The Zach Lowe Show - LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er! Plus, Could Embiid Be Traded?

Episode Date: July 25, 2026

LeBron James has signed with the Philadelphia 76ers! Zach is joined by Chris Ryan and Michael Pina to break down what this signing means. They discuss if this makes Philly a title contender, whether Embiid could be traded, and how this offense will function with so many options.  (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (1:42) Chris Ryan and Michael Pina join the show! (8:41) Does this make Philly a title contender?  (26:05) This offense is going to work (32:43) Should they consider trading Embiid?  (44:30) It feels weird for LeBron to be on the 76ers (51:07) Is this the best starting five in the league now?  (1:07:40) More likely to win a title or lose in the first round?  Host: Zach Lowe Guests: Chris Ryan and Michael Pina Producers: Jonathan Frias, Billy Gil, and Mike Wargon Social: Keith Fujimoto and Michael Szokoli The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Car shopping this Civic Holiday weekend, most car dealerships are closed and all you'll find are crickets. Not Performance Auto Group. They're open this Saturday and Holiday Monday for their annual Civic Holiday Sales Events. Celebrate this long weekend with rates from 0%. They might be closed. Performance Auto Group is open to serve you. Join Performance Auto Group this Saturday or Civic Holiday Monday 9 to 5 for the best time to shop this summer. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play.

Feel the fun with Play Ojo. The online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games. What you win is yours to keep with no wagering requirements. Instant payouts and no minimum withdraws. Hey, I just won. Woohoo. Feel the fun. Play Ojo.

Honey, forget about the lasagna. Let's celebrate. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concern about your gambling or that of someone close to you. Call 16-531-2600 or visitconXontario.ca. On the Zach Lowe show, it's Friday afternoon, but you're probably going to be listening to this Sunday morning. LeBron James just signed with the Philadelphia 76ers about five and a half hours ago.

I already taped an emergency Bill Simmons podcast with Bill Simmons. This is the deeper dive with Chris Ryan, Philly's own and Michael Pina to do the X's and O's and where do the Sixers stack up in the Eastern Conference and all that good stuff. Just tons of stuff on like, how is Chris feeling about LeBron James being a six. It feels weird. It feels weird to say it out loud. It feels weird to look at them in the Sixers jersey. How is this going to work offensively? How did Jalen Brown, Tyree Smaxsey, VJ Edgecombe, Joelle M. Bede, and LeBron freaking James all share the ball on offense? What do the rotations look like? Are we overlooking some potential defensive concerns? With the Sixers try to trade Joel M. Bid? Is that actually the smart thing for them to do? Is he completely untradable?

What trades even makes sense? Where do they rank in the Eastern Conference, which has at least 11 pretty solid to very good teams. Is this the best starting five in the NBA? Is LeBron a ring chaser? We get into that. And does this feel at peace with the rest of his career? Is this an outlier move? Just all the LeBron stuff.

Again, you're listening to this Sunday morning because we're giving it a little lag time from the bill pot, but these are more or less our semi-instant reactions. Intel, I've been on the phone all afternoon. What did teams know? When did they know? How are the teams going to pivot?

So we'll talk a little bit about that. All coming up on the Zach Lowe show. Welcome to the Zach Lowe's show. You will be hearing this early Sunday morning, but we are recording it at exactly 4 p.m. Eastern time on Friday because of our varying scheduling conflicts over the weekend. In the aftermath of LeBron James signing what he said will be his last decision, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Look, if something happens between now and when this post, I will try to my best to hop on and do a solo thing. I think we're going to see like Draymond Green, James Hardin potentially, Jonathan Caminga, the Cavs like him. We'll see Damar DeRosen, Bradley Beal, Kauai Leonard thing. Who knows? Like all of this stuff is in play. But we've got to start.

LeBron James is a sixer. And I got a lot of topics to hit. I got a lot of thoughts. Got a lot of thoughts on the Eastern Conference. But I think it's important in these moments to just step back for a second and say the words again. LeBron James, the all-time leading score in the NBA. arguably the greatest player of all time is a member not of the Cleveland Cavaliers, not of the Miami Heat, not of the Los Angeles Lakers,

not with his buddy, Stefan Golden State, of the star-crossed Philadelphia 76ers. He's going to be wearing a Sixers jersey that Alan Iverson wore. He's going to have to pick a jersey number that's available. I'm not sure. I guess 23 and 6. Six probably isn't available. I don't know. Chris Ryan, he's a Sixer.

Can you say it one more time? LeBron James. LeBron James. And maybe someday Brony James, but currently LeBron James, is a member of the Philadelphia 76ers with Joel Embed, Tyree S maxi, BJ Edgecombe, Dean Wade, Anthony Simons, and Jalen Brown. Yeah. I mean, I just need, you're an NBA diehard like the rest of us. Our lives, our age, our age range, we like perfectly align with LeBron. age range and career.

Like, are you just still floored? What's happening in your life? Total shock. A very, very classic, like, looked at my phone at 8.30 and had 75 text messages. This feels better than not getting LeBron James. I'll see that. Which has happened a couple of times

over the course of LeBron's career, you know, where the Philly has been like this outsider candidate to land him, probably always used for leverage, never a realistic destination. I have no idea like how this happened. I mean,

there had been like these little rumors and, you know, Josh Harris is talking to him at Fanatics Fest and, you know, Maxie and Vijay and Jalen and Embed are all lobbying him and all this stuff. But I was doing the crazy,

like, where could his kids go to school? Like what would be, how would this work for him, like, functionally? Like, I actually got, I went down the rabbit hole and I found the rabbit. This is wild that for the first time, this is like you get through this like,

you know, tracking private flights business and you find out like he's coming here. And yes, it's the last decision. It's a different version of LeBron probably than, you know, we could have had various other stops in his career. But this is really cool, man. This is a really cool feeling. They're partying in Margate.

Apparently they're like already airplanes flying over the Jersey shore with LeBron banners. People are flipping out. It's really awesome. I mean, LeBron has not, in his various stops, has not really crossed paths with the Sixers in high stakes playoff series many times. If any, really, I mean, it's happened, but not really in high stakes series. There was a heat Sixers at one point.

But we've all had our ups and downs with LeBron. He engenders a lot of emotions. How do you feel like your emotional relationship? relationship what is with LeBron. Was there ever a point of time where you were sick of him, tired of him, he's a phony, I hate him, I hate the heat. Like, how are you, how have you been? And how are you reconciling that with today?

I think that what I really love about this was that I was there for the third game, the first Philly game of the Nick series. And when I was there, this last one, this last one just now. This most recent playoff series. And it's impossible to overstate how humiliating and depressing that was. to have the building full of Knicks fans, to have the bathroom full of Nix fans, to have Nix fans on the concourse.

And honestly, even though I really enjoyed, like, elements of that team and VJ's story in the first season that he had, it just felt like something of a low. Like, this is always going to be what it is. And so this summer has just felt so revitalizing, you know, and it's felt like this infusion of new and old blood. So any, like, animus that I've ever, ever had about LeBron is out the window.

