Speaker 1: In any NBA season, it would be difficult to draw
Speaker 1: hard fast conclusions after just a month. In this particular year,
Speaker 1: with teams getting rock by players going in and out
Speaker 1: of the lineup at a moment's notice, it's virtually impossible.
Speaker 1: But that's not going to stop us from at least trying.
Speaker 1: After a very weird week, luckily the team is getting
Speaker 1: their folks back. Having seen the way the week went,
Speaker 1: it's just to me, it feels too soon to make
Speaker 1: any type of declaration about what's going to go on
Speaker 1: in the rest of the season. But what I've seen,
Speaker 1: I like what to make of the seventy six or
Speaker 1: strong start, and in particular Dwell and Bead's MVP caliber contributions.
Speaker 1: He has just shown a want to out there on
Speaker 1: the floor to things that we've heard in the past
Speaker 1: of being dominant, being the best player. He has been tremendous.
Speaker 1: He has been in that conversation. He belongs in the
Speaker 1: conversation of the best player in the game. In our
Speaker 1: first Friday Deep Dive of the season with Devon Gibbons,
Speaker 1: we talk about teases, what's real and what isn't through
Speaker 1: the first four weeks of the season. Here on the broadcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Brian Seltzer and I am excited. Lauren Rosen, we
Speaker 1: are starting something new this week. I am super pumped
Speaker 1: for the debut of our weekly Friday Deep Dive with
Speaker 1: the one and only Vin Givens from ninety seventy five
Speaker 1: The Fanatic, our flagship radio station for seventy six ers
Speaker 1: basketball in the Delaware Valley. Divon what's up. It's great
Speaker 1: to be speaking with you man. Oh, good to be back.
Speaker 1: Good to be back with you both. It's fantastic to
Speaker 1: be here starting off with the season where they are
Speaker 1: and we know there have been some difficulties, but they're
Speaker 1: still pushing through and it's great to be back with you. Guys.
Speaker 1: I missed you, we missed you, we missed you, and
Speaker 1: I just I'm pumped because we now can work this
Speaker 1: into our regular weekly schedule, Friday's Divine Givens the deep
Speaker 1: Dive of the week. Yes, indeed, look forward to it.
Speaker 1: So I want to get into what we've seen so
Speaker 1: far through the first month of the season in a moment.
Speaker 1: But first, perhaps you can play a little bit of
Speaker 1: a game, an icebreaker to start things off. I want
Speaker 1: to ask each of you of your most memorable in
Speaker 1: your mind sports teas non seventy six ers. It could
Speaker 1: be the best sports tease you've seen, the worst sports
Speaker 1: tease you've seen, but a sports tease. But the first
Speaker 1: thing that comes to mind sports teas non seventy six ers, Lauren,
Speaker 1: I see a look because I'm watching you through zoom
Speaker 1: right now of flabbergast in your eye. I just don't
Speaker 1: know where we're going with this. I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: what to basing whatever I say off of what you say.
Speaker 1: So go ahead, okay, Divine, you want to go first,
Speaker 1: I can go first. I have no problem going first,
Speaker 1: non seventy sixers, any sport, Yeah, just most memorable sports teas.
Speaker 1: Doesn't necessarily have to have a bad outcome, doesn't have
Speaker 1: to have a good outcome. But a significant sports tease,
Speaker 1: Oh wow, a significant sports tease. That is the one
Speaker 1: that you threw on us, that now has me really thinking,
Speaker 1: I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, and I'll
Speaker 1: leave it sixers. But it's more of a it's more
Speaker 1: on the side of it caused me a lot of
Speaker 1: frustration because I thought it would go a certain way.
Speaker 1: The teas was back in the in the I believe
Speaker 1: it was the ninety man, I'm trying to think of
Speaker 1: the draft. It was the draft with Chris Webber went
Speaker 1: number one, Penny Hardaway Anthony penny Hardaway was also available.
Speaker 1: The Sixers were at number two, the Warriors obviously selecting
Speaker 1: Chris Webber, and right away that the whole teas the
Speaker 1: entire time that the Sixers were on the clock, Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, They're about to get Penny Hardaway. And I'm
Speaker 1: a big Memphis State. At the time, it was Memphis State,
Speaker 1: not Memphis, and I was a huge Penny Hardaway fan.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking that he's coming to Philadelphia. And with
Speaker 1: all due respect to Sean Brand, the teas dropped right there.
