Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to hips to night here
Speaker 1: at the volume Heavy Friday, everybody. Oh Bob, you guys
Speaker 1: are having a great end to your week. I'm coming
Speaker 1: to you guys from Houston. I am in a hotel
Speaker 1: here for my brother's wedding. I was hoping Lebron would
Speaker 1: have made his decision a little bit earlier so that
Speaker 1: I could be nice and comfortable in my studio right now.
Speaker 1: But alas he took his time, he made a decision,
Speaker 1: and he's going to the Philadelphia seventy six ers. An
Speaker 1: absolutely shocking outcome. I would have had this one fourth
Speaker 1: at highest in terms of likelihood. Obviously all eyes were
Speaker 1: on Cleveland Golden State in Miami. But Lebron's going to
Speaker 1: be a Philadelphia seventy six er today. I really just
Speaker 1: want to have an instant reaction first impressions. This is
Speaker 1: so out of left field for me. I know that
Speaker 1: that was consistently on the list. Jackson and I were
Speaker 1: talking before we started recording, how like Obviously there was
Speaker 1: the Bob Meyer's appearance on the podcast, and Rich Paul
Speaker 1: was consistent that Philly was on the list.
Speaker 2: So I think it's just for me personally.
Speaker 1: I had a really hard time envisioning Lebron going to Philly,
Speaker 1: so it just is a place that I haven't spent
Speaker 1: a ton of time mentally kind of like thinking about it.
Speaker 1: So again, we're gonna do just an instant reaction, first
Speaker 1: impression stuff today. I want to talk about the fit questions.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Lebron talking about how
Speaker 1: he was thinking about retiring. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the where I think they stack in the east, just
Speaker 1: kind of first impressions. We'll talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: what potential trades could be on the in the on
Speaker 1: the horizon for them in terms of continuing to build
Speaker 1: out this team.
Speaker 2: And then tomorrow morning, what.
Speaker 1: We'll do is we'll do like a more detailed let me,
Speaker 1: let me sleep on it for a day and let
Speaker 1: me think about some things, and we'll put together a
Speaker 1: more you know, kind of second impressions type of a
Speaker 1: show tomorrow morning. You guys know the joke before we
Speaker 1: get started, subscribe to the Hoopsent on YouTube channels. You
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Speaker 1: That helps us a lot. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So again, this was kind of out left field, out
Speaker 1: of left field for me. Lebron ends up tweeting an explanation.
Speaker 1: He says, I thought I was done when the season ended.
Speaker 1: A very fascinating kind of look at how he was
Speaker 1: contemplating his basketball mortality there for a minute. I wasn't
Speaker 1: ready to announce it, and I knew I needed some
Speaker 1: time to really decide. But I was pretty sure I
Speaker 1: played my last game. I was honest at that last
Speaker 1: press conference when I said I needed to look at
Speaker 1: myself and decide if I still love this game. I
Speaker 1: still truly love this game, and I have more to give.
Speaker 1: The last few weeks have been really special. I've never
Speaker 1: been able to have no clue what to do. It's
Speaker 1: take real time to just think. I've had an incredible
Speaker 1: few months with all the people I love trying to
Speaker 1: figure it all out. This is my last decision. I'm
Speaker 1: not going for money, I'm not going for family. What
Speaker 1: am I really playing for? At this point? I still
Speaker 1: want to sacrifice. I still want to work, I still
Speaker 1: want to grind. I still want to compete, to win,
Speaker 1: and to have a chance at the feeling of winning
Speaker 1: another championship. I believe I can help make the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy six ers a championship team. And I am so
Speaker 1: excited to energize a new fan base and to start
Speaker 1: this incredible journey one last time. Thank you La Miami,
Speaker 1: al Forever love in Northeast Ohio will always be home.
Speaker 1: And then some emojis. I thought the piece of about
Speaker 1: the mortality piece was fascinating to me about this because
Speaker 1: he went on that trip when he was celebrating with
Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen Calves and he talked about I think
Speaker 1: Richard Jefferson and Shanning Frye were talking about how like
Speaker 1: Lebron was still like clearly dieting and clearly you know,
Speaker 1: carrying around a big jug of water and still doing
Speaker 1: all the workouts and stuff. And I think one of
Speaker 1: the important details there is that like being one of
Speaker 1: the best basketball players of all time, if not the best,
Speaker 1: takes an enormous amount of work, Like being a forty
Speaker 1: one year old who still is a top ten playoff
Speaker 1: player in the league takes an enormous amount of work,
Speaker 1: and I think he was just contemplating whether or not
Speaker 1: it was actually worth it for him to do it.
