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Speaker 1: Welcome to this league uncut in the rule of twenty

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Speaker 1: four hour NBA News. This's you, Chris Haynes. It's so time,

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Speaker 1: work's time, It's so time. This league uncut is underway

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Speaker 1: and on fire.

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Speaker 2: This should be a good one.

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Speaker 3: Happy Halloween everyone, Welcome in to this league uncut. Mark

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Speaker 3: Stein here with Chris Haynes. Holiday Podcast. You could even

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Speaker 3: call it an emergency podcast if you want to throw

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Speaker 3: it into that genre, because we have a blockbuster trade

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Speaker 3: to react to. The Philadelphia seventy six Ers and the

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Speaker 3: Los Angeles Clippers. With an assist from the Oklahoma City Thunder,

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Speaker 3: they finally have a deal to send James Harden back

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Speaker 3: home to Los Angeles. The Clippers now just rack. They

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Speaker 3: have extended it to four future Hall of famers who

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Speaker 3: all played their high school ball in southern California, Kawhi Leonard,

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Speaker 3: Paul George, and Russell Westbrook now to be joined by

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Speaker 3: James Harden. You know both of these sides. You know,

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Speaker 3: we heard so much in recent weeks about how the

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Speaker 3: Clippers were not going to put Terrence Mann in this deal.

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Speaker 3: The Sixers were not going to do the trade unless

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Speaker 3: they got either Terrence Man with an unprotected first round

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Speaker 3: pick or two future unprotected first round picks. It's the

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Speaker 3: Clippers who win that face off. Yes, the Sixers did

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Speaker 3: ultimately get two future first round picks in the trade,

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Speaker 3: but one of the two is far from unprotected. It'll

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Speaker 3: be the worst of three selections that currently belong to

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Speaker 3: the Oklahoma City Thunder in twenty twenty six. The worst

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Speaker 3: of those three picks will go to Philly. We are

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Speaker 3: gonna break it all down now. Chris Haynes is here

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Speaker 3: with me. You know, Chris, really, when you think about

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Speaker 3: it now, he got a lot of this rolling last

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Speaker 3: week when he reported the chaos that erupted in Philadelphia

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Speaker 3: when James Harden, after a ten day absence, rejoined the team,

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Speaker 3: showed up at practice after missing a bunch of time,

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Speaker 3: wanted to fly with the team to Milwaukee, went to

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Speaker 3: the airport, was told that he could not get on

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Speaker 3: the team plane. And now this week, it was today,

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Speaker 3: on this Halloween, that James Harden was supposed to return

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Speaker 3: to the practice floor and supposed to join the Sixers

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Speaker 3: for full speed practices. And instead, what we've seen here

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Speaker 3: is the Sixers deciding, after a pretty chaotic month of October,

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Speaker 3: no we don't want to go forward with this James

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Speaker 3: Harden situation anymore. Things are going well, Tyrese MAXI looks

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Speaker 3: like an All Star. We are going to do this

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Speaker 3: trade now. So now I'm going to bring in Chris

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Speaker 3: Haynes after that extended bout of Halloween rambling for me,

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Speaker 3: mister Haynes, what do we think? What do we think

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Speaker 3: that this guy? I have tons of thoughts that I'm

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Speaker 3: going to unload on you here in a moment, but

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Speaker 3: I'm going to give you the floor first. Just give

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Speaker 3: me your immediate reactions to the fact that after months now,

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Speaker 3: the Sixers and the Clippers finally got a hardened deal done.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, James got what do he wanted? It happened. You know,

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Speaker 4: you have to give credit to his representation, Troy Payne,

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Speaker 4: Mike Silverman. This was something that was ongoing for I

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Speaker 4: believe about four months, and we heard the Clippers were in,

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Speaker 4: they're out, they're in, they're out, and whatever, And you know,

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Speaker 4: you were hearing that there just wasn't a market for

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Speaker 4: James Harden, and there really wasn't, you know not Is

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Speaker 4: it the usual market that they would be for a

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Speaker 4: player of his caliber. Obviously, there's stinguwaighting circumstances to why

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Speaker 4: that's the case. But James got to La, he got

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Speaker 4: to the Clippers, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi, Leonard, Paul George,

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Speaker 4: ty Lou. You know, I can say that James as

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Speaker 4: spoken to Kawhi, spoken with Paul George, You've spoken with

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Speaker 4: Russ and Tyere already spoken with those four that I

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Speaker 4: know for sure already, and they're ecstatic. They they're talking

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Speaker 4: about their partnership, what they what they're trying to do.