Speaker 1: And it went from a jaw dropping moment at that
Speaker 1: point and and and a big time tease and at
Speaker 1: which turned into a lot of frustration for many years
Speaker 1: watching seventy Sixers and then watching the Orlando Magic and
Speaker 1: or Chris Webber since they were traded for one another,
Speaker 1: and wondering what could have been. This is perfect, this
Speaker 1: is exactly what I'm looking for. Infamous nineteen ninety three draft. Yes,
Speaker 1: a tease, Lauren, you want some more time or do
Speaker 1: you want me to jump in. I need more time.
Speaker 1: Please please go ahead. Okay, I hate to throw what's
Speaker 1: going to sound like some shade, but I'll go Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles starting quarterback of this season, Carson Wentz at this
Speaker 1: point a little bit of a tease. I think personally,
Speaker 1: for the record, he's going to be back, but we
Speaker 1: got a little tease when he first started. Thing's been
Speaker 1: up and down, and who knows what the end outcome
Speaker 1: is going to be with him in the Eagles. So
Speaker 1: maybe it's because it's freshened my mind, but to me,
Speaker 1: that is another noteworthy non current seventy six ers teas.
Speaker 1: All right, Lauren, we can't delay any longer. I'm ready.
Speaker 1: I'm sports tease. I'm just gonna go with one from
Speaker 1: my own life because I figure that's probably the best
Speaker 1: way to pick a sports tease. I think I have
Speaker 1: to go with the twenty seventeen Duke basketball team, headlined
Speaker 1: by none other than Jason Tatum. I was at Duke
Speaker 1: at the time. I was working for the athletic department
Speaker 1: on the sports media side, but I was also a cheerleader,
Speaker 1: and that team lost in the NCAA Tournament in the
Speaker 1: second round, which is the first weekend, and I remember
Speaker 1: feeling like I was a senior, so there was like
Speaker 1: a lot of nostalgia there, and I wanted to go
Speaker 1: on this big deep run that everybody thought the team
Speaker 1: was going to go on. And they lost to South
Speaker 1: Carolina on the third day of the twenty seventeen NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna have to go with that one. I think.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's so much like a tease
Speaker 1: as much as the downer, but I think the whole
Speaker 1: season people thought they were going all the way and
Speaker 1: they very much did not. So wow, there you go. Wow,
Speaker 1: these were excellent. And I remember and I remember Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum's first game. It was in the Madison Square Garden
Speaker 1: when he came back from the injury. And I don't
Speaker 1: remember the opponent, but I was like, oh, yeah, this
Speaker 1: guy can go and you could hoop like from the jump. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we knew he was good, but that that group really
Speaker 1: underperformed in the tournament. The tournament's tough. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was to just paint a little bit more of a picture.
Speaker 1: It was a very weird day. They were playing in
Speaker 1: South Carolina against South Carolina because it was the year
Speaker 1: that we couldn't play tournament games in in North Carolina
Speaker 1: because of what was going on politically, and then in
Speaker 1: South Carolina, where were supposed to have home court advantage.
Speaker 1: It was like a full house of Carolina fans. There
Speaker 1: were some weird things going on. There were Confederate flags
Speaker 1: in the parking lot. There was just some really weird
Speaker 1: stuff going on in South Carolina that day. So the
Speaker 1: juju was certainly off, honestly understandably, but they did lose.
Speaker 1: So just to give it a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a nuanced picture of what that game was actually like.
Speaker 1: Looking back, I understand how they could have been thrown
Speaker 1: off for sure, but it was zooming out, not the
Speaker 1: way that they expected the season to end. So here's
Speaker 1: the thing. I promised that there is some relevance to
Speaker 1: this exercise. I think you guys did great, especially since
Speaker 1: I put you on the spot. It's interesting the way
Speaker 1: that we look at teases, because I tend to agree
Speaker 1: with you guys more often than not. When you think
Speaker 1: of a tease, you think of something that has initial
Speaker 1: promise and that it doesn't necessarily work out. But I
Speaker 1: would argue that a team like the two thousand two
Speaker 1: one seventy six Ers. They teased you right off the start,
Speaker 1: got off to a great undefeated beginning of the season
Speaker 1: through their first ten games, and then they went on
Speaker 1: to exceed expectations by making it all the way to
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. So I would venture to say, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, teases aren't necessarily despite their regular stigma always
Speaker 1: a bad thing. They just start to conjure up hope
Speaker 1: and promise in the mind, which, in a very circuitous,
Speaker 1: roundabout way, brings us to your two thousand, twenty two
Speaker 1: twenty one Philadelphia seventy six ers. We're a month into
Speaker 1: the season. The team is off to an encouraging start.