And also, you know, it kind of makes me feel a little bit like, if he can do for Philly, this is going to sound so stupid, please don't clip this. If he can do for Philly what Messi did for Argentina, like, that's enough. Like, if he can just walk through parts of the season, make people around him better, you know, like provide us with a few moments of absolute brilliance

and be there for the playoffs. Like, this is just such a great ride. Like I'm going to have to like now look into long-term stays in Philly. Now Simmons, I already did Simmons emergency podcast. He's already, I mean, you know, Bill, his brain is firing in three different directions. So he opened the podcast with like, I wonder if LeBron's going to play until he's 45 and he's going to go to Cleveland after the two years with Philly. And I was like, Bill, Bill, he just signed with Philly 45 seconds ago. I think he's going to retire.

If I'm taking his Twitter post at his word. that this is his last decision. That means he'd retire of Philadelphia 76er. I would just hope he doesn't get to get him booed. I feel like the whole rest of the pod could just be like us just making faces and staring into the abyss of like,

what just happened? Michael Pina is here. Michael, how are you? I'm doing wonderful. Not as well as Chris, but I'm doing wonderful. Well, you already wrote a column that, you know, just poke the air

right out of the balloon for poor Chris Ryan. on the ringer.com about how Philly is not even guaranteed to be a top six seed in this beefed-up Eastern Conference. So we're going to get there. We're going to go through the East. But I want to use that column is just, again, Chris, emotionally, it's been a strange 15 years for the Philadelphia 76ers. Every moment of hope has been punctuated by a gut punch of inexplicable despair, organizational incompetence, absurdist comedy,

I mean, just the worst possible, like, pivots. Are you allowing yourself to feel like legitimate, hey, we might actually have a championship team here, hope? Or is this just like, let's just have fun at what happens, happens? It's kind of the latter. Like, it's kind of like, you know, one of the sensations that I often have had over the last five or so seasons,

post-Jimmy Butler probably, is Sixers get eliminated if they make the playoffs. They get eliminated in the second round or whatever. And then I watch the rest of the playoffs and I'm like, we're not even playing the same sport. Like when you see the teams in the final four and in the finals and you see like the level that they're playing it, you're like, we're not on Denver's level that year.

We're not on Oklahoma City's level. We're not on San Antonio, New York's level. Like this isn't even the same league. And so it remains to be seen whether or not an older gentleman like can infuse this team with the kind of, of athleticism and versatility that you need to compete in today's NBA, but what I

really just can't wait is just to see these guys on the floor together. Like the first time LeBron throws an outlet to Vijay, I'm going to lose my mind. Pina, you are correct to identify the East as a very strong collection

of teams. I think they're 11 legit, good to pretty good teams in the Eastern Conference. A top six seed is, you know, it's going to require a pretty goddamn good regular season. I do think the Sixers by adding just another top 20, top 25, where you're going to classify LeBron talent and one who leans offense, ball handling, shock creation,

have kind of insulated themselves, have raised their floor in the regular season for like Embedds out. What's our team look like? LeBron's resting, but MBE's healthy. What's our team look like? I think they're pretty well positioned to navigate the 82 in a way that gets them into the top six. But I generally would put it like this.

The East is better than the West top to bottom. But LeBron, I think, is correct to identify the path to the finals as being easier out of the East, even if it is the Superior Conference top to bottom. Because no matter where you go in the West, then Golden State was really the only one in it, I think. The idea of beating both San Antonio and Oklahoma City in the playoffs is kind of ludicrous. and now you at least set yourself up. The path to the finals might be more difficult, but we only got to beat one of those teams.

Like, here's how I would summarize the East. I wonder what you think of this. Because I agree with you that I think in the euphoria over this decision, over it being done, over the newness of LeBron on the Sixers, over Embed has this running mate, and Jalen Brown just got here, what the hell is going on? What is this team? I do think, like, the East is going to be hard.

And if you told me this sense of being the fourth seat or the fifth seat, I wouldn't be surprised. But on the other hand, I will say, how many teams in the East do you look at right now as of today? And again, we haven't seen Hardin. We haven't seen what the cab do, do whatever? How many teams in the East do you look at as being definitively better than the Philadelphia 76ers? And which teams are they? Well, that's a great question.

I mean, to start, I would not bet my life that the Sixers will not finish in the top six. I would think that they will. I think they obviously have a ton of talent. and that starting five, as I wrote, is extremely scary. And I cannot, echoing with Christian said, I cannot wait to watch them play basketball. I mean, I think the New York Knicks are probably definitively better. They just won the title.

And they have a style of play that is clearly winning basketball. And, I mean, they lost one player from that team who was very important. But I'm expecting the New York Knicks to be awesome next season. definitively better. It's tough to answer. I mean, I think to your point that the Western Conference has the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs at the top

is obviously correct. And in the East, it's just more of like a, there's a lot of really good teams and which team is healthiest, which team is clicking at the right time and the right spot will win the conference, I feel like. So it's tough to, definitively state, especially with all the change that we've seen in the conference from the

Raptors, Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, unsettled, Detroit Pistons, their big move was getting John Collins basically as the one seed. So it's difficult to say. I just have a lot of questions about the Sixers team. I'm super excited to watch them play. I think LeBron is kind of a brilliant fit in his ability to be a connective tissue. And we know that he's willing to take a back seat. in a lot of different ways. But I don't know. I guess the big question for me when I look at this team is Joelle and Bede

and we haven't really mentioned him yet, but he is the shadow hanging over all of this and his health is just this massive question that we won't have an answer to until they play basketball in the spring. I will answer my own question, but Chris, do you have any thoughts? I don't want to get too over my skis.

I think the Knicks are better. I think that I respect what Cleveland has done over multiple regular seasons. So I'm going to at least allow for the possibility that their coherence and their stability, if you call what they have stability, like I'm sure they will be a very good regular season team. And analytically, they will be quite good.

Yes. The Miami thing, I don't really see it yet. But I think that they'll be like, this is the thing that's really wild is like the east is now like the blockbuster conference the east is every night trey young and ad might play against lebron and maxi and jalen and impede or you know haliburton is back and he has his retooled pacers and they're playing against presumably kawai in toronto like that's that that is a very different scenario than the one that we've probably spent most of our professional lives covering of

you know, East Coast hours are kind of like pretty grim after a while. So like I think this is all going to come down to who tries hardest and is healthiest during the regular season. But I could see the team that comes in to Pina's point, the sixth seed of the Eastern Conference might be the most dangerous team in the Eastern Conference when you get to the playoffs. I would say it might be a 50 win team except I think with no one outright tanking this year or no one incentivized to do it at least.

