The Tanking Dilemma

The Philadelphia 76ers have fallen to ninth in the Eastern Conference at 36-31, and in this episode of Second Round Syndrome, hosts DJSportsZone and Jordan Sabel ask the question Sixers fans never want to hear: is it time to pivot to the draft? With their top-four protected pick hanging in the balance, the duo debates whether a postseason push is even realistic given the current state of the roster—or if losing might actually be the smarter path forward.

Inside the Sixers’ Injury Crisis

• Injury Crisis – The injury report continues to spiral, with Tyrese Maxey sidelined for three weeks due to a finger injury, Kelly Oubre out with an elbow sprain, and no clear timetable for Joel Embiid’s return.

• The Nets Near-Collapse – The hosts react to a chaotic win over Brooklyn where the Sixers nearly blew a 28-point lead, allowing 41 fourth-quarter points to a team actively trying to lose.

• Pistons Physicality – A frustrating loss to Detroit highlights the roster’s lack of size, as Dominick Barlow was forced to battle Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart in what the hosts describe as a completely mismatched fight.

• The VJ Edgecombe Experiment – Nick Nurse faces criticism for forcing rookie VJ Edgecombe into a primary ball-handler role, throwing him into the fire in a position he may not be ready for.

• Tanking vs. Optimism – The debate heats up as DJ argues for a strategic tank to secure a top-four pick, while Jordan believes a healthy Sixers team could still make noise in the playoffs.

Around the NBA

• Bam Adebayo’s 83-Point Explosion – The hosts react to one of the highest-scoring performances ever, while questioning the circumstances behind it and the strategy used to get there.

A mix of analysis, reactions, and bold takes, this episode explores a franchise at a crossroads—caught between chasing the playoffs and protecting its future, with no clear answers in sight.

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DJSportsZone: IG/Facebook/YouTube/TikTok @djsportszone

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to second round syndrome. Round two. Welcome on into second round syndrome, your talk for the Philadelphia 76ers and the NBA. I'm your host, DJ Sportzone. With me is my co-host, Jordan Sable. Jordan, how's it going, dude? What's up, DJ?

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Welcome on into another show, everyone. We're going to talk about the massive Sixers injury report and a bunch of other things that's come up in the past uh past week. And let's chat, DJ. Let's let's let's do this.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

So the Sixers are just at this point, they're falling off a cliff. They're they're hurtling towards maybe the lottery. I don't even know exactly what's happening with this team anymore. So right now, the Sixers, they're 36 and 31. They are ninth now, ninth in the Eastern Conference. I remember just like two weeks ago, we were talking about possible playoff matchups. Maybe they'll work out best going against the New York Knicks or the Cleveland Cavaliers or maybe the Toronto Raptors. And now, as the show goes on over the next couple weeks, I think we're gonna more so talk about the draft odds for the Sixers. Right? Because at this point, I think they have zero shot at making the playoffs. Okay. I think they're gonna make the plan no matter what happens. I don't think they're gonna be bad enough where they have a worse record than the Milwaukee Bucks. I just don't think that's gonna happen. But as of recording this, well, we just witnessed the Brooklyn Nets game. Okay, the Sixers actually won that game. Crazy. They won 104 to 97, but it shouldn't have been that close. Why? Let's let's just quickly look at the game. We're not gonna break down every single moment because it's the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are trying to lose. They're a terrible team. They were missing players as well, right? They didn't have Michael Porter Jr., they didn't have Yeor Yeoman, Nick Claxton. They were missing a bunch of players, right? Sixers, Joel Embiid is still out since our last show. He may or may not be back on this upcoming West Coast road trip. He won't be playing tomorrow because they do play tomorrow night at 6 o'clock against the Portland Trailblazers at home. I don't believe he's gonna play in that game. I highly doubt he's gonna play in that first game on the road trip because he never plays in Denver. Will he return for the Kings game or the Jazz game? I have no idea. Will he return at all this season? No clue at this point. Tyrese Maxie, he's he obviously suffered that finger injury. He's out for three weeks. Kelly Ubre suffered an elbow sprain. He's out for two weeks. We've had Drummond missing games, Bona missed games. He did play today, though. Jabari Walker was out today with an illness. Like, this is just how crazy this is getting. But the Brooklyn Nets in the first half, Jordan, I kid you not, they scored 31 points in the first half. 31 points. That's how bad this Brooklyn Nets team is. They are trying to lose. The Sixers were up as much as 28 points. 28 points. And the Nets took the lead in the fourth quarter. Obviously, we we've talked about the third quarter struggles, and I'm just numb to it at this point. I don't even really want to discuss the third quarter itself. It wasn't even like the worst third quarter of all time. I mean, they got outscored by one point, 25 to 24, but then they let the Nets destroy them in the fourth quarter, 41 to 27. Like, how on earth is that possible?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