Speaker 1: Individuals on the team have had an encouraging start this
Speaker 1: season as well. So I want to unpack some of
Speaker 1: what we've seen so far, what might be real, what
Speaker 1: might be misleading, and what can we project because this
Speaker 1: year has already a month in been so funky, Lauren,
Speaker 1: Let's begin with you seventy six ers, top team in
Speaker 1: the East, wrapping up their first month the season. Is
Speaker 1: this something that you see as being sustainable? Yes, but
Speaker 1: it's not quite as simple. As things aren't simple these days.
Speaker 1: If we've learned anything. Yeah, if we've learned anything this week,
Speaker 1: it's that a team can be thrown off for no
Speaker 1: fault of their own. When you look at the injury
Speaker 1: report over the last few games, there were a lot
Speaker 1: of unavailable seventy sixers, and the fact that they're still
Speaker 1: at the top of the conference is excellent. But we
Speaker 1: don't know how many times that could continue to happen
Speaker 1: to the Sixers, to other teams around the league. Will
Speaker 1: there be postponements, will there be cancelations, Will the shortened
Speaker 1: season get shorter? So I want to say yes, they'll
Speaker 1: they'll stay among the top teams, for sure, but there
Speaker 1: are too many intangibles, too many unknowns to necessarily say that.
Speaker 1: I feel super confident that everything's going to keep going
Speaker 1: the way that it is. But that being said, after
Speaker 1: a very weird week. Luckily the team is getting their
Speaker 1: folks back, But having seen the way the week went,
Speaker 1: it's just to me it feels too soon to make
Speaker 1: any type of declaration about what's going to go on
Speaker 1: in the rest of the season. But what I've seen,
Speaker 1: I like that was a bit of a long way
Speaker 1: to say yes, divon well, looking at the team, that
Speaker 1: they currently have in a few surprises quite honestly, at
Speaker 1: the way that things have gone with the roster overall.
Speaker 1: And you know, as we go along with these visits
Speaker 1: with you guys, we can get into the personnel, what
Speaker 1: they've done, what they've done so well. Obviously Joel emb
Speaker 1: will get to him how good he has been. I
Speaker 1: do think it's sustainable because of the star power that
Speaker 1: you do have and Joel and b the coaching staff
Speaker 1: and what they are doing. The fact that you are seeing,
Speaker 1: at least early on, that he can play a lot
Speaker 1: of minutes, which is very encouraging on his body. Can
Speaker 1: that go on? I would think the reason they're doing
Speaker 1: it now it's to see how it plays out throughout
Speaker 1: the entirety of the season. So looking at them right now,
Speaker 1: at this particular record, the stage of the season, and
Speaker 1: how good they have been despite some obstacles that they've
Speaker 1: had to overcome, I actually do think it's sustainable for
Speaker 1: them to continue on this path. I would agree with
Speaker 1: parts of what both of you guys said. I think
Speaker 1: that defining of what this is is very loose. The
Speaker 1: Sixers are currently a top three team in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: Are they going to be able to maintain their perch
Speaker 1: for number one, which is what they held for the
Speaker 1: first two and a half weeks before the health and
Speaker 1: safety protocols hit. I don't know if they can end
Speaker 1: up as the number one seed. There's some even better
Speaker 1: talent now in the Eastern Conference with the Houston and
Speaker 1: Brooklyn trade that happened. But I think that what we
Speaker 1: can probably conclude at this point is that the Sixers
Speaker 1: of things level out, and barring anything that's too much
Speaker 1: more crazy, they really have a good opportunity to be
Speaker 1: a home court advantage team, whatever that would mean under
Speaker 1: these current circumstances that we're living in. But I do
Speaker 1: think that when you look at them under controlled conditions,
Speaker 1: they could be as good as just about any team
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference save for perhaps one or two,
Speaker 1: and even those two teams, in my mind, have some
Speaker 1: question marks. So I think that we are in relative
Speaker 1: agreement that if control will factors exist, seventy six Ers
Speaker 1: have a really good shot of being a top four
Speaker 1: team in the Eastern Conference this year, and a lot
Speaker 1: of that will have to do with Joel Embiid being
Speaker 1: able to maintain the pace that he's currently at. It
Speaker 1: beat has it against a Chewa. He shoots the top
Speaker 1: of the key, shot up and good. With three seconds
Speaker 1: ago it beat ties the game at one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty time out Miami. He's just been a beast. Guys.
Speaker 1: I've been so encouraged by seeing what Joel Embiid has done.
