LEBRON JAMES IS A 76ER

The 76ers have been in the news all off-season, first with trading for Jaylen Brown, drafting Labaron Philon Jr., and now the signing of future Hall of Famer and four-time NBA champion LeBron James! #Philadelphia76ers #NBAonX #LeBronJames

Transcript

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State Mary's number twenty-three LeBron James James After nine seasons of trusting the process to get a LeBron James, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally gotten LeBron James here in Philadelphia. Thanks everyone for sticking around here on the 6ix10 Podcast throughout the 76ers off season. We've talked about it since day one. Since day one, since after the Sixers were swept by the New York Knicks, we said that they needed to have a complete culture reset. They needed to have a culture reset in the worst ways possible, or this era of 76ers basketball was going to continue to go nowhere. And the 76ers made a huge step in getting Jalen Brown, getting someone who can come in that knows what it takes to win, that understands what winning basketball looks like, that understands that everyone needs to play a key role in order for this team to have success. And then they went out and gotten another man who more than understands what it takes to have success in LeBron James as he signs a two-year $8 million contract, the vet minimum, to be a member of your Philadelphia 76ers. And no, it's not a hefty contract. It's not a contract or as of right now that means any corresponding move in which anyone's getting traded out. It could mean that certain guys are coming in. I've seen reports that Cantavious Caldwell Pope Pope could potentially join the 76ers. We'll see what other moves they make in order to beef up the bench, because that's of course something that will need uh some work. But if you're a Philadelphia 76ers fan, you mark down where you were for these two dates in the offseason. When the Sixers won out and traded for Jalen Brown, uh one of and if not for Giannis Santa Cumpo, maybe it would have been the most talked about story in terms of uh a player wanting out from their team and being traded elsewhere, but then the Sixers go out and get the biggest story in all of sports for the last two months. But here's what we have, folks. In twenty twenty five-2026, Tyrese Maxie averaged twenty-eight points per game. Jalen Brown averaged twenty-nine, Joel Embiid twenty-seven, LeBron James, twenty-one, and VJ Edgecombe sixteen, not to mention LeBaron Phylon Jr. being drafted and what we hope he'll bring off the bench. Signing Dean Wade as well. You talk about some other role guys too, Dominic Barlow, Adem Bona, bringing in Anthony Simmons and what that means. So obviously, things around the city of Philadelphia over the last couple months, from the World Cup to the All-Star Games, uh, to all of that to all those things to getting Jalen Brown, the City of Philadelphia has been in the news sports-wise a lot, and this is just one other or just one more uh reason for Philadelphia to be in the headlines. Now, let's be honest. There's going to be, and it already has started, because everyone who's anyone that is not a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers, and even Sixers fans themselves, if they're being honest, they've had the same thought run through their brain. How will this affect the mantra of there's only one basketball? And these five, well, four, plus Edgecombe, who's gonna want to look to score, how will these five guys share the basketball? And I'll tell you. Listen, it's been reported that, and we already knew Tyrese Maxie and LeBron James, who have the same uh sports agency. Maxie was very influential in getting LeBron to Philly. So Maxie reached out, Jalen Brown reached out, and while there were a ton of reports and a lot of question marks, well, how come Joel Embiid hasn't been on social media talking about Jalen Brown? How come he hasn't made a public statement? Well, it was then put out that Embiid had reached out to Jalen Brown privately, and that Embiid had been reaching out to LeBron James. Now we know LeBron James one of his biggest concerns was about Joel's health. And it's a fair concern. So that's going to be a situation that will need to be addressed. But in terms of what's on the floor, you know, if you notice with the 76ers throughout the last couple years with Paul George and Bede and Maxie, and really this past season, each of them really averaged around 20 to 25 shots. That was the big three there. Well, the big three right now, if you were to obviously keep it at the guys that I think court the most uh money, and I think when you have guard, wing, center, you'd consider Maxie, Brown, and Embiid to take that many shots. Not LeBron. Because here's the thing about LeBron James, and I know people are gonna sit there and say that I'm crazy, that this is a horrendous take. But the only way for this thing to work is guys are going to have to put the team in front of themselves, and he is gonna have to be willing to basically say, you know what? I am the four that this team has always needed. That's what he is. He's going to need to come in, and listen, he's already showed you that he was willing to take less to sign with the 76ers. Two years, eight million dollars on the vet minimum. Mind you, there are college athletes that are going to be making more this season in their contract. Now, LeBron obviously having his own deals and of course what comes with the name LeBron James, so he's going to be making a lot more than four million dollars in the year of our Lord 2026 and 2027 NBA season. So let's not make the mistake of thinking, oh, that's just his annual income, of course, as NBA players will tell you whatever is taxed off of that four million dollars. But the bottom line is he's willing to come here, and you don't think that he's the type of guy that would sit there and say whatever the team needs in order for me to win a championship, because, hey, for everyone out there that talks about, you know, LeBron, this is what makes LeBron great, is because he will go to whatever situation