That's that's not that that can't be allowed, especially with the way the Nets are playing this season with their goal to you know tank and get a high high draft pick in the lottery. That's just unfathomable to be able to do that as the Sixers. Now, personally, I did not watch this game. I was watching some other sports events that were going on going on at the time. But yes, like like DJ was saying, we're all numb to the third quarter struggles. And now it seems like are we do we have to be numb to the second half struggles? Because you you can't win a game with without playing four quarters of basketball. If you're gonna lose the third quarter, uh you might as well lose the fourth quarter too. It's just not great to watch. I will take the win, but obviously the future, what what's gonna happen in in future games, and and we'll have to see.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yeah, well, I mean, you did the smart thing by not watching this game. I mean, I know there are you know probably uh maybe 10 Sixers fans out there, and obviously I'm one of them who need to seek like mental help because I'm I was watching this game. Why? I have no idea. I don't know why I'm still watching this team, but that that's how uh you know sick I am as a Sixers fan. That's how diehard I am of this team that I continue to watch, even though they they put up just utter crap on the on the court, especially at home. I will give credit to Quentin Grimes. I mean, he did have 28 points, shot 10 of 22 from the field. I mean, not great, 22 shots is crazy, but you needed him to score points, right? Justin Edwards, he had 19 points. Good for him. VJ Edgecombe. I feel bad for him for him, mainly because of how Nick Nurse has been utilizing him all season, right? When you look at the because first of all, they they got their butts kicked by the Detroit Pistons. No shock there, by the way. But in that game, they've been utilizing like these last few games, they've been utilizing VJ Edgecombe as a point guard. And this makes total sense knowing Nick Nurse, because if you go back to the previous Brooklyn Nets game from a couple months back, he even said behind Maxi, our point guards are VJ and Trendon Watford, right? Even when McCain was on the team. Now you could say, okay, well, who else are they going to put next to Vijay? I mean, you have Camp Payne. I mean, Payne's not great, but he's at least a ball handler. I mean, even if you I hate saying this because I don't even want to say this guy's name, but even if you utilize Kyle Lowry for a couple of minutes while all these guys are out, maybe that's something. I mean, you can't utilize VJ as a point guard. That's the point. Right now, VJ is not at the stage of his career where he can create his own shot. He's a rookie, he's never played point guard before, right? Maxie was the exact same way for his first couple years in the league. Even when he had you start at the point guard spot back when Ben Simmons was holding out, he still couldn't create his own shot. It wasn't really until the James Harden era, maybe even like as that was coming to an end, even though that it wasn't a long time when Harden was here, that's when Maxie started to figure out how to create his own shot rather than just playing off ball to Harden or to embiede, right? But VJ's not at that point yet. Can he get there? Sure, right? But you got to give it a couple years. Nick Nurse is kind of throwing him to the fire now because he has to, because you have so many guys out. I mean, even VJ missed a game or two when you know he he fell in that Spurs game that you actually went to. It's just crazy. Uh, Nick Nurse doesn't seem to know how to utilize any of these players. And it just shows uh, you know, Justin Edwards, I'm seeing all these comments now of oh, well, Justin Edwards is such a great player. How come Nick Nurse can't figure out how to utilize him? Now, I don't know if Justin Edwards is that good of a player. I think this year he's been really bad. Uh, I mean, I I think the only way Justin Edwards would be a great player is if Daryl Morey ended up trading him to Oklahoma City. I'm sure they would figure out a way to utilize him way better, just seeing what they do with any player, including Isaiah Joe and Jared McCain. But at this point, like I just I don't understand what Nick Nurse's philosophy is. I don't understand what Daryl Maury's philosophy is. I mean, you look at that Pistons game, Jordan. They are the most physical team in the NBA. There, there's no debate about that. And you had all four of your centers, right? Obviously, Joel and Bede, Janai Broom's out for the season because he tore his meniscus playing with the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League. And then you didn't have Andre Drummond due to back spasms, and you didn't have a Dembona, and what was his injury? Back as well, something like that. And you had to put Dominic Barlow, who's what, 6'7, 6'8? You had to put Dominic Barlow up against Jalen Duran and Isaiah Stewart, which is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I even saw, and I won't I won't say the person by name, but I saw a Sixers beat reporter tweet out I can't wait to see Dominic Barlow getting real minutes at the five. That's gotta be so dumb to say. Just because how on earth could you look forward to seeing Barlow go up against Durant and Stewart? It it makes absolutely no sense.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, it's it's not his preferred position either. He doesn't want to probably doesn't want to play there. Wants to play as a forward, not even as like a center. It it's or we're we are just so thin in numbers now with all these injuries. It's just uh watching these games, we're just like throwing players into different places. It's like oh yeah, Barlow can fit in this position. Even though he's like the only the tallest player left on the team, that's it's crazy. Especially against a player like Jalen Dern, who's gonna just like be a rebounding professional in the box. And we always suck anyway at rebounding, so you add that in, and it's just it's just messy. I mean, I I don't know. I don't know how he did it. And we kind of kept it competitive until the fourth quarter, and then everything kind of fell apart. But that's honestly to be expected. They didn't put in Cade Cunningham for for parts of that game, uh, and then we were able to cut it, claw it back. But the minute Cade Cunningham comes in, that that that Detroit Pistons team is able to then take over and you know exploit the weaknesses of the Sixers and playing a non-center in a in a center role. It just can't happen.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah, I mean, I compare it to like an amateur boxer going into the to the ring up against like prime Mike Tyson. I mean, you're just asking for trouble right there. It it makes no sense. And then you you could say to yourself, okay, well, Darrell Mori probably should have made a move, made an addition at center, right? I I've said it before, I would have waived Janay Broom a long time ago, right? There were rumors when Josh Harris wanted to duck the tax, which ended up happening anyways, that they were looking to trade either Ubre or Drummond. Now, I would have traded Ubre, which I'm glad they didn't, but they should have tried to find a trade for Andre Drummond, and then they could try to find a center that's a much better fit for this team. That because Nick Nurse, and this is another thing that bothers me about him, is when he puts Andre Drummond on the floor, he tries to run a very similar offense to like when Joel Embiid is on the floor. And it doesn't make any sense because Drummond and Bede are two completely different players. Now, Drummond might want to dream that he's the same player now that he made a couple of three-pointers in the beginning of the season. But now that you know he he's finally he finally went back to planet Earth and he's now missing threes like he's done his entire career. He still doesn't have that mind. His mindset is still, I'm Joel and Bede, or I'm better than Joel. I don't know. I don't know what his mindset is. But Nick Nurse is just kind of buying into that, which is just so crazy to me. So, you know, and Cade Cunningham didn't even have to do much. I mean, he only had eight points of that game. He took six shots, he didn't have to. I mean, they have such a deep team. I mean, you know, Duncan Robinson had 19 points, Tobias Harris had 15, you had 14 and 10 from Duran, 12 from Kevin Herter, 15 from Ron Holland the second. I mean, they they have a good team over there. I mean, 17 from Javante Green. I mean, the one downside with Detroit, because like the Sixers put up a fight in the second quarter in that game. The reason, the only reason why is because Cade Cunningham was on the bench. That is, their one Achilles heel is they're not the best team when Cade Cunningham is is off the floor. And the Sixers took advantage of that, and good for them. I mean, but their starters, uh, you VJ only had 10 points in that game. He shot three of 14 from the field. He was not good, right? Quinton Grimes only had 14. I mean, he shot one of eight from three, and that's what we basically seen from Quentin Grimes all season. He's like maybe a better version because he's a better defender, but he's kind of like Cam Thomas, they're like the same player, and then you know, Justin Edwards had 12 in that game, Barlow had 11. I mean, the their best players in that Pistons game, it was Marjan Bochamp, a two-way player, Campaign, who was playing in Serbia half the year, and then you know, Jabari Walker, who again didn't play today. And if this is what the Sixers are gonna be doing for the rest of the season, because I mean, Paul George, he is eligible to return on March 25th. So we basically have what, a week and a half left before he can play again. Tyrese Maxi, Kelly Ubre, they're gonna be out for a while. Joel, big question mark still. And even when Paul George is eligible to return, I wouldn't be shocked if we get an alert saying, oh, he got some mystery injury and now he can't play. I mean, this is the same guy that got injured in a workout in the offseason and had to get surgery because of it. So it that wouldn't shock me either. So the question is, are the Sixers tanking now? Because if you look at it, Jordan, they have a top four protected pick, right? So for those that don't know, if in this draft, if they if their draft pick, if their draft pick is one, two, three, or four, they keep it. But if it's five or later, doesn't matter if it's five, if it's ten, if it's twenty, it goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Right this past year, right, we had a top six protected pick, and luckily we were able to get the number three overall pick and VJ Edge comb out of it. But the Sixers were in a better position to tank because they pretty much were losing games from the beginning of the year. Now we're kind of at a spot where they have maybe a less than 10% chance of getting that top four pick, but because of the lottery, it's not for certain. So you could be losing all these games for absolutely no reason.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Yeah, I just think it's too late to tank in general. I I personally I know with all the injuries and stuff, it may just go by the way of like, oh, we're we're now tanking and we're just losing games because we obviously don't have the enough quality on the on the floor, enough star players playing. Uh so it might look like tanking, but personally, I just think it's it's way too late to tank. Um is that might is that maybe what's just gonna play out on the court and look like sure, I guess we're we're kind of dropping down the standings pretty quickly in in in recent weeks, um just because of all the injuries that we've had. So it's just it may look like tanking from the outside, but I don't I think from like the inside in inside the organization, I don't think they're specifically tanking. At least that's that's how I think. Do you think that they're thinking like that, DJ, or no?