Speaker 1: And there's one thing that can drive that, and it's
Speaker 1: a love for the game. And you know, combine that
Speaker 1: with his competitiveness and his desire to win, and here
Speaker 1: we are. We're gonna get to watch Lebron James play
Speaker 1: basketball for at least one more season. It's a player
Speaker 1: option for that second season. So I think that's just
Speaker 1: there in case he wants to retire, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get to see Lebron with the Philadelphia's seventy six ers.
Speaker 1: So let's dig in a little bit to the fit,
Speaker 1: because there was some reasons why I didn't, like mentally
Speaker 1: kind of enter the headspace of Lebron being a sixer,
Speaker 1: and it kind of just had to do with that
Speaker 1: basketball fit. Like Lebron, I talked about this idea, like
Speaker 1: I want to see Lebron succeed, but I want to
Speaker 1: see him succeed being Lebron. I want to see him
Speaker 1: succeed being a version of himself that kind of maximizes
Speaker 1: what he's great at, and like hide some of his
Speaker 1: specific weaknesses, and that's why I looked at some of
Speaker 1: these other places. You know, like, Okay, Lebron at this
Speaker 1: point is still a great playmaking talent. The Lakers' lineups
Speaker 1: when Lebron was on the floor by himself, when he
Speaker 1: was commanding the offense last year, were some of the Lakers'
Speaker 1: most successful groups. And so that's what it had me
Speaker 1: thinking about Golden State in Miami in particular, because he
Speaker 1: would just be the secondary ball handler in both of
Speaker 1: those situations as opposed to some of these other situations
Speaker 1: where he would struggle with usage. And I mean, we've
Speaker 1: all seen the tweets that have been going around in
Speaker 1: the last little bit, like a lot of people are
Speaker 1: questioning whether or not the usage rates of all these
Speaker 1: guys kind of makes sense fitting with each other. Lebron
Speaker 1: last year twenty seven percent usage. Tyrese Maxi last year
Speaker 1: twenty nine percent usage. VJ edgecomb as a rookie getting
Speaker 1: pick and roll reps, getting opportunities to attack us at
Speaker 1: nineteen percent usage last year, Jalen Brown thirty five percent usage,
Speaker 1: one of the highest usage players in the league last year.
Speaker 1: We know what it looks like when Joel Embiid is
Speaker 1: healthy and available. He had a thirty two percent usage
Speaker 1: rate last year. So like, it's definitely like kind of
Speaker 1: a clunky fit in that specific respect. And that's where
Speaker 1: I kind of want to start in terms of the
Speaker 1: framing of them as a contender, because does that mean
Speaker 1: the fact that they were all high usage players, does
Speaker 1: that mean that they can't play together? No, that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that at all. What it does mean, though, is
Speaker 1: that it's going to be a challenge, meaning that there
Speaker 1: is a wider range of outcomes. Jackson made this point
Speaker 1: before we started recording, and I thought it was really smart.
Speaker 1: It was like, the Knicks probably have the narrowest range
Speaker 1: of outcomes for all the different versions of themselves that
Speaker 1: they can be this year. Right, Like their ceiling is
Speaker 1: not astronomically high, but their floor is, like it's like,
Speaker 1: right there by their ceiling, we just know what the
Speaker 1: Knicks are going to be. The Sixers, certainly with their talent,
Speaker 1: have a higher ceiling than the Knicks, but they also
Speaker 1: have a lower floor than the Knicks because of that
Speaker 1: wide range of outcomes based on whether or not these
Speaker 1: guys actually fit together, based on these guys whether or not.
Speaker 1: These guys are able to piece together an offense that
Speaker 1: is greater than the sum of their parts rather than
Speaker 1: lesser than the sum of their parts. And it really
Speaker 1: comes down to a couple of different things. So Lebron
Speaker 1: James last year had a bad jump shooting season. I
Speaker 1: do think you'll have a better jump shooting season this year.
Speaker 1: But Lebron certainly is not a pure jump shooter.
Speaker 2: Right. We talked about it at various points.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown was a forty fifth percentile spot up player
Speaker 1: last year. He was not a good spot up player.
