76ers trade for Jaylen Brown!!! Sixers NBA Free Agency and Draft Reactions

We never thought it would happen, but the two rival franchises shocked the world in trading with each other. Kevin and Michael Lake react to the Sixers trading Paul George and picks for Jaylen Brown.  The Lakes grade the trade; then, they talk Sixers free agency and draft. Are the 76ers now contenders?

Recommendations:

Michael: House of the Dragon

Kevin: Cape Fear

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

I like you, watch that.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

All right, welcome back to another episode of the Lakeview Podcast. It's been a while, but we're happy to be here. I am joined by my co-host, Michael Lake. Mike, how's it going?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

It's going very well. The fact that we're talking six years in July is a good sign. So we're gonna get into that quite a bit more, but it's going pretty well. I feel alive right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah, it's been an exciting, like a very exciting 24 hours and a pretty exciting like week and change.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Pretty shocking 24 hours, too. Not just exciting, but like this kind of came out of nowhere for me at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah. Um, we do not have any any guests today, just so no one's waiting for that announcement. But I think we'll have plenty to talk about with the two of us. So I'm curious. First question is what was your experience finding out about the trade?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

So I have a group chat with my college friends, and Mike, my college roommate, was the first one to tell me. He texted something in the group, and then I saw Dave respond to that saying, like, oh, we should have drafted him, like in instead of Simmons referring to. And then I started looking at Twitter and I was like trying to jump around, and then I started to see stuff that was saying what happened. I was like, this doesn't seem right, and I was very confused. And then I took a screenshot of a legitimate source, and then posted that in our Sixers group chat, and then no one commented on my that picture for like 15 minutes. I was like, How is no one commenting on this? This is the craziest thing I've ever posted in here, and then obviously it was wildfire after that. Very exciting, and I was happy like immediately. It wasn't like one of those trades I'd talk myself into and kind of be like, hmm. Like right away, I was like, Yeah, this is a good trade. I actually feel pretty good about this one.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Yeah, it definitely feels like the one one that sometimes I'm like, yeah, I'm not sure. And then I talked myself into it, but this one feels like instant, this is incredible, um, based purely on like the talent, the like obvious talent level, the accolades and all that. And maybe there's a part of me that's like this is too good to be true. Like, let me think about this and what is this actually gonna look like because we definitely have some experiences with making trades that uh generate a similar-ish reaction that didn't work out in the end as well as we thought they might. So I mean, there's many that come to mind because of the like Sixers Celtics thing. I think I remember us all being like ecstatic that we traded up to get Folts. So yeah, we found that out together. This is different. These are known, these are pretty known quantities that we're dealing with here.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

I think we were in like Corpus Christi, Texas, in a hotel, like eating dinner, and we found out that the Sixers were trading up to number one with the Celtics, and at the time that like changed our lives. It was a La Quinta Inn, I think. Specifically, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I think I were with my dad. Was that when Justin Thomas won the US Open or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

I couldn't tell you that. I bet like two sports I can track autistically, but after that I lose track. Um what was your experience finding out? So I know you were up to you were out and about last night.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah, so I was um I'm I'm doing an internship right now, and I'm with like my work team, we did a work event, and so we went to a winery out in the suburbs of Philly, and I was like showing up to the winery, like walking up to my team, and it's like you know, I'm the intern, so you know, trying to be like normal and professional and all that. And uh I'm kind of getting situated, getting myself a glass of wine, and I look at my phone and I see multiple notifications, and like sometimes I just ignore when I have a but when I have several, I just like don't even look at it. But I saw one from Mel and all it said was Jalen Brown, and I was like, What? Wait, what she's I was like, why would she text me that? Because she won't care, she wouldn't ever point me to something that it doesn't involve the Sixers. And so when she said that, I was like, Okay, something's up here, and so I pulled up Twitter and I do have Sean's notifications on probably for the next few days, and I'll turn them off. Um, but I like don't I ignore my Twitter notifications for the most part. But once I went into Twitter, it was the first thing that popped up, and I was like standing in a circle of people, and I looked around the room and I was like, doesn't care about the NBA, doesn't care about the NBA, doesn't care about the NBA. That's such a tough feeling. And I got all the way around the circle and I was like, okay, I'm just gonna like sit in silence. Like, because if I like show, if I like truly display emotions right now, everyone's gonna be like, all right, cool, dude. Like, I don't really none of us care. Don't we don't know what we're talking about? I would start imploding in public.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

That would be just tough to hold that in.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

So I just kind of sat quietly and was very excited in my own quiet mind, and the rest of the night carried on for the next four hours. And every time like the conversation veered in a direction that wasn't interesting to me, I was just daydreaming about like what like a a Jalen Brown, like you know, maxi two-man situation, and beat, I don't know, like all that stuff I was just daydreaming about and like thinking about. Uh, and it just made me really happy. And it was a great night because of that.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah. We'll have to talk through what their half-court offense is gonna look like. I think their transition offense is gonna be pretty sick with just their speed. Uh, but yeah, what I found out, I was alone, which kind of sucked. And then Maria and Declan came home and I told her, and I was like super pumped to like this is huge news, and she's like, Who's Jalen Brown? I was like, Oh my god. We just like she had a seven-game series with them. We watched them so many times. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, so I had to explain who Jalen Brown was, so that didn't help me in my excitement. But then I explained that we traded Paul George to get him, and then she also didn't know who Paul George was. So that part was tough. But aside from that, I was pretty excited about it. So she could read that I was excited, so therefore it was it was a win for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Okay, so I guess starting out, um, I feel like maybe we just you we just assign a grade to this trade for the Sixers, and then we can kind of like dive into more of it, and we'll probably hit on like this specific trade, and then maybe we can get into more of the free agency signings that they made in addition, and what that means for the team going forward, and then circle back around a phylon and like blend that in at some point too. So, but what do you what do you have for a grade?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I think it's an A from the Sixer standpoint. It's weird trading with your rival, but when you're getting the best player that's also younger and isn't like a distressed asset for the usual reasons that someone becomes a distressed asset, I don't think you can do much better than this. I was pretty high on PG, but I think this is just a younger version of PG pretty much that has higher floor and higher ceiling and fits in pretty well, at least positionally. We'll talk about like schematically and all that after this.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah, I think I think for right now, after having thought about it for the last 24 hours, I'm gonna give it an A-, I will say, um, with a conditional adjustment, if the trade like clearly then attracts uh one maybe like one or so more, like a vet minimum kind of player that really can actually be contribute contribute to the team. But it's clear they came here. I mean, yeah, LeBron. There's all the LeBron rumors floating around, but even if it wasn't LeBron, if it was like somebody that signed a minimum and they clearly just wanted to play on a team that was gonna win, and the Jalen Brown trade led to that. I think I might tick it up to an A if we get to that point, but for right now, I'll say A minus. I think it's the package is incredible. I think the only thing that makes me a little bit nervous is just like the kind of like his a little bit of like his mentality and his antics combined with the fact that there's a lot of like guys that theoretically could be high usage players that could be all on the floor at the same time. And I'm not sure that I trust Nick Nursh to be the evil genius that like cooks up how that should work. Um, so that is the only thing making it an A-but the reason it's still like clearly in the A category for me is like Jalen Brown is just a better player than Paul George, and fit or not, like there's so much that he can do for the team, like the no matter who's on the floor, um, with his ability to generate his own shot and like hit really difficult shots, which yes, the Sixers won the series against the Celtics, but for all of us that watched all seven of those games, like the amount of times Jalen Brown would just hit a ridiculous shot and be like, ugh, like God, just stop it. Um, like he he would just do it over and over again, and uh pretty happy to have somebody like that on the team, even if they're maybe not as reliable of a three-point shooter or not as you know seamless to blend into your team.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

