WEBVTT - Nick Wright REACTS: LeBron signs with the Philadelphia 76ers, can the stars coexist? 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:05.920 Welcome inn. We'll drive in the Great episode four eighty six. 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:11.200 I am back, rejuvenated, excited to be here and listen, 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.480 I'm very, very lucky. I have a great life. I've 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:19.520 been very blessed in a million different ways. Occasionally even 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.599 those of us in those circumstances get a little unlucky. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.440 Lebron James choosing to go to the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:35.040 while in its totality, is absolutely phenomenal for me personally, 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:37.000 and I think for the NBA, and we'll get into 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:42.360 all of that. Him deciding make it, you're announcing it 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:48.879 literally maybe four or five minutes after my flight to 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.519 see my have my whole extended family and our extended 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:57.600 family meet Demand's baby down in Aruba. Just left the 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.840 Wi Fi zone. If you fly in nationally, you know 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.240 sometimes on certain flights, once you kind of leave the 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.200 continental US, you're and you're over the seed no Wi Fi. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.440 So I literally was one of the last people to 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.560 find out Lebron was going to the Sixers, And I 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.160 had made a promise to my family that I was 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.560 going to do no content, no Twitter, no little videos 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.399 while we were on this family vacation. So that part 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.480 was not ideal. But because of that I have You know, 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.679 I am the last person. I'm eleven days late to this, 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.920 but I also have eleven days worth of takes for 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:38.160 this demands still on the final week of his paternity 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.520 leave that he wanted to be here. I told him, man, 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.800 you get this time, take this time. He'll be back 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:49.520 next week. But we are back, and again, scheduling wise, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.600 we're back for a couple of weeks, then one more 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:55.600 little vacation before football, and then we are all football. However, 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.320 Lebron James the Philadelphia seventy six ers. This is episode 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.120 forty six, What Tray and the Great, presented to you 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.360 by boost Mobile. Let's just go straight to voicemail, brought 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.480 to you by our friends at boost Mobile. Just moments ago, 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.000 be Jean Robinson signed a record breaking extension three years 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.960 worth up to seventy five million, fifty one million guaranteed 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.360 the Dodger's trade for Tarik's schoobl We actually might talk 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.760 more about that on Thursday. The US men's national team 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.560 extends Poachattino. We will do a moment or two on that. 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:30.920 On Thursday. Also, Aaron Rodgers went back on Pat McAfee 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:36.040 and we'll do something on that on Thursday. A lot 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:40.720 of people like, oh who who owes apologies to who 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.600 will We'll get into that, But none of that is 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.920 what I want to do here. What I want to 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:51.160 do here is every single angle of a move that 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:56.400 in many ways has been for me eight years in 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:01.640 the making, not as some of you were with me 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:07.440 in the early, early first things, first days, when it 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:11.120 was me and Chris Carter and Genna Wolf, when Lebron 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:19.800 fresh off arguably the greatest individual playoff run of any 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:23.760 player in league history, eight forty point games, two game winners, 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.960 the greatest single game ever played by a player in 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:27.400 the history of the league, the fifty one to eight 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.280 to eight in Game one of the Finals, playing all 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:34.720 forty eight minutes in a Game seven road victory over Boston. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:40.800 Fresh off that, when Lebron was making his decision and 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:45.520 everyone thought he was probably going to Los Angeles, I 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.920 advocated go to Philly. This was before the shine had 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.440 worn off. Been Simmons Been Simmons was the young Philly 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.200 clutch client with all NBA upside. In fact, I think 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.600 he maybe already had made an All NBA team or 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.440 was about to Embiid was obviously, you know, at that 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.480 point in time, less of the injury concern, but still 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:11.240 a superstar, and he could have stayed in the Eastern Conference. 