Speaker 1: So if this turns into we're gonna run spread pick
Speaker 1: and roll with Tyre Smaxey and Joel Embiid and Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown and Lebron James are standing off the ball and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of like like dribbling the ball off
Speaker 1: the floor slowly, slowly getting into pick and roll everyone
Speaker 1: else is standing around, then yeah, you're gonna get diminishing
Speaker 1: returns there. Because now what you're doing is you're asking
Speaker 1: Lebron James for all the things he's great at to
Speaker 1: be a spot up shooter. You're asking Jalen Brown for
Speaker 1: all the things he's great at to be a spot
Speaker 1: up shooter. It puts a very it puts together a
Speaker 1: very diminishing return type of outcome for those guys. The
Speaker 1: same thing goes for you know, like certainly when Lebron
Speaker 1: is looking to attack, Tyri Smaxy can shoot. He's a
Speaker 1: good spot up player. But outside of a handful of
Speaker 1: very specific situations, if you are just running spread, pick
Speaker 1: and roll, it's going to lead to diminishing returns. So
Speaker 1: how do you take advantage of the skill sets of
Speaker 1: all of these guys in that universe? You have to
Speaker 1: take advantage of what each of their aggregate skill sets
Speaker 1: add up to. So you don't have a ton of
Speaker 1: jump shooting talent in that lineup, but what you do
Speaker 1: have is a lot of speed. You have a lot
Speaker 1: of size, like Lebron and Jalen Brown are very physically imposing,
Speaker 1: So you have guys that can beat people off the dribble,
Speaker 1: but you also have guys that can overpower people. And
Speaker 1: then you actually have quite a bit of aggregate like
Speaker 1: just offensive skill overall, like a combination of ball handling ability,
Speaker 1: playmaking ability, shot making ability. Right, So what you need
Speaker 1: to do with this group is get up the floor
Speaker 1: early in the clock we'll talk about transition in a minute,
Speaker 1: but focusing on the half court getting up early in
Speaker 1: the clock so that you can have multiple attacks. One
Speaker 1: of the things we talked about a lot, if you
Speaker 1: guys remember in the playoffs, was when you start to
Speaker 1: run into a elite defenses, you don't see a lot
Speaker 1: of like one drive, kick, wide open three. It doesn't
Speaker 1: happen because the elite defenses they tend to flatten that
Speaker 1: first drive a little bit, so it doesn't really break
Speaker 1: the defense down that much, and then they close out
Speaker 1: so well that often we talked about the idea of
Speaker 1: stacking drives. You need to stack drives against elite defenses,
Speaker 1: meaning like one guy attacks barely breaks down the defense,
Speaker 1: and the next guy attacks further breaks down the defense.
Speaker 1: Then the next guy attacks really breaks down the defense,
Speaker 1: and then maybe a fourth attack. Even if you get
Speaker 1: it early enough in the clock and you get an
Speaker 1: open look. That is going to be the strength of
Speaker 1: this Sixers team when they need to break down elite defenses.
Speaker 1: If they get the ball up early and they get
Speaker 1: multiple attacks and they trust each other, like I make
Speaker 1: this first move, I don't have a great look for myself,
Speaker 1: but I bet the defense just a little bit, keep
Speaker 1: it moving the next guy attacks. If they take advantage
Speaker 1: of their cumulative, their aggregate offensive skill by breaking defenses down,
Speaker 1: by stacking attacks, they're gonna be really, really difficult to
Speaker 1: guard when they get to the highest levels of the
Speaker 1: NBA Playoffs against the best defenses in the league. But again,
Speaker 1: if they walk the ball up and they get into
Speaker 1: just one two attacks in a possession and everyone else
Speaker 1: is standing around, now you're relegating guys like Jaylen Brown
Speaker 1: and Lebron James to being spot up shooters, and that's
Speaker 1: gonna lead to diminishing returns.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I haven't even talked about Joel Embid yet. I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be in and out of the lineup a
Speaker 1: lot next year. So that's why kind of focusing on
Speaker 1: those four guys. But it's the same thing. If you
Speaker 1: want to get Joel Embiid the basketball, if you go
Speaker 1: to him early, like late in the clock, after you
Speaker 1: walk it up and he's backing a dude down with
Speaker 1: eleven to ten on the shot clock and everyone else
Speaker 1: is just spotting up, there's gonna be diminishing returns. You
Speaker 1: get it up early in the clock and you have
Speaker 1: opportunity to attack multiple times on the same possession. That's
Speaker 1: where it's so advantageous to have that many good basketball
Speaker 1: players on the floor at the same time. But again,
Speaker 1: there's a wide range of outcomes. There's a version of
Speaker 1: this story. I've talked about this a little bit with
Speaker 1: Jackson before we started recording. I think it's gonna remind me,
Speaker 1: remind us a little bit of the twenty eleven Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: where on some nights in this first season, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be like, holy shit, these dudes are insane. The talent
Speaker 1: level is off the charts. They're sharing the basketball, they're
Speaker 1: attacking early in the clock, they're breaking defenses down incrementally,
Speaker 1: and they just look impossible to guard. But then I
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be nights where you're like, oh, that's clunky.
