Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers Podcast Network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. After
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks inside the bubble, we finally have
Speaker 1: some real live NBA basketball. That means we'll have a
Speaker 1: lot of good things to say about Ben Simmons, who
Speaker 1: looked great just about everywhere the Sixers put him on
Speaker 1: the course, Simmons knocked it away, Paul turns it over,
Speaker 1: Richardson lobs at Simmons on the one hand, left hand
Speaker 1: laff up, and good good play by the Sixers Simmons
Speaker 1: at both ends of the floor can't even done. From
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons to Tobias Harris, we discuss our biggest takeaways,
Speaker 1: plus some thoughts on other key members of the rotation
Speaker 1: who have been playing well. The teenth Bible with a
Speaker 1: major move and slam. Well done by the rookie for
Speaker 1: his first who. I'm Lauren Rosen, I'm Devon Givens, I'm
Speaker 1: Brian Seltzer and this is the broadcast from the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers Podcast Network. We saw it. It happened. They cannot
Speaker 1: take two seventy six or scrimmage games away from us,
Speaker 1: and all at all guys, I thought it was pretty
Speaker 1: promising early stages, yes, but what wasn't like about seeing
Speaker 1: some seventy six or scrimmage basketball over the weekend. It
Speaker 1: was fantastic. It was great to see basketball back out
Speaker 1: there on the floor, great to see that the team
Speaker 1: seemed like they had their chemistry, and albeit a scrimmage game.
Speaker 1: With that being said, with the way that they performed,
Speaker 1: and we'll get into all of that, it seemed like
Speaker 1: they were in sync with a loud and things that
Speaker 1: they did on Friday definitely in sync. I think coming
Speaker 1: into this we knew it could sort of go one
Speaker 1: or two ways. Either they were going to look rusty
Speaker 1: and like they hadn't played in a while and that
Speaker 1: maybe they were making too many changes, or things were
Speaker 1: gonna click. It was gonna be exciting, and luckily we
Speaker 1: ended up with the ladder. So I was happy to
Speaker 1: see that it did look like they were in sync,
Speaker 1: and it looked like they were having fun, which means
Speaker 1: a lot to me as a viewer, Like you don't
Speaker 1: want them to look like they're like barely making it
Speaker 1: through out there, but they really look like they're having fun,
Speaker 1: and so I'm excited about that we're going to get
Speaker 1: into the nitty gritty of what we saw. But you
Speaker 1: just mentioned Lauren as a viewer key phrase about those
Speaker 1: two scrimmages. What'd you think of the presentation of what
Speaker 1: we saw. I thought it was really cool. I liked
Speaker 1: it more than I thought I was going to. I
Speaker 1: didn't know how much I was going to miss the crowd,
Speaker 1: but to be honest, the lighting in there is spectacular.
Speaker 1: It really looks like a TV studio that they're playing
Speaker 1: basketball in because obviously they tailored this just for basketball
Speaker 1: on TV. So from a quality perspective, the quality was high.
Speaker 1: It was really easy to see everything. I don't love
Speaker 1: all the innovative camera angles. I find them a little
Speaker 1: bit disorienting, but maybe that just makes me old school. Overall,
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really good viewing experience. I
Speaker 1: thought the way that you can see them on the bench,
Speaker 1: the way that you can see the coaches interacting, was
Speaker 1: really interesting and I'm excited to keep watching basketball like that.
Speaker 1: I really liked the way it looked. I like the
Speaker 1: ca I disagree, Lauren. I did like the cameraing was
Speaker 1: I like where they went with it and the lighting.
Speaker 1: I agree with you on It was very easy for
Speaker 1: me too as a viewer, as you guys are mentioning,
Speaker 1: very easy to follow, and the one aspect with the lighting,
Speaker 1: of course, it had a kind of a world games
Speaker 1: feel when the teams go to these different countries and
Speaker 1: all and they play these games. It had that kind
Speaker 1: of feel to me, and I was really into it overall,
Speaker 1: and it was great to watch. It was good to
Speaker 1: see it back out there. It was good to see
Speaker 1: the touches of the floor that were out there as well,
Speaker 1: and the spacing of the players on the bench, whatever
Speaker 1: you want to call it. It was interesting to see
Speaker 1: that as well. They gotta love that if I were
Speaker 1: a player on the bench or a coach or a
Speaker 1: staff member who sits on the sideline, you get six
Speaker 1: feet worth a breathing room that's entirely new real estate
Speaker 1: compared to what you'd have in a normal NBA game. Sure, sure,
Speaker 1: absolutely the other thing, two guys, And I'm sure you
Speaker 1: noticed that. How many times have we seen and maybe
Speaker 1: this will be something that they adjust now later on
Speaker 1: And you kind of not because you love the photos
Speaker 1: and a video they're taken from on the baseline and
Speaker 1: things of that nature. The spacing that they don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about from the court side seats and the
Speaker 1: baseline when they land from some acrobatic move that they
Speaker 1: do not much worry, right, guys, of the bracing of
Speaker 1: people underneath to catch themselves and try to avoid any
Speaker 1: type of injury. I thought that for everything that they
Speaker 1: could reasonably control, NBA did as what by all accounts
Speaker 1: inside the bubble, it seems like it's been the case consistently,
Speaker 1: they did an awesome job. I thought, whether I was
Speaker 1: listening to t MAC on the radio on the Fanatic,
Speaker 1: or I was watching parts of the game with zoo
