this week after they faced the Hornets
Speaker 1: to wrap up the two game series on Monday, and
Speaker 1: the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. They've got teams like Brooklyn
Speaker 1: and Denver and Atlanta and two against Miami and then
Speaker 1: week after that two against Boston. So I think everyone
Speaker 1: knows that the schedule is going to get a little
Speaker 1: bit more challenging, at least it would seem on paper.
Speaker 1: So I like the fact the seventy sixers, with that
Speaker 1: in the back of our minds, have gotten off to
Speaker 1: an encouraging start. Yeah. Cool to see them get the
Speaker 1: kinks out against in winnable games, let's say. But even
Speaker 1: when they had that one loss on the road, to
Speaker 1: come back and beat a really good team right after
Speaker 1: the loss, I think also says a lot. They were
Speaker 1: not willing to let that Cleveland vibe if you will continue.
Speaker 1: And they had a much harder matchup in their next
Speaker 1: game and they made it happen. So I do think
Speaker 1: the fact that they are taking the negative moments and
Speaker 1: turning them around this early in the season is going
Speaker 1: to pay dividends as they start playing harder teams, because
Speaker 1: in all likelihood they will lose more games this season
Speaker 1: and they will have to respond, and so far, they're
Speaker 1: setting a good precedent for how they respond finding ways
Speaker 1: to win together. I feel like it should be a
Speaker 1: ditty that you hear Daniel Tiger sing. You probably don't,
Speaker 1: and I hope you probably can't speak to that reference,
Speaker 1: but find a way to play together something like that.
Speaker 1: You know you would hear it on Daniel Tiger. I
Speaker 1: have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll look
Speaker 1: it up. Okay, let's talk about this. Let us dip
Speaker 1: into the mail bag. You have one new message. We're
Speaker 1: gonna start off with an Instagram submission from Snacks two
Speaker 1: Triple zero. The question that we threw out there was
Speaker 1: at five and one after this start, what has you
Speaker 1: feeling good about the Sixers? Snacks two Triple zero says,
Speaker 1: feeling great. We're seeing a far foreign caps better job
Speaker 1: at holding leads and responding to deficits and runs. Lawn
Speaker 1: Rose and I concur I agree with you. We did
Speaker 1: just touch on it a little bit how this team
Speaker 1: responds to negatives and positives. When things are going poorly,
Speaker 1: they've been fighting back and when things are going well.
Speaker 1: We heard Doc Rivers say it at the very beginning
Speaker 1: of the season, when things are going well, they want
Speaker 1: to keep their foot on the gas if they're going
Speaker 1: to if they're up by twenty, they want to win
Speaker 1: by thirty. If they're up by thirty, they want to
Speaker 1: be win by forty. And they're showing that they have
Speaker 1: that ability to keep their foot on the gas, especially
Speaker 1: in Orlando. So I think the way that they respond
Speaker 1: to any situation that they're in negative or positive is
Speaker 1: something to continue to watch. But so far, if you
Speaker 1: have been watching that, they've been performing well on that scale. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for a couple of games now, the seventy sixers have
Speaker 1: had the best second half defense in the NBA, just
Speaker 1: a little bit more than ninety two and a half.
Speaker 1: It's allowed per one hundred possessions. And that's all well
Speaker 1: and good, but let's also look at this The seventy
Speaker 1: six ers have the best overall defense right now in
Speaker 1: terms of efficiency in the entire NBA, which is exactly
Speaker 1: in the range that Doc Rivers and his staff wanted
Speaker 1: to be and they wanted to be top three. Well
Speaker 1: here they are top one. It's awesome. It's great to
Speaker 1: see them set a goal and accomplish it early. So
Speaker 1: let's see if they can sustain that type of success
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. And we've heard from a lot
Speaker 1: of players. Seth Curry is one that speaks on it often.
Speaker 1: They think that the offense is still evolving. They set
Speaker 1: the tone on defense and the defense looks good, but
Speaker 1: the offense is still evolving. So, as you know, the
Speaker 1: numbers on offense not too shabby either. But if they
Speaker 1: can keep that defensive foundation as sturdy as it is
Speaker 1: in the start of the season and continue to build
Speaker 1: on offense, it's going to be a pretty lethal combination.