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Speaker 1: There's gonna be nights where guys take bad shots. Lebron's
Speaker 1: frustrated with shots selection Jalen Brown gets marginalized in a
Speaker 1: game because Maxium beat and Lebron take a bunch of shots.
Speaker 1: MAXI will have games where he's not super involved, Like
Speaker 1: I think there are gonna be games where it looks
Speaker 1: clunky and guys look frustrated, But that's part of the
Speaker 1: growth in the investment. If they this is where I
Speaker 1: think Lebron's leadership is gonna be key. If Lebron gets
Speaker 1: in there and all these guys sit down and they
Speaker 1: look at each other and they go, if we're gonna
Speaker 1: achieve our ultimate goal, we have to trust each other.
Speaker 1: We have to lean on each other, we have to
Speaker 1: to be greater than the s of our parts by
Speaker 1: making personal sacrifice, and they embrace that journey. Even though
Speaker 1: there will be bad nights, it'll have a happy ending
Speaker 1: because by the time they get through the eighty two games,
Speaker 1: by the time they get through multiple playoff series, they'll
Speaker 1: have a moment where they're like, Okay, we know how
Speaker 1: to do this now because we've made the investment, we've
Speaker 1: made the sacrifice, and now we're piecing this all together.
Speaker 1: One of the cool things about this too, like from
Speaker 1: the standpoint of getting through the eighty two when you
Speaker 1: have that many good basketball players, you can structure your
Speaker 1: lineups in a way where there's just always really good
Speaker 1: players on the court. So there can be units where
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, Tyrese Maxi's off the floor, Anthony Simon's
Speaker 1: is in, or Justin Edwards is in, and you know,
Speaker 1: look and beads off the floor. Ariel huck Porti's in.
Speaker 1: And it's like you have Areal huck Porti and you
Speaker 1: have Anthony Simons or you of Justin Evers. But then
Speaker 1: you also have Lebron James and Jaln Brown on the floor,
Speaker 1: right or Lebron's off the floor, Jalen Brown's off the floor.
Speaker 1: We're leaning on old school Tyrese Maxi, Joel and and
Speaker 1: be two man game, right, Like, they're gonna have the
Speaker 1: ability to constantly have a lot of pressure on the
Speaker 1: defense because they have such a depth of shot creation talent.
Speaker 1: How many teams in the NBA have four all Star level,
Speaker 1: like the all Star level shot creation talents. How many
Speaker 1: teams in the NBA have four dudes that are like
Speaker 1: all NBA level talents that can create offense. Right, So
Speaker 1: that's gonna be where the uh, where the upside is there,
Speaker 1: but it is gonna be a wide range of outcomes
Speaker 1: as far as like the the the kind of like
Speaker 1: the bench groups as you as you look at the
Speaker 1: rest of the roster.
Speaker 2: So we have Dean Wade.
Speaker 1: I think Dean Wade is gonna start several games too,
Speaker 1: as Lebron James is dealing with, you know, health related
Speaker 1: issues throughout the year. That's like a guy who can
Speaker 1: legitimately start games. So like a sixth starter that I
Speaker 1: think is a nice piece from from Bob Meyer's helping
Speaker 1: this summer. Aaron hug Porty at the center rotation. The
Speaker 1: center rotation is a little tricky because Joel Embiid's gonna
Speaker 1: be in and out of the lineup obviously with health
Speaker 1: related stuff. Hug Porty at least is fast enough to
Speaker 1: be able to keep up in the open floor with
Speaker 1: these guys. Den Bona is a guy I actually like.
Speaker 1: You can block some shots, you can finish around the basket,
Speaker 1: but it's a little thin in the center rotation. So
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the trade market a little bit. I
Speaker 1: do wonder if the Sixers will be active in the
Speaker 1: trade market to acquire a little bit more center depth,
Speaker 1: especially speed at the center position. But at the guard position.
