I mean, that's kind of how I put the bow on it.

Yeah, it really is.

Because the first two wins were legitimately inspiring.

You got dethroning the champs up in New York.

You got the 29-point comeback against a contender.

And then the last two games, where you've gone 2-1, but some pretty uninspired basketball.

They've played with their food, to quote Doc Rivers a little bit, over the last two games.

Like, what's caught your eye?

it still is a question of just, you know, it doesn't even end, it's not even necessarily about leadership, but it's just about i-in an ideal world, who should things be running through the most?

Yeah.

No, and, and with that question, like you said, I think there was a, a legitimate question in there, and it was phrased probably the exact wrong way, where you're gonna get a defensive athlete responding to it.

Uh, and for the most part, you know, I think there are going to be questions of who gets the ball late in clock, late in games, uh, who's going to be the focal point offensively, and is everyone okay making that adjustment? Because we've seen quite often where personalities and egos get in the way, and that doesn't mean it will get in the way here, but it is a question that needs to be answered.

And, you know, it affects everything from buy-in defensively to, you know, off-court stuff to, you know, everyone's willing to make sacrifices when it's working, but when you hit a three-game losing streak, are you willing to make that same fa- sacrifice, or are you gonna say like, "Hey, we would be able to stem this tide if the offense was being run through, through, through me"? And truth be told, we probably weren't getting that answer from Jaylen Brown at media day anyway.

You can only really know that, both we can know that by observation and they can know that, um, internally when you actually go through it.

You know, I do think there's a, a, it, I think where people are at this point in their careers helps.

Yeah

But in terms of managing egos, can these two mesh together? Can they become a team that really pushes for a championship and can put their ego aside?

Yeah, I think it'll be interesting.

You know, I think that I probably worry about the Eagles a little less than just the pure fit on the court.

You know, because obviously LeBron has had a ton of success in the league.

Embiid has been an MVP caliber player.

If this was earlier in their careers, maybe it would be a little more difficult.

But I think Embiid, quite frankly, has been Embiid.

How do you think with him all that messes?

It's the perfect role for him with this team.

No, and that, that really is.

'Cause look, he's gonna improve the team in so many different ways, uh, including, like, transition play, which is wild to say about a 41-year-old's gonna help your fast break, but he's absolutely going to do that.

He still gets up and down the floor pretty well, and he's a great passer in transition.

Like, he can still score a lot obviously.

Average almost 21 per game.

Three point shot has been up and down.

Make it work."

How do you think with him all that messes?

Yeah, it's an interesting question because, like you said, there's a lot of concern over whether or not he wanted to be an equal 1A with Tatum in Boston.

He obviously made a lot of comments about how this was – you know, maybe his favorite year of his career, both because I think the implication that he was a, you know, the leading force of the offense and also just that they overachieved the way that they did.

And now you're in a spot where like some might, you might be a third or fourth option.

I don't think as an overall season, he will be a third or fourth option.

I think he will, quite possibly be right up there with anyone.

But you will have certain nights where you have mismatches to exploit, matchups you want to attack.

So what do you think the chances of that are that when it is the postseason, when it matters the most, that they have the health and the availability of the players that they need, realizing that's just a guess?

How do you think with him all that messes?

Yeah, it's an interesting question because like you said, there's a lot of concern over whether or not he wanted to be an equal 1A with Tatum in Boston.

He obviously made a lot of comments about how this was maybe his favorite year of his career, both because I think the implication that he was the leading force of the offense and also that they overachieved the way that they did.

And now you're in a spot where some might be a third or fourth option.

I don't think as an overall season he will be a third or fourth option.

I think he will quite possibly be right up there with anyone.

But you will have certain nights where you have mismatches to exploit, matchups you want to attack.

So what do you think the chances of that are that when it is the postseason, when it matters the most, that they have the health and the availability of the players that they need, realizing that's just a guess?

They make the trade, and that was the, and that was it, and that's the last time, you know, they won it.

Yep.

Nope, completely blanked on when exactly that trade happened, uh, so I've, I've got my start of trivia day off to an ominous start.

I'm sure Devon will whoop me at 3:00 PM on our show.

Uh, but yeah, like, like you said, obviously Moses was more in his prime at that point, uh, coming off some very good seasons.

This is not quite the same, but it is.

Like, you don't get...

Yes.

What have you heard?

No, I mean, I, I definitely think the market has cooled on Jaylen Brown a little bit.

You know, he's always been a little bit of a divisive player, uh, you know, because he has sort of like this reputation, and he's done a lot of winning, uh, and he's done a lot of winning as a featured player, but he's, you know, very, very expensive.

And I think more and more in the current CBA, you're gonna see teams really scrutinizing these 35% max contract guys.

Uh, and right now at, you know, 29 years old is fine.

I think the extension that he is eligible for later this month- Has scared some teams off.

I think fewer and fewer teams are really willing to extend guys into their mid-30s at the price tag that we're talking about.