Speaker 1: Snacks two triple zero. Thank you very much. Next, you
Speaker 1: have one new message, and my name is Dan. A
Speaker 1: question is there's a lot of change and transition from
Speaker 1: last year to this year. New personnel, beicuely, new coaching staff,
Speaker 1: curious about the dial play from last year to this year,
Speaker 1: what the strategy is, and just changes in terms of
Speaker 1: the x's nose and what the coaching staff is trying
Speaker 1: to implement for this season. Yes, I think Dan makes
Speaker 1: a good point, Laren. Lots of change compared to last
Speaker 1: season and this season. New faces in the front office entirely,
Speaker 1: new coaching staff just about and some key new members
Speaker 1: of the starting lineup and the bench. So yeah, Dan
Speaker 1: was asking X and O wives, what are some of
Speaker 1: the things that we've seen as far as what stoc
Speaker 1: River has been implementing. I feel like offensively, we see
Speaker 1: what the Sixers have done trying to run things through
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid his positioning deep in the post, getting him
Speaker 1: to run the floor end to end. And then defensively,
Speaker 1: we've talked about this a little bit already, Larn the
Speaker 1: Sixers trying to get back to what this team did.
Speaker 1: I want to say two or three seasons go as
Speaker 1: far as what they're prioritizing defensively, which is shut off
Speaker 1: the lane. And then this isn't to make it sound
Speaker 1: like a secondary or an important thing, but take care
Speaker 1: of the paint first, takeaway driving opportunities, and then focus
Speaker 1: on tracking down shooters on the outside. Absolutely, there have
Speaker 1: been some changes, and I think at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the season it looked a little similar to what we
Speaker 1: were seeing last year from this similar group at least
Speaker 1: of stars on this team. But now we're starting to
Speaker 1: see what this group looks like with more shooting with
Speaker 1: different key defenders, something that I've enjoyed watching, and I'm
Speaker 1: a nerd, so I rewatched our most recent game against
Speaker 1: Charlotte yesterday, and in that watch, I've been really intrigued
Speaker 1: with like how Joel has been working, especially on the
Speaker 1: offensive end. He's talked so much about how he handles
Speaker 1: double teams, and that's something I'm super interested in this
Speaker 1: year because before it was something that was a frustration
Speaker 1: for Joel, and understandably, so you don't want multiple large
Speaker 1: men trying to tell you you can't do your job.
Speaker 1: But Joel is really embracing it now and it almost
Speaker 1: looks like he's welcoming it. He's inviting players to come
Speaker 1: and double him so he can start the offense and
Speaker 1: find somebody else. And so the idea that he wants
Speaker 1: this thing that he used to sort of be afraid of,
Speaker 1: or at the least sort of irritated by is really cool.
Speaker 1: He's embracing that challenge and it's making the whole offense run,
Speaker 1: I think in a really cool way. I think, also Laren,
Speaker 1: one of the first things that Doc Rivers spoke about
Speaker 1: when he was introduced as head coach in October was
Speaker 1: the emphasis on pace. And we heard that with Brett
Speaker 1: Brown in the past, but one thing that Doc really
Speaker 1: stressed was he wants to see more pace and everything
Speaker 1: the Sixers do and that pace isn't necessarily a race.
Speaker 1: That was Doc Rivers phrasing. I wish I could claim
Speaker 1: credit for something as clever as that, but I can't.
Speaker 1: And I think that what we've seen the last couple games,
Speaker 1: in particular Orlando and then the first game against Charlotte
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons the straw that stirs the drink man. He
Speaker 1: is getting things going, putting immense pressure, especially off of
Speaker 1: missus from the opposition, getting the Sixers down the court,
Speaker 1: and really putting pressure on the opposing team that has
Speaker 1: them defensively on their heels. So I think like, as
Speaker 1: we step back and look at this from thirty thousand feet,
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, if you went into the
Speaker 1: season saying, well, who the seventy six ers two All Stars.
Speaker 1: We know that it's Duelmbid and Ben Simmons, and those
Speaker 1: two guys on both ends of the court have had
Speaker 1: a large say in the six or success. Absolutely, Ben
Speaker 1: looks great, and I like that Doc Rivers, it seems
Speaker 1: continues to be surprised by how many levels Ben has
Speaker 1: in his game. And this is something that Doc says.