So um yeah, it's weird. It's gonna be an ego balancing act because this used to be Embiid's team. Now most fans and I think the players themselves would consider it Maxie's team. We all just saw how good VJ potentially can be. So in the future is this gonna be his team, and then Jalen Brown. The whole thing that we kept hearing is like, well, I'm also an A, like, I could drive my own team. These are all like the rumors and all that stuff. So it's just can everyone sacrifice to be like positionally? This makes a lot of sense for you to play together, and you guys can be great, and actually not worry about like individual stats and accolades, but the greater team, or are we gonna just play like your turn, my turn type of stuff, and then just lack creativity on offense, like you said with Nick Nurse. He's been aggressive defensive schemes, but offensively, the Sixers I don't know, they leave things to be desired at times with like movement and all that, which isn't necessarily just his fault, but it's just a lot of pieces that you're gonna have to figure out again, turning the roster over pretty heavily from year to year.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yeah, that that's definitely true as well. It's definitely going to be a pretty new new looking team with the turnover like Grimes, Ubre, George, um probably Drummond out, and uh who else am I missing? I'm missing somebody else, aren't I? Ubre, Grimes. I mean, they were the main two.

unknown 11:50

Anyone?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Ubre Grimes, George, Drummond. Maybe that maybe that's everybody. And we've kind of like Kyle Laura replaced, we've kind of replaced each of them with a marginally comparable person, I would say. So that's kind of interesting. And I I'd make like we'll definitely get to like some of those comparisons for what you would think of as the one-to-one swaps for archetype of player, and how we think about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Paul George is on out the door too. So we essentially lost two starters and a sixth man, and you get back now Jalen Brown plus anything else that we signed.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah, I feel like we this in my mind, it's like Brown swap for George, Wade swap for Ubre, Simon swap for Grimes, and Huckporty swap for Drummond. Yeah. And then like we just got Phylon, who really is basically replacing McCain, who we never should have like gotten rid of anyway, because once we lost him, the depth was just tragic. But like when we had McCain, I feel like we had a normal team in terms of depth. Um, and so I feel like that's kind of the swap there. But it's kind of interesting, like it's much easier for me to think about um what the how the team is different when I think about like how those one-to-ones are are going to turn out, um, because it's hard to imagine with like 45% of the team turning over what it'll actually look like as the pieces fit together. But um, so like has any I'm imagining you've been consuming some content around this trade. Has anybody out there made like any points that kind of opened your eyes to like a different element of all this?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Or like I've listened to a ton of content about this, and my favorite so far is actually Bill Simmons released earlier today, July 2nd, his take, which everyone was kind of waiting for. And it turns out he he was unconscious in a colonoscopy when it happened, and when he woke up, his like they were he didn't know it happened and was just going about like trying to go home from the hospital and stuff, and then his wife told him, and then his daughter called him, and he thought he he's like, Am I dead? Like, did I not wake up from this? So I just like hearing him talk through that was all fun. But I've heard different takes, like, some people are trying to defend the Celtic side of things now and talk about like, oh, well, maybe they did a better job here than we think, with like this could potentially be the Clippers' early pick and then the 2020-31, all that stuff. Uh, I'm not super worried about that. As someone who loves like the draft and all that, I think what the Sixers gave up there was I I'm happy to do that, I think it's worth it. Um, some of the takes that people have said specifically, like just kind of a lot of the same things that we're talking about, like how's this gonna all fit together, especially like Embiid and Jalen Brown? But people are just saying they think the floor is a lot higher for the Sixers for those non-embied games for when he misses 50 games or whatever. Like the Sixers may actually be able to win some games and maybe not have to play in the play-in, which would be nice, and then in theory, like their ceiling could be higher too. So, this was before like Anthony Anthony Simons was signed. So, the depth was a big question a lot of people were having, which is still fair. They don't have anyone that's like 6'7 on the roster or like 6'6 to 6'8, 9, like we were talking about before. Um, they still backup center is still a question, so there's still a lot of questions with the roster, but I think they did make a jump, and yeah, I don't know. I think just the mentality and the revenge tour and how Jalen Brown takes things personally and VJ takes things personally, Maxi's always working, just as a biased person, I think if they can buy into each other and like one mentality, that it should be pretty good and kind of really resets their timeline in a pretty good way. Because most people are saying it's it was essentially a salary dunk of Paul George, and they think that six or the Celtics did this because they lost all their leverage from the Giannis stuff, obviously, and they're afraid of the second apron and having to extend Jalen Brown and give him an additional couple years after this, and then the Celtics are just tied into that. So nothing really like we haven't heard before, but no super unique takes, but just a lot of the Celtics are are probably a little worse now, but they were like might even be able to win 50-something games themselves. Sixers in theory are better, and yeah, money we'll we'll come to see.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah, I guess the yeah, the part of the trade that I think when we we talked, it was the like season had just ended sort of discussion that we had like a month and a half ago or so. Um we were definitely on board with this idea, like let's try and disperse the money and tort turn and get like better quality depth. Right. So this trade is not doing that. Um that's sort of I guess maybe that's the other element of the the A minus is like there's a part of me I would find it hard to believe that in a vacuum we would have gotten better value out of a Paul George trade than what we got here. But in a world where we could have gotten some somewhat close, I think it would have been interesting to try and break Paul George's contract up across a few different players. But you know, that's just not how the NBA works. You don't just like get to do whatever you want. Um, so I think given what they were able to do, I definitely can't be mad about it. Um in terms of thinking more about how this might work, yeah. I think what you mentioned with Embiid and missing games, it's this team's floor is a lot higher because Jalen Brown can 100% be a number one option on a very good team like offensively. He could be like the offensive engine of your team. And then I like the idea of Maxie being able to play more off-ball with another guy that like can handle and create and all of that. So I think that and VJ too. Like, I the V I just think VJ is gonna get even better as a catch-and-shoot three guy, um, because he's just that he just has that improvement mentality that I think Maxie.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

I take it personally that people are like sagging off of him and leaving him alone in the playoffs, and yeah, yeah. Yeah, every Sixers fan is just so confident in VJ, like no one would question his ability to get better. Everyone's just expecting him to get better.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Yeah. So like that element of it feels like so many players have the ability to get to touch the paint um off their own dribble, and so like the drive and kick and all of that, and like Jalen Brown, the one thing that is like very clear is he is he can get to the line much more easily than Paul George can at this stage in their career. And to the rim for that matter. Yeah, I mean, yeah, those things like kind of going a little bit hand in hand. Um, but that's that's huge on top of um like just you know just being a number one scorer kind of guy. So I feel like there if I if they can get creative with all the pieces they have here, I feel like it could be pretty exciting, assuming they they can you know generate the ball movement that I think would lead to a honestly, I think like potentially pretty prolific offense. I'm a little worried that their defense could fall off a little bit, but maybe not drastically, but I feel like their offense could be very strong.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