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I mean I think they should at this point, because this this is my argument, is and I I just don't think you can disagree with me on this, and maybe maybe you can, but I think they have a better shot at getting a top four pick than doing literally anything in the postseason, even just winning a play-in game, right? Because if let's just assume that Joel Embiid is not playing again this season, which is uh a possibility. I think it's a likely possibility at this point. Can you see them beating the Charlotte Hornets in a play-in game? I can't. Can can you see them beating the Atlanta Hawks, who they didn't they have not beaten this season? Can they beat the Atlanta Hawks in a play-in game? I don't see it. Uh make the he or the magic, which now they're they're playing a lot better now. I don't see them being able to beat any of those teams in the play-in. I think at this point they need to purposely lose, if not just lose because they're so terrible without Embiid, the play-in game. So that way they have a chance to possibly get an AJ DeBonsta or a Darren Peterson or any of these top players coming up in the draft. Because they're not going to do anything in the playoffs. Let's just imagine, let's just, you know, put on our fantasy hats and let's just assume that they can win one to two playing games. And if they do end up dropping to the 10 seed, then they have to play two playing games on the road, by the way. Let's just imagine they're able to do that. Then you're telling me they have even a chance at going up against the Detroit Pistons in the first round? Or let's just, again, fantasy hats, let's just imagine they're able to stay in that seven, eight seed range. They have to only win one playing game. They end up being the seven seed. And then do you think that they can beat the Boston Celtics in the first round? I don't think that can happen. So, just with all of those facts that I laid out, I don't think there's any point in trying to win games. And you look at history, Jordan, and this is why I think there is hope to get a top four pick. Let's look at history, the last two seasons. The last two seasons, the number one overall pick went to the 10 seed. You look at last year, the 10 seed in the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks, they got the number one overall pick, which was Cooper Flack. The year before that, the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks, they got the number one pick. And they got Zachary Richard. Now, granted, he's not nearly as good. He probably won't even be that good player to begin with. But my point is the Sixers, I think, can have a chance. Now, you never know because you could say, well, it's it's the Sixers, it's the luck of the Sixers, and knowing how the NBA just hates the Sixers, the basketball gods just always want to crush our spirits. We we could do all of this and end up getting the fifth pick. And yeah, that like that's that's what it could run into. But I think that's the only choice we have at this point, unless Daryl Mori, Nick Nurse, whoever can come out and say Joel and Bede is gonna play, and we see that it's consistent over the last how many games we have left, like 15 games left, something like that. Unless that happens, I I don't see any point in trying to win games anymore this season. I I just don't.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I just think there's too much up in the air at this point. You gotta win the games in front of you. It's gonna come down to the wire anyway. I I think they're gonna lose games that they they probably should win, but they're they're gonna end up probably winning a game or two that they're they probably were expected to lose. I just think that's how things go. And we're gonna come down to the last few weeks of the season, and we're gonna see this team, you know, just in that play-in spot. And and they're gonna there's there's no way they can get low enough to not be in the play-in game. Sure, like maybe they'll lose the that playing game, and that's fine. And then we then we're still up there for uh a draft lottery pick and a chance, you know, at getting a top four pick to not to not have the thunder grab that pick from us. But there's just too much jeopardy. Now, I know the the golden question would be like, you know, we get everyone back from that injury report, and Paul George is is done from his suspension, he gets back into kind of a a good good form and getting up shots, and you know, production levels are back to where he was prior in the middle of the season-ish before um all the stuff hit the fan. But like the golden situation with me, we get everyone back, we s just stroll through the the playing games and then go up against as like a higher seed, go up against the really high seed, either the Celtics or the Pistons, and shock them. I mean, would you prefer that or like just completely dropping the rest of the season and say, oh, we'll just lose everything and get a pick? I mean, and then we'll probably never make it past the second round anyway. But I know I like to dream big here. I like to, you know, be optimistic. And I would hope that everyone can come back and you know, go for it in the playoffs, but obviously it's it's wishful thinking. Is it gonna happen? Probably not. I have to think of it from a real perspective, but you know, I like to be an optimist in this in this case.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