Speaker 1: He says he didn't realize how great Ben's instincts are,
Speaker 1: and I think that's something obviously you can't teach instincts,
Speaker 1: and so to have someone that's that talented on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor, who's maybe seeing things a little
Speaker 1: earlier than other people are, or able to make reads
Speaker 1: or decisions a little bit faster than anybody else can,
Speaker 1: is going to be something that's really cool for this team.
Speaker 1: I think Ben has been so good. I really appreciated
Speaker 1: what he said following I believe the Orlando game that
Speaker 1: he doesn't care if he has no points, if the
Speaker 1: team is up by fifty. He's doing something right because
Speaker 1: it means he's creating for others, he's playing great defense,
Speaker 1: he's really prioritizing what the team needs over his individual
Speaker 1: stats and then sure enough the next game he goes
Speaker 1: and gets a triple double. So great stuff from Ben,
Speaker 1: especially in the last week or so, and it's cool
Speaker 1: to see the way that both of them honestly are
Speaker 1: growing this year. Totally agree. I think there has been
Speaker 1: no one who has sacrificed more, at least on the
Speaker 1: offensive end in terms of scoring so far this season
Speaker 1: than Ben Simmons. Dan, thank you for the voicemail. Back
Speaker 1: to our Instagram at mailbox we Go, you have one
Speaker 1: new message, Jay Silverman sixty three. How are you feeling
Speaker 1: about the seventy six ers? He says, great exclamation point.
Speaker 1: This group gets more comfortable together each passing game. I
Speaker 1: would agree. And when I first read that when you
Speaker 1: sent me the DM, I saw a passing game and
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to talk about how well
Speaker 1: they've been moving the ball, which they have, so yes,
Speaker 1: maybe that's where I'll start on this one. It does
Speaker 1: seem like they're getting more comfortable together, and that really
Speaker 1: shows in the way that they are moving the ball constantly.
Speaker 1: There was a play in the Charlotte game that I
Speaker 1: think ended in a turnover, but the ball movement itself
Speaker 1: was exciting enough to sort of learn something about what
Speaker 1: this team is really trying to do. Look for that
Speaker 1: great shot instead of the good shot, and obviously you
Speaker 1: want it to end in a maid shot, but the
Speaker 1: fact that that's the way that they are wired this season,
Speaker 1: especially early, they're already being able to trust each other,
Speaker 1: find each other's spots. The passing game is going to
Speaker 1: continue to maybe get better with every passing game. No team.
Speaker 1: Lauren Rosen has made more passes on average this season
Speaker 1: per game than your team, your town, your Philadelphia seventy
Speaker 1: six ers. And I think it's it's almost kind of
Speaker 1: an endearing quality when some of the younger bench guys
Speaker 1: get in that they tend to overpass. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like this is probably gonna sound a little bit folksy
Speaker 1: when I say it. Some people may not like the verbage.
Speaker 1: I think it's cute. It's like these young guys coming
Speaker 1: off the bench, some of them like you have Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxie and at times Batist Thible, and they're just they're
Speaker 1: just trying to keep it, keep it going, keep the
Speaker 1: ball moving. Where it seems like the veterans, some of
Speaker 1: the starters, they might have a better handle on the
Speaker 1: right dosage of passing and how to effectively move it.
Speaker 1: But I love it. I think that's that's the whole
Speaker 1: notion that these pass heavy offenses go back to, how
Speaker 1: can it not bring everyone in and make them feel
Speaker 1: like they're a part of it. I've noticed that as well, Celts.