Speaker 1: Ala and Serena, the sound mix was totally unnoticeable. I
Speaker 1: don't think you could really tell that much of a difference,
Speaker 1: with the exception of courses you guys have pointed out
Speaker 1: the obvious, which is that there were no fans, and
Speaker 1: that's something that you just can't have right now. So
Speaker 1: that's beyond the NBA's control. But for everything that was
Speaker 1: within their power to control, I thought they did a
Speaker 1: really really good job. In the seventy sixers, as we
Speaker 1: start our deep dive for this edition of the broadcast,
Speaker 1: I also thought did a really really good job in
Speaker 1: their first two scrimmage games. Can we agree that the
Speaker 1: second scrimmage against the Oklahoma City Thunder, we're only really
Speaker 1: counting the first three periods of that before the Sixers
Speaker 1: rested their starters, or is that a naive way to
Speaker 1: look at this? I mean, to me, I would have
Speaker 1: loved to see our reserves be able to pull it
Speaker 1: out at the end. But I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think realistically, what we're looking for in these scrimmages is
Speaker 1: how the starters do together, and then how the primary
Speaker 1: rotation looks, and so far in both when they're working
Speaker 1: with those key contributors. Let's say they've played really, really
Speaker 1: well and at the end of the day, the reserves
Speaker 1: that were playing at the end of the Okay See game,
Speaker 1: even though it didn't end the way we wanted it too,
Speaker 1: necessarily they got good experience that maybe they wouldn't have
Speaker 1: gotten otherwise towards the end of the season. The way
Speaker 1: we had these mid season scrimmages, you will. I agree
Speaker 1: with you. I think realistically we can look at the
Speaker 1: first seven out of eight quarters and call it a
Speaker 1: win overall. Absolutely agree with you both. You definitely focus
Speaker 1: on those first three quarters of the Oklahoma City game
Speaker 1: and the win. You always want to come away with
Speaker 1: the w just because of morale. You walk away with
Speaker 1: the win and with those players that are trying to
Speaker 1: maybe find themselves in the playoff rotation once things get
Speaker 1: underway for the postseason, of course, they want to go
Speaker 1: out there and perform weather and show their teammates, show
Speaker 1: their coaches that they can close out a game, especially
Speaker 1: with the big league like they had. But for what
Speaker 1: we saw from the regular group, if you will, I
Speaker 1: thought they did a fantastic job in their first showing
Speaker 1: together since they returned to the floors. Very very encouraging
Speaker 1: to see them play the way that they have played
Speaker 1: being away from each other for so long. I definitely
Speaker 1: walk away from that second scrimmage with the Thunder and say,
Speaker 1: the first three quarters and starters and the big reserves
Speaker 1: right there that we think we believe will be in
Speaker 1: the rotation certainly showed themselves well. Big picture, when we
Speaker 1: step back and look at some of the main themes
Speaker 1: surrounding the Sixers, what were the two things that Brett
Speaker 1: Brown talked about before the team even left for Orlando, Florida.
Speaker 1: Would the team come back with a solid fitness base
Speaker 1: and with a team play together, with a spirit, camaraderiechemistry,
Speaker 1: whatever you wanna call it. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: other twenty one teams in the bubble did, but I
Speaker 1: feel totally confident in saying that. However, the seventy sixers
Speaker 1: spent their time on their own and then together before
Speaker 1: going inside the bubble. They came back fit, ready to play,
Speaker 1: taking it very serious and for as much as you
Speaker 1: can come out with purpose in a scrimmage, I think
Speaker 1: they did it. It It seemed like they were really in
Speaker 1: lockstep with one another for as much as they could be. Suordan.
Speaker 1: A lot of times you have to worry about the conditioning,
Speaker 1: as Brett Brown was talking about with the fitness basin.
Speaker 1: So far through these eight quarters it had everything seems
Speaker 1: to be to be fine. Now you have to worry
Speaker 1: about the little knick knacks like Glenn Robinson the third
Speaker 1: picked up how Unto as well, and even Joel and
Speaker 1: Be with the cash strain. But so far nothing to
Speaker 1: really hold your breath with in terms of how this
Speaker 1: team looks coming back. As you pointed out, Sos in
Speaker 1: the conditioning that they are getting ready for back in
Speaker 1: basketball Sheep so good showing, and you hope that that
Speaker 1: just maintains and they're able to collect their basketball breaths
Speaker 1: as they go along through the final scrimmage, the eight games,
Speaker 1: steating games, and then certainly a long run in the
Speaker 1: postseason as well. Guys, I think we may have set
Speaker 1: some sort of record for Sixers related content within the
Speaker 1: last forty eight hours that we've gone like eight and
Speaker 1: a half minutes without referencing the name Ben Simmons at all.
Speaker 1: He has been so off the charts. I think everyone
Speaker 1: has been able to see what he's been doing so well.
Speaker 1: But I mean, listen, eighteen assists over two scrimmage games
Speaker 1: in about fifty minutes worth of action. He's not even
Speaker 1: on the ball. I think that whole experiment it certainly
Speaker 1: has legs. We don't know how far it's going to go,
Speaker 1: or how it could play in a seating game or
Speaker 1: playoff situation, but at the very least, it looks as
Speaker 1: if there is no reason to abandon ship on the
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons playing off the ball and Shake Milton having
Speaker 1: the opportunity to bring it up and initiate I'm with you, Salts.