Is this more of Brad Stevens and those guys just not wanting to be bogged down with five years of Jaylen Brown's money, and they figure with Paul George, they have two, maybe three, and if Paul George plays well, maybe they can get out from that contract, too, at the deadline and maybe grab some more picks?

And LeBron's gonna wind up being this kinda traveling circus.

Yep.

No, it's weird because on the one hand, you know, the collective bargaining agreement is set up to make sure that teams have a chance to keep their, their, their franchise players around for the first nine years of their career.

There's restrict- free agency coming off of the rookie scale contract.

There are super maxes, which you can only get if you remain on the team that drafted you.

They've gone very far out of their way to make sure that these teams don't, or these players don't change teams in their prime.

But with all of the restrictions that come along with, uh, aprons and second aprons and whatnot, the past their prime stars, those contracts can become very damaging very quickly.

And I, so I, I want to see how you break down the two, and do you have a preference between them?

Uh, Giannis choo- or Giannis and Milwaukee choose Miami over Boston, which is, uh, a little good news.

Yeah, it'll be interesting.

You know, I think it's, it's a little bit of a risky trade for both teams.

You know, for the most part, I like what the Bucks got back, given that they basically had two teams to choose from.

Uh, and a lot of times nowadays, these superstar trades, pe- teams are just a little bit l- more hesitant, um, to go about it.

Because when I look at it from the, the Heat perspective, like yeah, they've got Giannis and Bam and Portis, couple role players like Wiggins, uh, maybe a young player like Jovic you hope develops into something, Davion Mitchell.

But they are now hard-capped at the first apron as a result of this trade, and they have very few ways to add more talent and get beyond five or six players deep.

And the, the thing I always go back to, and I hate saying this, but since we're talking about the blueprint for the future, my biggest fear is I waste Tyrese Maxey's best years.

How small did they come up, Derek?

I mean, they led by double digits every game.

I think they led for, like, 75% of the series and lost four games to one.

And look, I think it can be rationally explained, right? All of their core players are very, very young.

Like, their best player is 22, their second-best player is 20.

Uh, and coming off of the bench, uh, like, they have a lot of time to grow.

It's, it's said time and time again that this is a, you know, veteran-heavy league.

... you, you, you need, you need Harper to play

... and to get a lead guard.

Yep.

Yeah, well, and he was asked at one point about Car- uh, Harden.

He's like, "Look, 10 days ago I could've answered this question, but now I can't because I'm under contract with another team." You know, and obviously Harden, it w- the trade worked out in a sense 'cause they got farther, uh, to the conference finals than they ever have, but then they got swept and all that goodwill was gone almost immediately.

A sentiment that a lot of people listening to this can probably relate to, because you had a lot of goodwill after that Boston series, and it went away quickly.

Um, you know, look, I think with, uh, with, with, with Harden, I think part of that was a bit of it not just getting a floor general, 'cause I do think Harden's a clearly better passer, but I think part of it's also financial.

Like, I think he's going to opt out of the final year of his contract.

Will they have enough space to add depth through free agency without losing assets?

But what did you think about Maury going?

Yeah, I think I was on here.

Well, not that any of the listeners or viewers heard it, but I told you guys the other day that I thought Maury was on the hot seat and that his seat was hotter than Nurse.

So it wasn't exactly a huge surprise.

You know, I think if you had asked me like a month ago, I would have thought Nurse's seat was hotter than Daryl's.

But with the way that the second round flamed out, And also just I think there is a certainly a public perception aspect to this.

You know, his comments about Jared McCain after the trade deadline and about how they thought they sold high and then having that blow up in his face.

First, let's start with the names and the candidates and if there's guys that you like that would come in under Bob Myers.

I think OG is a huge loss for them.

Oh, I think you can make a real case that he is one of, if not the best two-way players in the playoffs right now.

He is playing exceptional basketball and one of their two or three most important players.

Obviously, Brunson is incredibly important in terms of what he brings offensively.

But in terms of two-way play, you do not find very many better than what OG is giving them.

Yeah, look, and I think they did find something.

with Barlow.

point.

guys.

Pretty much every backup big in the Joel Embiid era has been frustrating.

You can make a real case that Paul Reed may have been Joel Embiid's best backup center, and Paul Reed's decision-making at times could be an absolute disaster.

They have not had a consistent, reliable backup center.

Throughout the NBD era, a lot of times it's been previously good players who are past their prime, whether that is Greg Monroe or Dwight Howard or even Andre Drummond, players who at one point were reliable and someone you can count on, but at that point no longer were.

DeAndre Jordan.

DeAndre Jordan personally frustrated me a lot because I thought it was clear that he was done and Doc stuck with him and stuck with him, stuck with him, but they've all been frustrating to some degree.

Yeah.

It just sucks.

Yeah, it does.

And I don't know if I have...

I guess the good news is, if you hate watching that game, you probably only have a couple more coming up.

I don't think they're going to make this a very long series.

I probably would have picked five coming into the series.

In fact, I wrote that I did pick five.