Speaker 1: I think the young guys are sort of taking a
Speaker 1: cue from the older guys, looking for that great shot,
Speaker 1: even if they have a pretty good one themselves. Something
Speaker 1: that's been the most gratifying for me to watch is
Speaker 1: in those exact instances when there's been times where Matisse
Speaker 1: or Tyrese shake. I don't know if we consider a
Speaker 1: young guy anymore, he's been so aggressive, but they've been
Speaker 1: out there with the veterans. There have been some combination
Speaker 1: lineups at times, and if Matisse or Tyrese gives up
Speaker 1: the ball, sometimes Tobias makes sure that it finds them again,
Speaker 1: for example, and sort of says, okay, no, like you
Speaker 1: do have the shot, let's go. And so I like
Speaker 1: the way that the younger guys on this team are
Speaker 1: taking cues from the older guys, and then sometimes the
Speaker 1: older guys will turn it right around and force their
Speaker 1: hand instead. Jay Silverman sixty three, Thanks very much to
Speaker 1: the voicemail. Next you have one new message. I'm curious
Speaker 1: to hear what your thoughts are on the chemistry with
Speaker 1: this team. Seems like every time they make a three ball,
Speaker 1: all the players on the bench are getting up, They're
Speaker 1: clapping their hands, they seem to be genuinely happy to
Speaker 1: be around each other. Do you guys think this is
Speaker 1: the closest team they've had in a long time? If not, ever,
Speaker 1: curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks again, Yes, and this
Speaker 1: is a nice layer to the topic we previously discussed. Darren,
Speaker 1: bring up chemistry. We're definitely in kumbayas and unicorns and
Speaker 1: rainbows and all that stuff right now, because hey, the Sixers,
Speaker 1: it's still early in the season and they've been winning
Speaker 1: basketball games in a lot of different ways. I do
Speaker 1: think that if they're setting precedent for good kumbaya energy
Speaker 1: now while the team is doing so well, it will
Speaker 1: help them when they inevitably or rather when they eventually
Speaker 1: face some obstacles the spirit that they have shown. I mean,
Speaker 1: I have the privilege of being at our home games
Speaker 1: and I sit across from the Sixers bench, and they
Speaker 1: really are on their feet for most of the game.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because the seats are so spread out that
Speaker 1: they want to sort of get the energy by ending
Speaker 1: up and taking up more space themselves, But they really
Speaker 1: are on their feet. Guys that don't have that don't
Speaker 1: even get in the game, spend the whole game on
Speaker 1: their feet watching their teammates. And there's guys like Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard who are spending their time between their minutes trying
Speaker 1: to hype up a non existent crowd. The energy is
Speaker 1: really strong between this group of relatively new friends, shall
Speaker 1: we say so? I see what Darren sees. I think
Speaker 1: the chemistry looks really good, especially for a team that
Speaker 1: is again just getting to know each other. Now there
Speaker 1: was a shortened training camp, a shortened preseason, and now
Speaker 1: they're often running on this sort of one day on,
Speaker 1: one day off, sometimes a back to back schedule. It's
Speaker 1: a lot. So to see them clicking even during this
Speaker 1: sort of chaotic, hectic time of getting to know each
Speaker 1: other is a good sign. It can't it can't not
Speaker 1: be a good sign. No, listen, I think sometimes we
Speaker 1: misunderstand this whole notion of chemistry just because a team
Speaker 1: doesn't win or achieve as much as it's supposed to.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean the guys don't like each other. I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought last year's team there were guys who had
Speaker 1: great bonds in terms of players who are ye last
Speaker 1: season and aren't here anymore. Al Horford and his friendships,
Speaker 1: Josh Richardson had his friendships. But to underscore the point
Speaker 1: that we've been talking about on the pod so far
Speaker 1: as what is this about the first week and a
Speaker 1: half of the season, the seventy sixers are having success.
Speaker 1: They're off to a five and one start, and when
Speaker 1: you combine that with great relationships that are being built
Speaker 1: off the court, then it just looks that much better.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if I could say this is
Speaker 1: the closest team the Sixers have had in a long time,
Speaker 1: But I think that the good vibes of the personalities
Speaker 1: of the guys that would have come together and fomented
Speaker 1: naturally are now just being magnified that much more because
Speaker 1: the team is playing well. So I think that's a
Speaker 1: great point that Darren brings up well. And look, it's
Speaker 1: also easy to get along when things are going well.