And throughout the season, I felt like I was being an optimist, and maybe people are going in the comment section saying, What on earth are you talking about? But I just can't see a world where that happens. I mean, you know, let again, we can assume that they win those play-in games. There's just there's no way I could see them even winning a game against the Pistons. I just I can't. Um, the Pistons are a better team than they were last season. Cade Cunningham is on a whole other level. I mean, he could win MVP this year, right? Durran is playing like one of the top centers in the NBA right now, and obviously so, he earned his first all-star selection. I I just don't see a world where the Sixers can can do anything in the postseason. I mean, I just what while you were talking there, there's 15 games left, and I predict that they can win at most six of them. And I I can just even quickly go through them. You you look at what's left. Portland, I think they they're gonna lose that game. I think Portland just has better talent than the Sixers, assuming because Denny Abdia did return. Denny Abdia drew holiday, Tamani Kamara. I just think a lot of those players cling in. I think most of those guys are just better than what the Sixers have right now. Denver, they're losing that game. Sacramento, they'll win that game. Utah, I think they'll win. OKC, I think they'll get blown out. Chicago, they'll win that. Charlotte, Miami, they'll lose those two. And then you look at April, Washington, they'll win that game. Then they get Minnesota. Detroit, San Antonio, Houston. They're losing all four of those games. And then the last two, Indiana, Milwaukee, which I think they can win both those games. That that I believe that's that's about six wins there. Yeah. That's not going to get you much much further.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

