WEBVTT - Rob Mahoney Recaps the SI Top 100 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.040 We know the seventy Sixers infused the roster without this summer, 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.000 but how much I personally find the Sixers always to 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:08.320 be a really fascinating team just by the nature of 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:10.280 the personnel that they put on the floor. And you 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.160 know this year especially so. Each of the Sixers five 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:17.000 projected starters landed on the annual Sports Illustrated Top one 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:19.599 hundred list, Top five or top six in rotation. They're 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:21.759 really about a solid as via teams come. That is 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:24.960 Rob Mahoney. He compiled all the rankings and he talks 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:32.240 about them on this episode of the broadcast. Yes, yes, yes, 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:37.040 we are getting that much closer to the start of 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:43.560 seeing and watching and observing some tangible basketball developments for 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:48.279 two nineteen two twenty with the Philadelphia seventy Sixers. How 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.000 you doing out there, seventy six Ers pod people, I'm 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:55.320 Brian Seltzer. Yes, the start of training camp on Tuesday, 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.760 October first is less than a week away. Cannot wait. 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:04.840 Media Days on Monday, and then things get rolling. In 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.920 recent days and weeks, lots of media outlets out there 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.520 have been pushing out and publishing their lists of player 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.920 rankings for the season ahead and in the opinion of yours. Truly, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.200 there's none better than the one compiled by Rob Mahoney, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.440 our man from Sports Illustrated. It's a yearly thing that 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.160 he and I have done going back a few seasons now, 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.360 talking about the SI Top one hundred and the seventy 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.880 sixers who appear on that list this year. For twenty 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:40.280 nineteen twenty Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons, Al Horford, 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.160 and Joel Embiid, all of whom could very likely be 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.039 the starting five for the seventy sixers, made it to 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.680 the list, and we're going to dissect the rankings and 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.320 what went into them with Rob in a moment. First, 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.400 a reminder that to subscribe to the podcast, you can 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:57.760 go to just about any one of your favorite podcasting platforms. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:02.520 Type in Sixers podcast Network. You will then find our feed, subscribe, follow, 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.040 do whatever you gotta do. In the offseason, we've had 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.560 a new episode about once every week to ten days. 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.600 Once training camp starts, we're gonna be hitting you weekly 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.480 at the latest with new, fresh episodes of the podcast, 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:18.440 so do not miss out. Rob Mahoney, he's our guy 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.200 from Sports Illustrated and for the first time. Ever, he 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.799 did single handedly the SI Top one hundred. We talk 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.399 about it right now, Rob mahoney. We have established over 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.000 time that the SI Top one hundred is a very 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.120 comprehensive and lengthy exercise. But do you ever get to 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.680 a point where you're sick of talking about it or 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.520 hearing about it, discussing it, debating it. There are certainly 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.400 times in the process of making it or I'm a 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.240 little tired of thinking about it. I mean, you go 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.720 back and forth with the same players over and over. 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.240 There's kind of only so much deliberation you can do 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.160 before your mind threatens to kind of ooze out your ears. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.520 So but I've had some time to recover from that. 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.480 I'm fully prepared and ready to talk about it as 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.680 much as you'd like. Because Goliver bailed on you this year, 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:04.680 did you have to talk to yourself more like who 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:06.639 did you have the internal debates with when you're trying 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.600 to sort the list down? Yeah? Yeah, without without Ben 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.840 this year, the entire ranking process, in terms of you know, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.560 kind of final cut as it were, was on my shoulders. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.640 So it was a lot more arguing with myself and 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.080 then still stink feedback from the rest of our staff 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.160 at Sports Illustrated too. They were really great in terms of, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.920 you know, checking biases, checking perceptions, bringing information on the 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.160 table that you know, when you're thinking about this volume 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.480 of players, there's inevitably some piece of information that slips 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.880 through the cracks, and so making sure we're being as 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.640 honest and consistent as possible in this ranking. It really 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.920 really wouldn't have been possible without them as well. How 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.480 often would you get to point the list where you 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.320 were surprised with where a player ended up or did 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.000 you have a pretty general idea going into it of 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.400 who would fall on what type of range. I think 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:54.960 it depends on the ranges. I mean, I think the 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.200 top ten was more or less kind of what I 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.640 thought it would be, and then things started getting a 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.760 little strange from maybe fifteen to thirty or so, because 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:05.400 I think this is a year in which a lot 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.920 of the players who have been kind of established commodities 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.400 in that range are starting to age out, or they're 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.000 