Speaker 1: So let's not forget the fact that they've won five
Speaker 1: of their six outings. But like we said at the
Speaker 1: beginning of this conversation, to have a good streak now
Speaker 1: and to allow them to build this chemistry while things
Speaker 1: are going well. While it's easy to build good chemistry,
Speaker 1: can't not be a blessing for this group. For the
Speaker 1: first time ever in Monday mail bag history, back to
Speaker 1: back voicemails, you have one new message. How has Howard's
Speaker 1: veteran presence affected the team? You know, I've seen you
Speaker 1: guys reporting that he puts in work postgame. So how
Speaker 1: are his actions, you know, affecting this team. And if
Speaker 1: you're talking about spirit, Lauren, you cannot talk about it
Speaker 1: without mentioning the spirit whisper of the seventy six ers.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if he's whispering. He might be
Speaker 1: the spirit screamer. He is shouting it from the highest mountain, Superman.
Speaker 1: He has been just a ball of energy. And whether
Speaker 1: that's been a ball of high energy that the team
Speaker 1: needs to get hype or focused sort of internalized energy,
Speaker 1: He's brought all sorts of types of energy to this team,
Speaker 1: and I think as a veteran, Dwight Howard has really
Speaker 1: really grown. Danny Green talked about it after the game.
Speaker 1: Somebody asked him sorry after the first Charlotte game. If
Speaker 1: Dwight did this in la the way that he sorry,
Speaker 1: Let's run it back a little bit. Dwight has been
Speaker 1: shooting post game at home games with a lot of
Speaker 1: the young guys on this team. The first time it
Speaker 1: was Ben Simmons, the second time he was out there
Speaker 1: with Matisse thybel Isaiah, Joe, Terrence Ferguson, Dakota Matthias. And
Speaker 1: I think that's it. This, by the way, is the
Speaker 1: Lauren Rosen subbeat. There is no reporter who can take
Speaker 1: this from you. The postgame workout while also being involved
Speaker 1: in press conferences, that is the Lauren Rosen subbeat. I
Speaker 1: like the postgame work beat. That is going to be
Speaker 1: my new beat when things go back to normal. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to start going peeking out there to
Speaker 1: see if anybody else is working out, even now that
Speaker 1: people have to be in different places. But anyway you
Speaker 1: slice it, the constant in those postgame workouts has been
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard, who is shooting threes postgame. He's doing all
Speaker 1: sorts of things that maybe he doesn't need to be
Speaker 1: doing in game, but he's doing it with the young guys.
Speaker 1: He's setting the tone. He's bringing a speaker out there
Speaker 1: with his phone and playing music to get the vibes
Speaker 1: up post game, and I think that that's something that
Speaker 1: is really special in Danny Green said that, actually know
Speaker 1: he isn't doing that in LA, but in LA they
Speaker 1: didn't have as many young guys last season. So Danny says,
Speaker 1: in terms of leadership, he can't ask for anyone better
Speaker 1: than Dwight Howard. And it's really cool to see the
Speaker 1: way that Dwight's career and his role within the different
Speaker 1: teams he's played on in the last few years has
Speaker 1: really evolved. It seems like he's a totally different guy
Speaker 1: with a totally new set of priorities, and so far
Speaker 1: it's rubbing off on these sixers in a really positive way.
Speaker 1: Him Kim also added on the Graham happy to see
Speaker 1: everyone of the team looks happy. Dwight Howard's positive energy
Speaker 1: is contagious, no question about it. He fires up a
Speaker 1: crowd that doesn't even exist before every home game. You'll
Speaker 1: love to see it. It's incredible. He runs out of
Speaker 1: the tunnel and gestures to the non existent crowd on
Speaker 1: all four sides of the court. You can see he's
Speaker 1: having this whole moment in his head and it just
Speaker 1: brings a smile to everybody's face. And I can't wait
Speaker 1: for him to get to do that with actual fans
Speaker 1: at some point down the line. It's going to be
Speaker 1: really gratifying. I've only done two of them, but I'm
Speaker 1: digging this week's Monday mail bag. Let's stick it in
Speaker 1: the voicemail somewhere. We'll keep it right there. You have
Speaker 1: one new message, Hey, Brian, Zach, I was just wondering
Speaker 1: who you see as stepping up in the second half
Speaker 1: of the season, someone that's on the bench right now.