It isn't. But the hope of the everyone gets back by the end of the season, and you just attempt it. You go for it.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Jordan Embiid couldn't survive two games against the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat. There's just no way at this point, especially knowing that Detroit is so physical, right? You know that Jalen Dern and especially Isaiah Stewart are going to do everything they can to get Embiid on the ground. Right? Just them, just Isaiah Stewart breathing on Embiid is going to make him go out for the rest of the series. That's why I just don't trust it. Right? Same thing with Paul George, right? Obviously, he's been out due to suspension, not injury. But again, you put him against this physical team. Even Boston is physical, right? We see what Jalen Brown's been doing this season. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty. Right? I just don't see a world where the Sixers can even make the playoffs. But even if they do, can they stay healthy through a series? Because if they can't, then there's no chance here. And again, if if you asked me this two weeks ago when they were still the sixth seed, I would have told you keep winning games, right? But now that they're just as low as they are right now and there's no hope for return. I mean, we were supposed to get an update about Joel Embiid, and we really didn't. It was okay, he's probably out for the next two games, but we don't know. And we're back to this premise of they're trying to get Embiid healthy for the playoffs, but forgetting that you actually have to make the playoffs first. I mean, you actually had a shot to be a competitive team in the postseason, right? I mean, they were winning games without Embiid and Paul George, right? I mean, I was going on saying how fun the Sixers were at the beginning of the season. And then everyone returns, they start figuring out the roles, and they're playing well as a group, and then we keep going in and out and doing this. Joel Embiid's injured, Paul George is suspended, and they don't know how to play without Joel. And it doesn't work if Joel plays one game and is out for the next three weeks. It just doesn't work that way. And I love Maxi, I love VJ, but they can't carry this team the way that this system is currently constructed, right? Like if Embiid and Paul George weren't on the team and you had other role players or all-star caliber players around those guys, then it would work. But because they're so heavily reliant on Embiid and the system that goes around Embiid, I mean, we, you know, James Harden joked about being the system. Well, Embiid is a system, right? I mean, how many, how, how many like offenses and defenses run through a center like it does with Joelle? I mean, because at least with Jokic, he can run the point, right? And Joan Murray could play off ball, right? You look at Wemby, I mean, he could do everything. But with Embiid, it just doesn't work that way. You can't have Embiid bring up bring the ball up, but you need the ball in his hand, right? And then defensively, he's the only one that could protect the rim. Because you know, Andre Drummond can't do it. Dembona, he can get some blocks, but that's kind of it. I mean, you know, he was playing some great defense today against the Nets, but again, you're you're not even facing like real centers. You're not facing even just Claxton, who's still a decent center in the NBA. But I mean, you're facing these players that I've never heard of before. It's just not going to be like that if you're facing uh a Jalen Dernan, Isaiah Stewart, uh, a Vucevic, um, you know, even even uh a Namias Cada, who again kicked the Sixers' butts the other week. So I don't trust it, right? Even if they could somehow manage to like, you know, play a New York Knicks, they can't face Carl Anthony Towns. Right? I they can't face most of these centers with without Embiid there. So again, I would love to be an optimist. I would love to say, oh, here's the path for them to make a run or you know, uh do something in the playoffs, but I just can't until we finally get answers on if Joel is going to be there. And even if we do get those answers, it's not gonna be a permanent answer because he could play one game and then that's it. So, like that, that's my problem with it. I want to agree with you, Jordan. You know, I I want to give Sixers fans hope at this point, but I think there is none. And if you could come to the fans next season and say, hey, we got DJ Edgecombe, we got Tyrese Maxie, we we're adding Cam Boozer, right? And we we still got you know uh Embiid and and Paul George here, like then maybe that's something, right? We add an AJ DeBonsta to this core as we try to see if we can look to move on from Embiid and Paul George. Or maybe not, maybe they still keep them on the team for the next couple years. But at least that's promising of okay, they're probably not gonna be great over the next couple of years, but we got this young core that we're starting to develop. So when it's time to finally move on from Embiid and Paul George, we got Garren Peterson, Maxie, and VJ. Again, I'm just dreaming. You know, I don't I don't know if they're gonna get number one. I mean, they could get number four, and that's great too.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Yeah. I mean, I love the lottery. You never know what can happen. But also, like you said, you know, the teams that the past two years, the 10th seeds gotten it. But again, we're the Sixers and we don't get anything or any luck. So I I just don't have that optimism for the lottery fact. I don't want to have our our like our future pretty much set on like a coin toss or whatever that pick a number out of a jar, and if your number isn't in like the list of whatever, however the lottery works. I I personally didn't don't want that. I would just like to see them, you know, attempt the playoffs this year. I know that this year hasn't been perfect, but you know, go for it. Everyone can be healthy, if everyone can be healthy, which probably will never happen. Um, we were so lucky to see that at least like three or four times this season, and then it's just not not been there any other time. Like I swear, it's I saw a stat on on some social media site I was looking at, and it said they were only the the like the core has only played together for like a hundred and seventy something minutes of game time, which is ridiculous. Like you go around to other teams in the league, and their cores have played for probably like I know other teams have injury issues as well, and that's just a common thing within the NBA and load management and stuff like that. But I would say teams that have succeeded are on top of the standings right now have had their cores and their best players playing at a minimum of 20 games, 20 to 25 games of the season, and they're gonna be there when it comes when it comes and it matters down the stretch. The Sixers, like I said, 170 minutes of game time to play all the guys together. It's it's just not uh we just can't go anywhere with with with those with that with those stats. It that's just it.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