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Speaker 4: And ultimately, you know, within all those conversations that he had,

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Speaker 4: championship kept coming up. So that's the mindset that they're in.

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Speaker 4: And uh, you know, I'm I'm looking forward to seeing

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Speaker 4: how it's going to work. You know, it's it's definitely

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Speaker 4: a great storyline. You know, all those guys you know

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Speaker 4: playing being from southern California, so you know that's going

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Speaker 4: to be cool to see. But I think Ali from

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Speaker 4: the Sixers standpoint, I was told Stein that the ownership

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Speaker 4: group got involved. Why did they, I don't know, but

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Speaker 4: I do believe that they didn't feel like it was

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Speaker 4: worth bringing James Harden back in the fold or trying

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Speaker 4: to bring him back into the fold. Not to say that,

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Speaker 4: not to say that James was going to ever play

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Speaker 4: a game another game for the Sixers, but you know,

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Speaker 4: I think the episode just got tiresome for everybody, and

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Speaker 4: I think for whatever reason, they felt like they need

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Speaker 4: to cut it right now, and so they ended up getting,

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Speaker 4: you know, got some two first round picks, you know,

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Speaker 4: out of the deal swap, and you know, Sixers aren't done.

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Speaker 4: You know, they're gonna try to flip that into bringing

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Speaker 4: in a key player, maybe a star player, borderline star

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Speaker 4: type player, because they have to. You know, from here

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Speaker 4: on out, it's about appeasing Joel Embiid and putting the

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Speaker 4: right roster around him. So ultimately, James Harten got his way,

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Speaker 4: Daryl Morey got some assets in return to try to

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Speaker 4: improve the roster even more. So now we've got to

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Speaker 4: see what Daryl go you know, what he does from here.

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Speaker 3: I think it's fair to say with when you look

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Speaker 3: at these four guys together again for Southern California legends.

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Speaker 3: Really when you look Kawhi, Paul, George Russell Westbrook, James Harden,

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Speaker 3: so it is the best team in cif history. Are

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Speaker 3: they gonna win?

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Speaker 1: The West.

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Speaker 3: Can they get out of a West that is still

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Speaker 3: ruled by the Denver Nuggets, that still houses the Phoenix

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Speaker 3: Suns and their super team trio with Durant and Booker

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Speaker 3: and Bradley Beale. Golden State has looked really good to

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Speaker 3: start the season. Chris Paul has not only accepted a

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Speaker 3: move to the bench, but has really four to the

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Speaker 3: Warriors bench. When Stephen Curry goes out of the game,

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Speaker 3: the Warriors are not getting roasted like they have been

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Speaker 3: in the recent past. And if Chris Paul stays in

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Speaker 3: that role and continues to lead the bench, I mean

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Speaker 3: he is going to address a major shortcoming that the

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Speaker 3: more modern Warriors have faced. You know, we can go

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Speaker 3: on and on and on about how deep the West is,

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Speaker 3: but we will get we will we will get to

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Speaker 3: both how this impacts the Clippers and the Sixers. But

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Speaker 3: I want to start with what you said about James

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Speaker 3: Harden because I wrote a call about this already I

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Speaker 3: posted on my sub stack. It is it is amazing

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Speaker 3: what James Harden has pulled off here. And people are

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Speaker 3: going to point to his resume and say, no championship rings,

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Speaker 3: and that is the fairest of criticisms. It's fair and

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Speaker 3: it's factual. But James Harden the Beard. He is the

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Speaker 3: NBA's undisputed champion when it comes to getting what he wants.