I think their transition defense could be better, but Paul George was a good defender, even though he's not as athletic as he used to be. Like I don't know that he's necessarily a like I don't know that Brown's necessarily a better defender than Paul George, but I think transition just because he can run up and down the court better, that helps that problem, which has been a Sixers issue for a long time, especially with Kelly O'Bray and Grimes leaving. Yeah, I think the aging embied, like they just need like hustle players that are gonna just go get the ball, stuff like that, give extra effort.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Yeah, and well, we'll see. Like, I don't know, the like the money that Hut Porti got. I'm not gonna pretend like I watched a lot of him and have any sense of how good he could be as a five defensively. If like I it sounds like in a bona-like way, he fouls a lot and can't stay on the floor. So between the two of them, and maybe there's another move, like maybe the last player is like a rim protector, but I feel like the odds of them getting a rim protector that doesn't have massive flaws elsewhere that on a minimum is low. So I don't really know what what the plan is there, but that worries me a little bit, and I feel like the as much as Grimes was frustrating in other ways, I do feel like what we replace Grimes with in the backcourt isn't necessarily imposing defensively uh with Simons and Phylon. So that's a little that's a little bit more tough too. And I do think, yeah, Brown is is not as good of a defender as George at this point, um, which you know credit to Paul George for that, for staying as as good as he's been at his age. But I don't think it should be crazy different, and I do think offensively they'll make up for it. And we can start talking about some of these other guys. Um, it does seem like the one thing I'll say is from a defensive perspective, it seems like and I actually chat GPT'd this because this is so I'm basically like consolidating some like beat writer type writing because I am not gonna pretend like I have a sense of if Dean Wade is a better on ball defender. Than Kelly Ubre, because I just will never have watched enough Dean Wade to make that determination. Yeah, watching it. But it sounds like it sounds like there's there's some reasonable consensus that Wade is probably uh might genuinely be a better on-ball defender than Ubre, especially when it comes to bigger wings. So like I feel like Ubre would hold up better against the guard, um but against like the classic big wings around the league, I think Wade will be better off with Wade. And so I feel like that's that ends up being a nice thing because on top of that, it seems like the other consensus is Wade is an extremely low usage player offensively, which honestly is perfect. Like we don't need to anyone's what everyone's comparing him to on offense. Yeah, we don't need anyone to have any more desire to touch the ball given uh the Brown for George uh swap there. So yeah, um I think that's good. I don't know. Do you have any like we can start with Wade and go one by one, or and think about like the fact that we lost Ubre and now we have Wade, or we can kind of touch on the idea of all the guys together, Simon's real quick. What's your biggest concern about Jalen Brown? Like what I would say it's just that I mean, truthfully, my biggest concern is like the mentality thing, because I feel like in a Jimmy Butler adjacent way, he like kind of like spoiled the situation to the point where they felt like they had to trade him. And I do think that not all of that is his fault. It gives like a little bit of like Kevin Durant vibes almost, maybe not as much Jimmy Butler vibes, even though Brown has been with the Celtics for his entire career, so it's not like he's like as finicky as I think those guys might be, but I do think that there's not he's now at a point in his career where he maybe feels accomplished enough that he can if he if he gets you know disappointed by something or whatever, um, maybe he feels more empowered to talk his way out of a situation. But I don't know. That's like such a unknown, like kind of pathetic reason to be worried about somebody. I would say the other thing is probably just turnovers, and I don't think I I don't think at this stage in his career his like ability to you know his handle and all that is really gonna improve anymore. I think he kind of is what it is now. He's about to turn 30 or he is 29. I don't know when his birthday was, but uh like I don't think this is the time in his career where his handle's gonna get tighter. So that's that's a concern, but that's been a concern for a while. He was the finals MVP in spite of that handle, so it's like you know, whatever. It'll be frustrating at times, I'm sure, but um that's kind of just comes with the territory.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Yeah, he's he's helped get them to two finals. He was a finals MVP, they've been to a bunch of conference championships, so all like the underlying statistics or analytics that show, like, oh, is he really not that good? I think I'll I'll take this on my team. My biggest concern with is that I don't know what number he's gonna be because I was assuming with Kyle Lowry retiring that VJ was gonna switch to seven and then I was gonna get a VJ jersey, but now I don't know what to do because Jalen Brown was seven.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

So yeah, we'll find out, and whatever happens, concerned over that. If if like Brown takes seven, I'm probably gonna buy a VJ jersey like before the season starts. I'm gonna buy a VJ jersey. I just need to know which one.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I know the numbers, I don't want to buy it yet.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah, that's what I mean. Like we'll nut one we know. I feel like it'll be safe to buy. I mean, obviously, you never know, but Brown's got three years left on his deal, and I feel like he might be here for a little bit. So true. Um, we were talking about the the advanced analytics sort of like talk that I'm sure people that have been hearing about this have been hearing that like you know the advanced analytics stuff isn't friendly to him. And I want to like look more into like what last season said, and it is kind of interesting. So I would say two of the more like stats that as I have been looking at player quality over the years now, the ones that I see that are usually pretty solid are box plus minus, like BPM on basketball reference, and then Vorp, which is like value over replacement player. And interestingly, for BPM, the top guys are Jokic, SGA, Wemby, Luca, Kawhi, Cade. So MVP first place is like basically one through seven are literally the top guys on BPM, and there's no gap in there. And then the sixth place MVP voter uh was Jalen Brown, and on this list he's like 20th. So he's like the one guy that advanced analytics would say like he didn't deserve to be sixth at MVP, but like watching the product of what the Celtics became, you would think it was completely justified. I don't know. But I just thought it was interesting because then also with Warp, and I'm sure that this is kind of a little bit of a weak analysis because there's like these are correlated variables because they go off a lot of the same stuff, but um, so you know, some collinearity here. But uh one through seven are also like almost the top so many stats, and then Cade was like is a couple down, like actually Maxi is a higher warp than Cade did last year. So Maxi, like according to the analytics, is was a better player than Brown last year, which um you know, considering how good Brown is, like the two of them together is pretty exciting with them both being in their 20s. Um, and then you throw VJ in there, and it's like, damn, this is awesome. And and it truly is getting to the point now where it's like hopefully Embiid can like realize that we don't need him, we literally don't need him to be the same player anymore. And if he can figure out a way to play around these guys with lower usage and like figure out like pick his battles with where he applies his limited capacity to exert effort, then this could be pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

I feel like I would love for him to pick up like that Drummond corner three from last year. So Embiid likes to shoot his threes up at the top a lot, which is fine. I also it'd be nice if he got a little bit better at hitting those, but uh yeah, I agree. Like I just want his usage to go down. I kind of want everyone's usage to go down a little bit and like kind of just run more traditional offense and have the ball stick to people less and all that stuff. But yeah, if Embiid can take more like 10 to 12 shots a game and just kind of like space the floor and let other people exert energy and run around and just like keep his assists up, like he's been doing, setting screens, like just take it easy, make your run back to the other side of the court, expend a little more on defense and become a little more role player, Embiid, as you finish out these last couple years here.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Yeah, it's it's easier said than done, I'm sure. But yeah, of course I would love to see his three-point shooting go up a little bit, just like let the paint be open because, like we talked about, like Brown, Maxi, uh VJ, I'm sure we'll get better at the time. Dean Wade doesn't go to the rim at all. He's like almost he takes almost. Well, he's gonna be the he's he'll be the corner free guy, right? Right, right. And then it's like he'll be the guy that just sits in the corner. Um you know, whether it was Drummond or Ubre or whoever uh he can be the replacement for that. And then yeah, hopefully the paint's wide open for these guys that can just get to the rim at ease. Um but yeah, so and and like looking at usage, the only player in the league that had a higher usage rate than Jalen Brown last year was Luca.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