It's unfortunate. And that's what it is consistency. The Sixers have never had that. I mean, this is now gonna be year two of this big three together of Embiid, Paul, George, and Maxie, and they barely have played together. And it's just crazy. I mean, you look at the top teams, I mean, Kate has played with Durin the last couple years, right? Those two have gained chemistry. You look at the Celtics, I mean, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, they've been together, right? I mean, some of those other pieces, Derek White and Pritchard, they've all been together, right? You look at the Cavs, obviously Hardin's new, but you've had Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, and hopefully they'll get Max Struess back and some of these other guys. The Knicks, obviously, they've been together. The West, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Denver, Denver. Even though Denver, yeah, I mean, they've had injuries this year, but again, they've played together for the last couple of years. They won a championship basically with that core. So you go down the list. I mean, the the only one that maybe is a wild card is Houston, just because again, Katie, this is his first season with that team. They dealt with injuries. Fred Van Vliet's been out the entire year, no Steven Adams. So they're always a wild card. You know, the Lakers have dealt with injuries with LeBron this season and and Austin Reeves. But at least LeBron, Luca, and Austin Reeves have played a decent amount of games this season. They're not very good together, but they've played together. The Sixers, we don't even know that answer because it's not consistent. I mean, it's so bad. And I said this to a bunch of people when this popped up yesterday. But the social media team is running out of ideas. They literally posted yesterday the Sixers have won four of their last five Saturday home games with two more scheduled this regular season. I guess now it's five of six. But who cares how many Saturday home games they won't get?

SPEAKER_01 31:12

They try to sell tickets desperately.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Like, that's an ESPN stat line that they just pulled out of thin air. That's how sad this is. And I'm I'm reading, I was like reading the comments of all this. It's like a a sew. Like, I've oh, this one was funny. Someone wrote this. I've had a I've had several good Tuesdays in a row. Yeah, I mean, that's how stupid these posts are for from the Sixers media team. So, yes, I'm with you, Jordan. I would love to see them go into the postseason. I mean, we didn't see it last year. We barely saw competitive basketball. We saw maybe two, three decent games last year. I mean, the the Boston Christmas game, there was a nice game at home against the Cavs that I was actually at, and then they had a couple decent West Coast road trip games. I mean, this season they had a nice stretch of great games together, right? To reel you back in, right? They I always call the Sixers, and I hate saying this, it breaks my heart, Jordan. But the Sixers are basically the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA. Right now, obviously, you know, Sixers fans are not going into it every time saying this is our year, this is our year, but instead of saying this is our year, we always say, well, if we're healthy, we have a shot to win a championship. If we're healthy, it's almost the same thing. Again, I've now cowboys have had more playoff success in the history of their franchise than the Sixers have. Not obviously, not recent history, but just overall. Yeah. But that's why I kind of compare the two because it's the same thing every year. Like the Sixers, the Cowboys, they'll reel their fan base in just enough until they finally drop the hammer. Right? They won't, they won't, they won't ever disappoint you. You know when it's coming. And that's where the Sixers are right now. So again, I hate being a pessimist about it. I want them to make it to the playoffs. I want them to have a run because the last time we saw it was against that was against the Knicks two years ago. It was a fun series overall. I mean, it was very competitive, would have been nice if we got past that series. But I mean, again, yeah, Joel Embiid who was on one leg, half a face. It was basically just maxi because even Tobias Harris, he had zero points in that final game. I mean, now we have a decent roster. I mean, it's pretty deep when everyone is healthy, but when everyone's not, it's a huge problem. So I don't know what they do. I think they should just, you know, tank it out. It might just happen either way, just because they're so bad, even if they want to win games. And maybe you're right, maybe they accidentally win games no matter what. I mean, they should have won that Minnesota game a couple weeks back, but you look at it, they didn't have Nas Reed, they didn't have Burdy Gobert, right? When they have a decent relevant center, that's when you run into a problem. Because the Sixers don't have that outside of Joel. And I mean, the Sixers haven't had a great backup center in years. I mean, the last one was Andre Drummond a couple years ago, not the Andre Drummond the last two years. Other than that, I mean, what other great backup centers have we had? We had, you know, Amir Johnson, Bobon, Kylo Quinn, Dwight Howard way past his prime. I mean, we we haven't had many. I mean, Paul Reed who is decent, but he was way undersized. DeAndre Jordan, way past his prime. I mean, these are the type of backup centers, Dwayne Deadman. These are the guys that we've had.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