Speaker 1: It feels like such a win win for everybody involved,
Speaker 1: so maybe a win win win, win win. He looks
Speaker 1: really good, like he said, on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: He flirted with triple doubles in both outings in which
Speaker 1: he played less than thirty minutes. So that's an accomplishment
Speaker 1: no matter what. And correct me if I'm wrong here,
Speaker 1: but to me at least, it felt like he was
Speaker 1: the best player on the floor in both games. And
Speaker 1: these aren't necessarily teams that they're going to play against
Speaker 1: unless they meet either of them in the finals down
Speaker 1: the road, but these were still quality opponents. And Ben
Speaker 1: came out there, looked like he hadn't missed a step,
Speaker 1: looked like he hadn't been injured, looked like he wasn't
Speaker 1: playing in a different role he had been playing previously.
Speaker 1: He was so good, And I'm worried about other teams
Speaker 1: that now are going to have to deal with Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons as we continue. The one thing that I kept
Speaker 1: saying when we talked about this potential change that was
Speaker 1: made by coach Brett Brown and moving Ben Simmons was
Speaker 1: He's too good for the ball not to find him,
Speaker 1: and the ball found him. And when the ball found him,
Speaker 1: he did what he does. He played basketball, and the
Speaker 1: instinctual nature of his game is to look for others
Speaker 1: as well, and he did that. And the fact that
Speaker 1: he had what nine assists at halftime in game one,
Speaker 1: scrimmage number one was amazing. And as you said, it,
Speaker 1: guys that he didn't even have the ball, primarily in
Speaker 1: transition of course. And I'll even highlight the one where
Speaker 1: he was playing Jaren Jackson Junior trying to front him
Speaker 1: on the post, and they tried to go high low
Speaker 1: with Jaren Jackson Junior through the past and instead of
Speaker 1: Benson is knocking it away, he snatches it out of
Speaker 1: the air, right snatches it out of the air, pushes
Speaker 1: the brake, draws the attention of the defense right around
Speaker 1: the free throw line, extended area. Fur Concords goes to
Speaker 1: the right corner, quick pass, knockdown three, none, let's move on,
Speaker 1: let's go to the other way. That's the type of impact.
Speaker 1: That's what he does when he's on the floor. That's
Speaker 1: what makes him special when he is just in sync.
Speaker 1: As we've been talking about with his overall basketball game,
Speaker 1: there was the allue blob to Tobias Harris and the
Speaker 1: first scrimmage One of my favorite plays from the second
Speaker 1: scrimmage against the thunder was I think Tobias Harris was
Speaker 1: bringing the ball up. This might have been in the
Speaker 1: second quarter, and Ben was playing off on the wing,
Speaker 1: and he saw Chris Paul up around the free throw line,
Speaker 1: and he pointed right at Chris Paul, with Tobias having
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands, as if to say, get
Speaker 1: me the ball so I can go right at Chris
Speaker 1: Paul and create that mismatch. He did, and then he
Speaker 1: made a terrific left handed pass to Josh Richardson, who
Speaker 1: made a great cut to get to the basket and score.
Speaker 1: This all goes back to that notion of the IQ
Speaker 1: of Ben Simmons, the vision now almost being used in
Speaker 1: a different way in that situation. Talking about the OKC
Speaker 1: situation scenario, he was seeing the play on fold a
Speaker 1: few steps ahead, he realized where he could create an
Speaker 1: opportunity for a mismatch, and then he delivered. Like he is.
Speaker 1: To go back to what we've been talking about, he
Speaker 1: is a play maker, and I don't want to overreact
Speaker 1: too much two scrimmages, but I also don't want to
Speaker 1: undersell us. Seeing evidence of some of the things that
Speaker 1: Brett Brown and Ben Simmons and other members of the
Speaker 1: Sixers have been talking about. I think, Davon you said it.
Speaker 1: The way he's able to get out in transition, the
Speaker 1: fact that he's still going to be doing that even
Speaker 1: if he's not the so called primary ball handler, he's
Speaker 1: still going to have those opportunities to get out on
Speaker 1: the break and finish himself or find someone. I remember
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the hiatus, we had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to interview most of or all of our players actually
Speaker 1: to check in on them and see how what they
Speaker 1: thought about the beating of the season, And one of
Speaker 1: the moments that you made me think of was Matisse
Speaker 1: Thybel discussed the fact that Ben has this ability to
Speaker 1: create looks or finish looks in a matter of whatever,
Speaker 1: one two seconds before the other team's defense can even
Speaker 1: get set, and Matifs called it deflating for other teams.
Speaker 1: And I think seeing that multiple times now in the scrimmage,
Speaker 1: even when he's not in his former role, is potentially
Speaker 1: really deflating for other teams moving forward. He gets up
Speaker 1: the court and four steps, so you know, for him
Speaker 1: to be able to do that at six ten the
Speaker 1: way he moves, and when we talk about the fitness
Speaker 1: base in the conditioning, that was number one for me
Speaker 1: when it came to a player in the seventy sixes
Speaker 1: that I was not worried about, and that was Ben Simmons.