So it's like in the 30s last year. So yeah, you hope to cut that down considerably, which also would cut down obviously his turnovers, but uh some like assists, all that stuff. But if you can expend a little more on um defense, something I was thinking about like can you imagine our brains five years ago finding out that the Sixers are gonna have Nick Nurse and Jalen Brown? Like Jalen Brown feels like an old like Raptors Nick Nurse type of player, like a kind of long athletic wing that can like contest and jump around, and now they're someone on our team. I know he's essentially the only player like that on our team now, which is a little sad, but in theory, like if you look at this as an optimist, like what we used to be so afraid of, like those Kawhi Raptor teams, and then obviously the Celtics. And we always we used to think back in the day, like Nick Nurse was like this evil genius guy with got great defenses. Like, I don't know, him and and Wade. I don't I don't know Wade that well yet. I know he's supposed to be a good defender, but him and VJ at least just the mouth they're gonna be willing to run around. If you can just get embiad to just do just play smart. I don't know. Seems tenable in in your mind, like we said, if all the egos can work and everyone can stay on the court, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Yeah, yeah, I would love if I could erase the embied defense from my memory at the in the next series. Um like if that just like didn't exist in my brain, my optimism for this team would be like pretty off the charts. Um, but I don't know. Hope for the best on that front. Uh and it would be also nice if like Bona could just do getting a little smarter on like I mean we saw games last year where he had like five blocks in like eight minutes, and it's like so clearly there's potential there from a rim protection perspective, but he just like his head just I mean it's Grimes like in other ways too. So I mean we lost at least we don't have to deal with the Grimes piece anymore of just doing like absurd what are you doing kind of plays. Um but yeah, so we can talk more about that, but I'm curious. You're we did the latest signing was Anthony Simons. Um so that's like I kind of said it. I would probably appropriately equate him to like the Grimes replacement. They're definitely different players, but I feel like they're sort of meant to fill a semi-similar role, even though I would say Simons will be much more of like a guy that can have the ball in his hands than Grimes. It was like if Grimes started dribbling, you'd like kind of freak out a little bit. So um I think that will be different, but generally speaking, they should they should uh take on similar roles.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

I think he'll be good shooting for this game, this team, which they'll definitely need some more shooting. Like you said, he can create for himself and for others more than our backup guards could in the past, so that's exciting. My concern is that, like you said, his defense, he's skinny, he's small, and I would be more excited about it. I'm still excited about it because it's not a big number, and I think he pairs well with Embiid and Um Jalen Brown, like players like that. But him and LeBron Phylon, I feel like are a little bit redundant because they're both like 6'2-ish, and then you have Maxi 6'2, 6'3, they're all kind of in the same boat. So I think in the regular season you can get some minutes of those guys together, like two of those guys maybe at a time here and there, but in the playoffs, it's hard to imagine either of those being super effective. Um, that being said, last year one of our big talking points was just Maxi getting too much time on the court, too many minutes, kind of got burnt out at the end, had the pinky finger issue. Just having more guards. So I'm kind of contradicting what I just said, but more guys that can just run offensive, give Maxi a break is gonna be helpful. So I'm I'm gonna enjoy that. But yeah, it's just tough to think. Like, I guess we have Justin Edwards still on the team, but there's just a lack of defenders kind of now, and like just some length on the at the small forward shooting guard positions.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Yeah, no, definitely agree with that. I think that will be a little bit tough for this team at times, but yeah, the the like efficiency. So last year, if we're talking replacement here, Grimes shot so per 100, Grimes was 2.8 makes on 8.3 attempts, 33 percent, and Simons was 5.3 makes on 13.8 attempts, 38.5%. So much more efficient shooter and much higher volume shooter. Yeah. Um, so I feel like that like the amount of times you can remember like Grimes just getting a wide open three to just like shoot it right now. And I feel like you know, there were ups and downs. There were times where it was like, oh, this is great, like Grimes is hitting these shots and this is awesome. Um, but it did feel like he had some major dry spells that I think will be less prevalent with Simons and Simons. Clearly, just based on that, like the ridiculous per 100 attempt rate increase, it's like over 50% more than Grimes. Like, I'm sure that when he gets the ball, he's going to shoot the ball.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

So yeah, we we've seen Simons score 20 points a game in this league, so he's definitely a more talented offensive player than Grimes. So I think he's gonna carry some offense for us at times, so it will be nice, but also that's like the type of guard, like these like Landry Shamit types, um, people like that, that like after spending like five, seven years in the league, they do kind of find like what their true role is, and then when they play for a good good team, um, they seem to compete on defense and hone that in a little bit. So I know Simons is never going to be a plus defender, but I think just rotationally, when you're not asking him to do as much, maybe we can get more minutes than I'm thinking, and he can be like a legitimate, like six-man type, and then LeBron Phylon can come on a little bit slower and progress when you need him, maybe play a little more like traditional point for us, and have Simons more just shooting guard, a little undersized.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Yeah, I think um the rot in terms of like the way the rotation will work. I've I feel like the nice thing is that Jalen Brown can like kind of like run point too. So, like yeah, he could play like four different positions in theory on this team. So even though you wouldn't want like I don't know, you can kind of like play around with some unique rotations because of what Brown can do. But yeah, I feel like Simons and Phylon on the court at the same time would be a little rough, but given like the Brown Maxi VJ way, you can like kind of spin those guys around in different permutations. I feel like you can throw Simons and Phylon in like at any given lineup, and it might not they we might be able to overcome their defensive efficiencies a little bit by just like hiding them a little bit more because I I mean Maxi now is at a point where like with his general like decent length and then definitely improved strength, uh we've seen him come a long way defensively. And then I think I'm not sure like VJ is going to be coming come back in October looking like gigantic and jacked, but I do think it'll be one of those progressions where you see like, oh, he's he's getting a little like what would what happened with Maxie, but based on the way VJ looks, I could see it happening faster for VJ. Like he just kind of has a frame to him that looks like he could put on muscle uh a little faster.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

So up close last year. He even he looked like he was in theory like a muscular guy, but just compared to like NBA athletes, he looked skinny. But like the frame, like you said, was already there, and there's a lot of stuff online that he's been in Philly a lot already, spent a lot of time like working out, which again, as we would expect, which is awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like these are the types of players we want, and like Maxi, we know is doing the same thing, taking leaps, like you said, coming back. Those first images in like September training camp stuff, when you see like or October, whenever it is, um, it's like 10 pounds heavier, whatever, five pounds heavier, just a little bit more bigger shoulders, all that stuff. Absorb more contact, get stronger in the legs, core, and uh like if he can hold up and defend more positions, VJ, that's gonna really give some more flexibility to this team. I know he's only like 6'4, 6'5, but if he can get stronger, that's gonna help a lot.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Yeah, because I mean, yeah, the he's obviously incredibly quick on his feet, very fast lateral, lateral mover. So, and I yeah, the a VJ Brown weighed like wing defense is I think can definitely hold up. Um and so if you're throwing in like a phylon in there to carry some ball handling duties when Maxi's out, I think that we can figure out how to deal with the fact that phylon might not really be able to hold up in his current state very well defensively. But speaking of phylon, um, we have not talked any draft kind of stuff for the Sixers. So what were your what were your thoughts there? I know like what your thoughts were at the time might now be different given the way that the roster has taken shape, because it's hard to imagine at the time like what to think when you don't know what free agency is gonna look like, but feel free to share your thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