All the vet minimum players, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Yeah, I mean, guys that have been way past their prime. And like, that's what half the roster is. I mean, when you look at the Sixers right now, it's G-League guys and players past their prime. Whether you're talking about Justin Edwards or Jabori Walker or Dominic Barlow, right? Any guys, Jennai Broom, Kyle Lowry, Andre Drummond, guys that are way past their prime or G-League guys. That's what they have on this roster. So when your main guys are out, you got nothing there. So we'll see what happens. I mean, they play tomorrow. Um, I mean, I'll be at that game, so I'm at least excited because unfortunately, Matt Kord, this is his last season, um, which I'm very sad about because I I love hearing his voice. If you don't know, Matt Kord is the PA announcer of the Philadelphia 76ers. He is retiring at the end of this season. So I am excited just to kind of hear his voice at least one more time in person. I don't know if I'm gonna go again this season. There's not many home games left, but I'm definitely excited for that. So I I do want to move on to uh our couple other topics outside of the Sixers. Before we do that, if you love Sixers reactions, I always react to the games, news, all that other great stuff. Make sure to check out DJ Sportsone on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. I post several times a week, so make sure to check that out. And if you want to see clips from the show, also TikTok, Instagram, YouTube at second round syndrome. Bam Adabayer scored 83 points in an NBA game. For those that don't know, that is the second most in NBA history. So number one was Wilt Chamberlain, number two is now Bam, and he passed Kobe Bryant's 81 points. Now, this 83 points that he scored against the Washington Wizards, which was a blowout, by the way, has become very controversial. Right? Some people are loving it, but a lot of people are hating it. And before I give my thoughts on it, because I I'm kind of in between on this a little bit, because I see both sides. I obviously lean more towards one way than the other, but I do see both sides of it. Jordan, because this was first of all, before we even give criticism or anything like that, this is a great accomplishment for Bama to Bayo, right? Like, congratulations! Like, this is something that's gonna be talked about from now until the dawn of time, until the next person passes 83 points. So it is a great accomplishment. But after looking at the overall accomplishment, the overall achievement, what are your thoughts on the way he got those 83 points?

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Uh, was it an organic 83? Probably not. But in this in this NBA, you're gonna you're gonna get points in many different ways. Um I think the way he got it, he he broke social media in terms of like the amount of stuff I've seen from Bam Autobio still to this day, and and on the day he broke that record was well got second, but he he didn't break the record, but broke Kobe's record. Um was insane. Now, did he get there in a in a kind of fair way, I guess? Probably not. Um, he shot 43 free throw attempts and made 36 of them, which is great percentage anyway. But um there were some iffy things within that game of him getting some calls, you know, trying to fat the team was fouling when they were already up by 25, and then trying to get Bannon to get more shots up, more more free throw attempts, refs calling fouls when some things were just like you can you don't have to call a foul, there was minimal contact. But it's the NBA. It's a bit predictable. He was he put up a ton of points in the first half anyway, and people were like, oh my god, like let's he he's let him like go and break it, like go and break it, young man. And he uh and he did well, and he was in front of his girlfriend too, I believe. Um, and they had uh apparently I think she did the press conference after with him, which which was pretty cool. So um he he balled out. Um was it like the most organic 83 points? Probably not, but like I said, it's the NBA. I'm fine with it. I think it's cool to have all these records, uh all these big big performances like this, um, especially in the regular season. I think it's pretty cool. Um, so I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

I think part of it is like when you look at Bam at upio as a player, you don't think of him as a scorer, right? I mean, some of the some of the players that have reached high numbers the last several years, Joel Embiid obviously had 70 points against the Spurs, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, Steph Curry, Carl Anthony Towns, right? A lot of these guys that have reached Luka Doncic, you know, had a big game. I think he had a 60-point game, something like that, a year or two ago. When you look at a lot of those players, like those are scorers, right? But when you look at this game specifically, like the first quarter, it was was incredible.

unknown 39:41

Right?