Speaker 1: So the energy is there, the IQ celts as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: and Lauren, just to point out again the fact that
Speaker 1: he just finds as you mentioned with Matisse saying that
Speaker 1: he just finds everyone, and it is deflating when you
Speaker 1: feel like you're doing everything right. And then Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: kinds of breaks all of that, breaks all of that
Speaker 1: up and turns it into something of a positive. For
Speaker 1: the seventy sixes, I thought he was tremendous. He assist numbers,
Speaker 1: the flirting with the triple doubles, and scrimmage games less
Speaker 1: than on to thirty minutes, really good start in the
Speaker 1: return in the bubble Shakemail against the Memphis Grizzlies six points,
Speaker 1: a rebound, three assists against the thunder eleven points, four boards,
Speaker 1: two dimes. Isn't wrong to look at Shake's roll this way.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's got to make some shots to make the
Speaker 1: whole thing work, but in terms of what he's doing
Speaker 1: on the ball, just kind of keep the ship running
Speaker 1: and not do anything to compromise whatever advantages the Sixers
Speaker 1: might be able to create. Am I wrong at looking
Speaker 1: at in that prism? I agree with you play within yourself.
Speaker 1: Play within yourself too to help the team. Shots will
Speaker 1: come because you have people who will draw attention to
Speaker 1: themselves like Simmons and and b and the ball will
Speaker 1: find you, especially when you are shooting at a very
Speaker 1: high clip like he was before the season went on pause.
Speaker 1: Now coming back and still being able to shoot the
Speaker 1: basketball so far in these two scrimmages where he looks
Speaker 1: confident to get out there the same way that you
Speaker 1: hear guys just talking about him being out there where
Speaker 1: he looks like he belongs in that starting group with
Speaker 1: those players that they go on a potential championship run. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: so I totally agree with you one hundred percent that
Speaker 1: I just play within yourself, don't play out of the system.
Speaker 1: And has never been indication of Shake Milton being that
Speaker 1: type of player anyway, so this is not surprising. I
Speaker 1: don't expect it to be the thirty nine point performance. Again,
Speaker 1: if it does come, that will be a bonus for them,
Speaker 1: But just run the team, hit your open shots, play
Speaker 1: smart basketball, protect the basketball, and the job will be
Speaker 1: done by Shake Milton that way, I will say that,
Speaker 1: for as much as we talk about his calm, cool
Speaker 1: and even killed demeanor, which he does have when he
Speaker 1: gets out there, at least what I've seen so far
Speaker 1: in Orlando, there's an aggressiveness to him. I mean, Chris
Speaker 1: Paul is no real slash as a defender, and Shake
Speaker 1: went right at him a couple of times. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: think we've talked about it on the podcast. But he's
Speaker 1: not afraid of any situation. And I think that that's
Speaker 1: such a big part of why he's found the success
Speaker 1: that he's found so quickly. He wasn't scared when he
Speaker 1: spent time in the G League. He wasn't scared when
Speaker 1: he was filling in for Ben Simmons, and he's not
Speaker 1: scared play alongside Ben Simmons. And if he can keep
Speaker 1: that spirit all the way through these seating games and
Speaker 1: the playoffs, AND's something Brett Brown has talked about. He
Speaker 1: can keep the spirit that he currently has, Sky's the
Speaker 1: limit for Shake another young man worthy of discussion, most
Speaker 1: certainly for the seventy sixers. Matisse Thyble Gosh Darnett NBA
Speaker 1: dot com. You usually track deflection numbers in your hustlebox score,
Speaker 1: but you haven't had them to the first two scrimmage games.
Speaker 1: And I suppose if I weren't lazy, I could go
Speaker 1: back and I could chart deflections on my own. But
Speaker 1: I also don't even know if we actually have to
Speaker 1: know the exact number. The I say a lot, right,
Speaker 1: a lot, he had a lot, especially in that OKAC game,
Speaker 1: that it is Matisse Thible. Can we even say, I
Speaker 1: guess we have to kind of say, for a guy
Speaker 1: who has not even completed his first full NBA season,
Speaker 1: vintage Matisse Thible, he was all over the place getting involved,
Speaker 1: making things happen, and that certainly is going to be
Speaker 1: a huge part of what the Sixers need if they
Speaker 1: want to get to where they want to go. Now
Speaker 1: he has stepped right into the role that he had
Speaker 1: before where he just comes in and if it's not
Speaker 1: offensively like you expect to punch off the bench for
Speaker 1: that type of player, and you look at him the
Speaker 1: impact that he does have defensively, it is so impactful
Speaker 1: with what he does stepping on the floor when Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons is already there and quite possible when Josh Richardson
Speaker 1: is out there as well. So you're talking about three
Speaker 1: wing defenders that are very, very problematic for the opposition.
Speaker 1: And the length, the instinctual nature of what he does defensively,
Speaker 1: and the fact that, I mean, we know it's a
Speaker 1: it's an extension of the nineteen twenty campaign and getting
Speaker 1: ready for the twenty playoffs. It's almost like he's right
Speaker 1: coming into his next season. He's not a rookie anymore,
Speaker 1: even though they claim him as a rookie because the
Speaker 1: season is extended, it's not a rookie anymore. And he's
Speaker 1: already gained the trust of his teammates. So he just
Speaker 1: out there free flown and playing that defense the way
Speaker 1: he knows how to play defense. He hasn't skipped a
Speaker 1: step la based on his media available since they got
Speaker 1: to Orlando. He would have loved to hear you say
Speaker 1: that he's not a rookie anymore, because I know he's
Speaker 1: still responsible for some rookie duties and he's trying to
Speaker 1: convince everybody, okay, like in terms of the calendar, it
Speaker 1: should be time for me to graduate. But unfortunately it
Speaker 1: looks like he has a little bit of rookie dumb left,
Speaker 1: But what you said is correct. He's so disruptive and unafraid.