starting to get more injured or transitioned in a different 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.240 stage of their career, and so there's a lot of 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.120 you know, whether it's younger guys, whether it's players who 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.839 have you know, noticeable holes in their game or something 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.600 to prove. Guys are kind of jumping into that grouping, 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.560 and so I think that Eric had a little a 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.839 little more unpredictable than maybe in previous years. And of 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.400 course later in the ranking too, there's there's obviously some 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.840 spots where you know, whether it's kind of classic top 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.480 one hundred favorites end up further down the list than 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:40.760 you may think, or some new players who are kind 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.960 of jumping into the list for the first time end 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:45.680 up higher on the list than you might expect. This 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.360 has become a most looked forward to a preseason right 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.240 of passage the last couple of years for us here 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.560 at the podcast in seventy six ers Land. But as 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.320 a refresher, if there's anyone new out there listening who 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.159 has not heard our conversations the past couple of years, 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.160 could you give us a refresher the rundown of how 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.880 you formulate your rankings and things you look at. Yeah, 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.080 of course, I mean, so we're looking at solely the 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.880 upcoming season, who are going to be the most valuable 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.520 players within that parameter only, and within that we're trying 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.159 to look at players in a vacuum, So we don't 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.039 want to hold it against somebody if they play for 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.839 a bad team. We don't want to boost somebody just 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.039 because they play for a playoff team or a championship 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.960 caliber team. We're looking at conceptually, what does it mean 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:30.200 to have LaMarcus Aldridge or Jimmy Butler or Lebron James 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.360 on your team? What does that do for you from 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.680 a team building standpoint? What does that open up for 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.080 your team? What does it take away? And so we're 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.240 trying to account for health. You know, if a player 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.599 has an established injury, we're trying to account for the 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.240 fact that they're going to miss a month or two 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.839 months or six months of the season, if they have 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:47.880 an injury history, we're trying to kind of hedge in 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.160 that regard. And also if they're a younger player or 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.880 an older player, we're trying to kind of project a 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:54.840 little bit in terms of where they might be by 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:56.920 the end of the season. So we're looking at the 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.840 regular season, the playoffs both combined in terms of what 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:01.760 could a player give you over the course of the 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.680 upcoming year. Unfortunately, you could fill a portion of an 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.320 all star roster with some guys who would probably project 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.960 with him the top fifteen to the top ten. Was 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.120 this year more than previous ones more tricky with the 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.680 impact of injuries in creating the list. I think that's 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.080 always the hardest part of our list. And oh, I 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.520 should have clarified as well. We don't include any rookies 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.359 in our ranking as well, so you know, Zion Williams 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:27.480 and not in the top one hundred, even though you 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.280 may think of him as a top one hundred player. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.320 But as far as the injury piece goes, I mean 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.000 Kevin Durant is the hardest one because he's expected to 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.440 miss the entirety of the season with his achilles injury. 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.080 And I think I was, you know, kind of in 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.320 the mind for him going into this before his injury. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.200 You know, over the course of the season, I'm constantly 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.120 making notes about where guys might be adjusted or you know, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.800 how to consider some guys in the ranking, and all 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:50.719 of my notes pointed to Kevin duran being the number 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.400 one player in the league this season. And so for 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.279 him to be out not only is obviously that devastating 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:57.200 for him personally, and it's something he's gonna have to 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.880 work through and get back, you know, into playing shape 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:02.480 and playing form, and I'm eager to see him do that, 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.520 but particularly tough given that, you know, Lebron James has 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.560 had such a stranglehold on the top spot in our 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.120 ranking for so long, and this really was Katie's first 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.800 best shot at taking that away. The seventy Sixers were 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.320 in pretty rare company in having five players within the 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.880 top seventy five of the list. You can correct me 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.960 if I'm wrong. I think only one other team had 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.640 five guys inside the top seventy five. I tried to 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.600 audit that as best I could, but before we zero 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.360 in on the five particular players who cracked that portion 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.000 of the list, what are your general thoughts, Robin, where 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.480 the seventy Sixers are as they head into a season 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.160 with lots of expectations amidst the change landscape, especially in 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.040 the Eastern Conference. I mean, I personally find the Sixers 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.320 always to be a really fascinating team just by the 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.280 nature of the personnel that they put on the floor. 