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Speaker 3: He opted in, He picked up the player option thirty

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Speaker 3: five point six million, and appeared at that time. He

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Speaker 3: picked up the player option and demanded a trade in

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Speaker 3: the same swoop, and all the know it alls league wide,

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Speaker 3: including myself, said, you just forfeited all control. You don't

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Speaker 3: have a lot of leverage. There isn't a market for

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Speaker 3: you. You're thirty four. Now, You're not the James Harden who

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Speaker 3: forced his way out of Houston to Brooklyn, or even

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Speaker 3: went from brook Brooklyn to Philly. And with all the

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Speaker 3: naysayers being very loud, James Harden again for the second

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Speaker 3: time in his career, more than a decade since the

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Speaker 3: last time, he wins Halloween. He is the champion of Halloween.

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Speaker 3: He gets the trade to the team. There was only

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Speaker 3: one team on his list, and he got the trade

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Speaker 3: to the Clippers. And I remember, I will never forget

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Speaker 3: what it was like in October twenty twelve, how stunning

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Speaker 3: it was just a few days before Halloween when Oklahoma

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Speaker 3: City abruptly traded him to Houston. Halloween came, Harden got

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Speaker 3: a new deal. On the same day as Opening Night.

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Speaker 3: He torched the Detroit Pistons thirty seven points, twelve assists,

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Speaker 3: six rebounds for steals, and now eleven years later, he's

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Speaker 3: the He wins Halloween again. He scoops up all the treats.

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Speaker 5: And this is the same guy he he bailed on

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Speaker 5: media Day, He missed most of training camp, he played

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Speaker 5: zero preseason games, and despite all that and all the

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Speaker 5: naysaying around.

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Speaker 3: The league, he gets the trade he wants to the Clippers.

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Speaker 3: It's truly truly astonishing, and I think what you suggested

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Speaker 3: is exactly right. The Sixers. Things are going well. Maxie

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Speaker 3: looks better than ever. Joel EMBII just started the season

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Speaker 3: very plugged in, and I think it's pretty clear they

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Speaker 3: just didn't want to mess with that. They didn't want

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Speaker 3: to bring the unpredictable Hardened back into their team program

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Speaker 3: in fear it's already been a chaotic October with the

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Speaker 3: scene you described in your story about him trying to

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Speaker 3: get on the team plane to fly to Milwaukee. They

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Speaker 3: clearly just didn't want to deal with that anymore. And

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Speaker 3: here we are.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and unpredictable very good way to put it. They

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Speaker 4: didn't know what to expect, and they could not they

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Speaker 4: could not reasonably go to I'm talking about day, I'm

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Speaker 4: talking about management ownership. They couldn't reasonably tell the players

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Speaker 4: that another scene or episode would not occur. They couldn't

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Speaker 4: promise that, and so unpredictable is a very fair descriptor.

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Speaker 4: So you know it again, I think you're you're right.

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Speaker 4: I think with everything that's going on right now, it

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Speaker 4: seemed like there's just good vibes right now with the Sixers.

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Speaker 4: It probably would Lightweight probably would have been irresponsible to

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Speaker 4: bring him back. And you know, it's funny. I remember

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Speaker 4: when you know, Dame Dame Damian Lillard is going through

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Speaker 4: his situation where he tried to get traded to Miami,

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Speaker 4: and obviously he did got to the Bucks, and then

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Speaker 4: everybody was like, well, this is the tide changing now,

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Speaker 4: is it? Is it? Empower player? Empower is over? Well?

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Speaker 1: What nobody?

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Speaker 4: What does what does this say? Right here? I don't know?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean this is when like he we've all

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Speaker 3: been saying for months, he's got no leverage, he how

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Speaker 3: can he how can he expect to just pick up

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Speaker 3: his option and demand that they trade him on a

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Speaker 3: one team wish list. But he got he got his

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Speaker 3: way in the end. I mean, it's it is. It's

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Speaker 3: amazing how many times Harden has been able to do this.