Like, the decisions grinds just bad, right? Like, no playoff, there's

Is there any seismic changes that's on the line over tonight and maybe Friday or within the first round of Boston? Is it too easy to have the excuse that if you lose to Boston and get swept or lose in five, that that's the excuse that everybody just cleaves to?

Yeah, I mean, look, certainly if you lose in the play-in, and you'd have to lose two games here in a row to not qualify for the playoffs, so you'd have to lose tonight and then lose Friday to Charlotte.

And look, Charlotte is playing...

Charlotte could beat them.

Yes.

They've played really good basketball for the last three or so months.

That would be a tough game, so you really want to take care of business here.

take

What's your rotation in the playoffs?

Yeah, it's a great question because there's not really...

First of all, you got to figure out who's going to be the fifth starter.

Nick Nurse has historically been kind of a Kelly guy.

Lately, he has preferred Dom in the starting lineup, specifically Dom in the starting lineup when he's playing next to Embiid.

Embiid has a way of making Barlow, covering up his weaknesses and accentuating his strengths.

And I think Barlow and his activity, he really likes that next to Embiid.

Would you, would you, Move the three-point, eliminate the corner three, and then push the three out and kind of try to foster more of a two-point game?

He looked good moving.

What do you think? Is this real? Yeah.

Yeah.

So like there's you bring up Charlotte and Charlotte coming into that game had been 28 and 12 since January 1st and had a league best point differential over that span.

So they're playing incredible basketball and they're doing so for really a solid three months.

Like they are one of the hottest teams over that stretch in the NBA.

Really only the San Antonio Spurs, who have lost like two games in the last two months, clear them convincingly.

How do you kind of see this group?

What do you think comes of it?

I don't know what comes up on it because it seems like he's pretty focused on this right now.

You know, my thing is I, you know, I generally speaking, I think the next superstars, the next generation should go to the teams that need them the most.

So I think I am probably more against tanking reform than a lot of people.

And I think a lot of the proposals, you know, ultimately tanking is a reason in the NBA because one player can completely change the course of your franchise.

And it's almost impossible to get a superstar if you are a bad team without a superstar already on the roster.

Like the NBA makes so many rules.

That's unconscionable.

pg kind of finds his role we're seeing maxi vj running through the first rookie wall coming back strong is that your sentiment as well that yeah all right they're fifth in the east or fourth fifth in the east maybe this thing could be a little better than we thought a couple months ago

yeah i think that's true and like i think what's always been fascinating about the sixer season there's always been sort of like multiple different ways it could be considered a success You know, a lot of times, especially recently with the NBA, teams that have tried to take like a dual timeline sort of approach, thinking specifically with the Golden State Warriors, when they had a couple of high draft picks, it hasn't really worked out.

You usually have to commit to one way or the other.

The Sixers are sort of forced into that because they have Joel Embiid and Paul George under contract.

They're pretty much immovable contracts.

So they have to try to compete now, but they also back their way into a top three pick in last year's draft.

And you're trying to develop him alongside Maxie.

Who is beyond the top four guys? Who is the player you're most interested to follow the arc over the next several months?

He's still a dominant force when he plays.

yeah no and if you go like on a permanent scoring basis because he you know wasn't playing all that heavy minutes earlier on the season he's been last couple games he's been playing 30 plus before then he was playing relatively limited minutes but on a permanent scoring basis he's still like a top 10 top 15 scorer in the league obviously his efficiency is way down i think he will get a lot of that back i don't really worry too much about him on offense you know i think he is the type yes He has such a diverse game and the jumper I think is going to come back.

A lot of his inefficiency right now is that the mid-range and three-point shot is way down from where he was, but I think he is going to figure that out.

I do worry a little bit defensively earlier on in the season.

He was just not changing direction nearly quick enough, which you understand after the two meniscus surgeries.

in that knee but it really looked like he was struggling to change directions struggling to get a second jump uh struggling to really just make plays that he would previously make i do think he's been moving better over the last two or three games and quite frankly just the fact that he was able to play uh in that that um game on sunday after only one day rest the first time all year Indicates that he is feeling pretty confident in that.

You know, his play early in the season, it's so much...

But give me how you would see the rotation in March.

It really helped it bead and it helped his mindset.

Yeah.

I do think there's a little bit, you know, that has been freed off of Joel because he doesn't have to be the vocal leader, the, the, the, I don't want to say on court, the vocal leader, the one really driving the culture, so to speak, that Maxie has stepped up into that role a little bit.

And I also think Joel is just a little more comfortable with where he is at than he was at this point last year.

You know, we will see whether or not that carries through, but I do think like, look, it's not great that you have two max contract stars who are unreliable from a health standpoint in Paul George and Joel Embiid.

But I do think they're also the type of, especially like when Paul George comes back, I don't think he's going to force the issue and demand a ton of shots.

And Joel, look, two years ago, I would have said, I'm not sure I can see Joel becoming a second or third option willingly.

I, it's almost a godsend saves the franchise.