My thoughts at the time was slight frustration just because essentially this was a him from McCain type of thing. Like we replaced one small guard with another one. Granted, both of them have somewhat high potential for where they were drafted and stuff. Uh now that dust has settled a little bit. I'm I'm just trying to think of it more in a vacuum as just him. And I do think LeBaron Phylon was a like potential lottery pick. We got him at 22. He seems pretty polished offensively since he has two years in college. I don't watch college basketball, but I do love scouting and draft and stuff. So I got into that piece. And like he's a three-level scorer, he's not super athletic, but he's like shifty, can like gain advantages pretty well, um creates space when he needs to. Uh decent passer, but his best attribute is that he has like a very tight handle, which I think is a little bit of a superpower coming into the NBA because just a lot of young guys don't have that, they're typically sloppy. Even like VJ, one of his only criticisms was his handle wasn't quite like it was good, but it wasn't great. So the fact that like you might be able to come in off the bat and do that is nice. You could potentially give the ball to him and not feel like he's just gonna turn it over, panic, lose the ball, um, get pressured. Um, the issue is that he's like 176 pounds and he's like 6'2. So him and Maxie wouldn't be able to play too much together, probably not really in the playoffs at all. And again, I'm excited for the value and his mentality and all that. I listened to in a couple interviews with him. He seems like a good egg. So I'm excited for that. He's like accepting of whatever role he's given, playing on ball, off ball, trying to score, create for others, make other people look good. Uh, everything he said is is great. So I'm excited for him to be here. And I think our guard room definitely needed depth, especially prior to Simon's being signed. So those are basically all my thoughts on him. I'm excited for him to be a sixer. It's just again, the McCain thing being in the back of your head is a little frustrating. And this team had other needs, so I was thinking like power forward at the time, but here we are.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Yeah, I interestingly, and this is like a little bit hard to think about because as a player, I think that he was a great pick. I really liked him, and I remember seeing like so the only re the reason I liked him is just because I don't watch college basketball either, but I watched March Madness and I watched the Alabama games just because I had the time at that point in uh my life to watch all those games, and he was like jumping off the screen as like, okay, this guy can score. Um like wherever he has wherever he has the ball, whether it's a three, mid-range, get to the rim, like three-level score, make it somebody like if he if it doesn't work for him in one of those spots, he's like creating something for someone else. Like he's just generating offense. He was like a one-man generating offense, it felt like. I think it might have had bets on Alabama or something like that. And every time he came back in the game, it was like, okay, he's got the ball in his hands, like something's gonna happen here. Um, and so I remember looking at the early mock drafts and seeing him mocked in like the 12, 13, 14 range. I mean, like, damn, this draft is deep because that guy is like a Walking bucket, and I feel like that's kind of crazy that he's being mocked there. And I knew he I know the defensive limitations, but he's just so obviously gifted offensively, um, that I was a little bit surprised by that. So very happy to get him. It feels like the athleticism piece is like a little bit of a bummer because I feel like it it just makes the it feels like his chances of reaching a real ceiling that is like all-star level is just lower because you you can like count on one hand the number of guys with his kind of athleticism that become like that good. Um, and the one that everyone always mentions now is Brunson, but it's like that's because he's like the the one guy that can is the recent example of that. They're just it's not very common. Um, so that's a little tough, but I just feel like when you watch him, he just so crafty. Like at his age, he just knows like how to like do what he can in ways that as somebody who is not like a basketball technician, like all the little moves he can do, like I don't even know how to describe them, but when you watch it, you like know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

Like, he like plays the angles well, and like get you to like flip your hips, and then like he will like just do little things like that, like throw it off the side of the backboard. He can finish with his left and his right, so like no matter what your body is doing, he's gonna use that against you type of thing. McCain had some of that too, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

No, no, they're very in different they're different players, but they're like largely pretty similar as far as like the spectrum of the NBA goes.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

Yeah, um McCain was more of like an off-ball mover. Um, yeah, I feel like phylon's a little more of on ball type. Um, but again, he's a great shooter, like his true shooting percentage was like great on high volume, and he was running like the whole offense. It was sophomore year at least. Like he was up there, so that's it's exciting that part of the reason he fell is because this was just a good guard draft. Um, again, he's kind of small and and slight and all that, but like I don't know. We're not we don't need him to walk in and be amazing because we already have our backcourt, so I think it's a good pick.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

I think the reason that I'm now a little bit more worried about it is actually because of the Simons signing. It kind of reminds me of last year, and it reminds me of the McCain situation, and it makes me think that with how redundant Simons and Phylon may be to a certain extent, um, Phylon may not see a lot of minutes, and maybe that's fine because like I don't know, I just we want to be good, and we really don't need him to play this year.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Like, if we don't I agree with the Simons thing, like until we had signed him, I was hoping LeBaron Phylon would would be playable. Now it doesn't matter as much, like he could play in Delaware a little bit and then come up when we need him. But yeah, like his his role in the team is just kind of in up in the air.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

I think the thing that um is a little is trickier about it, is that like I don't think the Sixers knew they were gonna get Simons, so they had to make the phylon pick. But it's like now in hindsight, if I got to pick and choose, I might have been interested in them taking a wing, even if maybe he wasn't quite at the level of phylon from a pure talent perspective. Because I think that as I imagine this team building out, like having the young, athletic, high effort rebounding wing that is an average shooter is somebody that I could like maybe be more interested in than like this very high-level potential scorer. Like phylon in my eyes could like 100% be a 20-point per game scorer on a like average team uh one day. But I don't know if we'd need that necessarily. Um, I feel like now that we're seeing the team built out, I feel like we could use more length and strength and rebounding and bully ball kind of stuff, right? But you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Maybe a vacuum it's a good pick, but it's not like our a team need, essentially.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Yeah. And the the team has clearly shown they're willing to wheel and deal, so you know, um, maybe like parts pieces move around and you never know. And I do feel like Phylon will I think Phylon could be like a pretty decent offensive player right off the bat, if he can get the minutes, just because I I feel like he has a really great feel for the game, and I think that he will like figure out his role. Um he's he's a little older, like he was a sophomore last year, so he's not quite quite coming in at like the freshman level. And I feel like his from what I heard, I wasn't like paying attention to his freshman season, but his his jump in ability from freshman year to sophomore year was pretty large. And if he's coming into a a locker room with Maxi and Edgecombe, and he already just shown that ability to improve, like I don't know if maybe we'll already see. I mean, we weren't expecting Vijay to be as good as a rookie, we weren't expecting McCain to be that good as a rookie. Maxie gets better every single year, so maybe there's a little bit of like contagion there when it comes to like improving some of your weaker areas, and I feel like I could see Fylon coming in and being pretty impressive offensively right off the bat. So we'll see. I'm excited. I I uh don't know like when the summer league games are, but I would love to, if not, watch them live, watch the replays just to kind of see what he looks like with some of these uh other like NBA talents. Um, because the games that I watched, they were like, you know, I don't remember, but I think they were playing like a 13 seed, and then whoever I forget. I don't remember the opponents, but it's not like it was like super high-level talent. So I'd be curious to see how he looks against better athletes in terms of getting it.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

But he was playing in the SEC and he put up the numbers he did on good efficiency and high usage. So yeah, yeah, yeah. All of that is is pretty good telling.