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Speaker 4: Clearly he has a talent for this sort of thing

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Speaker 4: right here, Clearly like there's there's something that he knows,

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Speaker 4: his representation knows, inner circle that something they know about

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Speaker 4: some little loophole and which when they can pull off

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Speaker 4: every single time they he got it done. And I'm listen,

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Speaker 4: I'm telling you he's in From what I'm told, he's

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Speaker 4: in good shape. He's gonna take some it's gonna take

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Speaker 4: some practices. I can't produce a Ryan. You have to

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Speaker 4: tell me when the Clippers next game is, but it's

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Speaker 4: gonna He's not gonna be available for their for the

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Speaker 4: Clippers next game. I can tell you that it's gonna

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Speaker 4: take a few practices to get them, to get them acclimated.

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Speaker 3: But I know he's gonna be I know the Clippers

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Speaker 3: are in Dallas on November tenth, and that I'm sure

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Speaker 3: he'll make his debut before November tenth. Yeah, but I'm

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna see him pretty early which I'm really looking

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Speaker 3: forward to, and because you know, if I have to

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Speaker 3: judge it, you know, and it's a hard call right now.

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Speaker 3: I mean, like like in this column I wrote, if

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Speaker 3: you're looking for winners and losers in this trade, immediate

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Speaker 3: winners and losers. Right now, to me, there is only

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Speaker 3: one party you can say that is indisputably triumphant, and

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Speaker 3: that's James Harden himself. Because, yes, Damian Lillard, we all

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Speaker 3: know Miami was his first choice. He's happy in Milwaukee.

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Speaker 3: But we can't sit here and pretend that the Bucks

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Speaker 3: were his first choice. Donovan Mitchell a year ago, everybody

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Speaker 3: was expecting Donovan Mitchell to land with the New York Knicks. No,

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Speaker 3: he got traded to Cleveland. In that scenario, and one

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Speaker 3: I forgot hat tip to our buddy Jake Fisher. I

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Speaker 3: probably shouldn't have forgotten this since this involves a player

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Speaker 3: who plays in the city in which I reside. But

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Speaker 3: Kyrie Irving, you wouldn't have said that the Dallas Mavericks

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Speaker 3: were at the top of his initial list when he

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Speaker 3: wanted out of Brooklyn. That would have been the Lakers.

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Speaker 3: But Kyrie ended up getting traded to Dallas. So we've

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Speaker 3: seen recent examples, multiple recent examples where star players didn't

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Speaker 3: get to go where they were hoping, and James Harden,

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Speaker 3: with seemingly no leverage, gets to go precisely where he

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Speaker 3: wanted to go. But if we're now talking about the teams,

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Speaker 3: I think in both cases, you know we're going to

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Speaker 3: need six months to decide if either the Clippers or

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Speaker 3: the Sixers can be classified as a winner in this situation.

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Speaker 3: If you force me today to grade it, I would say,

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Speaker 3: I think, underline, think that I like it better for

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Speaker 3: the Clippers than the Sixers as we speak, because, for one,

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Speaker 3: I think it was clear to them that they knew

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Speaker 3: they didn't have an around Kawhi and PG to get

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Speaker 3: out of the West the way this team is currently built,

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Speaker 3: and we know for so long they've needed a point guard,

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Speaker 3: a floor leader, and organizer. And no matter what criticisms

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Speaker 3: you want to level at James Harden, the man averaged

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Speaker 3: almost eleven assists per game last season and certainly helped

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Speaker 3: Joel Embiid a huge amount in Joel Embiid's quest to

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Speaker 3: finally win the MVP Award. B The Clippers are thrilled

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Speaker 3: that they didn't have to include either Terrence Man or

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Speaker 3: Norman Pouinis Powell in this deal, and they were able

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Speaker 3: to get it done with Covington, Batoom, Marcus Morris and

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Speaker 3: all the draft compensation. And the Clippers also get PJ.

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Speaker 3: Tucker in this thing. And I remember it was way

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Speaker 3: I mean, it must have been June when you sat

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Speaker 3: on this podcast, and I remember you were the first

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Speaker 3: person I heard say it. Don't be surprised if PJ.