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.840 And you know, this year, especially so with the you 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.640 know edition about Horford, with you know, all the trades 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.120 they made over the course of the last year, and 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.680 you know, losing Jimmy Butler now, but giving to Bias 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.320 a chance to really settle in and find his legs 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.320 with the organization. What his new role is going to 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.559 be in terms of, you know, where their talent matches 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.160 up with the league. I think we see something kind 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.880 of consistent with the sixers teams passed in the sense 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.760 that the top five itself is going to be very strong. 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.000 The questions are going to be, you know, moving into 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.520 the bench, moving deeper into the rotation, are they going 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.280 to be able to get enough from those guys, because 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.000 I think, you know, top five or top six in 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.760 the rotation, they're really about as solid as VA teams come. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.040 I'm going to bounce around a little bit and not 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:34.200 go totally in sequential numerical order, either ascending or descending, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.040 but I will start with the highest rated seventy sixer 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.840 on your list, Joel Embid number seven. He was number 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.800 nine this time last year. When you're a top ten 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:45.760 player on the top of one hundred, what does that 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.240 generally say about you, especially given as you explained a 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.920 few minutes ago, how you do the rankings looking at 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:57.240 players within a vacuum and somewhat within isolation. I mean, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.000 I think it depends on where you want to mark 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.080 kind of the tiers of the league in terms of 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.280 who is really in that elite class of player. I think, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.480 you know, Joel's maybe just outside of it. When you're 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.559 talking about, you know, really the cream of the crowd 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.960 being that top maybe five or so from Jannis and 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.400 Kauai and Lebron, Steph Curry and James Harden. Those guys 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.840 are really in kind of a class by themselves, and 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.319 that next group maybe six to ten, six to eleven 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.200 or twelve, depending on how you want to define it. 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.280 Those are the players who you know, may have a 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.000 case to move up in the right circumstances, may be 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.920 able to, you know, in Joel's case, to develop, you know, 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.000 whether it's his game or you know, getting an even 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.040 better condition, showing that he can stay healthy for you know, 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.360 even longer stretches of time. So we can kind of 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.320 put some of that stuff to rest, have a case 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.199 to move up into that group and are really kind 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.080 of knocking on the door of it. And so I 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.040 think that's a really exciting place to be. I think 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.440 by being in the top ten, you're kind of saying 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:53.080 about a player this could be you know, the best 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.199 player on a championship level team or at least a 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.520 high level contending team, and that's, you know, exactly where 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.640 the Sixers want to be. Obviously, taking a look at 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.839 his three seasons worth of work in the NBA, where 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.400 would you say at this point Joel is impacting the 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.559 game the most when he's on the floor. It's a 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.360 it's a tough question, just because you know, with him, 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:16.400 even more so than other players in the top ten, 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:18.480 you're talking about a guy who could be the defensive 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.680 player of the year on pretty much an annual basis, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.760 and also just has the capacity to absorb so much 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.920 offensive attention. I think his offense as a whole could 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:28.880 use even a little bit more improvement if he could 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.960 stand to be a little bit more efficient. The jumper 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.560 is obviously still a work in progress, and shot selection 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.160 kind of tied into that in terms of when to 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.920 take those threes, when to take the long face up twos. 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.800 You know, obviously he's still kind of trying to curtail 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.600 his turnovers, which, as I noted in writing about him, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.720 is really kind of a product of his ambition. You know, 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.280 Joel is a guy who will try all kinds of 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.400 moves that makes him such an exciting player to watch 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.600 and such a difficult one to defend. But in some cases, 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:55.439 you know, he lets his foot work get away from him, 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:57.240 or he picks up, you know, his pivot and commits 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.400 to a move before it's really there. So if he 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.920 can bring down on those turnovers and some of those 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.280 aspects of this game, clean up a couple of the mistakes, 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:06.880 we're talking about what could be one of the most 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.280 impactful offensive players in the game, just because not only 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.719 is he incredibly productive as a score as we saw 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.400 last season, but he's a guy who just demands a 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.040 lot of your attention. From a game planning perspective, if 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.840 Joel is on the floor, he all