and he will make that team instantly better. He will make that team a championship team. He's going to do the necessary things. Well, that's what you're going to expect now as he puts on the blue and white. As we know with the 76ers, and as I mentioned, the winning culture has not been in that locker room. It just hasn't. I mean, over the last, you know, nine seasons, they have not had a true quote unquote winning atmosphere. They just haven't. You can see I've I mean, I come on here and I talk about it all the time. You look at the Knicks, you look at the Celtics, you look at what the Bucs did, you look at what the Raptors did. The fact that that is what makes a championship team a championship team. It's not just playground basketball and ISO ball. It's guys needing to fit into one common goal, putting the team before themselves. And that's no doubt what we're going to need to see out of LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, there's no doubt in my mind that this could be a situation that'll take some time to gel. And listen, you know, the NBA regular season is more of kind of a wash than anything. It's really not a, you know, wow, that team looked so good throughout the regular season. That instantly means they're going to find success. No, we saw what happened with the Boston Celtics. How well they looked when it was just Jalen Brown's team. Then they got Jason Tatum back, and it just didn't look right. You look at, you know, a team like the New York Knicks that, you know, didn't have the greatest regular season. I mean, in their regular season, they were 53 and 29, but and finished second, or rather third in the Eastern Conference. That's just it. They finished third. They weren't the top team in the Eastern Conference. But that Knicks team only lost three games in the playoffs and reeled off, you know, what was it? Fourteen in a row at one point, or uh twelve twelve or thir thirteen in a row in the playoffs at one point. I mean, this is a situation with the NBA, and you'll hear about it leading up to the All-Star break for uh the association, and everyone's and every pundit's gonna be saying, Well, how can we make the regular season more interesting? How can we make teams and you know, there obviously has been um, of course, the proposed new draft lottery system that could make that obviously interesting, but naturally that doesn't totally solve the issue, and that new draft lottery system will go into effect this upcoming season, but there's also the load management portion of everything. And there's also kind of the whole I mean, let's face it, just look of the game today. The fact that it's live by the three ball, die by the three ball, which will also make the 76ers team interesting. But you know, I do find it kind of interesting when it comes to people talking about now the LeBron James factor with the 76ers, and if you see a lot of people who are Knicks fans, who mind you, and they wouldn't let you forget it, they just won the NBA championship for the first time in about fifty years, right? So I see everywhere, now that LeBron has made his decision, cool, maybe the Sixers will finally win a game against them in the playoffs. Well, I'm gonna quote Chris Pronger here. If that's the first thing you have to say, and you're not eating we're not even at training camp yet, you are still have that glow of winning the NBA Finals, your team winning the NBA Finals. If that's what you have to say five minutes after winning the NBA Finals, your team winning the NBA Finals, I think you have better things to worry about. I'll quote Chris Pronger on that one because truly it's a little pathetic. I mean, you want to walk around and puff out your chest, but the second another team betters itself, too sure. Yeah, go out and beat your team. But if that's the first thing you have to say, I'm sorry, I think you got better things to worry about. And I listened to a lot of um ESPN New York radio. They said today, you know, the greatest thing for Knicks fans is that or next year is that even if they don't win the championship, the most likely thing is that the Sixers wouldn't win a championship. So let me get this straight. The biggest joy for you next year if your team doesn't repeat, is that the most likely outcome is that the Sixers would not win the championship. Okay. I I mean, I guess this year, you know, sure. If I was watching, you know, the Knicks go through their run, I guess the greatest thing was that they wouldn't win the championship, but I also gotta kind of ask you, look at the future for the 76ers as well. You know, even if it doesn't work this year with LeBron James, we still have Tyrese Maxie, we still have Jalen Brown, and a young VJ Edgecombe. Those three alone would attract talent to Philadelphia. As long as, you know, there aren't bent feelings by this time next year, I'm sorry, us winning the championship this year doesn't necessarily mean we're just gonna oh, we're immediately suck. I don't know. I mean, I guess because you feel like now, mind you, there's no even reason for a Knicks fan to be too upset that the 76ers got LeBron James. There's no reason for anyone who's not a Warriors fan or a Cavs fan or a Miami Heat fan. Like if you're a Cavs fan, you honestly have to sit there and be like, man, this guy duped us again. Like he left the first time. Alright, you want to say that was management's fault? Okay. The second time was a little more shady on the part of LeBron James. But then this time, to potentially put the final exclamation point in his final chapter and go home to Cleveland, he decides to go to Philly. That's gotta feel pretty bad. And if you're a Miami Heat fan, I guess you allowed yourself to dream a little bit about the opportunity for him to come back and, you know, win a ring, hopefully, for Pat Riley in his uh obviously, you know, later years of being the president of the Miami Heat. And, you know, I mean Pat Riley. Now at the age of 81, obviously, with what everyone I think expected, or at least was hoping, that if he didn't go to Cleveland, he would at least go to Miami, but then there was the whole