Speaker 1: I think in the first half of this last scrimmage
Speaker 1: against Okase, he had to deal with Chris Paul quite
Speaker 1: a bit, and he didn't give up. He stayed in there,
Speaker 1: and then late in the game he played for a
Speaker 1: little bit longer than some of his teammates did and
Speaker 1: ended up on Dennis Shrewder and made his life just
Speaker 1: really difficult. You could tell he was getting frustrated playing
Speaker 1: against Matisse, and having a weapon like that on your
Speaker 1: team is awesome to know you can plug him in
Speaker 1: and he's just going to pester the heck out of
Speaker 1: whoever he's on. Is such a privilege for a team,
Speaker 1: and I think what we saw from him in these
Speaker 1: first two scrimmages was really encouraging, and he didn't fall
Speaker 1: very much at all, which is one of the bigger
Speaker 1: problems he had in the regular season that Coach Brown
Speaker 1: talked about a lot is limiting his fouls, limiting the
Speaker 1: risks he's taking, And it looks like he's taken those
Speaker 1: notes and applied them and is seeing the benefits. Now,
Speaker 1: one thing that I feel like we're not going to
Speaker 1: have any way of being able to quantify or measure.
Speaker 1: It's just going to have to be based on anecdotal cases,
Speaker 1: is how a four month layoff will have affected someone
Speaker 1: like a Matise, Thyble or even I'm going to put
Speaker 1: Alec Burks into this category. Glenn Robinson the third players
Speaker 1: who we can put them in the experiencing something new
Speaker 1: in what was the pre COVID era, but then having
Speaker 1: four months to digest, process mentally kind of what it
Speaker 1: was that you experienced, and then apply at once play resumes.
Speaker 1: Because to me, maybe we can call it the slowdown
Speaker 1: the game factor, because to me, I wonder if it's
Speaker 1: going to look like the game slows down from ATIS.
Speaker 1: It's certainly through two scrimmages has looked to me like
Speaker 1: things have slowed down for Alec Burks. He seems a
Speaker 1: lot more comfortable out there. I thought Glenn Robinson was
Speaker 1: playing pretty well before he had to leave the game
Speaker 1: against the Thunder over the weekend. So I'm just curious
Speaker 1: to see how for guys like that, there's certain things
Speaker 1: that when they were trying to make adjustments or figure
Speaker 1: out something new for the first time before the suspension
Speaker 1: of the season. They come back looking playing, competing a
Speaker 1: little bit more comfortably. I mean, obviously, Saltz, you never
Speaker 1: want to find yourself in the situation that we're in.
Speaker 1: What's going on around the world is just I can't
Speaker 1: wrap my head around it. And it's been five months.
Speaker 1: But if you are going to look for a silver
Speaker 1: lining in the context of seventy Sixers basketball, it does
Speaker 1: seem like this might be one of the teams that
Speaker 1: benefits the most of for having time off, because we've
Speaker 1: seen it with the starters, we've seen it with the reserves,
Speaker 1: we've seen it with the team's health. It really does
Speaker 1: feel like this restart is sort of a blessing in
Speaker 1: disguise for the Sixers, who now look better than maybe
Speaker 1: they have in a while. Yeah. Absolutely, And when you
Speaker 1: mentioned Robinson and Burkes, two players that were acquired at
Speaker 1: the trade deadline, they play what about a month together
Speaker 1: with the seventy sixers, and you're right, at one point,
Speaker 1: I'm sure the guys really didn't. And when Robinson even
Speaker 1: mentioned it a little bit, just you know where he
Speaker 1: fits in his role and how to help the team
Speaker 1: out as best as possible, and now with this extra time,
Speaker 1: all the zoom calls that they've had in the offseason,
Speaker 1: coming together now in this bubble where they've been together
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks. Now it's just them. It's
Speaker 1: the family, it's the brotherhood, and you have to do
Speaker 1: this together. You cannot lean on anyone else, your significant other,
Speaker 1: your parents, or your siblings, or your children or whatever
Speaker 1: it is. You have to lean on each other right now.