but demands a 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.560 certain level of big in order to come back him, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.080 a certain level of strength and size that opponents have 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:29.080 to commit to, which takes them further and further away from, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:30.440 you know, if they want to play small ball, if 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.000 they want to play whatever their best lineups are, now 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:34.560 all of a sudden they have to tweak their rotation 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.280 to deal with him specifically. And so I think he's 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.360 a very difficult guy to stay in terms of which 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.760 side is you know, his bigger asset at this point, 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.640 the bigger, bigger contribution to the game, just because he 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.040 does have that that incredible balance. Thinking back to this 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.880 time last year, I think my excitement for the seventy 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.400 six or season was based upon that. The previous year. 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.440 Talking about twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, they finally broke through. 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.320 They got to the playoffs, made a great run of 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.640 the second round. They were limited by the Celtics. They 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.480 took a lot of the same core going into eighteen nineteen. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.800 They reached the seventh game of the second round. Obviously 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.400 they lost the Raptors. But this year the team's going 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.240 to look different. There's more veterans on the bench. Obviously 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.760 the projected starting five could look different. And that's where 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.120 I want to move to the next guy who I'm 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.880 gonna bring up with you, Al Horford, who is number 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.120 eighteen on your list this year, expected to see a 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.840 lot of time alongside Joel Embiid. Al Horford at this 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.040 stage of his career, where do you see him at? 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.800 I think he's still a pretty incredible player. And some 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:35.880 of it, you know, in making the top one hundred, 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.280 we're looking at, as I mentioned, kind of the flexibility 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.440 and the malleability of these particular talents. And so in Horford, 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.079 you have not only one of the best centers in 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.480 the league, but a center who you can now transpose 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:48.640 to the sixers and him be one of the best 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.800 power forwards in the league. And then you move into 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:53.800 that backup center spot, you know, conceivably behind Joel and 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.000 really help stop that gap there, which is always a 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.240 problem when you're talking about how do you replace the 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.079 minutes when you're superstar isn't on the floor. Horford, I think, 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.480 is a guy who he makes your defense kind of 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:10.520 holistically better, great communicator, great in rotation, really preemptive, and 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.080 you know, for the Philadelphia in particular, a team that 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.560 already defends at a really high level already has so 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.160 many varied, inversatile pieces to move around the board to 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:22.719 help control matchups. I think Horford is just an incredible 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.560 piece to have in that equation. And so you have that, 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:27.839 and then as well, you have a great playmaking big, 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.080 a guy who can stretch the floor but also who 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:31.839 can take some bigs off the dribble, as we've seen 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.880 him do against Joel for example, in previous playoffs. So 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:37.760 you know, Horford is a guy who I think is 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.600 tricky for fans who are looking for a very particular 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.800 kind of dominance. If you're looking for a guy who's 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.040 going to you know, powerpost like Joel does, who's going 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.120 to fill up the box score like some other bigs do, 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.560 who's going to be just demonstratively dominant on every possession, 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:53.800 he's not that guy. But he's the kind of player 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:55.600 who when you watch him as a member of your 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.680 team over the course of a season, you start to 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.360 notice and all these little accumulations of these things he's 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:02.960 contributing to the game, not to mention the fact that 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.560 he's just a beloved teammate around the league, a guy 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.320 that you know, players respect and listened to a lot, 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:10.400 which I think, as we talked about for the Sixers, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.079 could go a long way as well. How curious are 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.280 you to see how Horford and Joel are used on 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.200 the defense end of the floor. We saw times last 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:22.280 year in the postseason. Think of when Joel covered Pascal Siakam, 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.680 he was more up against a four. Obviously, Al Horford 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.600 can take on both positions as well. What do you 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.440 envision happening there is as far as how they split 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:36.040 reps between those two spots. I think it's really fun 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.680 because when you're talking about playoff matchups in particular, you know, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.760 you're really getting into the micro level detail of an opponent, 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.800 is you know, singling out almost a very specific kind 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.520 of pick and roll matchup for example, to attack, you know, 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.480 whether they want to go at Joel or away from 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:54.080 Joel or whatever it is. And so having you know, 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.880 two bigs who are really you know, all League caliper defenders, 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.440 it really leaves you no quarter, you know, as an 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.320 opponent in terms of who you're going to go at, 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.880 who you're going to engage, which then forces you into 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.240 all kinds of other action. Then you're really kind of 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.880 dwelling on the perimeter a little bit more. You're getting 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:11.680 out of your comfort zone as a team when you 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.840 take away you know, even basic pick and roll stuff. 