Speaker 1: It's weird because they're thinn right, you have VJ. Edgecomb,
Speaker 1: you have Tyrese Maxi. Anthrony Simons is your backup guard.
Speaker 1: LeBaron Filon will see how much he ends up playing
Speaker 1: as a as a rookie this year. It's a you're
Speaker 1: skinny and you're small, but you're lightning fast. That's a
Speaker 1: very very fast group. One of the things I like
Speaker 1: about that group I talked about this with if you
Speaker 1: guys remember Toronto last year. I like the idea of
Speaker 1: having like, oh, we have speed guards that if you
Speaker 1: have a slow person on the or we target the
Speaker 1: slow person and we're going at them every single time.
Speaker 1: But then we also have power players where it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: you try to match speed, we're targeting the smalls. Now
Speaker 1: that's the like when I imagine a lot of Tyree Maxey
Speaker 1: Lebron James two man game. Imagine a scenario where I
Speaker 1: need to have big, strong forwards on the floor that
Speaker 1: can hang with the Jlen Brown, that can hang with
Speaker 1: the Lebron James. But I also need speed on the
Speaker 1: floor that can hang with Tyree Maxy, that can hang
Speaker 1: with VJ.
Speaker 2: Edgecombe.
Speaker 1: Now those guys are on the floor simultaneously, how are
Speaker 1: they able to guard actions that interchange with those two groups. Well,
Speaker 1: if they switch, now Lebron can attack a size mismatch,
Speaker 1: Tyras Maxey can attack a speed mismatch. If they don't switch,
Speaker 1: that's where you get those natural openings, Like they're hedging
Speaker 1: and recovering. Now Tyres maxis slipping out and he's wide
Speaker 1: open for three on a little behind the back pass
Speaker 1: from Lebron or oh Lebron setting the screen they're showing
Speaker 1: at the level, Well, Naxi's able to throw a little
Speaker 1: pocket passer, a little thing over the top of Now
Speaker 1: Lebron's leading a four on three right, Like, that's the
Speaker 1: dynamic from this team that I think has the potential
Speaker 1: to make them really hard to guard. Going back to
Speaker 1: that idea being like greater than the some of your
Speaker 1: parts rather than lesser than the some of your parts.
Speaker 1: Getting multiple guys involved in actions is an easy way
Speaker 1: to do that, Right. If I'm just running a standard
Speaker 1: kind of pick and roll where I'm using a role
Speaker 1: player on one part of the action, you're just going
Speaker 1: to coalesce around the star and get them to get
Speaker 1: rid of the basketball. But if I have two stars
Speaker 1: involved in the action and they play very different possession
Speaker 1: of position groups. It makes the defense make some complicated decisions.
Speaker 1: Get into horn sets and three man action, whether it's
Speaker 1: stack or it's double drag or various things that you
Speaker 1: can run out of horns. Get three of your stars
Speaker 1: involved in the action. Now we're cooking with grease, right.
Speaker 1: You can imagine. You can imagine a situation where it's
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxi in a horn set with Lebron James and
Speaker 1: joelmb or double drag with those two guys, it can
Speaker 1: just get really really difficult to guard. And so there's
Speaker 1: a lot of potential here, but there's also potential for
Speaker 1: it to be clunky, and that's going to be the
Speaker 1: job of these guys. It's going to be so important
Speaker 1: for them early in the season to get together talk
Speaker 1: about sacrifice, talk about their the journey that this season
Speaker 1: is going to take them through, and how difficult it's
Speaker 1: going to be at times as everyone's kind of stepping on.
Speaker 2: Each other's toes.
Speaker 1: But if they buy into that bigger picture, the potential
Speaker 1: is just off the charts. So looking at like just overall,
Speaker 1: how they stack up in the rest of the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of question marks right, So, like, for instance,
Speaker 1: I don't really know what to make it Indiana. I
Speaker 1: don't know how healthy Tyres Max is going to be.