Speaker 1: And while the Sixers of course and other teams will
Speaker 1: benefit from this as well, just being together in that
Speaker 1: bubble from the perspective of what we see it from
Speaker 1: our eyes here with this basketball team, Yes, those two
Speaker 1: players Matista will certainly will help those players out, especially
Speaker 1: if they're going to play a key role in what
Speaker 1: Brett Brown is trying to do with his rotation. Sometimes, unfairly,
Speaker 1: I feel like players are penalized in the court of
Speaker 1: public perception for just being steady doing what they're expected
Speaker 1: to do, even if they're doing it really well and
Speaker 1: at a very high level. And that seguates me into
Speaker 1: bringing up Tobias Harris. Really start for Tobias the first
Speaker 1: two scrimmages for the Sixers, I think he's put together,
Speaker 1: as he did throughout the regular season, some clips already
Speaker 1: of being able to score in a variety of ways,
Speaker 1: whether it's being able to create room for a pull
Speaker 1: up jumper amidst a double team on the baseline, showing
Speaker 1: his strength on a post up for a dunk, knocking
Speaker 1: down open threes, getting out on the run, and finishing
Speaker 1: in transition. So far, to Bias Harris, I think it's
Speaker 1: been very steady to the first two scrimmages, and maybe
Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons why it just hasn't caught
Speaker 1: that much attention so far. But I feel like he's
Speaker 1: played pretty well. He has. I can highlight just a
Speaker 1: few where as you talked about the mid range game,
Speaker 1: pull up on the baseline where he had a couple
Speaker 1: of short ones that went in for him. They look
Speaker 1: very pure for him with what he does at six
Speaker 1: nine and shooting over the smaller defender. Also one where
Speaker 1: I believe Ben Simmons missed a close up shot and
Speaker 1: he was the one, to Bias Harris that got the rebound, missed,
Speaker 1: got another rebound, miss grabbed it, backed himself back underneath
Speaker 1: the bucket and tipped it up and end for the two,
Speaker 1: and you love to see that kind of extra the
Speaker 1: extra bounce that he had in him, the quick extra
Speaker 1: bounce to go up there among those trees down there
Speaker 1: and find that. But you're right, as we talked about
Speaker 1: the time off, not only has he maintained and kind
Speaker 1: of developed that, he maintained it because he seemed like
Speaker 1: he was doing it before the season stopped. That leadership
Speaker 1: that he now has on this team, coming together with
Speaker 1: everyone with the zoom calls during the marching and standing
Speaker 1: up for everyone during the protests and all that was
Speaker 1: happening here in the city in Philadelphia. It's encouraging to
Speaker 1: see Tobias Harris, as you said, steady, but also more
Speaker 1: of an maybe impactful way of doing things even right now.
Speaker 1: Absolutely devon. You said it when you talked about that
Speaker 1: play where he just wasn't willing to give up, and
Speaker 1: he was the bell ringer for that first game he
Speaker 1: had a double double. I believe fifteen and ten. Does
Speaker 1: that sound right? And when I asked Coach Brown about
Speaker 1: to buy it after the game, he said he was
Speaker 1: most impressed by those offensive rebounds. He had four offensive
Speaker 1: rebounds out of his ten boards, and that's really impressive.
Speaker 1: It really does show that he's so committed to what
Speaker 1: he does and committed to not giving up on the floor.
Speaker 1: And then the second part of that is his communication
Speaker 1: Devon you said it. He's been such a leader for
Speaker 1: this group on and off the floor, but on Friday,
Speaker 1: in that first scrimmage, we finally got to see him
Speaker 1: show the leadership that he's shown in the community and
Speaker 1: with the team and standing up for what he believes in.
Speaker 1: Now he's also getting to do it as a player,
Speaker 1: and it's really cool to see him emerge among his teammates,
Speaker 1: him emerge in this city, and he's finally getting credit
Speaker 1: for all the work that he's put in, for how
Speaker 1: solid he's been. He's not giving up, and it's really
Speaker 1: gratifying to see and I hope he feels it too.
Speaker 1: I think Tobias is sneaky tough too. I felt that
Speaker 1: when we got to see him more in the regular
Speaker 1: season when he has opportunities inside. But I'm even thinking
Speaker 1: of a basket he had against Jonahs Valancunis against the
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies. He's not afraid to take an inside. I
Speaker 1: kind of like that about Tobias. I feel we associate
Speaker 1: him with finesse players on offense, but I feel like
Speaker 1: he's got some toughness to him. Yeah he will. He'll
Speaker 1: sneak in there and it surprise you from time to
Speaker 1: time when he turns the ball over, not in a
Speaker 1: bad way, whisking the other way, seems like he's going
Speaker 1: to be a layup and he turns it over and
Speaker 1: just flushes it on somebody with force. He'll duncan on you,
Speaker 1: and that is something that you want to see. Yes,
Speaker 1: he has that finesse game. We know about the great footwork,
Speaker 1: soft touch the range as well well. When he does
Speaker 1: add that ferocity to him and shows more of that
Speaker 1: fearlessness going to the basket and not just putting up
Speaker 1: a layoup, I love when I see that part of
Speaker 1: Tobias's game as well. Yeah. I mean he's super tough
Speaker 1: and he can take someone in the post. He can
Speaker 1: go one on one. I think when you play alongside
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, maybe you don't have the
Speaker 1: most opportunities to showcase that type of skill. But we
Speaker 1: know he can do it. We know he's tough, we
Speaker 1: know he doesn't give up, and he's durable. I think
Speaker 1: that's something that he's proving now that he's coming back,
Speaker 1: and he seems to be in good for him. He actually,
Speaker 1: I believe, leads the league in minutes played so far
Speaker 1: this season. He's always there, he's always available. He takes
Speaker 1: really good care of his body, and that's a pretty
Speaker 1: underrated thing to have from a player, especially for a
Speaker 1: team that has dealt with a lot of injuries this year.
Speaker 1: Tobias has kind of been a constant for this group,
Speaker 1: and now he's proving it once again in the restart. Certainly,
Speaker 1: his ability to score the basketball will be a primary
Speaker 1: need for the Sixers when the games begin to count.
Speaker 1: All Right, there's two players left who I wanted to hit.