Golden State Warriors opportunity, which is kind of interesting. You know, he starts off being interested in Golden State. Sixers get Jalen Brown. That really opens the door for LeBron to Philly. Then, you know, we're obviously still thinking about Cleveland and him returning home to Cleveland. Then Miami becomes interesting, and by the end of it, it kind of seemed like it was Miami, Philly, Golden State. I thought he could obviously create a smokescreen there and then just go back to Cleveland because hey, if he wasn't going to go to the Sixers, I thought the best thing would be that's a nice end of the story. He goes back to Cleveland. Although, I mean, at this point, it would have been a better ending if he would have gone Cleveland, Miami, back to Cleveland, and just finished his career in Cleveland. But hey, that's besides the point. And a conversation for a different day about my personal feelings on LeBron James. But hey, he's a member of the 76ers, and at this point for me, I'm not a huge I'll be honest, I'm not a huge LeBron guy. But at this at this stage in the game, with the 76ers, with everything that they have put the fans through, I'm willing to let all that personal feelings go about whether or not I really like LeBron James as a person, the whole GOAT debate and everything like that. He's here, and hopefully he is going to help the 76ers bring a championship back to the city. Put but which by the way, the other cool part about this is basketball is finally back on the map here. Because throughout the whole trust the process, that the Sixers ownership dragged the fans through, and then it ultimately what you were looking to achieve didn't succeed. And the whole point about having, oh, a young Ben Simmons and a young Joel Embiid, and man, they're going to be superstars in this league, was to attract a LeBron James for when he hit free agency in 2018, he would choose the Sixers and he chose the Lakers. And then, you know, you go out and you try and find that type of veteran player, that type of veteran player that would add to the Sixers team. You didn't well, you had it in Jimmy Butler. What happened there? Then you had it, or at least you thought you had it in James Harden. You doubled down on it two years ago when you brought in Paul George, and that didn't work. But now it all comes full circle, and LeBron is back, or not back, but LeBron has finally chosen the 76ers. I must say, it's amazing. You look back on seven years ago or uh eight years ago. I mean, you look back at even 2010, you know, the first time we did that, the first time he made his decision. Then in 2014, which didn't feel as played out as 2010 did, or 2018, which was really played out. This was drawn out to kind of an annoyance, and I'll I'll talk about this right now. I'll say, you know, at a certain point, it was like, dude, just make your decision. Just announce you're just prolonging it for prolonging sake. And obviously, the outcome makes you feel as a fan like, okay, you know, we're willing to let the annoyance of the last couple weeks aside because, hey, he finally made his decision. But there was the whole Adam Silver thing about he was kind of pushing LeBron James to make his decision because they need to release the schedule and all that, and LeBron's obviously was kind of pushing it back. Um, well, that was the rumor that he was pushing it back for that reason, despite Adam Silver. But you know what? Again, as a Sixers fan, do we care as much right now? Not really, because he chose your team. And one more thing. You know, I I think it was my third time seeing the Sixers, and this was in January of twenty fourteen. So the Sixers are taking on the Miami Heat. My cousin, who's a huge LeBron James fan, huge LeBron James. I mean, now chose the Miami Heat as his favorite team because of that, but grew up always You know, loving LeBron. So he his dad, my uncle, gets him for Christmas tickets to see LeBron James, you know, play the Miami Heat. This was January 17th. The exact date right here. And the Sixers they had Michael Carter Williams. He was in the midst of winning Rookie of the Year. Joel Embiid wasn't even on the team. Brett Brown was the coach, and Sam Hankey was obviously the GM. And the Miami Heat went out and beat the Sixers that night 101 to 86. It did not feel that close. Sixers now 13 and 26 on the year. Now, what I have here on Sports Reference is it said 19,286 were in the house that night. At least in terms of, I guess, tickets sold, that was the amount, because it did not feel like that, mind you. I mean, there were empty seats everywhere. We now we did sit in the Lows Please and the lower bowl was full. But 19,286, that means it's at what you know now the Xfinity Mobile Arena, it was if you put that many people in there, it's gonna be decently packed. It really wasn't. I'll tell you, it really wasn't. And the game before again, Charlotte, at the Sixers won by three, 10,106 people that night. And I'll tell you this much. My overall point here about when we saw the Heat LeBron James, the amount of fans there were like 95% Miami Heat fans, going absolutely nuts. There was this little kid sitting next to me, my uncle, and my cousin, who was just going crazy every time LeBron scored. And you know what you say about that now? That same exact little kid who, you know, I'm sure ended up continuing to root for LeBron James throughout his career as a uh sports fan. Now he's rooting for the 76ers. As are all the rest of the LeBron James squad. The city of Philadelphia is now going to be a bandwagon destination spot. There's gonna be more eyes on NBC Sports Philadelphia games than ever before. Let's just put it that way. So thanks everyone for tuning into this episode. Uh we'll be back on here on this podcast coming up this weekend. We want to get into some flyers stuff as well. We'll have some Penn State football as we're drawing near to fall camp. Eagles, we're gonna get into it. Training camp just around the corner. So a lot to do here as we wind down the month of July here on the 610 podcast. Thanks everyone for tuning in, and now it's time to play the song.