SPEAKER_00 39:41

The first quarter, so first of all, in in total, he scored 83 points, nine rebounds, and he had seven threes, right? He shot seven of twenty-two from three, which is crazy, 22 attempts from three, and then the 36 of 43 free throws. But in the first quarter specifically, he had 31 points, 10 of 16 from the field, and five of eight from three. I mean, the dude was hooping. Then after that, he just didn't play nearly as well. I mean, you look at the second quarter, 12 points, three of eight from the field, oh of three from three, you look at the third quarter, 19 points, four of eleven from the field, one of five from three, and then you look at the fourth quarter, and by the way, I'm not mentioning free throws yet. In the fourth quarter, 21 points, three of eight from the field, one of six from three. So a lot of his points after the first quarter are not even from field goals. Now let's look at the free throws. When you look at the free throws, six of seven from from the free throw line in the first quarter, in the second quarter, six of seven again, and I know everyone's making those jokes right now. In the third quarter, 10 of 13. And then you look at the fourth quarter, 14 of 16. I mean, it kept getting higher and higher and higher. 43 free throws is insane. I want to be very clear about that. And he played how many minutes, how many minutes did he play in this game? He played 42 minutes, yeah, 42 minutes in a blowout, right? If this was any other player, like even Kelly Ubre said said it, Joel and B did it in in three quarters and did it way more efficiently. When you look at kind of the way the Miami Heat was was acting in this game, and again, there's arguments towards it of you know, if you're so close to the record, your teammates are going to want to do anything they can to help you out. But it kind of felt like they were playing NBA 2K, where you were trying to get an achievement. It's like uh when you're playing uh one of these like domination games, and to get this deck of cards or get these cards, you need to shoot 10 three-pointers with this player. That's what it felt like in this game in the fourth quarter, because they were purposely fouling the Washington Wizards to stop the clock to get the ball back to BAM. Then when the Miami Heat were at the free throw line, they were purposely missing free throws to get the offensive rebound to once again get the ball back to BAM. Then you have Bam just chucking up three-pointers, just putting up crazy shots that you no normal player would put up in an NBA game unless you're just that damn good, like your Steph Curry, who can put up, you know, shots from half court. Bam's not that type of player. Like, that's that's why people are looking at this and like, is this really a legitimate 83? Like, if he ended with 60 or 70 points, I don't think people would would have such a bad taste in their mouth. And it really doesn't have much to do, in my opinion, with the Kobe thing, right? With him passing Kobe Bryant. Because if he passed Kobe and he was making most of his shots, if it wasn't 43 free throw attempts, I think maybe it would have been a different look of like, wow, he just was on fire. It in my opinion, as the game went on, it just felt forced. And maybe, you know, they have every right to do that. But it has a bad look to it of first of all, why is BAM still in the game when it's a blowout, you're against the Washington Wizards, but then you know, if you're still in the game, you're purposely failing to stop the clock. I get it. You if you're gonna do that, if you're down by five points, but you're up by 30. Why do you need to do that? It makes no sense. And then you compare, let's compare it to Joel and B, right? As Sixers fans, let's compare to Joel and B's numbers because I do have uh the stats up from the San Antonio Spurs game. Okay, because in that game, he played 36 minutes, he had 70 points, he had 18 rebounds, crazy. Bam only had nine. Nine of those rebounds were offensive rebounds. So that's cool. And then you look at his efficiency. 24 of 41 from the field. That's about 59%. Right? Only from you know, he only shot one of two from three, so he wasn't chucking up three pointers. And then you always question the free throws. 21 of 23, which is above average, obviously, but it's not 43.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

I mean, most of the players that shoot a crap ton of free throws, what maybe 15 is usually kind of like the high point for a lot of these players. So 23 free throws, that's not terrible. And the Spurs weren't a great team then. Let's like, you know, let's not get it twisted. But you had Joel and Bede going up against Victor Wembanyama. Now, is it the same Wemby that you know it is today? No, but he was still a great player in his rookie year. So it's a little bit different than going up against the Washington Wizards. And I don't even know who was in and who was out of that game, but it doesn't really matter. I mean, I know obviously Anthony Davis hasn't played this season. Trey Young, I don't know if he played in that game. I know he just he's been back recently. But comparing the two games, Joel's is more impressive than BAM's because Joel's didn't seem forced. Now, is there always going to be times where they're getting the ball back to Joel? Yeah, of course. There were times that happened in the game, but it wasn't to the point where they were purposely fouling the Spurs to get the ball back. Or, you know, Tyrese Maxie was at the free throw line and he purposely missed the free throw to get it back to Joel. Right? It wasn't any of that. And we could go and look at a lot of these other games. We could look at Kobe's game and even Kobe's game. Most of it, maybe you could look at the last minute or two of that game. It wasn't forced. Well, we don't really know. I mean, that that was so long ago, they didn't really teach.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

There's no footage, remember.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

There's there's no footage. So we can't really look at that game. But we could compare it to recent history. Like it's a great achievement for Bam. It's something that he'll remember forever. As you mentioned, his girlfriend, Asia Wilson, uh, who I think has the most amount of points in a WNBA game. It was cool that they they they shared kind of that moment together. It's a moment we're gonna be talking about for a long time until the next person passes it. But I think to most people, it's always gonna have an asterisk on it. Now, Bam doesn't care, which he shouldn't care about it, right? What people are saying.

unknown 46:26

Right?

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Eric Spo, he defended Bam. He's like, we don't care, we're not apologizing for anything. They shouldn't apologize for anything, right? Stand your ground. Right? But when we look at history, it's gonna be something that kind of, as I said, has an asterisk mark to it. It's gonna be something that we kind of question probably, you know, until Bam retires and we look back at his career, or you know, we look back at some of the greatest, you know, uh regular season performances of all time. It it might get a mention, but I just don't know if it's gonna be the same as comparing it to Joel's game or comparing it to Kobe's or some of these other players that have you know scored a crap ton of points, like a Devin Booker, like a Damian Lillard Steph, whoever. But it's a great achievement. It's something we're gonna keep talking about. You know, maybe towards the end of the year when we're kind of reflecting on the season, this is definitely gonna be kind of a moment we look back on. Um, but you know, for now, now we just gotta kind of look forward to the playoffs. As always, you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, iHeart, and Amazon. We're everywhere. Make sure to like, share, subscribe, follow us. We post every single week. So make sure to check out that whenever you get notified. I DJ Sports Done. We got Jordan Stable here, and as always, we will see you next time. Deep down.