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Speaker 3: Tucker ends up with the Clippers with James Harden. And

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Speaker 3: you called that shot about four or five months ago.

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Speaker 4: He's tied. He's been tied with James for a very

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Speaker 4: long time now.

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Speaker 3: Now on the downside, with the Clippers, all these Kawhi,

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Speaker 3: Leonard Paul George, James Harden, Russell Westbrook all free agents

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Speaker 3: potentially at season n In both Kawhi's case and pg's case,

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Speaker 3: they've got a player option to decide on. James Harden

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Speaker 3: is ineligible to do a contract extension during the season.

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Speaker 3: Russell Westbrook is on a one year deal. The Clippers

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Speaker 3: have traded away a bazillion first round picks to put

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Speaker 3: this team together, too many for us to even count.

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Speaker 3: They are the ultimate win or bust championship or bust team.

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Speaker 3: It's their last year in Staples Center, and yes, I'm

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Speaker 3: still calling it Staple Center. It's their last year at

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Speaker 3: Staples as the Lakers co tenant. There's gonna be a

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Speaker 3: lot of questions about what this means for Russ, who's

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Speaker 3: gotten off to a good start this season. But the

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Speaker 3: Clippers have a lot riding on this season, a lot

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Speaker 3: to figure out. But my sense is that, you know,

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Speaker 3: they're hoping that all these veterans, because of the contract

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Speaker 3: uncertainty that they all face, that it's going to motivate

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Speaker 3: them to coalesce quickly and form a contender quickly. We'll

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Speaker 3: see if that's the way it actually plays out.

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Speaker 4: I was also told that James Harten is suspected to

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Speaker 4: land in LA today at five pm. And thanks to

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Speaker 4: producer Ryan who gave me the Clipper schedule, the Clippers

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Speaker 4: play tonight at home against the Orlando Magic, and then

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Speaker 4: they got tomorrow night, they got the Lakers. So the

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Speaker 4: plan is for James Harten to attend tonight's game. He

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Speaker 4: lands at five, and I believe the game will be

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Speaker 4: either at seven o'clock or seven thirty tonight against the

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Speaker 4: Orlando Magic.

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Speaker 3: So it wouldn't shock me if he's out there against

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Speaker 3: the Lakers. I know he's not gonna have any practice time.

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Speaker 3: I know they could say it's too soon, but I

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Speaker 3: guess I still remember his holdout season with the Rockets,

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Speaker 3: when you know, he was participating in almost nothing and

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Speaker 3: then showed up and went to your old stomping grounds

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Speaker 3: in Portland and and threw up a forty spot with

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Speaker 3: like no preparation whatsoever. So I have no inside information there,

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Speaker 3: but something tells me that I wouldn't. I'm just saying

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Speaker 3: I would not be shocked to see him out there

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Speaker 3: against the Lakers.

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Speaker 4: Got you. Yeah, that would be surprising right there. That

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Speaker 4: would be This is a back to back, so yeah,

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Speaker 4: no practice at all, just jump right in there. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: if anybody could do it as him, but yeah, that

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Speaker 4: that would be surprising.

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Speaker 3: I don't want to make too much of this, but

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Speaker 3: if I understood you, right, he has spoken to Kawhi

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Speaker 3: and PG and Tylu, but not Russ.

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Speaker 4: No, and Russ and Russ and Paul Kawhi, Russ and Tylu.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So I'm glad I clarified that. So I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 3: because I think everyone will be curious how kind of

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Speaker 3: he blends in with you know, the reunite, reunite with

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Speaker 3: Russell Westbrook as well again with Russ off to a

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Speaker 3: very good start this season. But yeah, the Clippers are

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Speaker 3: going for it, and they have to go for it

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Speaker 3: all right. Now, let's look at this from the Sixers perspective.

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Speaker 3: I think you can't just reflexively assign them a trade

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Speaker 3: grade from the jump, because we know they're going to

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Speaker 3: try to take the draft picks they've acquired and turned

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Speaker 3: that into something else to form a new star trio.