Speaker 1: I love the vibes, I love the body language. I
Speaker 1: probably talk about intangibles too much, but I think in
Speaker 1: this case it's relevant. He's just been phenomenal and he
Speaker 1: is backing up a lot of the talk that we
Speaker 1: heard at the end of last season, during the start
Speaker 1: of training camp, and now to begin the year. Divine. No,
Speaker 1: he absolutely has and I'm glad we're starting with this
Speaker 1: because he is just shown again just a want to
Speaker 1: out there on the floor to things that we've heard
Speaker 1: in the past, of being down, being the best player,
Speaker 1: having to put the team on his back, owing things
Speaker 1: to the fan base. And while he's not done, while
Speaker 1: the team is not done. We are only a few
Speaker 1: games into the season. He has been tremendous. He has
Speaker 1: been in that conversation. He belongs in the conversation of
Speaker 1: the best player in the game right now with what
Speaker 1: he has done and what I do like especially let's
Speaker 1: go back to a game earlier in the week, the
Speaker 1: first of the two back to back against the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: where they were not playing up to the standards that
Speaker 1: you thought they should have been. Against the depleted Miami
Speaker 1: he team, where the team got down him. He just
Speaker 1: simply said, Okay, let's do it. Let's just put it
Speaker 1: on my back. And he did just that. And we
Speaker 1: saw it games before as well where they needed him.
Speaker 1: Let's just go back to the opening against Washington when
Speaker 1: it became a very close game, and down the stretch
Speaker 1: of that one as well, Joel and b showed why
Speaker 1: he is arguably the best big man in the game.
Speaker 1: So I love exactly what he's doing. I think this
Speaker 1: is sustainable and it's good to see us so early on.
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer of Lauren, and we've talked about
Speaker 1: this in side chats a lot. It's not what they say,
Speaker 1: it's what they do. At least that's a principle that
Speaker 1: I try to live by when you're looking in attempting
Speaker 1: to assess a situation. Joel Embiad has said that he
Speaker 1: feels more comfortable. That's something that based on the eye test,
Speaker 1: I believe it as well. He looks a lot more
Speaker 1: comfortable out there on the court. I agree he talks
Speaker 1: about wanting to dominate a lot. Dominate, dominate, That's a
Speaker 1: word we hear from Joel over the years, and this
Speaker 1: year he's really doing it. And I think look no
Speaker 1: further than Devon mentioned Tuesday against Miami forty five points,
Speaker 1: sixteen rebounds, four assists, a block, and five steals. That's
Speaker 1: all align. Obviously that added overtime, but the team got
Speaker 1: into the second half, it looked like maybe the game
Speaker 1: was going to get away from them a little bit,
Speaker 1: if not sort of come down to the wire, which
Speaker 1: it did, and Joel said afterwards that he decided there
Speaker 1: was no way they were going to lose that game.
Speaker 1: And to be able to see him lock into that
Speaker 1: mentality score twenty points in the third quarter alone, guys,
Speaker 1: that's insane, and then eleven in overtime, like he really
Speaker 1: did decide we are absolutely not losing this game, and
Speaker 1: he made sure that he did everything he could to
Speaker 1: make that happen, despite some people fouling out, missing a
Speaker 1: lot of people for the health and safety protocols, and
Speaker 1: he gave props to his teammates post game and said,
Speaker 1: you can't get anywhere without your teammates. He was really
Speaker 1: proud of the way that the young guys stepped up.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, the story Tuesday
Speaker 1: was Joel and the way that he took that game
Speaker 1: into his own hands and made sure the team was
Speaker 1: not going to take a loss. And that's a great sign. Divin.
Speaker 1: This is a conversation we've had amongst ourselves and on
Speaker 1: the air a couple of times. Your favorite Joel embiid performance.
Speaker 1: I know which way you go. I think I am
Speaker 1: still December twenty nineteen, Thursday Night T and T at
Speaker 1: TD Garden, but I might have to put the third
Speaker 1: quarter of that game against Miami Heat right up there.