I mean, this year the sixth seed was a 40. six win team. These teams are just going to beat up on each other all year. So I don't know, but it will qualitatively, I think, regardless of the record, is be a team of that quality. And by the way, you mentioned Washington. Washington was not even among the 11 teams that I mentioned that are good to pretty good. And they could be decent. They're over under 34 and a half. That feels about right to me. But like Detroit is going to win a ton of games, regardless of what you think of their offseason. Boston is going to win a lot of games that maybe not a ton, but they'll be a 50-ish win team, despite what you think of their offseason. And it has not gone

great. The calves are the calves. They'll pivot a little bit here. Toronto presumably will get Kauai. The Hawks are still good. Orlando's solid. Charlotte's solid. Miami got Yonis. I mean, on and on and on. Indiana's back or semi-back, at least. The answer to my own question, though, and in defense of LeBron sort of, because I've already heard from front office executives who think LeBron made to take out all the other variables just for winning. Some say he made the right, perfect decision. Others have already, you know, texts called and and said, well, this is a really bad decision. You know, it's just one ball.

All these guys are going to, it's going to be clunky. They all need the ball. It's not going to work. It's going to be chemistry. I lean more toward the former poll where I think this is going to be a good team. I think this is a perfectly reasonable decision to win. And the only team that I would say, the only one in the east that I can say right now today, I think is better than the Sixers is the Knicks.

That's it. That's the end of my list. Everyone else has questions, including the Sixers. Look, it is as simple as Embed, right? I mean, I don't know what else to say. I don't think this team is a championship team with Huck Porty as the starting center. If Embed's out in the finals or the conference finals or a Demona or whoever it is, I think they're going to need Joel Embed to be healthy through three or to win the title for a playoff series.

Which he's never done. I'm on record as saying I don't think it will ever happen. And so I don't really know what to make of this, how to put those thoughts together. Bill and I were talking about how you very smartly, Chris, during the Knicks. series. Was it a game one or game one, I think you said, just bench Embed. I said we should, we should basically like be playing him on his own schedule rather than the NBA's. And we're out of gas after seven games against Boston, our only shot, steal one of these games, rest Embed, at the very least, if you conclude, if you get through the first 82 with

Embed healthy, and that may involve him playing 45 games, whatever it is, just get him healthy, get to the playoffs as healthy as you can get him, that may be the, like you may have to try stuff like that. Like, hey, you know, we're up 2-0 in this series. We're just going to rest Joel in game three. And now you at least have a blueprint to like, can you play LeBron at the five a little bit in like these wing heavy power forward heavy lineups? Can you play a Demona for 15 minutes and Huck 40 for 15 minutes sign a ring chasing center somewhere and like steal a win. We've seen them steal wins without Joel before, including in these playoffs. That may be the only way to get them across the finish line. But I look, I don't.

don't think you can't do much better than they did in this offseason. And I think this team, we can talk about stylistically how it's going to work, but I think it's going to, I think it's going to work. I think you should be optimistic. Yeah. You know, when Jaylen Brown got traded to the Sixers, I was a little bit like, this is pretty funny on like a content level and just in a sort of like, you know, the arc of the universe bending away or towards Bill, depending on how you want to look at it.

but I was really concerned where it's like these guys kind of like to operate in similar fashions and beat in Jalen Brown like to have the ball in their hands in and around the nail around the mid court.

They like to take their time and draw doubles and do all these things and what I am choosing to believe in now now that this team has been assembled is the optionality of it all. And on certain nights, you know,

they are going to, are we going to get a VJ game again? I don't know if there's enough ball to go around for that. But, you know, they're going to need horses and they're going to need Maxie and Vijay and Jalen to carry this team when Embed's out for two weeks or LeBron is going to do a rest night or whatever it is. And also just culturally and like in terms of chemistry, it's like this is going to be like

a pretty significant uptick and scrutiny for these guys that I don't think they've ever experienced before. You know, like this is going to be like national media attention on a night to night basis that, you know, I think people got kind of like bored with the Laker show. And I think it's, I think it's kind of the Sixers Index is going to be, oh boy, oh boy. Be popping, you know. We can, we'll get into the X's and O's a bit. But, Pina, outline your concerns for us about what other than MBEED's health.

Actually, I'll lead you this way. I do think there's going to be some systemic like issues to work out. on offense. Defensively, I mean, people overlook that end of the floor. I think they should be okay defensively. Embed is still a decent rim protector when he's healthy. I mean, the shots at the rim go down, opponent's shooting a new percentage at the room goes down.

Like, those are real things. He's still a big enormous impediment. But, you know, they'll have to work some things out there too. But the big question to me is like, what is Embed doing on offense now? Like, literally, in the most literal sense, where is he? Because I'm not sure if you have this collection. of guys on the floor and you can stagger minutes all you want and they will like they'll stagger as strictly as you can they'll find this pairing works and that pairing works they'll do all

that but like i'm not sure you can just dump the ball to joel and bd in the post with all these guys around him he's not a good enough three-point shooter to be super dangerous in that sense unless unless he rebounds to where he was shooting 37 38% now and then and that would really change everything for this team he doesn't really want to roll hard to the basket and so he'll be at the nail a lot, I think is the answer. He'll be at the nail in the flow, like catching it on the pick and roll with the defense in motion making reads. He'll be holding the ball there. And then around that, they just have to figure it out. But I assume your concerns are partly offensive fit, partly, hey, defensively, how is this going to work? And do they have enough depth?

Yeah, you nailed it. I think offensively, just the fact, I'll start with Jalen kind of coming in here because he's coming up a season where he was, you know, top five in usage, had every opportunity to shoot and score and have the ball in his hands when he wanted on that Celtics team, called it the best season or favorite season of his career. And the fact that he was traded from a situation like that to one where, you know, CR you just mentioned like DJ Edgecom will have nights. And it's like, Jalen, I don't think Jail around wants that. I think that. I think You would know better than me. I've thought about this a lot.

Yeah, I think that if he is to be super happy and play for this extension that he's eligible for, I just think the guy was like going from the mentality of I have my own team to, okay, I'm going to be the fourth option tonight, or I'm going to go six, seven straight possessions where I don't even touch the ball maybe, So I just have, I'm not saying like it won't work at all.

I'm just curious to see where the pieces are, what the offense looks like. As you said, like playing through Joelle and Bitt, I think those days might be over. I have no concerns about LeBron James obviously fitting in offensively. He'll figure it out. But I think just satisfying everyone who is extremely high usage on this team and in the past and getting them to all buy in and sacrifice, touch his show. shots, minutes. I just think it's really interesting and a huge hurdle for Nick Nurse to solve.

So that's offensively the deal. But like everyone's super smart. They have a ton of force, a ton of power, speed. I think they'll play faster than we think. LeBron James finished first in fast-prey points last season. Jalen Brown obviously wants to play fast. Tyrese Maxis on the team. He's like the fastest player in the world.

Vijay Edgecom as well. So I think they'll play faster than people might be anticipating. But like when I think about the NBA right now and what it takes to win, I pivot immediately to the depth. And I just think that this is like a seven man roster. Yes. And then it just kind of falls off a cliff a little bit. And that's being generous.

Like I'm not a huge Anthony Simon's fan at all and he's never played in the playoffs. So I have questions there. And like, I think that on paper, the starting five and probably the closing five is demolition derby, and they'll be awesome. I think that it's worth pointing out some spacing questions. And if you have someone, I'm not saying like, take Jalen Brown and put him on the bench, but I am saying when you have someone like Dean Wade who you brought in, his like best attribute is his ability to knock down open corner threes and defend the other. team's best player. So I just, I have so many questions. My brain is kind of like leaking out of my ears just trying to think about this.