Speaker 1: Is there a player that we can look to that's
Speaker 1: going to make a difference than the season later on,
Speaker 1: So someone on the bench. SAC wants to know someone
Speaker 1: on the bench who could step up in the second
Speaker 1: half of the season. You know, I appreciate the question, Zach.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to stick with the first
Speaker 1: half of the season and who's stepping up. It's got
Speaker 1: to be Shake. He's leading the whole pack. What a
Speaker 1: blessing to have a guy like Shake Milton on your bench.
Speaker 1: He has been just sort of this constant force that
Speaker 1: it's great to see when you have your bench unit
Speaker 1: out there that when the ball find somebody you feel
Speaker 1: comfortable with him having it. You know that Shake is
Speaker 1: going to make something happen for somebody else, or he's
Speaker 1: going to take a pretty good shot himself. He's been
Speaker 1: so good. He and Dwight Howard, who we've talked about
Speaker 1: a lot, are developing really good chemistry, and Shake is
Speaker 1: sort of transitioning. Some of the guys have even said
Speaker 1: they don't consider Shake a young guy. Shake is a
Speaker 1: leader for that group, and Shake is helping Tyres along.
Speaker 1: He's working well with the younger guys, even though he
Speaker 1: was probably considered a young guy just last season. It's
Speaker 1: awesome to see the way he's bonding with them. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Shake is someone someone to watch. In the
Speaker 1: first and second half of the season, Shake the fifth
Speaker 1: leading score on the six Ers. He's having twenty five
Speaker 1: minutes per game. And it's amazing, Lauren that he's shooting
Speaker 1: at least at the time that we're recording this under
Speaker 1: thirty percent from three because I feel like whenever he
Speaker 1: puts it up, it's going in. I know he's taking
Speaker 1: more shots than he has in the past, but that's
Speaker 1: it's almost I'm not trying to highlight that as a negative.
Speaker 1: To me, it's surprising. I feel like he shot the
Speaker 1: ball great or well enough or effectively enough to keep
Speaker 1: defenses honest when he's been out there. I agree with you,
Speaker 1: and I think that goes back to something Doc Rivers
Speaker 1: has said. In a lot of the missed shots this
Speaker 1: team has had, they have been good shots. So Doc
Speaker 1: is tracking more are they taking good shots or are
Speaker 1: they taking bad shots? And if the good shots don't
Speaker 1: go in, he knows eventually that they will. So I
Speaker 1: think maybe that's something that you can apply to Shake
Speaker 1: that it feels like he is getting good looks, and
Speaker 1: based on his numbers all go all the way back
Speaker 1: to his college numbers at SMU, this is a guy
Speaker 1: who shoots really well from beyond the arc. So I think,
Speaker 1: if I had to guess, that number is going to
Speaker 1: continue to rise as the season moves along. I also
Speaker 1: have love seeing more of attack shake, put the head
Speaker 1: drown drive to the rack shake. He's been really confident
Speaker 1: in that area and also you can see the strength
Speaker 1: and he worked on that a lot during the hiatus
Speaker 1: that was caused by the pandemic and then the offseason
Speaker 1: after the bubble, you can tell how he's now able
Speaker 1: to use his strength a lot more successfully into his advantage,
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Another guy that's added strength who
Speaker 1: we haven't seen in the last couple of games for
Speaker 1: a Concorkmas. So if you're going to talk about the bench,
Speaker 1: you can't talk about it without talking about Furkon. Imagine
Speaker 1: that when he gets back, the shooting numbers, especially from
Speaker 1: the bench unit, will go up because Furkan has not
Speaker 1: lost his stroke from deep. It still looks the jump
Speaker 1: shot is damp from Furkon, and I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: getting him back. That said, it has been it has
Speaker 1: been good for some of the younger group, some of
Speaker 1: the other bench guys to get more minutes in Furkon's absence. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and since last we taped our previous podcast. On the
Speaker 1: most recent mailbag Monday, Matisse Stable had a great game
Speaker 1: in Orlando filling in for fur con Cork Maz So
Speaker 1: I think he's another name that, hopefully with more seasoning,
Speaker 1: we see the likes of which we saw from Atise
Speaker 1: in that game in Orlando when he had nine points
Speaker 1: on a couple threes. Yeah, no doubt about it, and
Speaker 1: then in the second half of that game was phenomenal defensively,
Speaker 1: so he had he had some good offense, good offense
Speaker 1: and good defense in that first game without fur Con.