Speaker 1: I think that's a top three, well regular season at
Speaker 1: least performance. I agree with you. I was thinking about
Speaker 1: that as Lauren was talking and just knowing that we
Speaker 1: have had this discussion because we've seen so many great
Speaker 1: performances from Juell and b over the years that he
Speaker 1: is worn the seventy six is uniform. I have my
Speaker 1: favorite in Los Angeles that Staples. You have yours in
Speaker 1: Boston at TV Garden, and immediately I knew this one
Speaker 1: was number two, right behind my favorite in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: because the importance of it. Look and we know early
Speaker 1: in the season it's only game number twelve, but when
Speaker 1: you're so shorthanded, and as Lauren mentioned, with the foul
Speaker 1: trouble that a few teammates got into and no longer
Speaker 1: they're disqualified from the game, you needed is your best
Speaker 1: player to do it. And not only did he do it, guys,
Speaker 1: he did it knowing that still even though he gets
Speaker 1: this from tip one, from right away minute one, all
Speaker 1: the attention was going to be on him, and he
Speaker 1: still was able to do it with the twenty points
Speaker 1: in the third quarter that you both mentioned and thirty
Speaker 1: five overall from the second half on, with what he
Speaker 1: was able to do for this team, what they needed
Speaker 1: and he uplifted them. They knew that they had to
Speaker 1: do it. Doctor Rivers kept feeding him the ball. He
Speaker 1: played forty minutes in an NBA game that went into overtime,
Speaker 1: And to your first question about his availability and his
Speaker 1: durability and something that's sustainable, it was great to see
Speaker 1: that as an example and now us looking back later
Speaker 1: on maybe a game number sixty two and saying, well,
Speaker 1: I saw you do it in Game twelve. I know
Speaker 1: you can do it now. I might actually, just because
Speaker 1: I've never taken a stance on a favorite Joel and
Speaker 1: B performance, I might go ahead and carve it in.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna do it. Yeah. January twelfth, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one against Miami, And look, I think when we
Speaker 1: look back, we're not going to say that this was
Speaker 1: his most high achieving moment in terms of what the
Speaker 1: opponent had available or what the context in this season was.
Speaker 1: But I do think when you look at the external
Speaker 1: factors half the team on the injury report, some of
Speaker 1: the team fouled out for him to still come in
Speaker 1: and really say, I don't care what the odds are,
Speaker 1: I don't care what external factors are going on. We
Speaker 1: are winning this game. To me, that was really really memorable.
Speaker 1: I also was at that one as opposed to the
Speaker 1: other two that you guys pick. So maybe it's like
Speaker 1: recency bias, being in person bias, But I think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and carve this out as my favorite
Speaker 1: Joel and Beat performance at least for the time being. Listen,
Speaker 1: I will say that it could serve as something at
Speaker 1: least right now that is seemingly minor. The way that
Speaker 1: he handled that game, that could become a bigger supporting
Speaker 1: piece of evidence the type of year that Joel has
Speaker 1: this year. Because if you're talking about the next thing
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring up, you need like that leadership performance
Speaker 1: when the team is up against it. It's shorthanded, your
Speaker 1: other all stars having an off night. You need someone
Speaker 1: to kind of rein it in and be the horse.
Speaker 1: And that's the type of player he was in that
Speaker 1: first game against Miami. It was awesome. It beats bringing
Speaker 1: a horse again picked up by Strausson's Silva ghost baseline, spins,
Speaker 1: backs up, shoots it. It's good. It being is dominating
Speaker 1: MBP light status for the big fella. He's got twenty
Speaker 1: points in this quarter alone. So what I'm alluding to
Speaker 1: is the three words three letters, Well they could be
Speaker 1: three letters the three words most Valuable Player or three
Speaker 1: letters MVP, whatever you want to choose. Getting back to
Speaker 1: this notion of what's real and what is And we've
Speaker 1: heard chatter it's been brought up with Joel and some
Speaker 1: press conferences, Joe as an MVP candidate a month into
Speaker 1: the season. Divine, are you buying it. Yes, I am,
Speaker 1: I am. He has been one of the best players
Speaker 1: in the league. We know there are a few handful
Speaker 1: of others that are in the conversation with him, but
Speaker 1: he is definitely in there. He deserves to be any
Speaker 1: of They have the best record in the Eastern Conference
Speaker 1: and with him only missing I believe what two games
Speaker 1: so far this season and still being able to post
Speaker 1: the numbers that he has put up on the board already,
Speaker 1: it's also real because of this we've seen him do
Speaker 1: it before where he has been in those conversations, even
Speaker 1: though he has made second team instead of first team
Speaker 1: All MBA, the All Star Games, the defensive teams as well,
Speaker 1: second in Defensive MVP voting Overall Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: And that's why it's real. And if he is able
Speaker 1: to continue along this path putting up posting these types
Speaker 1: of numbers, the wins continuing to come if they can
Speaker 1: somehow despite some changes in the Eastern Conference so far
Speaker 1: with Brooklyn and knowing how good Milwaukee could be also
Speaker 1: have to respect them in Miami as well, if they
Speaker 1: can continue to be at the top of the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference led by his performances, He's absolutely going to be
Speaker 1: in the conversation at the end of the regular season,
Speaker 1: in the Most Valuable Player discussion if he keeps up
Speaker 1: what he's doing on both ends the floor, I agree
Speaker 1: with you, there's no chance he's left out of the discussion,
Speaker 1: and he has a really good case to win. I mean,
Speaker 1: how often do you see a guy go for forty
Speaker 1: five and grab five steals on the same night. I mean,
Speaker 1: the only other types of players in this league that
Speaker 1: can do that is a guy like Jannis, who's now
Speaker 1: won the award a couple of times. So I would say, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got to be in the conversation if he continues
Speaker 1: to play that he played the way that he is,
Speaker 1: And of course a lot of that depends on health,
Speaker 1: whether it's health and safety protocol stuff or injury stuff.