It's like it is wild. So I don't mean to puncture the balloon and be like a negative Nancy here. But I just, I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. And it's, it's going to just be a fascinating team to watch play every single night all season long. Zach, how did Gainesie do this? How did like what happened? I mean, when he jinxed the no hitter. in at the Philly Stadium, whatever it's called, like, and you got a lot of, maybe that maybe some, some magical thing happened from the heavens ever since that moment. Maybe he, maybe he did exactly what he should have done. And now the baseball gods and basketball gods are all rewarding. I don't know. Dean Wade's his guy. He knows LeBron really well. They played high school basketball like in the same area when they were when they were kids. It's kind of crazy. But yeah, he's done it. He's done a great job. And I think, you know, Bill mentioned Daryl is one of the big sort of losers of all of this of this transaction along with the capital.

and the Warriors and the Heat and all the teams he didn't go to. We'll get to all of them. But, yeah, Gansy is a winner. And it's an interesting counterfactual. Does this happen if Daryl Mory is the GM of the team? Because LeBron and Mory have obviously kind of gone head-to-head on a couple of things, including the infamous Hong Kong tweet that Daryl had. And all that.

All right, let's take a quick break. And I'm going to tell you why I think this is actually going to work on offense. Legendary has arrived in Alberta with BetMGM Casino. Sign up to unlock access to overreact. 4,000 casino games, including exclusive slots you can't spin anywhere else. Survivors ready? The iconic TV show is now an online casino game, where you can tap into Island Fun. BetMGM has also brought the prices right, Game of Thrones, Family Feud, MGM millions,

and so many more exclusive casino games to Alberta. Get Las Vegas right from your phone with live dealer games streaming from real tables. And every time you play, you can enjoy instant deposit options and fast withdrawals. BetMGM Casino and its legendary library of games are available. Download the BetMGM app. See BetMGM.com for terms. 18 plus Alberta only. Please play responsibly.

Subject to eligibility requirements. If gambling is affecting your mental health or well-being, 211 Alberta is here to help. Call or text 211 or visit ab.211.ca. BetMGem operates pursuant to an operating agreement with the Alberta Eye Gaming Corporation. Standard message and data rates may apply. The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus.

Starring Emmy Rossum, Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice. And as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. All right, Pina, you mentioned the depth issue. I do think there's some reality to that. The six and seven guys are Simons and Wade. I mentioned the backup centers.

I like Jabari Walker, fine. I like Justin Edwards fine. I like Barlow fine. I think they'll find enough minutes from those guys, but I think they could use another quality guy. Offensively, look, the combined usage rate of this starting five is like 140%. Is it unprecedented almost? Like, it might.

Like, there's not even like a Mario Chalmers. I mean, the Vijay Edgecombe is like the closest thing in the starting lineup to like the Mario Chalmers Norris Cole guy. It might be pretty close to unprecedented. Here are the workarounds. Number one, Pina mentioned pace. I think this team is going to play super fast and to just, and if they have to leave him beat in the dust now and then to do it, that's fine. The other four guys are built to play fast. That's the way Edgecombe is going to run into points that maybe won't be there for him as much in the half court.

Number two, Tyrese, Matt, Matt, Matt, Maxi shot 43% on catch and shoot threes last season, and Vijay Hcomb shot 39%. Those guys are fine playing off the ball. Maxi is not like a pounded, pound it style point guard. He'll get off it. He'll cut. He'll attack closeouts.

He'll attack diagonal gaps. Like I don't worry about him at all. Jalen Brown has been actually kind of an average to below average catch and shoot, three point shooter. He's going to have to shoot better there. And that's where the work is, right? is like, you know, Brown and Tatum would occasionally run two-man game together. If one of them had a small guy on him or a bigger guy on him and they could get a switch and a mismatch and attack it that way, you can do that with LeBron and Jalen Brown.

You can use Maxie as a screener or Edgecombe as a screener. Whoever has the littlest weakest defender on him for any of these guys and sort of hunt that way. And then you just have to figure out what's Embed doing. Is he in the dunker spot trying to get offensive rebounds? Is he spacing the floor? Like almost every really great team has some version of this problem. And you just have to figure it out. And minutes staggering is part of it and creative coaching is part of it.

And sacrifice is part of it. And I do think they'll run into occasional issues like that and growing pains and all that. But I mean, what was the alternative? Not signing LeBron James and not trading for Jalen Brown? Like this seems like a really good place for them to end up. I'm actually a little bit more concerned about the defense than I am about the offense. Not that it's going to be bad or anything, but Bill and I were having this debate. I mean, Bill, Bill's take all along was the calves with LeBron were going to be a paper tiger.

That they're, they're defensively, they were going to be too limited because of Hardin and Mitchell and LeBron's old. And you have the, who has the ball problem with these three ball dominant perimeter guys and this defense problem with the two small guards and Hardin is, you know, on again, off again, a sieve. And I said to him like, I'm not, is this, are we sure this is like a better defensive environment for LeBron? that Cleveland team because you do have two small, small-ish guards in Edgecombe and Max. You know, they both try really, really hard. And Maxie made huge strides defensively. And Edgecombe is probably a plus for his position. LeBron is still 41 years old.

Jalen Brown's okay to good. And Bede is like maybe available, maybe not, maybe super engaged, maybe not. And like Cleveland would have had this double big thing of Mowgli and Allen to at least put out some fires. Like, I think they're going to have some work to do to be a top 10. 12 defensive team. Maybe I'm too pessimistic. I don't know. What do you think, Chris?

I do not see, I do not see this team being like a defensive stalwart. And if there's, I almost trust these guys with the combined basketball IQ with people at the various places in their careers to figure out the offense, but the defense is going to really rely on like, can you preserve and beat?

And, you know, for me, I was actually wondering, like, are we going to see something like Embed and LeBron playing around 28 minutes a game. You know what I mean? Like where they are... Great. We should. You know, where they are, they've got Embed on a Wemby plan, where they've got LeBron, like, sure,

like, you know, you come and you start and you get announced last and everything, but like, you're going to probably play less than 30 minutes most nights. And if you're doing that and you've got, you know, Simon's out there. It's a, that's a small and, and,

and not particularly like, staunch team. So yeah, I'm worried about it. I'm worried about it because of the reasons I just said, which is like I just watched Castle and Harper and Mikhail Bridges

and Josh Hart play like Wolverines, you know, like on the defensive side of the ball. That seems how you win a championship now. And we don't, the Sixers don't really have that kind of identity. Pina?