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Yeah, I would be surprised if it didn't translate, but like he was putting up like over 30 points in these Marsh Mattis games, so like that's yeah, obviously insane. I'm curious, like, if it can be it can approximate that with more MD athlete athletes around, that would be amazing, but you never know. Yeah, the good news is they don't need him to step in and be anything incredible, which is yeah, definitely not. We got plenty of usage, uh high usage guys to go around. Um, do you buy into any of the LeBron's theme, or is this all just Twitter nonsense?

SPEAKER_01 51:16

I don't know. I don't think he would sign for the minimum, but also LeBron is weird about his ego, and I could almost see him doing that on purpose to just be like, oh, look at me. The end of the my career, I signed for the minimum. I do think situationally, I don't know if he's gonna walk into a better spot, like he could just be the starting power forward immediately and be like a lower usage version of himself, where he's just like a connective passer, hits a lot of hit-head stuff in transition, does like off-ball defense here and there, just helps organize people and like hit some threes. Like, they wouldn't need him to do much until the playoffs. So, this is like the type of hungry team where like every position around you would be perfectly suited, assuming Embiid's there once in a while, but um, like again, it would be perfect insurance for when Embiid doesn't play his 45 games or whatever, because LeBron could again at least get you rebounds and make people like worse centers, more viable, stuff like that. Just get stuff out of people. Um, so if he truly is just trying to like win another championship, I think the Sixers are a good landing spot for him. Whether or not it's actually gonna happen, I doubt it. It's just like I obviously all the Sixers fans are going nuts because it's a possibility, and like moving Dean Wade to the back to the bench, I feel like our bench doesn't look so bad anymore. And like we might actually this might be a contending team without LeBron or like as it sits now. I think our team is improved from last year, but I still don't think of the Sixers as a true contender. Um, but with LeBron, I would probably change that opinion. So I I I don't think it's a zero chance, but I think it's I don't think this is where he was planning to come or wanted to, and signing on the minimum, all that stuff is just it's all just such a shot in the dark.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

Yeah, I honestly have no idea where he's gonna end up, and wherever it is, I'm I feel like I'm gonna be surprised when it happens a little bit. It's gonna be like shocking to think like LeBron's on a new team again, and he's still good. And what does the rest of that team look like? It would be really fun if he actually ended up on a team that had a real chance.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

Um play with Steph, but I feel like they eventually would burn out in the playoffs just because they're so old and they don't have the depth necessarily. Not that the Sixers have great depth with like their wings and bigs and stuff, but like there is shooting here, there is defense, there's athleticism, like there's in theory, kind of everyone else can do everything for you. LeBron would just kind of have to show up and help organize things. It'd be one of the easiest things he's ever had to do, is he just I don't know, basically save himself for the playoffs, but also still play games.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

Yeah, it would be insane. I would be I would the the Brown trade made me like f fall out of a chair level, surprised. If LeBron actually signed here, somehow it would be even more shocking, honestly. Um, which it feels impossible, but I genuinely would be uh stunned because I feel like it just seems it would be so random.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Like yeah, it seemed impossible like a week ago that any of this was gonna happen, let alone like the domino effect of the Brown and then the LeBron.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Yeah, like if you went to the Warriors, it'd be like cool. Steph, he's still in California. Like, you know, it just kind of that makes sense. The Warriors like legacy of the last you know decade and a half, and then the Cavs be like, okay, the Cavs make sense, cool. Miami, it would be like, Alright, cool, sure.

SPEAKER_01 55:12

I don't um I guess I feel like Miami doesn't make a ton of sense, and I don't know if him and Pat Riley love each other. Like, I I know Miami has Bam and Giannis, but I feel like the Sixers are more filled out than Miami.

SPEAKER_00 55:27

I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

You throw a like he has a history there, of course. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

So golf and all that. Yeah, I'm just like I have a hard time imagining him going anywhere besides like the South and West Coast for a team other than Cleveland in my head. But I don't know. I mean, you I guess you never know. Like I saw, like, for example, the T-Wolves thrown out as like a maybe, and I just like literally would be in disbelief if something like that happened.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

I think that's a similar situation to the Sixers. Like, they have kind of a team filled out around him where he wouldn't have to do a ton, he'd be like the final piece. But like people are still I've heard other people talk about that, and like the idea of him and Melo playing together is funny.

SPEAKER_00 56:16

Yeah, I mean it would be really fun. I just like him like going to Minneapolis in his first five year would be. Like it just seems weird, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Yeah, I agreed. And like Philly obviously would be random too, but it it seems less random than Minneapolis. Yeah, not by a lot, which is why I would be so shocked. But yeah, not by a lot. Uh people are trying to link like the Gancey stuff and like the Malmur stuff.

SPEAKER_00 56:39

That's legit. And like Maxi and Clutch. I feel like all the clutch stuff is the bigger thing because like that shit's all weird. I don't understand it, but that definitely affects player movement. Um, so that that's the part that like I don't understand, and maybe is why it's actually more likely than I think, because the whole like clutch like mafia thing I is surprisingly impactful. Um, like that was the AD thing, right? Isn't I don't I'm I have a terrible memory with this, but AD's clutch, right? And so that's kind of what happened there, right?

SPEAKER_01 57:14

So yeah. Um yeah, I don't think it's impossible, and I do think the Sixers, I guess you could still give the Knicks being favorites, even though they lost a couple guys just since they won. But like the Sixers might be number two in the East at that point, like they would definitely have a real shot to come out of the East. But again, like not only would LeBronov take less money, but he also would have to accept all of his stats going down a lot. And I don't know, does he want that because then it drags like career averages? Does he care about stats at this point? Like it depends where his head's at, pretty much. I feel like what's his goal with like his last year or two here?

SPEAKER_00 57:51

I feel like his number one goal is probably to get a ring.

SPEAKER_01 57:56

You would think so, and again, the Sixers are a real like one of the only spots where I feel like that makes a lot of sense. Like, I don't think he's joining the Thunder. Uh the Spurs, I heard some people say, but then more recently it sounds like that's less likely, especially with them just signing Tobias.

SPEAKER_00 58:14

Yeah, apparently they I don't know, all these sources I never know which ones are actually real people or not, but they they because of the Tobias signing, I heard they're out now.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

So yeah, I I just I don't think that many destinations make sense aside from like again places he's already played or the Warriors. But the Warriors is more just like a oh, this one's for me, but not necessarily like a serious title contender unless something else big happens.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't I would be surprised if they were if they found a way to make themselves into a serious title contender, even with Stefan LeBron. Um, but yeah, the I feel like there's the other part of it that's also kind of weird is like I think it's not just that he wants a ring, I think it's that he wants like the narrative around the team he joins and like the pursuit of the ring to be like a good story, which I think the Sixers haven't won in 40 years, perfect story. Yeah, like I think that's why like us getting a ring with the Sixers is probably a better story than like getting a ring with I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 59:25

It's also he's gone to four different teams at that point and won a ring with all four teams that he's been to. So like he has that, no one's ever done that. So it's just something else for him to do. So again, if it's truly about trying to get another ring, this is his easy one of his easiest options. Like he could coast through the regular season and then turn it up in the playoffs, and you just I don't know, hope it works out. Maybe you get a buyout guy to join on the minimum to to help with your bigs a little bit, and then just cross your fingers at that point. But you have a lot of speed and athleticism to do a lot of the other stuff for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

Okay, so given the state of the NBA right now, where do you put the the Sixers in the East? Or where would you slot them in as from like a power ranking perspective?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