Speaker 1: I think as long as Joel can stay healthy, stay
Speaker 1: out there, and stay as motivated as he is, there's
Speaker 1: no chance that he's not in the conversation at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. I think I'm confidence saying right
Speaker 1: now that I believe that Joel is going to have
Speaker 1: his most impactful season yet as a pro. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that means he's going to average his highest
Speaker 1: point total or have his highest rebound total. I think
Speaker 1: he's going to have his most effective season. I think
Speaker 1: that when it comes to the MVP conversation, he's going
Speaker 1: to be in it. I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: really close for some reason. My gut is telling me
Speaker 1: and I'm always sunshine, unicorn and rainbows, man, I feel
Speaker 1: but I feel like this is going to be the
Speaker 1: year where he really proves himself on a national level
Speaker 1: that he is to be a force to be reckoned
Speaker 1: with game in, game out. He's taken the level of
Speaker 1: seriousness and leadership to a new level, setting up up
Speaker 1: for I think the following season to really be one
Speaker 1: of the front runners for that race from the start
Speaker 1: of the season, unless the Sixers collectively really start too
Speaker 1: and I think again they're going to be a very
Speaker 1: good top four team in the East, but really start
Speaker 1: to go on a run overachieve and Joel is the
Speaker 1: driving force behind that, which I think is totally a possibility,
Speaker 1: but I think it would have to be under those
Speaker 1: conditions that he would actually win the award, and quickly
Speaker 1: something you mentioned earlier, his actions instead of his words.
Speaker 1: He's just going out there and doing it, and yes,
Speaker 1: he has to do the postgame press conferences, and that's
Speaker 1: what he's doing. Other than that, there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of talking about anything more. You're just going out there
Speaker 1: and showing the action. Is speaking loudly in the words,
Speaker 1: We're going to dive deeper into Tyree's Maxie in a moment,
Speaker 1: but I want to take fifteen seconds to remind you
Speaker 1: of this. Soon, the Scoop are brand new daily five
Speaker 1: minute seventy six Ers update series is going to have
Speaker 1: its own exclusive feed. What does that mean? That means
Speaker 1: the Scoop isn't going to be on this feed anymore,
Speaker 1: the seventy six Ers podcast network feed. It's going to
Speaker 1: have a feed solely dedicated to the Scoop. So to
Speaker 1: make sure you don't miss out, search seventy six Ers
Speaker 1: Scoop wherever you get your pods. It could be Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Pandora, wherever,
Speaker 1: and just subscribe or follow to the feed and you
Speaker 1: will get daily five minute in the season updates about
Speaker 1: the seventy sixers every day. All right, moving on to
Speaker 1: our next area of what is real what might not be?
Speaker 1: Through this first month of the season. Maxie again for
Speaker 1: three from the logo of the center three twenty eight
Speaker 1: footer Tyrese Maxie. He's got thirty nine. It was hard
Speaker 1: not to fall in love with what you saw, particularly
Speaker 1: from Tyrese Maxie against the Denver Nuggets. But all at all,
Speaker 1: he's played really well. This is a very solid it
Speaker 1: looks like in terms of the top couple guys rookie class,
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburton out in Sacramento. I was intrigued by LaMelo
Speaker 1: Ball some of the stuff that he was able to do.
Speaker 1: But Tyrese Maxie's put himself right up there early on,
Speaker 1: led by that performance against the Nuggets of being one
Speaker 1: of the rookie headliners to watch this season? Would you agree? Disagree? Laarn?
Speaker 1: I think Rookie of the Year conversation remains a little premature.
Speaker 1: But he was phenomenal on Saturday, and so when I
Speaker 1: say that it's a little premature, I think I only
Speaker 1: say that because, like we saw what we've seen with
Speaker 1: rookies over the last few years that come into teams
Speaker 1: that are contenders, they don't get the type of minutes
Speaker 1: that guys that win Rookie of the Year end up getting.