Yeah, I'll just say real quick. Size is going to be an issue, I think, for sure. And I think I keep going back to this, but I just think Dean Wade is a really important player on this team. And teams will go at Joel and beat in the pick and roll a ton. He's a solid rim protector still, but I think you'll make him move quite a bit. And, you know, I feel like going back to Jalen Brown on offense, if he's unhappy, like I just think about that series against the Celtic Sixers series where he's getting back cut over and over again by Kelly Ubrae Jr.

and that's just kind of who he is off ball defensively. He's kind of allotted for his on-ball tenacity. And in the finals versus Luca, people talk about all the time. But I kind of weigh him out as an average defensive player because of just the spaciness that he still has this late in his career as a help defender. So I think that there's definitely a lot of intelligence for sure. And Maxie's gotten better and he maximizes his size. And I like love Edgecom.

defensively. I think he'll continue to make strides there. LeBron is super smart and he's always in the right spot and he's a brilliant communicator. But I think that it's okay to be a little cynical about this team defensively. And if you were to put them on a, like a minutes plan,

that's when I go back to, okay, so who is playing those minutes and, you know, win in the game and is it, who is it against? And I just, I have questions. I have questions. Like I said, if this team's the fourth of the fifth seed, no one should be all that surprised.

And I don't even think they would really care as long as they got into the top six and were healthy. You know, I don't know if I want to go here yet, but I will. The Embed question is really interesting because he's meant a lot to Philly. The fans, I think they still mostly love him. There's been some ups and downs. Bill right away on his pod, on the pod we did, was already pitching. He was already Picasso-ing. He was already Picassoing.

Embed for Anthony Davis. Oh, yeah. Embed for Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, and Clay Thompson, with the Sixers kicking in draft compensation. And I poo-pooed him because I was like, can we just sit here for a minute? He just, like, he just, LeBron just went to the Sixers.

I don't know if I should have, I don't know if I should have pupooed him that strongly. I, I just, I'll have my antenna up for Joelle and Bid trade noise during the summer, during the season. I'm just, I'm on alert. I don't really know that he's tradable without the Sixers kicking in all the draft assets that they have, given that he's got three years left on this monster contract. But they're not Pollyanna about it.

They know that they're not going to be able to rely on him to stay healthy and that he is a, just, it's a, the team has completely changed around him on both ends of the floor. I wouldn't just dismiss it as an impossibility, I guess is what I'm saying. Zach, can I jump in? A quick question. What is wrong with the, from Philly's perspective, the AD-M-B trade? And I understand the MB's contract and saying it's untradable and everything, but trading for AD is, I have to extend AD, so there's the downside there. And you'd kind of be doing Washington a little bit of a favor. And I'm sure that they would be the ones receiving draft compensation there.

So I just, that seems like a win, not a win-win, but something that Philly would like behind the scenes aggressively pursue. It just makes a ton of sense for them, particularly if LeBron puts his finger on the scale. Chris, would you like to address that question? The most important six are obviously

since Iverson and Iverson got traded. So like anything is possible, Embed embodying this era so specifically calling himself the process, like being like the sort of mascot of this multi-GM, multi-phase effort to rebuild a team that was like fine when they started rebuilding it.

He's so ingrained with Philly basketball culture at this point, even though he has plenty of people who are like, I can't anymore with this, with, you know, this injury or that injury or this weird cryptic statement or you don't seem like you want to play. But the idea of getting LeBron James and then trading Joel Embed, if Gansy does that, he should start in the next John Wick movie.

If Gansy, if Mike Gansy is like, the plan has come together, and now I'm going to get PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford and Clay Thompson, then like it's end of godfather type stuff. And I think Philly would adjust, you know, I think they would still go to games. But I think that the idea of finally like having this assemblage of talent or with Embed, if not around him, and then be like, have fun

and D.C. When he pitched the Dallas one to me, and other people have pitched a Miles Turner version to me where I don't know what the, forget what the bucks are doing with Joel Embed and how sad that would be. My initial response to those was like, just we've all invested too much together.

Can we give it a shot? Can we just give it? We know, like he's going to play 45 games and he's probably going to get hurt in the second round of the playoffs. can we just see? Can we just give it a shot, which is naive and dumb? The whole point of cheering for following sports and cheering for a team is to say,

what if he doesn't? Like, what if he doesn't get hurt? Exactly. What if somehow, like, you have to believe in these things. I know what the history tells us and I know what the stats tells us, but like I don't think, look, I've been worried or like noticing that they have not done a Jalen Brown press conference since this trade. Like, there was not a.

welcome Jalen to the team. I thought that was weird. I thought maybe it was because there was other moves coming. I had no idea it was something like this, but they didn't want Jalen to walk out on the dais and say, like, well, I can't wait to play with this guy and then this guy gets traded or, you know, make some sort of statement about how he's going to take over, like, leadership here and, you know, bring Maxie and VJ along or whatever it is.

So I think it's been noticed by many people that Jalen Brown has not been introduced as a sixer yet. and I was worried that it actually had something to do with Embed I was worried that they didn't want him to have to go out there and be like I just can't wait to play with Joel it's been a lifelong dream of mine or whatever and then the next day some crazy deal happens but I don't know I don't know in in Mike Gansy's

like Batman chamber like what's the order of operations and what's his order of preferences penal I mean like do you think that that's too sentimental on my part to be like, you know, like not without Joel. No, well, no, I mean, we won't leave you behind.

I will find you. No, man, like I totally get what you're saying. The last of the Joe Heacons, yeah, exactly. And, you know, that's, that is why you watch sports for sure. I, I also look at it, you know, flipping it around from the Celtics perspective and seeing all the Celtics fan kids crying when they, and Joe, Jalen Brown, never won MVP, and he's not that pedigree. He did win a finals MVP and was there for like a decade and was so embedded in the

community and beloved in Boston. And for them to just trade him for Paul George in two picks, obviously the PR situation was a, the backlash was a total nightmare. So, I mean, it does happen in the, this is the NBA. And so like you're not, you're not incorrect to feel that way for, sure. I just wouldn't be surprised at all if the Sixers did it. And I think that they are motivated to do it. And I think the thing that surprised me the most about LeBron picking the Sixers was the Embed question mark because he is brilliant. And he knows that Joel Embed has never been

out of the second round of the playoffs. And he knows that his body is his body. I mean, he played it in the Olympics with him and he could barely get up and down the court for stretches. It was a miracle in the Serbia game. So I just wouldn't be surprised almost to the point where I'm expecting a trade at this point, which is kind of wild to say. Here's, I am not a Sixers fan. I do love the city of Philadelphia. It is the most underrated city in America.

It's not even underrated anymore. I think it's been people now appreciated for what it is. Thank you, Zach. And I love Philly fans. I went to a World Cup game in Philadelphia. I had time of my life. Here's the emotional element to me as an outset. insider. You have, you have, you've gone through a lot together with Joel M. Bede,

fan to player. A lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of motions, a lot of setbacks, a lot of pain, Bell's palsy was involved at one point. It's one thing to kick that to the curb for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington or Miles Turner. Like I could see, like, as a fan, I just like, God, that sucks. Like, these guys are so fucking boring. Like, I'd rather watch Joel N. B. Limp up and down the court on the off chance that maybe he's not limping in June by some miracle than be like, Miles Turner's picking pop free is pretty meshing pretty well with Tyree Maxley these days.