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:16.240 The Eastern Conference seemed at the time far more winnable 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.360 than the Western Conference, and there were a lot of 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.000 reasons I thought Philly made a lot of sense. He 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:25.280 then went to Los Angeles, and again the narrative when 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.040 that happened was he is going there for movies and 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:35.480 business and lifestyle. The championship portion of Lebron James's career 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.719 is over. He's going to LA It's the Lakers were 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:45.880 supposed to be Lebron's Jordan Wizard's years. And then he 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:50.479 did what he has done every time he has changed teams, 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.320 which is, by the second year with the team, delivered 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.200 them a championship. Helped deliver them Anthony Davis became the 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.400 NBA's all time leading score, had another Conference finals run, 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.760 single handedly led them to a massive first round upset 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.800 in his final year there with the team, while becoming 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.919 the first player in league history to play twenty three seasons. 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.480 And I'm gonna have to fact check this, but I'm 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.440 pretty sure the first player in league history to in 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:22.679 a playoff game throw an alley oop to his son. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:28.680 And now he is still one of the most influential 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.680 and still one of the best players in the entire league. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:38.840 And now he ends up in Philadelphia. So how did 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:45.840 we get here? Well, if you guys have listened to 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:51.120 me along the last couple months, I have been all 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.880 over the place on this. There was a period of 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.320 time that I said I thought Philly was where he 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.720 was going to end up, shortly after they traded for 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:07.560 j Brown. I then moved off that to right before 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.839 I left town, I thought the tea leaves were pointing 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:16.279 towards Miami, not Philly. But I still think even in 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.440 that Miami episode, I power ranked it as Miami won, 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.599 Philly two, Cleveland three, and Golden State a distant four. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.280 And it seemed like Denver and Minnesota were never as 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.080 viable option. I never thought Minnesota was a viable option. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.479 Some other folks never thought Denver was a viable option. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:40.039 It seems like both of those parties were correct. But 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:44.400 there was one thing Rich Paul said that should have 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:49.800 made anyone that was outright dismissing the Sixers as a 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:57.680 possibility have a moment of pause, and that was when 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.720 Rich said, flatly, if if the Knicks didn't win the championship, 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:06.920 Lebron was going to go to New York. He didn't 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.159 say maybe was going to he didn't say it was 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.880 a possibility. He said, if the Knicks didn't win the title, 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:16.280 Lebron was going to go to New York. And so 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.640 what that meant was we knew Lebron was okay moving 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.040 all the way to the East Coast. We also knew 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.800 Lebron was okay going to a team he had never 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.880 played for. And it also gave us a little bit 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:34.480 of an idea of what Lebron was trying to accomplish. 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.080 From a happiness standpoint, which is what they said at 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.960 the beginning, happiness was the most important thing. And from 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:49.160 a legacy standpoint, there are three teams in the league 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:54.280 that at prior to the Knicks winning this championship have 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:59.400 a history, meaning they have won a championship in the town. 