Speaker 1: If I weren't a paranoid germophobe, which has been only
Speaker 1: made worse over the last four months, I would flip
Speaker 1: a coin, but I ain't touching hard money these days,
Speaker 1: and I would do a coin flip to see who
Speaker 1: talks about Jay Rich and who talks about Al Horford. Lauren,
Speaker 1: why don't you give us your thoughts on Al Horford?
Speaker 1: You give a nice spark to the Sixers, put them
Speaker 1: in front for good against the thunder really got things
Speaker 1: going then Ivan, I want to hear where you think
Speaker 1: Josh Richardson is ant sure selts you and I talked
Speaker 1: about it during the game, how valuable it is to
Speaker 1: have an all starred talent like Al Horford be able
Speaker 1: to come in and back Joel and beat up. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it seems like Joel's day to day he practiced today,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like he's going to be out for
Speaker 1: a considerable amount of time. The fact that we know
Speaker 1: that Al is going to be able to come in
Speaker 1: and hopefully play the way he did against the Thunder,
Speaker 1: I think has got to be a sigh of relief
Speaker 1: for this group to see him be able to take
Speaker 1: ownership over that position and be such a solid person
Speaker 1: that can step in who, like we talked about last
Speaker 1: week on the broadcast, has proven himself as such a
Speaker 1: heady but also tough and can finish in the playoffs. Sorry,
Speaker 1: that's the word I was looking for. He can get
Speaker 1: the job done in the playoffs, and that's something that
Speaker 1: not everybody can do. So looking ahead and knowing that
Speaker 1: the playoffs are just around the corner, I think Sunday's
Speaker 1: contest was a good opportunity for Al to show that
Speaker 1: he can do it, that he can step in and
Speaker 1: play those minutes and contribute positively. And to see him
Speaker 1: rain those threes, I mean, that was just a treat
Speaker 1: to see two because it's not something that you necessarily
Speaker 1: always count on from a big man. But he shot
Speaker 1: four or five from deep I believe, and looked really
Speaker 1: comfortable and good doing. Yeah. I like the work that
Speaker 1: he put out there, especially in the game against Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City Thunder. As far as Josh Richardson, he's the one
Speaker 1: that always gets lost in these conversations because he's like
Speaker 1: the fifth or six because Shake Milton and of course
Speaker 1: the twos All Stars and Tobias Harris so on. But
Speaker 1: Josh Richardson is as you talked about Selts a little bit.
Speaker 1: He also benefits from coming back from dealing with nagging
Speaker 1: injuries all season long before the break. In the sixty
Speaker 1: five games that they've had, he's missed a great deal
Speaker 1: of them. To have him out there, to be a
Speaker 1: consistent wing who has playoff experience, who has performed well
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and through the first two games, to me,
Speaker 1: I think we've seen some good things both offensively and defensively.
Speaker 1: I would like a little more offensively, but I know
Speaker 1: as far as the ball swinging around and touching all
Speaker 1: the hands, everyone has to take what they can get.
Speaker 1: But if he can get gone, we've seen him go
Speaker 1: off like we did in that first game against the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat in Philadelphia at the Center. Much need to
Speaker 1: spark offensively from him, and I expect to see some
Speaker 1: good performances from Josh Richardson going forward to good performances
Speaker 1: by the seventy sixers in the books. That was our
Speaker 1: dissection on this week's deep dive. In this time of
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Speaker 1: you hear? I don't know, did you? That's why we
Speaker 1: do this segment each and every week. Some perhaps slightly
Speaker 1: more subtle subplots concerning the seventy sixers and what's going
Speaker 1: on inside the bubble other things outside of the major
Speaker 1: takeaways from the first two scrimmage games. Devon Gibvens, what
Speaker 1: did you hear of note from this past week? Guys?
Speaker 1: Did you hear Horford talking about guess who Ben Simmons.
Speaker 1: Here's a couple of things that he said A little
Speaker 1: quote here. Ben is just being Ben. You know, he
Speaker 1: just sets the tone for us. It's like good luck
Speaker 1: getting in front of him and won't stop him in transition.
Speaker 1: Such a big body, so fast, explosive, He just knows
Speaker 1: how to play. He has a really good feel for
Speaker 1: the game. So those are some things that I thought
Speaker 1: really stood out to me from Al Horford speaking on
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons and his spectacular played through two exhibition games.
Speaker 1: Really love to hear that from a veteran presence from
Speaker 1: the playoffs that has done some successful things in the
Speaker 1: playoffs without Horford and certainly had to defend Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: in the past. Love hearing what he said about Ben Simmons.
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily always believe, depending on the situation, that
Speaker 1: just because you are in a position of authority or expertise,
Speaker 1: who should be believed. But I do think it's not
Speaker 1: worthy to take into account what all of Ben's peers,
Speaker 1: whether they're on his team or from opposite teams and
Speaker 1: coaches around the league consistently say about him. I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone would say Ben just complete yet, and there's
Speaker 1: still certain important things that he has to figure out.