Speaker 1: I don't know how much the difference between a Zubots
Speaker 1: and a Miles Turner is going to impact that team
Speaker 1: without having a traditional five out look like Miles Turner's
Speaker 1: ability to shoot was a big part of what made
Speaker 1: the Pacers good. We still don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: with Kawhi Leonard, whether or not he's going to be
Speaker 1: able to play next year at all, whether it'll be
Speaker 1: for the Clippers or it'll be for toront Now, like
Speaker 1: that hangs in the air to me, if I look
Speaker 1: at the East right now, I think, if I just assuming,
Speaker 1: for the sake of making this argument easier, I'm going
Speaker 1: to assume Kawhi Leonard is going to be a Raptor
Speaker 1: next year and he's going to be able to play.
Speaker 1: My initial impression is those three teams are your top, right,
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks, the Toronto Raptors, and the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy six ers.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I think from there there's just too many question marks.
Speaker 1: The Celtics. Can Paul George stay healthy, Can Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: stay healthy. Is there center rotation good enough? Are they
Speaker 1: able to get enough dribble penetration? That was one of
Speaker 1: the biggest weaknesses of that team, right, So, like Boston
Speaker 1: had problems pressuring the rim, they end up losing their
Speaker 1: best rim pressuring player in Jalen Brown. But Boston has
Speaker 1: the ability to make trades, right, So Boston's kind of
Speaker 1: a question mark right now. Looking at Indiana, like we
Speaker 1: just said, question marks centering around whether or not they're
Speaker 1: able to make whether or not they're able to recapture
Speaker 1: some of that magic from two years ago. We can
Speaker 1: go down the line Charlotte, Like Charlotte's really deep with
Speaker 1: talent and tons of shooting, but they're light on shot
Speaker 1: creation talent, like guys that can break the defense down.
Speaker 1: So that's a big question mark. Miami, who the hell
Speaker 1: knows what's gonna go on with Giannis and Baham and
Speaker 1: their fit and whether or not they're able to accumulate
Speaker 1: enough ball handling talent. Are they gonna get tomarta Row's
Speaker 1: and are they gonna get Bradley beal Right, So once
Speaker 1: I get off those top three, it's a lot of
Speaker 1: question marks. As for that top three though, I think
Speaker 1: the Knicks and the Raptors are the most static in
Speaker 1: that group, meaning like I kind of know.
Speaker 2: What to expect.
Speaker 1: Like plugging Kawhi into Toronto is a very simple dynamic.
Speaker 1: He is going to be the guy that helps close
Speaker 1: his games with his shot making. He is a natural
Speaker 1: defensive fit alongside Scottie Barnes. They certainly don't have the
Speaker 1: amount of top end talent that Philly has, but Kawhi
Speaker 1: addresses some very specific needs and they impressed me so
Speaker 1: much in that Cavs series. I just think Toronto is
Speaker 1: a legitimate contender in that in that Eastern Conference at
Speaker 1: the top and then the Knicks, they really just won
Speaker 1: the championship.
Speaker 2: Did they get a.
Speaker 1: Favorable draw in their playoff path?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 1: But did I think they matched up really well with
Speaker 1: the Spurs and did I pick them to win that series?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: But I think we can't discount the fact that they
Speaker 1: have the continuity and they certainly have enough talent that
Speaker 1: they're going to be in the mix. But it's all
Speaker 1: about that ceiling versus floor dynamic. I do think the
Speaker 1: Sixers have, as currently constructed before any trades, a higher
Speaker 1: ceiling than any of those two teams in that tier,
Speaker 1: the Knicks or the Raptors.
Speaker 2: But I also think.
Speaker 1: They have a lower floor than the other teams in
Speaker 1: those tiers. So it's very much going to be an
Speaker 1: up in the air kind of season for Philly. As
Speaker 1: for how they stack up against San Antonio and Oka See,
Speaker 1: I don't feel comfortable putting them on that tier yet
Speaker 1: because of that volatility. You know how I said the
Speaker 1: Knicks are kind of like a known commodity to me.
Speaker 1: The Spurs and the Thunder are both known commodities as well.
Speaker 1: But I put them in that top tier of contenders
Speaker 1: in the league I think. I think okay See and
Speaker 1: San Antonio are kind of in a tier by their own. Now,
Speaker 1: do I think the Sixers ceiling is high enough to
Speaker 1: compete with okay See in San Antonio, Yes, I do.
Speaker 1: I do think their ceiling is that high. But I
Speaker 1: won't put them in that tier until I see them
Speaker 1: realize that ceiling in a more consistent way throughout the
Speaker 1: regular season, because I do think it'll be clunky. I
Speaker 1: do think there will be ups and downs. Again, another
Speaker 1: piece of this too, And this is the last thing
Speaker 1: we'll say, and we'll call it a day, and then we'll.