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:06.000 They are current and have a championship drought that predates 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:12.720 Lebron being born, a forty plus year championship drought. Those 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:17.160 teams are the New York Knicks. They got taken off 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.160 the ward by ending their drought. The Portland Trailblazers, if 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:22.880 they were ever going to be on the board, they 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.360 got taken off the board by this lunatic owner, but 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.040 they were never really on the board. And the Philadelphia 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:33.760 seventy six Ers, whose championship drought now sits at forty 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:38.160 three years, who has a rich history of Wilt Chamberlain 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:44.160 and Doctor Jay and Moses Malone and Alan iverson a 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:48.520 Sixers team where if Lebron was thinking he might want 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.480 to live in New York City and play for the Knicks, 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.800 he can still at least some of the time, live 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.800 in New York City and play for the Sixers. I 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:02.520 think Lebron's former coach Reddick once upon a time lived 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.200 in Brooklyn and played for the Sixers. It's not unprecedented. 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:17.080 So the Sixers should have maybe been more on folks 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:23.520 radar than they were. And then you look at the 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:28.560 actual basketball fit basketball reasons and Rich Paul from the 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:34.319 Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman that all important whiteboard. 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:43.440 No team was given more attention on the whiteboard than 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:47.360 the Sixers. You had the full lineup written out, you 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:52.640 had a star next to Maxie. You also think about 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.040 those other teams that were or were not on the whiteboard, 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:01.679 and you think about the different things they could have done. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:08.040 The Cavs on the whiteboard it said no Garland with 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.240 a negative. Garland a clutch client who they had, but 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.800 they traded him because they thought to get over the 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:20.720 playoff hump. They that adding James Harden would help them. 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:25.720 Is there a universe that exists where if they simply 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:30.560 don't trade Darius Garland for James Harden, Lebron James is 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:35.120 playing on the minimum for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yeah, I 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:40.080 think there is. Jalen Brown was listed obviously on the 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.160 Sixers list of guys. Is there a world that exists 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:53.240 where if the Boston Celtics had simply not looked at 0:10:53.640 --> 0:11:02.360 Hugo Gonzales as the next Bob Pettitt that maybe not 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:08.440 only do they have Giannis, but Lebron James is not 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:13.000 in their same conference, let alone their same division. Absolutely, 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:23.640 is there a world that exists where if the Golden 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:30.640 State Warriors had found a way where they are the 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:36.080 team that makes the Jaalen Brown trade when we know 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.200 what you had to beat was Paul George In a 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.240 couple of first A lot of teams could have made 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:49.080 that trade. Would that have entices Lebron to the Bay Maybe, 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:54.559 But all these different dominoes fell, and all of a sudden, 0:11:54.640 --> 0:12:01.240 Lebron James finds himself in Philadelphia for a team that 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.760 I think a lot of you like, Let's say Lebron 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:14.319 ended up choosing the Warriors and was staying out West. Okay, 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.480 I think a lot of you were gonna pick the 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.640 Sixers to win the East with a starting five of 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:33.480 Maxi Edgecombe, Jalen Brown, Dean Wade Joel Embiid. Now it's 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.800 that same starting five, but in place of Dean Wade 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:45.320 is Lebron James. And so we'll talk about the fit 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.360 in Philly. You know how much this does or does 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:55.839 not come down to Embiid in a bit. But the 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:02.480 snap take is is this a viable championship contender? Obviously? Yes? 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:12.240 Does Lebron have an opportunity to do in Philadelphia what 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:17.760 he has done as I just mentioned every other place 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:22.160 he's gone when he changed teams, which is deliver a 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:29.439 championship in or in this case maybe by his second season. Absolutely, 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:36.400 And that's the second biggest takeaway. Was a part of 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:40.840 Lebron's decision? Pie and I think a big part of 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:48.439 it was can I thread the needle of going somewhere 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:55.480 where I can win, but also where no one with 0:13:55.800 --> 0:14:01.440 any credibility at all be able to call this a 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:06.120 ring chase? Can I go somewhere where I can win? 