Speaker 1: So for me, Tyrese's biggest enemy is the fact that
Speaker 1: he's on a team with a lot of great players
Speaker 1: that outrank him in the rotation. But if he continues
Speaker 1: to have performances like what he had on Saturday, there's
Speaker 1: no reason why he shouldn't be considered at least for
Speaker 1: that award. What do you guys think I would look
Speaker 1: at it and say, the thirty nine pointing performance certainly
Speaker 1: put a lot of people on notice of what he
Speaker 1: could do. If you didn't know what he could do
Speaker 1: on the floor, or didn't know who he was and
Speaker 1: what he was capable of, that certainly put everybody on notice,
Speaker 1: just like Shake Milton's thirty nine against the Clippers a
Speaker 1: season ago on the road against Doc Rivers led team
Speaker 1: that put people on notice. And then to continue to
Speaker 1: follow up with him having to get the minutes that
Speaker 1: he has because the team was shorthanded. Yeah, he's going
Speaker 1: to have people paying a lot of attention now, as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Lauren, maybe premature right now, but at the
Speaker 1: very least, with so much talent out there and him
Speaker 1: being on a contending team, he will at least get
Speaker 1: the recognition of the first team All Rookie at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. When it's all said and done.
Speaker 1: But hey, if he can continue to play and show
Speaker 1: the offensive output, not thirty nine obviously, but to do
Speaker 1: something like that and put those numbers up, he will
Speaker 1: be into the conversation for sure. A couple of things
Speaker 1: that I really like. Well, there's a lot that I
Speaker 1: really like about what Tyres Maxie has shown. And I
Speaker 1: think that part of this obviously has been circumstantial. I'm
Speaker 1: about to say, I love the fact that Doc rivers
Speaker 1: and I thought you could make this conclusion before the
Speaker 1: health and safety protocol thing happened in half the Ruster
Speaker 1: was wiped out. Doc was not afraid to play him
Speaker 1: or throw him out there and give him some responsibilities
Speaker 1: right off the bat. Now, credit to the kid for
Speaker 1: earning it, because it's clear that he's got skill and
Speaker 1: ability and not just that, but stuff that the Sixers need,
Speaker 1: you know, another ball handler, a guy who can finish
Speaker 1: driving to the rim. Yeah, I think Rookie of the year,
Speaker 1: because if you're looking at this in a perfect world,
Speaker 1: you want the Sixers at full strength. And will he
Speaker 1: get the minutes and the opportunities to put up the
Speaker 1: line that some of these other guys on lesser built
Speaker 1: teams might probably not, but I think that so far
Speaker 1: it's looking really good that maybe in just a season's time,
Speaker 1: this time next year, we're talking about someone who definitely
Speaker 1: was to steal the draft and could be one of
Speaker 1: the top players who emerges from this draft class, regardless
Speaker 1: of a trophy or recognition or anything like that. For sure,
Speaker 1: for sure, they definitely got themselves a good one. I
Speaker 1: feel that, And you have to remember there will be
Speaker 1: opportunities such as obviously All Star Weekend is going to
Speaker 1: look very different this year, but I imagine they'll still
Speaker 1: honor some young guys with the Rookie Sophomore Game, naming
Speaker 1: of some sort all rookie teams, another opportunity for Tyrese
Speaker 1: to get some accolades. I could see him ending up
Speaker 1: on either of those lists easily, and you never know
Speaker 1: as the season goes along what other awards he could
Speaker 1: be up for. At one point in time, I was
Speaker 1: hoping the focus of our first Friday Deep Dive with
Speaker 1: the Voman be about someone like Tobias Harris and the
Speaker 1: start he's gotten off to. I think my plan is
Speaker 1: going to be for some of the guys who haven't
Speaker 1: seen in a week, let's pause on them for a moment,
Speaker 1: and we'll circle back and touch upon them next Friday,
Speaker 1: when hopefully they've had three or four games back in
Speaker 1: the mix for the sixers. But I do think could
Speaker 1: we not end more appropriately on this as far as
Speaker 1: what to tease, what's potentially mirage, what's real, what isn't
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn Nets, the timing was right. The timing was
Speaker 1: right for us. Unfortunately, anytime you get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: acquire or try to acquire a player of this caliber,
Speaker 1: it's something you've got to look hot at, and that's
Speaker 1: certainly something we did, and the process spit up very
Speaker 1: very rapidly and very quickly over the last sort of
Speaker 1: forty eight hours. It was sunshine and talk of harmony
Speaker 1: when things were announced officially on Thursday. Obviously you have
Speaker 1: three incredible and amazingly gifted players now and Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: James Harden and Kevin Durant. Because it gonna work, that's
Speaker 1: a great question, the two of Durant and Harden with
Speaker 1: the familiarity, of course, that's something that you can play
Speaker 1: off of the fact that Mike D'Antoni James Harden, former
Speaker 1: head coach of the Houston Rockets, is the lead assistant
Speaker 1: for Steve Nash, And I think the Wild Carter, like
Speaker 1: many think at this point, is what is what is?