Speaker 1: And we remind on this podcast frequently, but Matisse missed
Speaker 1: a lot of preseason and it was a shortened preseason,
Speaker 1: so this new coaching staff didn't get to see a
Speaker 1: lot of what Matisse could do, and he's playing catch
Speaker 1: up because of his ankle injury, and so to see
Speaker 1: him sort of rounding into form now is good because
Speaker 1: it means that he's going to continue finding his rhythm.
Speaker 1: He will probably continue to impress this coaching staff as
Speaker 1: time goes along. So it's good to see him getting
Speaker 1: back into his rhythm despite having had missed some time
Speaker 1: earlier in the season. All Right, one final submission for
Speaker 1: this week's mailbag. Monday, you have one new message and
Speaker 1: it comes from Nicole dot Friends on Instagram. She says,
Speaker 1: feeling very confident in this roster and interesting to see
Speaker 1: us up against tougher competition. Yes, that is the next
Speaker 1: level to the storyline surrounding this team. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: I am really excited. I'm not nervous, I'm not anxious.
Speaker 1: So I'm not intimidated, nor should I be. I'm only
Speaker 1: a media commentator talking head. But I'm really excited, Laren
Speaker 1: to see things get going. Come Thursday night when the
Speaker 1: seventy six ers have the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.
Speaker 1: I think that'll be fun, and that is going to
Speaker 1: start a really, you would figure, challenging stretch of the schedule,
Speaker 1: and on the second night of a back to back,
Speaker 1: no less. So this group is not going to face
Speaker 1: a much more challenging situation this season, let's say, than
Speaker 1: having to travel on the second night of a back
Speaker 1: to back to meet a team led by Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: and Kyrie Irving, two of the league's shiniest stars who
Speaker 1: are also finding their own chemistry, finding their own rhythm.
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn record might not indicate how good they could be,
Speaker 1: but that is going to be a real test. So
Speaker 1: let's see how much fight they can show in a
Speaker 1: difficult type situation. You can't really design a more difficult
Speaker 1: situation for this group. And then beyond that Brooklyn game,
Speaker 1: like you said, Denver, a couple against Miami Atlanta looks
Speaker 1: really good right now, so it will be cool to
Speaker 1: see how they can take what they've learned in these
Speaker 1: easier games, shall we say, and apply it to tip
Speaker 1: stiffer competition. Yeah, because you have, as we mentioned, Brooklyn, Denver,
Speaker 1: Atlanta two against Miami all in a row, day off
Speaker 1: on Friday the fifteenth. Then you have a really tough
Speaker 1: back to back Memphis and Okay, see just because it's
Speaker 1: a road back to back and these are teams that
Speaker 1: you know they've got they've got some talent there. And
Speaker 1: then you have two days off for the first time
Speaker 1: and forever. And then there's a two game home series
Speaker 1: against Boston before you go on the road for two
Speaker 1: at Detroit. The Lakers then come into the end of
Speaker 1: the month. That, yeah, it's pick it up. It is crazy,
Speaker 1: and honestly, we have to give some props to the
Speaker 1: players on the sixers and across the league, to the
Speaker 1: league itself and everybody who works on these things. This
Speaker 1: is a This schedule is similar to it was in
Speaker 1: the Bubble, but the Bubble was a much shorter period
Speaker 1: of time. This whole one day on, one day off
Speaker 1: with back to backs, Like you said, they're not going
Speaker 1: to have two days off in a row for the
Speaker 1: first few weeks of the season, which is something that
Speaker 1: they're accustomed to having pretty frequently during regular seasons. So
Speaker 1: the fact that they're going at this pace at some
Speaker 1: point people are going to get tired. We know this,
Speaker 1: but it is impressive to see the every team in
Speaker 1: the league just grinding through these games. It's a lot selts.
Speaker 1: It's a lot, right, It's not like you're taking the
Speaker 1: ten minute bus drive from the Grand Floridian too, the
Speaker 1: Wide World Sports Complex. I mean, that was the one thing,
Speaker 1: if there was one, I think through line that players
Speaker 1: and coaches spoke positively about in terms of the life
Speaker 1: experience in the bubble. I think everyone thought it was
Speaker 1: brilliant the league was able to pull it off so safely.