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:13.640 And while it would not be guaranteed, is at least 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:21.320 possible that in any given series, maybe including the final series, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:29.880 I'm the best player on my team. So there are 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.960 plenty of teams where he could have walked into and 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.400 been the best player. And there are plenty of teams 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.320 he could have walked into, or at least a handful 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:43.160 of teams he could have walked into and snap Ben, 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:50.680 they would be the overwhelming favorites. But what were the 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:57.200 teams that he could go to where on any given 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:03.440 night he can be the best player and they have 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:17.640 viable championship opportunity. That list was probably just Philly in Cleveland, Like, 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:22.440 let's go through the other ones. And I never took 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:26.360 Minnesota seriously. I'm not gonna take Minnesota very seriously. Here. 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.080 Lebron James was not finishing his career in Minnesota alongside 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:34.320 LaMelo and and I like aunt a lot, he wasn't. 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:39.840 He wasn't going there, goes to Golden State. I believe 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.800 he'd be the best player on Golden State. I don't 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.560 think that team's got enough to win the title, so 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.640 that that's they've got. He can be the best guy, 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.840 But there's a ceiling on that team, So take them 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:59.680 off the list, Denver. That team would still be a 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:07.440 weird third one because he is. They still feel like 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.960 they are a few defenders or athleticism short. But you 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.760 would have two of the five best basketball IQs of 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.640 the last fifty years and Bron and Joker, two of 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.880 the five best passers of the last thirty years, and 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:25.360 Bron and Joker. It certainly could work. But his chance 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.560 of being the best player on that team, even for 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.720 one single series close to zero with Joker at his 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.160 apex right now. So again, I'm not saying that eliminated 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.120 them for him, but if that was a part of 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.120 the mat they're off the list. San Antonio. Could san 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.280 Antonio have won the title if stepping into the starting 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.000 five for Julian Champagne is Lebron on a minimum, of course, 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.680 and would it be ring chasing They've never won a ring. 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:02.400 It would be considered that because that's Wimby's why would 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.879 the thunder have been the overwhelming favorites if stepping in 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.680 for the departed lou Dort was Lebron James on a minimum. Absolutely, 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.000 but that team just eliminated them in the playoffs. That 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.800 team won the title two years ago, was in Game 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.439 seven of the Western Conference Finals last year. Shay is 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:27.760 a multi time MVP. That would have been and we'll 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.440 talk more about Durant's comments later. A poor man's, very 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:37.480 poor man's maybe homeless man's version of Durant joining the Warriors. 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:48.360 Take that one off the list. Miami, I think they 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.399 could have won, not this year, but next year, won 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:55.320 a couple more transaction cycles. I trust Riley and Spulstra. 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.919 But for that to happen, Giannis has to be back MVP. 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:04.960 He of the league level guy. And again not a 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.119 ring chase really because Miami has been off in the wilderness. 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:19.199 But Lebron is a clear robin. There's Cleveland and Philly. Cleveland, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:24.119 which if you have if you say Donovan's better than Lebron, 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:27.920 that's totally fine. It's a legitimate opinion. In any given series, 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:33.000 Lebron can be better. But that it's similar to what's 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:37.080 going on in Philly, the roster would make sense. However, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:45.439 I don't think Lebron loved the Swiss the ultimate Swiss 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:51.240 army knife role in LA of guys super high usage 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.639 dribbling the ball, they are out of the ball. Guys 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.439 in Luke in Ar and Donovan and James Harden, you're 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:02.400 in that same world. So then you have Philadelphia where 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.240 everyone has a defined role. Now is are there enough 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.480 basketballs to go around? We'll discuss that as well in 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.720 a bit. But Philadelphia has not been to a conference 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.000 finals in twenty five years. Philadelphia has not won a 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.320 championship in forty three years. Vj Edgecomb's never been I 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.440 mean he's in year two. He's never been out of 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.360 round two, Tyrese Maxie's never been out of round two. 