Um I again, I guess I'll just stick the Knicks at one, just because they're starting five in theory, still back. After that, I feel like Indiana is pretty solid. Um, assuming health there. I think the Celtics are still good, but I think the Sixers are probably better than Celtics now. Detroit. I don't feel great about Detroit. I feel like they just kind of took a sideways step if at best, unless other stuff happens for them. I don't know. I feel like the Sixers and then Cleveland, I guess, is the other one, but nothing's happened with them. They're just kind of in limbo right now. I was saying the only uh the only team third in the east, maybe, unless I'm forgetting about someone.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:05

It's like actually pretty or the Hawks. Yeah, Toronto now has Kow. Oh, yeah, Toronto, like Scotty Barnes and I don't have anything in front of me, so I'm going shooting off the hip here. So yeah, I'm definitely forgetting about some of the more recent trades when I'm I feel like it's so hard because there's so much change, and they there are a lot of like pretty pretty good teams.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:25

Yeah, I don't love Miami because they have just no they have nothing aside from Giannis, Bam, and like Wiggins. So I yeah, I don't take them super seriously right now. Uh Toronto is pretty good. I don't trust Kawhi to last a whole playoffs or a whole playoffs similar to Embiid. Um, so I think they're good, but I think depending what round we play them in, I don't know. I think we could potentially beat them and then Orlando. I I don't know. If something gives there, maybe it'll change, but they're pretty much the same team right now. So yeah, I might go Sixers as third in the east, and just hope we get one more helpful player. That's like six, eight or above.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:15

So you have them third behind Indiana or third behind uh Boston?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

I think Indiana. Yeah, I think go Knicks, Indiana. So I guess this is more power rankings, more so than like what I actually think perfectly record-wise, but like contenders in the east, I would say that's my one, two, three, and then I guess I'll go Toronto four, Boston five, and then some sprinkling of everyone else that's left.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:44

Oh man, it's so tough. Yeah, it is hard because again, we're thinking about it. Is like such a wild card because like I know I'm assuming a lot right there, but sometimes you like you know, you catch lightning in a bottle with its own. Right, was that just a flash?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

I'm assuming like Halliburton's gonna be exactly the way he was before, which obviously is assuming a lot, but I do like the Ubre signing for them. It gives them a little bit more. They still have Siakam, who's just been very consistent for a long time. They still have like a lot of the core from what was left of that team.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:16

I know they lost a few guys like Miles Turner and stuff, but they've got Zubots who like yeah, they got exactly it's like a sort of one for one at least theoretically be better. Um, possibly.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

And like uh yeah, Ubre's like a good cutter and good transitional player, like stuff like that, help with their defense. So I might be overrating them. I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt because they did represent the East the last time they were healthy. So maybe I'm putting too much stock in that type of stuff, but that's my thought.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:46

I think we're better than Boston right now. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:50

So I'm gonna leave Boston above us simply because so I'm going strictly power ranking. I could see Boston easily having a better regular season ranking, but I think their system under Missoula is again great for the regular season, like drive and kick, all that stuff, and it might be different with different players a little bit, but I think it's great for the regular season. But when you need those role guys to do more in the playoffs, I don't know if I trust. I don't know. Maybe I just have bias because we just beat them and we took Jalen Brown from them. So in my head, it's like, how can we be worse? That's my thought. Like the seven-game series, I'm taking the Sixers right now over the Celtics.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:36

I think my reason for still having the Celtics higher is because I feel like the Tatum is like in my mind, we're saying Tatum is better, and so Tatum is like Tatum again, and then you have George in there who I think plays off would play off of Tatum pretty well. Yeah, wouldn't be as much on ball as before, but that would be okay. And then in my eyes, Hugo kind of goes up a little bit more, and a guy like uh I guess like I won't really count some of their other random guys as like but I I could see because Hugo was a rookie, I could see yeah, Walsh and Shireman maybe being better, but I don't think that's like tangible difference. But I could see Hugo like stepping into more of a role, and then the Robinson Kata front court, like tandem, I could see it being pretty pretty solid because they have very similar skill sets, and they can always one of them can always be out there, even absorbing some fouls along the way. Assuming Robinson can even like stay healthy to play like multiple games, you know, throughout the season. But I think that's my reason for and then Missoula like overseeing that team, but I think it's very close. And I would the Sixers I give is just a nod, a small nod over the Pacers, simply because of like I mean the Pacers won. 19 games last year, and like the switch flipping to then like go right back to the top of the East is what I give them a little bit of doubt on, but it would shock me like not at all if they were one right back up to the top. Because sometimes they got a top four pick, that would have been so big for them. It's a shame that it didn't work out there. But man, like the like Raptors, Cavs, Heat, Hawks after that is like that's gonna be a fun playoffs next year if people can stay healthy. Because the East is definitely better. Because I feel like Scotty Barnes, I mean, Jay, I remember Jason and I were talking about this on the last podcast. Like Scottie Barnes impressed the shit out of me, and he's like maybe still getting better. And uh like that wing combo with Kawhi, if Kawhi like can maybe because Kawhi's usage I'm looking at right now was the third highest in the league last year. So Scotty Barnes, that's not gonna be the case, I don't think at all. So if Kawhi can kind of like take on less of a role and maybe be somewhat like he still was last year, um, and then I am a huge like fan of Colin Murray Boyles, yeah. And I was actually pretty impressed with RJ Barrett, too. Um, like I know you know it's like RJ Barrett, I feel like you kind of get laughs and chuckles, but I thought he was actually pretty good in that series against the Cavs. So I it's like one of those things where I would still take the Sixers, but like there's just multiple other teams that are really impressive, and so it's gonna be tough. And I didn't even mention the Pistons, which they were the ones he'd last year, so like yeah, it's uh it's gonna be interesting for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:38

I think the Pistons are taking it a step back though. Like they lost Beef Stew, they lost Tobias, whatever that means.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:44

Like, I don't think they're necessarily I feel like they're better. It's more I feel like they have a move, like they have they have some dry gunpowder that I think they're gonna because of exactly this. Like, everyone's everyone's like putting some chips in. I don't feel like they're just gonna be like, oh, you know, like well, I guess everybody else is like getting better. We'll just sit stand pat when we have Cade, who's like an MVP level player. So I just don't know what it is yet, but I'm sure there's a move out there. There's always something looming, and I feel like the next thing that could happen could involve them. And I could see them trading, you know, like some of their more interesting younger players that aren't ready and like throw in a few firsts and get the next like high-level player that is potentially going to be moved. I don't want to like you know divert this conversation too much and try and figure out who that player might be, but I'm sure there's somebody out there that um like if they ended up with like a Trey Murphy, I know like he's been rumoring trades for forever, but that could be I wouldn't say that would like vault them to the top, but that would certainly make them more interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:58

Um and I don't think it would take like a mother load offer, but just thinking on my feet here, that would be them re-signing Kevin Herter was kind of weird because I feel like they didn't really they traded for him, but then like didn't really play him and then re-signed him and didn't bring back other people.

unknown 1:09:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:17

They're all so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:17

I mean, I understand like getting rid of Stuart and Tobias, given like how their season ended last year. Um it's just like they didn't really feel that yet, but I wouldn't say that means it's over for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:31

Like they're just I mean they brought in John Collins, who's fine. I don't know if that's necessarily an upgrade. I feel like it's more just more of the same.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:40

Yeah, it makes me think that they're they're gonna do something at some point. I I don't know what it is, but I don't know. Yeah. I'm looking at like Michael Porter. I'm looking at like uh I again I don't know if these guys are like enough of needle movers, but it's at least curious to me. I also saw Tari sin re-sign with the Rockets just before we started.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:05