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Speaker 3: Who's going to be the third star who joins Joe

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Speaker 3: l Embiid and Tyrese Maxi, you know, and there's already

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Speaker 3: names out there like o Jannanobi from Toronto, Zach Levine

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Speaker 3: from Chicago. Though, I think if you've really studied Darryl

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Speaker 3: Mory's history, something tells me that he has a list

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Speaker 3: of even loftier targets, because that's just the way Daryl

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Speaker 3: Morey has always operated. Now, the question will be, though,

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Speaker 3: can they pull this off? They're also going to have

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Speaker 3: a lot of cap space in the summer, But the

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Speaker 3: question will be, as always, this is still all about

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Speaker 3: Joe L. Embiid, Is he going to be okay with

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Speaker 3: this trade? Is you know, how does he feel about

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Speaker 3: his Philly future? There have been murmurs around the league.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure you've heard them too, that the relationship with

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Speaker 3: Darryl Moray has been dented to some degree. You know,

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Speaker 3: to what degree I think is hard to pinpoint, but

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Speaker 3: you know, what is the state of his relationship with

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Speaker 3: Darryl Moray after this saga? After losing some talent here?

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Speaker 3: There's no question that although the Clipper veterans coming in,

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Speaker 3: all these guys can play and be contributors, but none

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Speaker 3: of the players that Philly is getting in this deal

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Speaker 3: in the short term you would classify as stars. They've

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Speaker 3: got a new coach and Nick Nurse Maxy, the reigning

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Speaker 3: Eastern Conferences Player of the Week is certainly, you know,

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Speaker 3: played even better than Philly was hoping. But really, what

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Speaker 3: only Joel Embiid knows the true answers to all these

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Speaker 3: questions and how he feels about his future there. He

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Speaker 3: turns thirty in March and can just the subtraction of

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Speaker 3: the hardened saga cannot become additioned by subtraction until the

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Speaker 3: Sixers can make the move they make to bring that

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Speaker 3: new third star in. And I can't answer that question

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Speaker 3: on Halloween.

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Speaker 4: Yes, I mean only MB can answer that question for us. Well,

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Speaker 4: what I can tell you is that, you know, he

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Speaker 4: was Joel's a professional and when I had their game

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Speaker 4: last week, the Bucks Sixers opener last Thursday, you know,

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Speaker 4: he gave me a little bit of time right before

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Speaker 4: the game, after he did his pregame warm up, and

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Speaker 4: he knew the line of questions that was coming and

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Speaker 4: he has he hadn't spoken spoken on it, you know,

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Speaker 4: in a while. But he's a professional and you know,

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Speaker 4: and he's cool with me, so he gave you know,

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Speaker 4: he gave me something on James at that time. It

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Speaker 4: was like, listen, you know, I gotta control what I

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Speaker 4: can control, and I got to worry about the guys

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Speaker 4: that are in uniform now, he said, but we are

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Speaker 4: a better team with James Harden. And so from that standpoint,

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Speaker 4: my hope is that he comes back. But you know,

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Speaker 4: he's the way he said it, Steinn, it was like

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Speaker 4: he was fatigued, that's the way. That's the way he

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Speaker 4: came off. He was fatigued with just everything that's going around.

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Speaker 4: By the way he was answering my questions and and I,

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Speaker 4: you know, I know Joel so I you know, so

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Speaker 4: I got that feel. So, you know, look, at the

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Speaker 4: end of the day, the move was made, but there's

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Speaker 4: still work to be done. What is Daryl going to

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Speaker 4: do on the flip side to improve his roster? Because

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Speaker 4: nice pieces, nice core pieces that you know, they got

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Speaker 4: our guy, Nicholas Patuno over there.

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Speaker 3: Now, I was gonna say, I think I think Batum

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Speaker 3: is one of the underrated, you know, aspects of this deal.

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Speaker 3: And I don't think anybody's gonna be really talking about

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Speaker 3: that today, But I think Nick Patum can help them.