But wouldn't that be the most processed thing? You know, PJ Washington's cutting from the dunker spot is quite underrated on this team. This is a great new character, Zach. I think you should do a lot more with this. But that's distinct from like, Anthony Davis is pretty fucking awesome. And if I were the Sixers, I would actually be trying to do that. And it wouldn't shock me if it comes out in two months that the two teams talk to some degree. Now, the Wiz have said all the things about how they want Anthony Davis on their team.

They want Trey Young and Anthony Davis to play together. They want to chase a play in spot maybe and be competitive. Why? Well, you can't tank anymore, you know, all that stuff. And so what the draft compensation would be away. By the way, Philly doesn't have that much draft compensation left because of the Jalen Brown trade. But that to me is at least like as a fan, you could be like at least this is exciting. Like this is a top 75 all time player who does, he will roll to the rim.

He is a more mobile and well-rounded defender than Joel Embed. He does not need the ball as much and sort of kind of fits this team a little bit better. The shooting downgrades is a bit of a concern. But at least as a fan, you could be like, at least this guy's awesome. Yeah, it's really sad. I mean, Joelle Embed in street clothes at a Washington Wizard's home. home game is one of the more depressing images that I have conjured in a long time. But as a Philly fan, at least AD is exciting.

At least I've traded this guy that I've lived and died with for a decade plus for something exciting, not like in this collection of role players. No comment. Wow. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, yes, I understand exactly what you're saying. Is Davis, how much more durable is Davis than Joel? Well, okay.

So that's an important question because a lot of. of AD's injuries are the sort of random like shoulder, wrist, thumb in a jersey. And Embed has also had a lot of like freakish injuries in the playoffs, Bell's palsies, Seacum elbowing him in the face and breaking his orbital bone and on and on. But the knee thing is now kind of officially a chronic thing with the comminga falling on him being the event that that seemed to exacerbate it and make it worse. And even when he comes back, he seems kind of trepidious a little bit to start going full strength again. And that's what's distinct.

That is where I've crossed the rubicon of like, I just don't have any faith that he's going to be able to stay healthy for any prolonged period of time. So yes, AD just equally undurable almost, but in a way that I don't have the same lack of hope. Does that make any sense? Sure. But again.

Also pre-existing chemistry with LeBron James and they won a championship together. That should also be thrown in there. Before we take a break, I do think that's important to note because there was all this murmuring of like, you know, now left. No one is left in the lurch. Like LeBron made a choice and all these teams

knew that they were, you know, there were a number of other places he might go and that they were likely to not get him. But there was all this stuff about how, you know, does Clutch want Golden State to get Anthony Davis to have any shot at LeBron James or rumblings like, does Cleveland need to go get Kyrie Irving to get LeBron

James? Like, I may just speaking from myself and the calls in Texas I've made over the last month. I haven't really heard any of that. I don't think like, I think AD may have been floated like tentatively very early in the process to maybe one team and that's it. And I don't think there were any talks about it at all, any substantive trade talks. I don't think I, you know, Sean's reported a couple days ago that there's no other dominoes here. LeBron's not waiting for any other dominoes. I think that was true and I think that's actually been true for quite a while.

And I just wanted to like make sure that I mentioned that now. Who knows what will happen between now and then. All right, I have a couple other general takes to throw at you guys. Let's take a quick break first. Wendy's 99 cent Frosty is back and Frosty farmers couldn't be happier. Made with Canadian dairy, they grow up cool, creamy, and mighty thick. It's farm to Frosty. Get a small 99 cent Frosty until Longest 2nd and participating Wendy's Texas Extra. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display

and an immersive 19 speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and optic delivers with precision, to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations

for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Okay, here are some thoughts slash takes slash scorchers I've seen going around the internet since LeBron signed with the Sixers today, and I want to bounce them off of you. Take number one, and this was like almost a pre-take,

like Brian Winhorse said this on TV, and Howard Beck said it on my podcast. Take number one, it just feels weird to have LeBron on the Philadelphia 76ers in a way that is just somehow off-putting. Chris Ryan, agree, disagree. What are your thoughts? I assure you it's not off-putting.

Michael Pina, maybe. maybe a less biased source. Michael Pina? I mean, you've got the greatest career in the history of the NBA, almost inarguably, going to one of the most dysfunctional, at times laughable organizations in a decade. And I just think that that that... This is just aggressive. Even I'm uncomfortable.

You asked. So I think that that incongruence is pretty, it's pretty interesting. I think that they, I don't, I don't think that this was among the top 10 reasons that he joined the team, but historically the Sixers are a very important franchise in NBA history.

And in the home, it's true. It's true. It's true. The great, great NBA players. I'm on the right side of history of this because when Howard, Howard said this on my podcast when I was in Vegas, so a couple weeks ago, whatever that was, right after Wendy had said something to the effect of, the vibes would just feel off.

And I get why he's saying that. It's like, we started the podcast. podcast with like I'm looking right now at an image of him in a Sixers jersey with number 23. Like that's just fucking weird. I can't believe this is happening. It's 20, it's 20, 26. The guy's still playing and he's going to play for the 76ers. But I said this to Howard. People can have any opinion they want about LeBron and this and that, whatever it is. He has done his whole career, his way and not adhering to anything, any traditional conception of what a superstar career is supposed to be. So he's not a one team guy.

In fact, not only is he not a one team guy, he leaves his hometown team in the most destructive infuriating way possible in the decision to go to the Miami heat with his buddies. He wins two championships there. He then leaves his buddies in Miami to go back to Cleveland. He then wins a championship there and goes to Los Angeles. Why? Because he wants to play with Brandon Ingram, Alonzo Ball and Josh Hardin, all those. No, he just was like, I want to go to Los Angeles. Maybe we'll get Anthony Davis.

Maybe we won't. I want to be an entertainment mogul. I want to go to L.A. This kind of fits with his, I'm going to do. going to do things my way because I am the game. I am the sport. I can do whatever I want. I'm either the greatest, the second greatest player of all time. I think it would be kind of cool to go to Philadelphia, play with a young player who's represented by my agency, who I already have a good relationship with, who I think is one of the next great stewards of the NBA and Tyrese Maxie.

Play for a franchise that, as Chris said, is historically really significant in the NBA, but has not quite been able to get out of its own way in the last 10 years, 15 years, whatever, try to bring some stability, play with some players he respects and likes. I think this is in keeping with LeBron's career and does not feel that weird to me. Okay, take number two. Are you ready, Chris Ryan? Sure. This is from, and you've seen this all around the internet,

this is the one that happened to have caught my eye from a guy named Mark Shankowski, who's an anchor covering the Bulls in Chicago. He used to do Stacey. King's podcast with Stacey, the late Grace, Stacey King. And he retweets the Shams tweet about the signing and says, the king of ring chasing is at it again, teaming up with three other all-teaming up with three other all-stars in Philly in a desperate attempt to get a fifth championship and make his resume look better next to Jordan.

Chris Ryan. I wish, man. I wish. That would suggest that there are some rings here other than my wedding ring. There's no rings. Go on. Michael Pena? No.