Speaker 2: Talk more tomorrow.
Speaker 1: But first of all, I want to credit Bob Myers.
Speaker 1: Bob Myers played this so well. I was talking with
Speaker 1: Jackson before we got going, Like the whole situation is
Speaker 1: fascinating to me because he very clearly is still very
Speaker 1: motivated to try to do this, but for whatever reason
Speaker 1: it didn't want to do it with Joe Lacob. That's
Speaker 1: a conversation for another day. We'll talk Warriors tomorrow, Like
Speaker 1: what the hell are the Warriors gonna do now? It
Speaker 1: is a sad story there in the Bay Area with
Speaker 1: the end of Steph Curry's prime, But clearly Bob Myers
Speaker 1: just wanted to do this still, but just not do
Speaker 1: it for Golden State. So he's building a team in
Speaker 1: Philly and then look at how active he was. He
Speaker 1: sees the opportunity to go after Jalen Brown. Everyone else
Speaker 1: in the league undervaluing Jalen Brown because they're listening too
Speaker 1: much to their analytics departments. Bob Myers jumps in there
Speaker 1: and makes a deal. Right, he gets on Rich Paul's podcast.
Speaker 1: He was the one guy who went on the podcast
Speaker 1: and was sitting there talking with them, right, So like
Speaker 1: he was actively hustling this situation, and again it was
Speaker 1: a complicated decision, Lebron said to himself and his tweets,
Speaker 1: so like someone needed to sell Lebron on this, and
Speaker 1: Bob Myers was the visionary, and he sat down and
Speaker 1: with he got with Lebron and he made a pitch
Speaker 1: and he won that race. And so credit credit to
Speaker 1: Bob Myers. But if you look a little deeper into
Speaker 1: it too, so like, so let's say, let's say things
Speaker 1: are clunky. Let's say that we get thirty games into
Speaker 1: the season and it's just super underwhelming. They're seventeen and thirteen.
Speaker 1: The offense looks like shit. Everyone looks kind of like,
Speaker 1: not necessarily unhappy, but let's just say frustrated. What's good
Speaker 1: about their situation is the Sixers have plenty of draft
Speaker 1: compensation to move around. They are well equipped to make
Speaker 1: trades to pivot in season if they need to. And
Speaker 1: if you look at these guys, all of them are
Speaker 1: easily tradeable assets outside of maybe Joel Embiid, But Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid puts you in the market of other high Like
Speaker 1: let's say you needed to trade Joel because he had
Speaker 1: another severe knee issue, Like you could attach draft compensation
Speaker 1: to him and go after larger salaries, liking Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: who we know Lebron still wants to play with, right,
Speaker 1: Or let's say you want to make a smaller move
Speaker 1: that like tweaks, the fit better. All of these guys
Speaker 1: are are desirable, like VJ.
Speaker 2: Edge Comb.
Speaker 1: Every team would love to have VJ. Edgecomb, Jaylen Brown,
Speaker 1: I certainly think is a tradable asset Tyres MAXI tradeable
Speaker 1: asset Lebron James Right. So, like the whole point is
Speaker 1: is like this team is set up to pivot if
Speaker 1: they need to as well. I think they're gonna give
Speaker 1: it a good long runway. But you have the ability
Speaker 1: to make tweaks and to do what needs to be
Speaker 1: done to try to capitalize on this championship window. And
Speaker 1: again I always say, don't overthink it. There is a
Speaker 1: shit ton of talent here. Is it gonna be clunky
Speaker 1: at times?
Speaker 2: Yes? Is there a wide range of potential outcomes? Yes?
Speaker 1: Are there gonna be nights where we look at this
Speaker 1: and go what in the world was Lebron thinking? But
Speaker 1: there are also gonna be nights when we look at
Speaker 1: it and we go holy shit, because there's so much
Speaker 1: talent here. Don't overthink it. This is a ton of talent.
Speaker 1: This is one of our top contenders in the league
Speaker 1: this season, and I personally can't wait to see it again.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna sleep on it tonight, come up with as
Speaker 1: much additional kind of thoughts on some of the big
Speaker 1: picture ramifications of this. We'll talk about some of the
Speaker 1: other teams involved. We will have an episode tomorrow. That's
Speaker 1: all I have for today, though, guys, again, as always
Speaker 1: a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting
Speaker 1: the show, and I will see you tomorrow morning.