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.119 Joel Embiid's never been out of round two. Jalen Brown 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:33.159 is new like Lebron is. Jalen Brown was sixth in 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:38.359 MVP voting this year, Lebron six in MVP voting the 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:49.320 previous year, and in any given series on any given night, Maxie, Bron, 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:55.800 Jalen Brown, Embiid, if healthy, any of those guys can 0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:01.159 be the best guy. So the ability to win the 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:08.520 championship and if they do, get deserved legitimate big piece 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:17.680 of the pie credit. Philly checks that box. And the 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:21.320 last reason that Lebron chose Philly is not really about 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:28.440 choosing Philly, but it's about choosing the NBA over golf 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:37.960 and boats and potential ownership and other endeavors and movies 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:42.320 and Hollywood and friends and family. And it is because 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:51.720 no one in the history of the world has loved 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:57.440 the game of basketball more than Lebron. Now, I butchered 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.760 this a bit on TV yesterday. I thought it was 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:03.160 why old quote. It's actually my buddy Laslow's old quote, 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:08.240 which was Laslow used to say. Maybe he still does. 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.959 I'm not saying I love my kids more than you 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:17.120 love your kids. What I'm saying is it is impossible 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.440 for anyone to love their kids more than I love mine. 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.240 Maybe we're in a million person tied for first, but 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:28.240 I'm tied for first. That's what I'm saying about Lebron 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:34.600 and basketball. I'm not saying he loves it more than 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:38.240 anyone else ever has. I'm saying no one has ever 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.080 loved it more than him. Maybe it's a long tie. 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:43.640 I saw an amazing quote from Jamal Crawford this week 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:45.800 talking about how much he loves the game. I think 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.639 there's a lot of guys who have just this peak 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:56.760 maximum love for the game, which brings me to one 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:02.000 of the only things during this entire Lebron James decision 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.600 part whatever, that I think I got wrong because I 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:13.119 know I was right that he was truly battling with 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:17.119 this decision. I know I was right that anyone that 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:21.560 was reporting it was down to two teams was wrong. 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:33.720 I know I was right that there was real back 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:38.159 and forth in the final weeks, maybe even the final days. 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:47.439 I may have gotten this wrong. I have been saying 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:53.800 for more than this process, but for the better part 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:58.919 of a couple years, that Lebron James's plan is to 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:04.400 play twenty five five years, that wherever he was signing 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:08.480 with it was not going to just be about this season, 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:15.560 that his plan is to play two more years and 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:23.920 put in a cool quarter century in the NBA. I 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:28.000 think I was a little too strident on that, but 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:32.720 not in the direction everyone else was. I would like 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:38.919 to amend my take to Lebron James's plan is to 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:49.679 play twenty five years minimum. His plan is to play 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:57.879 these two years in Philly at least. And what I 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:02.760 have said about Lebron being almost a hostage of his 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:07.320 own ability, we are going to see how long that 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:17.280 hostage negotiation takes. Because and listen, catastrophic injury happens, you 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:21.280 knock on wood, You hope it doesn't. You see, that 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:31.440 can change things. But barring that, he'll not only never 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:42.840 be bad, he'll always be some level of good. His 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:47.120 size and strength are never gonna go away, and the 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:54.440 IQ is only going to get sharper. That by itself 0:24:55.440 --> 0:24:59.800 makes him a valuable NBA player. The fact that it 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:03.280 a age forty one, twenty three years completed in the league, 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:07.080 he still has the athleticism to lead the NBA in 0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:13.560 fast breakpoints means it will be a long time till 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:23.520 he's at an athletic disadvantage. And