I think that this is like one of the, I wrote this, this is like one of the more challenging uphill battle situations he could have possibly landed in. So I don't, I don't think he's ring chasing at all. No. If you think about like, look, there's an era of LeBron's career, the leg GM, the like, everything is a chess game. That clutch is usurping the NBA power base to maneuver personnel around

for him. I think he might have just been like, I think I want to play in Philly. Like it sometimes life's not that much more complicated than that. And like you said, Zach, like I don't think, I think he was like, let's see if it works. It's, it's four mill a year. Like we can, we can all walk away, stay friends if we want to. Like if, if LeBron's like it turns out I don't want to do this in January and retires, like, is that any more surprising than signing with Philly in the first place? Like, I think that there's a little bit of a like, let's see. what happens to this. This is not ring chasing.

And even if it were, I don't even think it's possible to be a ring chaser when you're almost 42 years old. I think that you're upright and playing quality NBA basketball, go do whatever the hell you want. He's got four championships.

But he's chasing a ring. The other thing is, then what would have gone going to Cleveland have been? Is that just, is it because it's home? It's not, it's not ring chasing. It would have been like a kind of sentimental

ending to a documentary. So going to Golden State would have been like, the biggest blockbuster ticket the NBA had had. But speaking of depth problems, those guys would have been like, they would have been like panting for air. Like that's not like.

Like they wouldn't have been able to put together a great team with LeBron. Golden State was dead on arrival. Too old, two injured. Now they're really dead on arrival with, I think some significant downside risk built into this particular team, which I think they know.

I expect Draymond will come back. It's again Friday at 4.50. he may come back by the time you listen to this. My guess is it, I wouldn't be surprised for a one-year deal with the same amount that he just opted out for, but they're not going anywhere and they know that.

Yaxo Land of Burke looked awesome in Summer League. That's great. But my point is like Cleveland, you could literally rewrite that same tweet about playing with three all-stars and it would apply to the Cavaliers, except it's home, so it's home. The heat, he'd be going with Bam and Janus.

Is that ring chasing or is that just going to the heat? Like, I don't understand the difference is just the location and the fact that he's played there before. And he can chase rings if he wants to. He's earned the right. Okay, take three. Is this the best starting five in the NBA? And I will give you the other candidates and maybe I've missed one.

Oklahoma City, I have put in just for now, Shea, Kason Wallace, J. Dubb, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hardinstein. San Antonio, Dearon Fox, Devin Vassell, Julian Champany, Steph Castle, Victor Wimbignan. But Tobias Harris could slide in there. and like a little bit of an untold thing. Anything with Wembe's got to be in there. Dylan Harper, bitch. Yeah, Dylan Harper is still hard to understand. Still there.

Denver, Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Nicole Enochich, maybe Peyton Watson takes a spot. The Knicks, they're starting five, just won the NBA championship with some of the most beautiful basketball. You'll see that lineup is heading up and down history, actually, but I think the playoffs,

they just destroyed everybody. Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell, James Hardin, either Max Drews or Jalen Tyson, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen. Houston, I put in just to be, you know, just to be a completist. Fred Van Vliet, Amman Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith, Jr., Alper, and Shengoon. And then I think that that basically, I guess you get to do shy throw in Boston just to round out the jail and brown trade. Peyton, Richard, Derek White, Jason Tatum, Paul George, Mitchell Robinson.

Is this the best starting five in the NBA, Philadelphia? No, it's not. I can't say that it's the best starting five after the Knicks just won the championship. The Thunder have done what they've done and the Spurs look the way they looked and have improved. So, no, I don't think so. And I just, you know,

there's just too many question marks to make grand proclamations like that for me. Also, the Pistons just added John Collins, so. Why is this turning into like a John Collins? You know what? I love John Collins. I love them. It doesn't seem like it, okay?

I think John Connell, I think the Pistons had a better off season that people are giving them credit for and they're going to win a lot of games, assuming Jell and Duren is back on the team. Given some of the things that Bill said about Caleb Wilson yesterday, are we sure we're counting out the Bulls too easily? Look, I was driving in my car. Talk about a no comment right there. I was driving in my car and I was listening to the podcast and thank God I turned it on after I dropped my daughter and her friends off at swim practice so that they didn't hear about how we'd have no sperm left if you were a Bulls fan and there would just be a giant. ejaculate everywhere. Imagine if one of my daughter's friends went back to her parents.

I was like, hey, Mommy, Mr. Lowe was like listening to this thing in the car where somebody was talking, what's sperm? Like,

it's just, that would have ruined my whole lecture. I think that guy probably would have, the dad probably would have been like he was, he was just listening to Bill's pod. It's a big deal. I think, I think I'd go Oklahoma City and the Knicks

starting five's over Philly. A couple of, Spurs. Spurs. Spurs. Yeah. Spurs. I get, yeah.

I mean, we did, everyone just did finish a month of shitting on the Aaron Fox. It's worth noting, right, if we're going to talk about the Spurs 35. But yeah, this should be in there. A quick note, another thing that I was going through like all the reasons why this could be maybe not quite as difficult a day. There's only one ball thing on offense. I don't know if this is health, if this is career evolution, if this is whatever. But I looked this up during the season and I refreshed my memory today.

Embed post-ups down to 7.9 per 100 possessions last year, that's the lowest number of his career. And in his MVP years, it was up at like 15 year, his MVP caliber years. It was up to 15 or 16 per 100 possessions. And I remember looking that up late in the season because I was like, man, it feels like they're just not throwing it to him as much. And I don't really know why that is other than obviously he was coming back. from injuries and probably testing his body out. But it does speak to the possibility of a slightly revamped identity for what he does on offense. I just don't know, like, what that endpoint looks like in terms of, you know, he's just not a good enough jump shooter to evolve into, he's just a spacer on the perimeter now.

But I thought that was notable. One of the big things that I think will be interesting is to see how contagious LeBron's general, like, ball finds energy kind of like, let's. let's move this thing around. Offensive identity is, and, you know, Embed, for several years, like the Sixers sort of go-to-offensive set was throw it down to Embed and wait for a double and see if he can make the right pass

and make it fast enough. And is he going to even be seen that many doubles? Like, I mean, do you double in Embed when LeBron and Jalen Brown and Tyresexie are out there? To that point, I was having a conversation about the Sixers before LeBron shows them. And my defensive strategy against this team would be to never double anybody because I don't want them to pass. I would love a bunch of one-on-one isolation basketball.

And I wonder if that is how teams will approach guarding them this year. But no, that's a great point, Chris. That's interesting because, you know, I mean, they'll find the weakest matchup then if you want to play them that way. And they will run a pick and roll and try to exploit it, which. is fine. They can do that. LeBron is obviously a bulldozer in the post. Jalen Brown can be too. And it speaks to the, the NBA is the ultimate wildcard in the NBA because for the week he was healthy against Boston, he just, like that third quarter of whatever game that was in Boston when he just woke up and was like, oh, I'll just put Nemeus Keda and Luca Garza and

Nicola Vuccivic in the basket over and over again. And it was like, holy, yeah, I remember, I remember this guy and you just can't last that way. But it was a reminder like that's like when you talk about not doubling Mbd, that's what used to happen where you didn't double Mbd unless you had like Mitchell Robinson or, you know, is there anyone else really that belongs on that list? That's what happened. He would just back you into the basket and you'd foul him or he'd dunk. And it was like a little shacky in that way where there was just nothing you could do with prime shack.