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Speaker 3: He is going to be a useful addition to that team,

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Speaker 3: no question.

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Speaker 4: It's going to be definitely be a solid contributor. So,

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Speaker 4: but they need more, they need more. This is this

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Speaker 4: is going to be a big move. This is going

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Speaker 4: to be a big move on So you know, Daryl's

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Speaker 4: on the clock.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no question. And look, there's a lot of talk

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Speaker 3: around the league that he's under huge pressure, and I

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Speaker 3: don't believe that it's huge job pressure. I think Sixers

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Speaker 3: ownership has invested a lot of money in hiring Darryl Morey,

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Speaker 3: and I think you know, I don't think at this

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Speaker 3: point he's GMing for his job as as people sometimes suggest,

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Speaker 3: But yeah, he's got he's got to get the next

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Speaker 3: move right. And you know, I feel like I can

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Speaker 3: say that because I you know, he.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 3: He was very patient with Ben Simmons, and he took

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Speaker 3: a lot of criticism from around the league, and a

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Speaker 3: lot of people thought that the Sixers were crazy to

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Speaker 3: hold on to Ben Simmons as long as they did

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Speaker 3: that season, But and they got the trade they wanted

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Speaker 3: then because he got hardened. But my question then was,

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Speaker 3: you know, is Harden the right guy? Is? You know,

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Speaker 3: this isn't the James Harden of Houston. And even if

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Speaker 3: he is, how as the GM. You know, one of

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Speaker 3: the reasons Darryl Mory was so successful as the Rockets

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Speaker 3: GM was because the whole thing was built around James Harden.

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Speaker 3: But in Philly, the whole thing was built around and

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Speaker 3: remains built around Joel Embiid. You can't have two players

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Speaker 3: like that that you try to shower with all the love.

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Speaker 3: The Sixers were always going to be Joel Embiid's team,

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Speaker 3: So I question, I questioned from the start, why make

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Speaker 3: Harden the guy to put all your energy into going

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Speaker 3: after And Darryl Mory spent the first fifteen months of

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Speaker 3: his Sixers' reign trying to get James Harden. He did,

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Speaker 3: he succeeded. But a year and a half later, the

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Speaker 3: love triangle of Joel Embiid, James Harden and Darryl Mory

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Speaker 3: it imploded. And now the Sixers have to start over.

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Speaker 3: Where they are. Incredibly fortunate is that Maxi again, they

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Speaker 3: had high hopes for him coming in the season. Tyresee,

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Speaker 3: Basey looks even better than the Sixers dream scenario coming

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Speaker 3: into the season, and so that is one absolute saving grace.

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Speaker 3: And now let's see they've got assets to go out

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Speaker 3: and make another trade. But again, how long will that take?

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Speaker 3: And does Joel Embiid stay plugged into the program? These

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Speaker 3: are the things that the Sixers can't answer today, and

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Speaker 3: they need to get answers to as soon as possible

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Speaker 3: to keep themselves on a title track because Milwaukee and

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Speaker 3: Boston at the top of the East, both these teams

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Speaker 3: look so formidable. All right, everyone that is going to

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Speaker 3: do it for this emergency Halloween edition of This League Uncut.

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Speaker 3: You don't typically see blockbuster trades at this juncture on

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Speaker 3: the calendar. But somehow, when the story of James Harden

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Speaker 3: is written, people will look back and see that twice

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Speaker 3: the man was the centerpiece of a late October blockbuster.

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Speaker 3: Truly remarkable. That is going to do it for Chris

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Speaker 3: and I. We're gonna be back again soon. We've still

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Speaker 3: got another pod or to plan this week. Please remember

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Speaker 3: to rate, review, and subscribe to the show if you

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Speaker 3: haven't already For Haines, this is Stein. We'll be back

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Speaker 3: with you soon, and.

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Speaker 2: That'll do it for us. See you next time. This

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Speaker 2: league uncutage, an iHeartRadio production, Chris

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Speaker 1: Haynes and Mark Stein