Speaker 1: But obviously your quarantine for potentially three months, isolated from
Speaker 1: family and friends, that's tough. But I think the one
Speaker 1: thing that it sounded like everyone liked from a logistical
Speaker 1: standpoint was that all you had to do was you
Speaker 1: were on a campus, get on a bus, show up
Speaker 1: at the arena in about ten minutes from your hotel
Speaker 1: to the arena, and then you get on the court,
Speaker 1: who you go home, and that was it. Whereas like this, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the same rhythm of the bubble, but you're traveling
Speaker 1: through perhaps at most two different time zones. You got
Speaker 1: to give it up for the for the logistics people
Speaker 1: on every staff in the NBA. Someone that sticks out
Speaker 1: for us, of course, is our very own Alan Lumpkin
Speaker 1: is probably working around the clock because just think about it,
Speaker 1: they're in all these different cities with a congested schedule.
Speaker 1: It's already hard to get the logistics of an NBA
Speaker 1: team down, but to do it at sort of warp
Speaker 1: speed this season with all these extra precautions that the
Speaker 1: teams are taking against COVID, like, it's it's got to
Speaker 1: be really tough to make it happen. And it's impressive
Speaker 1: to see the way they've done it so far. And
Speaker 1: I hope everybody is getting enough sleep. That's my thesis,
Speaker 1: And not to veer too far off down this detour,
Speaker 1: because there's other places you can go for it, but
Speaker 1: going to different cities with different protocols, and like Doc
Speaker 1: said before the Orlando game, like he felt like he
Speaker 1: had to hide under his bed. You know, it's so,
Speaker 1: it's it's right. I think all this is to say
Speaker 1: m bubble was impressive that the players and league got
Speaker 1: through that in one way, but I think that this
Speaker 1: is a totally different beast, a knock on wood. So far,
Speaker 1: so good for everyone involved. Yes, indeed, I hope they
Speaker 1: can keep it rolling. And of course thanks to everybody
Speaker 1: that's making it possible. And thanks to everyone who chimed
Speaker 1: in for this edition of the Monday mail Bag. Loved it,
Speaker 1: got some calls, got some social submissions. Thank you so again.
Speaker 1: If you're new to this, what we're gonna do is,
Speaker 1: at some point, probably within the next couple hours, I'll
Speaker 1: go to our random Name Picker generator. I forget what
Speaker 1: website I used last time, but last week Laaren I
Speaker 1: posted a video of it. For full transparency, we don't
Speaker 1: have one of those law firms who audit things like
Speaker 1: the NBA does when they go into the lottery room
Speaker 1: for the draft, but we try to be as fair
Speaker 1: about this as we possibly can. And if your name
Speaker 1: is picked by the random Name picker, you will get
Speaker 1: a seventy six ers swag bag. Our man Jason Johnson
Speaker 1: just hooked it up. We have some fresh stuff to
Speaker 1: send out to our faithful and loyal listeners. You deserve
Speaker 1: it for submitting. We appreciate it. Anyone that's still listening
Speaker 1: at this point deserves a little a little prize of
Speaker 1: some sort, so thank you for being here. On the
Speaker 1: docket on the seventy six ers podcast network feed for
Speaker 1: the rest of this week. Tomorrow Tuesday, look for a
Speaker 1: new episode of Coach Checking In. That's every other Tuesday, Dakota,
Speaker 1: Matthias and Matt Murphy will chat about the two Way
Speaker 1: players upcoming season. And then on Friday, Lauren and I
Speaker 1: will be back at it with the Von Givens, our
Speaker 1: first Fanatic Friday with ninety seven five the Fanatics devon
Speaker 1: Given so I'm excited about that, looking forward to it. Indeed,
Speaker 1: welcome to twenty twenty one everybody. Oh yeah, happy to hear.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. And also one last self serving promotion.
Speaker 1: The scoop comes out the morning of and morning after
Speaker 1: every game, so keep scrolling and refreshing that feed. Thank you,
Speaker 1: mail back Monday. People who will talk to you next
Speaker 1: time happ