so this is where 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:36.399 we are, with the greatest pure athlete in recorded history, 0:25:39.440 --> 0:25:49.399 and with the man who is shifting the parameters of 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:53.439 anyone who wants to have a goat debate to a 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:59.160 very narrow, never previously agreed upon terms of Oh, I'm 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:02.840 not talking about best career, and I'm not talking about 0:26:02.840 --> 0:26:05.760 who could play in any era, and I'm not talking 0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:09.760 about who did the most, and I'm not no, no, no, 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:12.120 I only want to have the debate on these very 0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:16.600 specific terms, under these very specific rules, because that's the 0:26:16.600 --> 0:26:20.840 only way that I can possibly have a leg to 0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:30.400 stand on. So a lot more to get to, and 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:37.200 including how this fits what I think is the biggest 0:26:37.200 --> 0:26:43.919 misnomer right now about what will or won't happen with 0:26:44.000 --> 0:26:52.919 these sixers, Durant's unreal stuff this week. All of that 0:26:54.200 --> 0:26:57.400 we will get to in a moment, But first, today's 0:26:57.440 --> 0:27:01.119 show is brought to you by representing sponsor hard Rock 0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:04.840 Bet sports book. Some sports fans call this the slow 0:27:04.920 --> 0:27:09.080 period until football season, but on hard Rock pardon me sorry, 0:27:09.080 --> 0:27:12.240 but on hard Rock Bet, we call it baseball season. 0:27:12.240 --> 0:27:14.320 And this summer hard Rock Bet is the hottest betting 0:27:14.320 --> 0:27:19.520 odds in Florida, introducing how about this the ten cent 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:24.960 summer sale, big juice fee, whatever you call it. 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So grab 0:28:01.480 --> 0:28:05.120 your bat, swing for the fences all summer long during 0:28:05.200 --> 0:28:09.080 hard Rock Bets ten cents summersail. Download the hard Rock 0:28:09.119 --> 0:28:15.000 Bet app today and roll with us. So we've talked 0:28:15.000 --> 0:28:20.640 some here about already about why he chose Philly, and 0:28:21.240 --> 0:28:24.840 the question is with the way Philly fans are, you know, 0:28:24.920 --> 0:28:30.720 will they accept Lebron or will they turn on him 0:28:30.960 --> 0:28:36.000 if it doesn't work out. I can almost guarantee you 0:28:37.760 --> 0:28:42.760 Philly fans are going to have a better overall relationship 0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:53.520 with Lebron than Laker fans did because the Laker fan 0:28:54.760 --> 0:29:06.440 relationship was always complicated because of the fan rivalry amongst 0:29:06.480 --> 0:29:10.000 Kobe fans and Lebron fans. And I listen, I'm not 0:29:10.320 --> 0:29:16.080 judging Kobe fans in this regard. They're fortunate in that 0:29:16.200 --> 0:29:20.960 Kobe played his whole career with one team, so they 0:29:21.040 --> 0:29:25.560 never had to come to the realization, so to speak. 0:29:26.600 --> 0:29:30.120 You know, that's so many hand up Lebron folks did, 0:29:30.160 --> 0:29:33.080 which was and for me, it was never even a realization. 0:29:33.240 --> 0:29:37.680 I'm a kid from Kansas City who is the same 0:29:37.760 --> 0:29:40.080 high school class as Lebron. I've talked about this a 0:29:40.080 --> 0:29:42.680 lot in the past. Me and my high school teammates 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:45.480 would watch Saint Menstin Saint Mary's games. I was kind 0:29:45.480 --> 0:29:50.240 of an NBA team orphan growing up. I was briefly, 0:29:50.320 --> 0:29:52.320 as a little kid, a Knicks fan because my mom 0:29:52.680 --> 0:29:54.200 grew up in New York City. In the first game 0:29:54.240 --> 0:29:55.920 I ever went to was a Knicks Bulls game in 0:29:56.000 --> 0:29:59.320 nineteen ninety three. But by the time I was a teenager, 0:29:59.360 --> 0:30:01.600 I really didn't have a team, and I was just like, 0:30:01.640 --> 0:30:03.480 all right, I'll be a fan of whatever team this 0:30:03.520 --> 0:30:06.720 guy goes to. I was eighteen years old. I'm forty one. 0:30:06.800 --> 0:30:08.720 I just went on a trip with my granddaughter. He's 0:30:08.760 --> 0:30:11.680 still changing teams, I'm still changing who I root for. 0:30:12.200 --> 0:30:14.160 I think a lot of Lebron folks has been like, yeah, 0:30:14.160 --> 0:30:15.680 I was a Cavs fan, and I was a Heath fan, 0:30:15.720 --> 0:30:16.880 and I was a Cavs fan again, and it was 0:30:16.880 --> 0:30:19.200 a Laker fan briefly, and I'm a Heath fan or 0:30:19.280 --> 0:30:25.640 then a Sixer fan. Pardon me. There are a lot 0:30:25.680 --> 0:30:30.000 of folks who call themselves Laker fans, but are Laker 0:30:30.040 --> 0:30:33.480 fans here. If you're listening on the podcast, put my 0:30:33.520 --> 0:30:37.480 hand low, and remember subscribe, rate and review the podcast Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, 0:30:37.520 --> 0:30:41.640 all of it. And Kobe fans here, put my hand higher. 0:30:45.160 --> 0:30:49.440 For those folks, they were just never going to full 0:30:49.520 --> 0:30:55.959 on embrace Lebron. That does not exist with Philly fans. 0:30:56.160 --> 0:31:04.760 And unlike Celtic fans. Sorry, AirPod was making my ear 0:31:04.840 --> 0:31:12.080 atch a bit. Apologies. Unlike Celtic fans, Lebron does not 0:31:12.280 --> 0:31:21.520 have like playoff series wars with the Sixers. I'm struggling. 0:31:21.520 --> 0:31:25.920 I think he's played the Sixers in one series ever, 0:31:28.200 --> 0:31:32.280 I which seems impossible given how much he played in 0:31:32.360 --> 0:31:39.920 the in the Eastern Conference. But I'm checking right now 0:31:40.760 --> 0:31:45.160 on Basketball Reference to see if I'm right. So let 0:31:45.240 --> 0:31:50.040 me just the I'm fairly certain. Let's see, Yeah, I'm right. 0:31:51.280 --> 0:31:55.560 One series ever against the Sixers his first year with 0:31:55.720 --> 0:32:03.800 the heat round one against a Sixers team that who 0:32:03.920 --> 0:32:07.480 was the starting five of that Sixers team? Elton Brand, 0:32:07.560 --> 0:32:15.240 Drew Holliday, Andre Iguodala, Thad Young, Lou Williams where their 0:32:15.320 --> 0:32:16.800 best five guys. I don't know if that was their 0:32:16.800 --> 0:32:20.800 starting five. So they don't have wars against each other. 0:32:21.600 --> 0:32:27.320 I listen, there's there are some Sixers media that has 0:32:27.360 --> 0:32:31.360 always hated Lebron, because there's some media in every city 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:39.360