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:06

A little disappointing.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:07

I I know the Sixers had no money left and he wasn't gonna sign here, but he would have been a delightful addition.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:13

Yeah, I I would have liked that as well, but I'll take Jalen Brown, I guess. And uh Yeah, yeah, true. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

It's nice we didn't hurt our depth at least to acquire him. Like it was a one-for-one player deal, and then attach picks, so like picks suck, but the Sixers again, like what we talked about, you need depth in this league, and the Sixers already barely have any. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:39

Alright, I think do you have anything else? I mean, uh, we could touch on like all the other stuff, but I don't I don't really feel like talking for another half an hour, so yeah. No, I think we covered it pretty well.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:48

I got my thoughts out. I'm I'm excited. I I felt just kind of empty inside about this team, aside from uh well, definitely not because so VJ was like the one piece of light. Like watching him grow was gonna be exciting, and he's the reason I I signed into games. Him and Maxi, obviously. Um, the rest of the team has been just slowly depressing over time, but I feel like this really just revamped things. All of a sudden the Sixers feel relevant again, and that that's exciting. It's July 2nd, and we're talking about this.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:22

Yeah, I will say, like, as I think about it at like a very core level, looking around the league, there are only like maybe two or three teams that have a trio of players that I would rather have than the Sixers' main trio, and I'm not counting Embiid.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:39

I wouldn't say trio, what about core four? Yeah, like what team is four team? Well, the Knicks have a pretty good four, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:46

There's some teams, but as much as I love Embiid and all of the nuance that we've had, and all of the things weird out of this core four, Embiid is the one.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:57

Like he was our everything for the last 10 years, and now it's like uh he's probably the one I consider the least part of the core four.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

Well, I and I feel like it's of course, like right now, it's like this year, if I wanted to win, I would take Embiid over Vijay but it's it's like the his like declining parts of his game, just like add this. He's so like you need to like uh cater around him in such a very particular way, and the NBA doesn't allow for that level of flexibility and roster construction, they can just give me like, oh, we'll we'll put this perfect guy here and this perfect guy here, and so I feel like just like the incredibly unique nature of the state of his game right now just makes it such such a hard thing to work around, and so I just am like ignoring that kind of in my brain, even though I know how good he can be. Um but yeah, give me the Thunders three, the Spurs three, and maybe you could probably pick a three from the Knicks, but it's close, honestly. I think I'm that confident in VJ. Um, so yeah, it's definitely very close, but I'm pretty happy to say like that honestly is my opinion on that. So that's uh I can't really be be too mad about where the Sixers sit right now with those guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:20

You have Embiid, an age star, Jalen Brown, who's exactly in his prime, Maxi, who's like in the early part of his prime, VJ, who hasn't even sniffed his prime yet, and all their deals pretty much end at the same time. It's interesting. I think they all have like three years left, assuming no extensions, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:43

Cool, all right. Um, any final basketball thoughts? Otherwise, we can do recommendations. Nope. Nope. That's everything from me. All right, what is your recommendation?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:56

This is not super original, but House of the Dragon, if you followed us for this long, you know that we're fans of this. So far, only two episodes have released so far of season three, but I think this has been as good as House of the Dragon's been. So season three seems like they're hitting their stride, at least through two episodes. Um, a lot of people have said that these were supposed to be episode like nine and ten, essentially the penultimate and finale of season two, but the budget didn't call for it and some other issues. Um so if you think about it on that lens, it's interesting. So maybe in a binge watch, the whole series just will feel differently. But waiting a couple years was a little tough, and buying back in might be hard for people, but again, so far I'm really enjoying it. So a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:46

Yeah, I just um I think I was like the only one that said I liked House of the Dragon better than Knight of the Seven Kingdoms when we were talking about that. And I I know like the the like real essence of the narrative is like not as rich as Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but just like being able to watch an episode of TV every week that literally feels like a movie is just really fun, and this is like 100% what the show is.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:14

Like this season is a lot of dragon stuff too. So if you've liked dragons in the past, like you think of them like pets when you're watching, like a dog or cat with some like cute actions. I feel like they just took extra time to like throw them in scenes, especially episode two, like Caraxis just like drinking out of the water, it's cute.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did just see that scene, so yeah, it was good. Um so yeah, really on board with you with you there. Uh do you know? Um is this is it is this like a 10-episode kind of thing? Do you already have a sense of that? It's eight. Eight, okay. Cool. Because I think this episode is like kind of long. I'm only halfway done, and I think I'm like I've been watching. Yeah, it's over an hour.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:57

Both of the first two episodes were over an hour.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:00

Nice. Cool. Alright. Um my recommendation. This is a little tricky. I didn't really have one teed up. Ugh, I should have. I mean, my honestly, if you didn't say, I guess my recommendation probably would have been House of the Dragon. I feel like some of the stuff that I've been recommending in the last couple podcasts is still sort of fresh for me. I guess if I had to do one, this is sort of a weaker one for me, but nothing's coming to mind. So I'll say there's a show on Apple TV called Cape Fear that uh is like a thrillery kind of show. I wouldn't it's like maybe labeled as horror, but I wouldn't say it's like that scary. It's definitely like a little scary, but not that scary. And it is an Apple TV show, which I feel like Apple just continues to put out shows that are very watchable, even if they're not like best shows of all time.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:58

And this show is yeah, yeah, I haven't seen King Fear, but like originals and stuff like that. That seems to be like Apple's niche is just creativity in a sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:09

Yes, so it is apparently a remake, and they've remade the sh show or it wasn't recruited at some point.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:16

Take that back.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:17

Yeah, yeah. It's funny that we say that. But it's just like I guess I was typically like they do that. So I feel like mainly the the point is that they're very good at curation, so like usually they make a good show if it's if they put it out there. So that kind of already sets a bar. But I I would say it's a pretty good show. It's definitely one that I enjoy watching. The like main, like I don't know if villain's the right word, but the main like kind of antagonist kind of is uh what is his name? It's like Javier God. I was hoping that I would see the cast. I think it is, I think it is him. Yeah, let me just double check. He's in movies, so I don't I should yeah, okay. He's like the main antagonist, but he's like such a good character, it's like almost worth watching just for his acting in in his role. So um I would recommend it. It's a fun. I'm just like a thriller horror like addict at this point. I feel like it just makes me feel alive when I watch something that like makes me stressed. Um, so if anybody else is like that, this is definitely one to check out. Um, but yeah, that's and I did look it up here. So it was a film in 1962, and then they remade the film in 1991. So I think this is the first time it's a TV show. Yeah, yeah. The last two are movies. So but yeah, that's that. Um I think that wraps it up for us tonight. I almost don't even remember the spiel, but I'll say uh, you know, if you've been listening this long, hopefully you enjoyed. Please give us five stars. Subscribe, turn on notifications so that when we occasionally release an episode, you see it coming. Uh, you won't be pinged that often, probably. So that's kind of the upside of putting on notifications. And you know, leave a comment. We appreciate that. You can email us at thelakeviewpodcast at gmail.com, follow us at the lakeview pod. Is it just the lakeview pod? Yeah, I think that's it. But no. Yeah, yeah, check it out. Let us know. Um, and yeah, thanks, thank you all for listening. Hopefully, we will talk to you again soon. Maybe we'll talk some House the Dragon or something like that one of these days. Yeah, uh, that could that could be fun. But all right, uh until next time, see ya.