Speaker 1: But it just seems like the opinion's unanimous around the
Speaker 1: league what people think of this guy. Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: is something to pay attention to as they get deeper
Speaker 1: and deeper again and to the meat of the season
Speaker 1: with the eight seeding games and certainly the playoffs. It
Speaker 1: is great to see him out there performing as well
Speaker 1: and everyone noticed, and they will definitely have their eyes
Speaker 1: with him once the playoffs get underway. Lauren, what did
Speaker 1: you hear? Well? So I'm gonna go with something that
Speaker 1: Brett Brown said on Monday morning about how good the
Speaker 1: NBA has been at curating and protecting this bubble. We
Speaker 1: talked last week about the fact that the league revealed
Speaker 1: that there were no positive COVID tests among the three
Speaker 1: hundred and forty six players tested in the bubble, and today,
Speaker 1: along with plenty of other times, Brett Brown gave the
Speaker 1: league some serious props for the production, and production doesn't
Speaker 1: even feel like a big enough word for the ecosystem
Speaker 1: that they've created. I think that what the NBA has
Speaker 1: done the environment that we are all in is spectacularly brilliant.
Speaker 1: I think it's elite. I conceie that it's early days,
Speaker 1: but let's just say what we know now continues. Every
Speaker 1: day I take my temperature, and every day I do
Speaker 1: my oxygen test and it immediately goes to a bluetooth
Speaker 1: device on my phone that lets me in places. Every
Speaker 1: day I'm tested with mouth and nasal swaps, and I
Speaker 1: just can't imagine it not being or having the chance
Speaker 1: to be a blueprint to many things. I give a
Speaker 1: complete thumbs up to Adam Silver in the NBA. I'm
Speaker 1: proud to be here. I feel safe being here. That
Speaker 1: lets me do my job. That's huge. I feel great
Speaker 1: about the fact that they're there, They're feeling at home,
Speaker 1: and most of all, they're feeling safe. Listen, we talked
Speaker 1: on a pretty regular basis with two of our colleagues
Speaker 1: who we work closely with who are inside the bubble,
Speaker 1: from the public Relations department and from the content department,
Speaker 1: and at this point, about two and a half three
Speaker 1: weeks in and speaking with them, it sounds like it's
Speaker 1: kind of for as much as business could be conducted
Speaker 1: as usual, it's business as usual. It seems like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it seems like they're comfortable. And to be honest, when
Speaker 1: Coach Brown likes something, he comes up with the right
Speaker 1: words to say that he likes it, that he endorses it.
Speaker 1: And when I tweeted out that quote that I just
Speaker 1: read to you, a lot of my followers, you have
Speaker 1: to give a shout out to six or Twitter here.
Speaker 1: They love hearing Coach Brown excited about stuff. So with
Speaker 1: the words spectacularly brilliant. The mentions on this tweet were
Speaker 1: all about how random Philadelphians would love to hear Brett
Speaker 1: Brown give them a compliment at some point because it
Speaker 1: would just feel so good and it means, you know,
Speaker 1: whatever it is is done well. I mean to say,
Speaker 1: spectacularly brilliant. That's got to feel good to whoever's receiving
Speaker 1: the compliment. Spectacularly brilliant, high praise. How about your celts,
Speaker 1: what did you hear this week? Good? That spared me
Speaker 1: from having to painfully ask myself in the third person,
Speaker 1: what did I hear? I heard? Ben Simmons talking about
Speaker 1: virtual fans. If we're not playing hard, I want to
Speaker 1: hear those booths, but that's that's you can't put this ear.
Speaker 1: And they have the fans of the screen and kind
Speaker 1: of replicated six or fans. You know we're one of
Speaker 1: the kind, so um, they'll do that best. But there's
Speaker 1: nothing might playing at home at Wells Cargo. Why not
Speaker 1: pump in some simulated crowd noise to keep yourself honest.
Speaker 1: I think that's a great idea. I also thought the
Speaker 1: first scrimmage game we saw, which was against Memphis on Friday,
Speaker 1: that was, I guess, a designated home game for the Sixers,
Speaker 1: compared to Sunday's game, which was a thunder home game.
Speaker 1: Loved hearing some of the staple auditory elements that you
Speaker 1: would come to expect at a home game at the Center,
Speaker 1: whether it's the free throwmade jingle, the mister Burns excellent,
Speaker 1: or some of the music like Dan Dan Dan Dan.
Speaker 1: I thought it was it was auditory comfort. It made
Speaker 1: me feel at home at place in South Philadelphia, even
Speaker 1: if it was only in mind and not in body
Speaker 1: and souls. How about hearing here come the Sixers. Yeah, terrific. Perfect.
Speaker 1: I think again this goes to bring it all together
Speaker 1: before we say goodbye. I think this goes back to
Speaker 1: what we talked about at the beginning of the pod
Speaker 1: that for as much as the league and teams can
Speaker 1: control things within the bubble, they're doing a great job.
Speaker 1: Can't have the fans, We know that, But as far
Speaker 1: as everything else goes, bang up. Job by the NBA
Speaker 1: and it's teams all right. We have got one more
Speaker 1: scrimmage game to go. In fact, it is later on
Speaker 1: Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks. So an opportunity for
Speaker 1: the seventy six is to put in a little bit
Speaker 1: more work before seating play begins against the number five
Speaker 1: seed team right in front of them, the Indiana Pacers
Speaker 1: on Saturday, and only speaking before then, but at least
Speaker 1: within the context of the pod. Thank you very much,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. As always, Devon Gibbons. We will
Speaker 1: be hearing and talking to you on the radio man.
Speaker 1: See it seals, Lauren. Always great to be with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you out there for listening, and enjoy the final
Speaker 1: bit of scrimmage action before we really really get NBA
Speaker 1: seventy six is basketball in a few short days. See
Speaker 1: it