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.320 And so, you know, I like that flexibility in terms 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.640 of if you have a guy like Siakam or you know, 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.800 someone who really is oriented towards attacking the basket, then 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.280 you could put Joel in front of them and really 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.680 use his link to that kind of great advantage. And 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.480 if you're looking to defend in space as the Sixers. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:32.480 Now you have Forford, who really does that about as 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.120 well as anyone in the league in terms of reading 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.080 those situations and understanding kind of where to take the step, 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.120 how to cut off the angle, all these things that 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.880 kind of go into the microprocessing of managing a possession 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.240 at the NBA level, and so there really aren't many 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.760 teams that have that flexibility. I'm sure there will be 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.360 tradeoffs to playing as big as the Sixers do, but defensively, 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.720 in terms of managing those kinds of matchups and those 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.240 kinds of situations, I think they're in a really unique 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.080 and powerful position. Were you surprised that he signed with 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.440 the Sixers? Very just because I didn't know. You know, 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.640 with al there's always the question of do you want 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.440 to be playing center? You know? And how much is 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.640 that important to him? Because in some ways I think 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:13.800 it is probably his best position, just because you can 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.880 leverage the unique things that he does more effectively. There 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.360 but the idea that, for one, I didn't know how 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.400 the Sixers were going to make the math work. There's 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.080 already the question of you know, Jimmy and Tobias, you know, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:25.760 what are they going to offer these guys? Are they 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:27.680 going to be able to bring them both back then 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.000 obviously with the situation with Jimmy and moving on from 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.440 that and being able to flip effectively him into both 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.040 al and also bringing in Josh Richardson as well. I mean, 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.920 that's a very delicate line to walk from a salary 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.400 cap standpoint that I honestly just didn't know that they 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.000 had the room for. I was in the camp that 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.520 figured that, you know, Horford would end up kind of 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:48.480 resigning with the Celtics, maybe just on a one year 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.920 deal or opting in for you know, for his contract, 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:52.960 but I kind of figured he would end up staying there. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.000 So to see him in Philadelphia is a nice surprise, 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.200 just from the perspective of seeing new and fun things 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.960 in the league. A domino that definitely dropped in terms 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.560 of that whole equation was Jimmy Butler ending up with 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.879 the Miami Heat Josh Richardson coming to the seventy sixers 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.000 in the sign and trade. He was number seventy one 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.560 going into last season, on the top one hundred, number 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.959 seventy one again this year. Defensively, he's got a lot 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.879 of things to be excited about. Offensively, it seems like 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.400 he can do a couple different things, play at two 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.199 different spots. So versatility is that one of the more 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.800 prominent themes that stands out to you, Robin when talking 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.040 about Josh Richardson. I think so. And that's really a 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.800 credit to the work he and the Miami Heats developmental 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.119 staff have done over the last two years in particular 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.800 where they really needed a lot of ball handling help. 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.320 And so part of that experiment was, you know, with 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.320 both him and Justice Winslow, kind of stretching out how 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.680 much those guys can contribute from a ball handling and 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:51.600 creative perspective. And so we saw, you know, Josh Richardson 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:53.720 do a lot more coming off of curls into a 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.680 pick and roll kind of similar actions in a way 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.760 to I think what Sixers fans would be familiar with 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.920 what JJ Redick has done and some of the same implementations. 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:03.919 He's not the same shooter, but he's a guy who 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:05.760 maybe is even more comfortable in terms of putting the 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:07.720 ball on the floor and making that next move, whether 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.080 it's a pass to the corner, whether it's pulling up 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:11.720 for a mid range jumper, whether it's going all the 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:13.480 way to the basket. I think he has a little 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:15.840 bit more flexibility to that part of his game. So 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:17.920 when you're talking about his offense, obviously he's going to 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.280 be a spot up option in certain scenarios. You know, 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:22.480 you have a postal player like Joel Empide, you want 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:24.680 to make sure that the floor is spread. But with 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.240 Josh Richardson, I think he gives you some variability in 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.600