Speaker 1: And who is Kyrie Irving? So on its face it
Speaker 1: looks tremendous. It looks like it's going to be a
Speaker 1: problem offensively for other teams to defend. How do you
Speaker 1: defend it? But I want to see a at least
Speaker 1: a sample size of it first to say that it
Speaker 1: Canada cannot work. I would believe in something like this happens,
Speaker 1: especially with the players soul later late in their careers.
Speaker 1: Individual accolades already achieved championships with two of the three
Speaker 1: some sacrifice. We've seen Kevin Durant sacrifice, So why wouldn't
Speaker 1: it once again the Wild Cart. And I think that's fair,
Speaker 1: and that's on the minds of a lot of people,
Speaker 1: including Brooklyn fans the Wild Cart right now, Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: I agree with everything you said Devon on face value,
Speaker 1: this looks like a team that might be the best
Speaker 1: in the league, but they're starting behind everybody else. They're
Speaker 1: going to have to build that chemistry. It's been a
Speaker 1: while since Kevin Durant and James Harden have shared the
Speaker 1: court together. But I'm excited to see what it looks like.
Speaker 1: I agree, Kyrie Irving's the X factory there. It'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how they match up with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: There will be more than a few games left between
Speaker 1: those two teams. I'm excited to see what it looks like.
Speaker 1: Am I convinced that it's going to be as great
Speaker 1: as they're hoping? No? But am I intrigued? Yes? Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of hoops, regardless of what team
Speaker 1: you root for, and I know they're in division in
Speaker 1: conference and that's tough to see, but it's pretty compelling stuff.
Speaker 1: And there's always theater in the NBA, and that is
Speaker 1: that's going to be some theater. I would like to
Speaker 1: think that if there is a team at least in
Speaker 1: the conference out there that's got a good enough shot
Speaker 1: to try and slow him down, it could either be
Speaker 1: the Sixers or the Milwaukee Bucks. If the Sixers are
Speaker 1: at full strength, based on how they're playing defense at
Speaker 1: the start of the season, I would like to at
Speaker 1: least see how they fare. I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a challenge. It could be a challenge,
Speaker 1: but it could also I could see it going both ways.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is gonna be a middle
Speaker 1: ground thing, you know, yeah, yeah, there would be some
Speaker 1: really really intriguing matchups if the two teams. Whenever the
Speaker 1: two teams faced off, it's inevitable that they're gonna play
Speaker 1: one against one another. But to see the matchups with
Speaker 1: embed in Jordan at this time, and then I would
Speaker 1: assume Simmons and Dean, then you have to do. That's
Speaker 1: women teath I will possibly comes in with, is Danny
Speaker 1: Green play into this entire thing, and even someone like
Speaker 1: a young Tyrese Max getting in there and getting a
Speaker 1: little gritty and seeing if he can make things a
Speaker 1: little difficult for the all star point guard named Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: I do think when you look at it, the Sixers
Speaker 1: have a defensive advantage when it comes to pieces that
Speaker 1: could match up and could slow that group down offensively, though,
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting. It'll be cool to see a team
Speaker 1: with so much offensive firepower play against a team with
Speaker 1: two defensive Player of the Year candidates plus Danny Green, Latisse, Bible, etc.
Speaker 1: This is a really good defensive team still. That might
Speaker 1: be the thing I'm most excited about seeing tonight is
Speaker 1: the defense that they can play with more people in
Speaker 1: the lineup, and of course when you guys listen to this,
Speaker 1: you'll know how that goes. But I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: how the defensive potential continues to develop. The team thinks
Speaker 1: they can get better defensively even with the top rank
Speaker 1: defense before everybody up on the injury list. So yeah,
Speaker 1: defense versus offense, I think in that matchup will be
Speaker 1: really interesting to see and I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: Good stuff, guys, first Friday deep dive of the year
Speaker 1: with the Von gives in the books. We did it
Speaker 1: back on track. One thing I know, the analysis, the
Speaker 1: commentary that takes always real here. No no guesswork about that,
Speaker 1: So thank you one and all. Great to be back
Speaker 1: with you guys. Thank you guys. That was fun. Alrighty.
Speaker 1: First deep dive with the Von Givens is a rap.
Speaker 1: Next Friday, we'll do it again here on the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers Podcast Network.