So I look, I wouldn't mind throwing it to him. And if you do double him, um, They have brilliant cutters, passers, shooters all over the floor. But yeah, to your point, Michael, I don't know if he merits that. But for a week against Boston, you certainly did because he just beat the shit out of everyone they had. But they'll play bully ball. They'll find ways. They'll run inverted pick and rules and all that.

I don't think offense, I don't know, I might be being naive, but Jill and Brown might go there and be like, this sucks. I wanted to be the number one option. And now, like, while Vijay had 25 tonight, so I was like the fifth option for six minutes. I don't know. So this is what I wanted to ask you guys, because you've probably spent more time around the Celtics, obviously, than I have, but over the many people. And you have covered LeBron more closely over the years and are more familiar with, like, how things work on his teams. Do you think that these guys are going to get along in a basketball sense?

Like, Michael obviously, like, suggested, like, Jalen wanted to go to his own team and initially here with Embed, kind of like a halftime player. Jalen gets like two really feisty fun guards and is given this sort of like open canvas and LeBron complicates that. But like personality wise, do you think there's a mesh here? Do you think Nick nurses particular coaching style meshes with these guys? Like beyond the X's and O's, it's almost like, do you think there's emotional chemistry? I think that will take time to build. And there's a world where it doesn't, it doesn't like someone, another, someone in the least, with another team was just as everyone was in Vegas was sort of spitball and like hey what do you think the best fit is the worst fit where do you think he's going to go I was like I don't really

look I don't think there's a great great answer to the like there's not an a plus other than like minnesota which was tailor made and he was never going to do that and I remember getting to Philly and I was like you know I just I don't know how he's going to love playing with Jalen Brown or Joelle Mbid if that if that's going to be like his easy as as so I defaulted to Cleveland being like imperfect everything imperfect all default to going home and having the homecoming. So I do think there's there's something to that and everyone is going to have to sacrifice and you hope that A, Nick Nurse is an elite coach and B, just the rigors of the regular season and tonight this guy sits and tonight that guy sits kind of eases their way into

the playoffs and they have a, you know, I mean, I said this with Bill. Like the Knicks as recently is January and February where like an unhappy, frustrated internal crisis kind of team. And then they just like won the championship. you just don't know how these things are going to work. Yeah, and the Spurs were like the feel-good story of the year and that it was just like Dylan Harper wants to start. You know, like, I mean, things change really quickly. I was just, you know, I hear so many stories about Jalen this

or LeBron's like that when you're playing with him and like, we'll see. I mean, like it's any professional environment, but LeBron's in his 40s, you know? Like I wonder if he's like, this isn't about making a sub-tweet about getting a shooter. You know, this is, I'm going to see how it goes and, you know. Look, it wasn't a huge sample, but the way he actually bought in,

he didn't pay lip service to it and then do something different. For 25, 30 games, whatever it was, he bought into being the third option around Luca and Austin Reeves and became like the apex version of that kind of player. That's proof of concept to me that he can do it and that he's willing to do it. And he understands that in order to win, he might have to do it. And I think the same applies here. I don't know, Michael, if you're more optimistic, less optimistic. I think offensively it'll be fine.

But the ego thing is going to be there. I don't disagree that LeBron can make it work if he wants to. I'm just interested because, you know, comparing it to Luca is fascinating because Luca is, you know, he is this prodigious talent who, when he has the ball in his hands, he is elite offense unto himself. And he makes every, he can see every. read, he makes all the right passes, it's just a completely different level

of offensive player than Jalen Brown. And I wonder, I'm not saying it can't work, of course, I think it sure very well may, and I would bet that it will. But I just, you know, Jalen Brown is like,

I'm going to dribble like eight times and take this contested fall away. And if it doesn't go in, the next time down the court, I'm going to try the same exact thing. So I just, I wonder how that is going to play out. If he is stubborn in his, in his ways against, again, single coverage. And I think that that is something, like I always go back to with Jalen Brown,

Eric Spolstra putting in the 2024 playoffs in the first round, put Bamette a bio on Jason Tatum. And he put Tyler Hero on Jalen Brown. and the whole thing was like, I want Jalen Brown to like go off. Do what you want to do. Take as many shots as you want because you will disrupt that team's offense. And so I just, I'm just so curious to see how it all plays out. And the degree to which Jalen is willing to taper his game at this point in his career coming off a season where he's like,

I should win MVP is going to be really fat. Like him averaging like, you know, 16 points a game is just really hard to fathom. So it'll be, it is an exaggeration, but like the, there will be sacrifice for sure. Like his usage rate is not going to be 33, you know? So I just think it'll be, it'll be an interesting situation. Well, look, in the two years before this one, he averaged 22.2 and 23 points a game. That feels realistic. Guess what?

He made the All-Star team both years. Like, you're going to get recognized for all this. But I remember Spowe trying to bait him like that in that playoff series. There was also the famous game where the Warriors put Draymond, green on him and just didn't guard him at all and just dared him, treated him like he was Andre Robertson in the corner and it's like, let's just mess with his way. It's interesting. Steltox won that game by like 65 points or something.

And they beat the heat quite easily in the playoffs after losing the first game, I think. It is interesting how he's been the target of some mind games like that. A couple other final thoughts on this. We've talked about the East and the East beefing up in Kauai probably coming east. Janus staying East. LeBron now coming east. And although we could, you know, a lot of the East teams have kind of stood still. They haven't necessarily gotten worse.

The Pacers are going to be back as a real team again. It just struck me like, we could see LeBron play the Cavs in the playoffs. It's never happened before. It didn't happen when he was on Miami. And he only played the heat once. And it was in the bubble when he was with the Lakers in the finals. So like I think we deserve, we deserve, we deserve as basketball. football fans, a real LeBron rivalry with one of his past teams playoff series.

And it's in play. Imagine like LeBron against the heat with Janus and Bam or LeBron going back to Cleveland after spurning them again. Like, this would be awesome theater. Zach, who is the Christmas Day opponent for the Sixers? And, yeah, this is a question to you. I'm so, I'm so relieved for Adam Silver that they can make the schedule now. I mean, do you think they send LeBron to Cleveland on Christmas Day?

No, it's got to be. I think it's still got to be Boston. I think Philly, Boston, well, you know what? It's LeBron, you're right. It can't, Miami is not, I don't think Miami has the emotional heft. Yeah, I don't, I'm sure there are heat fans who feel otherwise, but I don't, I saw when Pat Riley did the band, the band and Janus press conference. And he was like, and I was like, I don't think so, man. Like, it doesn't feel like that's, that's where he wanted to go.

If you wanted to go there, it was like plenty of time to make that decision. I think that it beyond even like the LeBron, where does LeBron wind up? like what rivalry games is LeBron playing in? The more you talk about the Eastern Conference, the more I'm like every single night, there is going to be an incredible storyline. Like, whether it's a great young player that you want to watch

or tracking the Pacers trying to get back to what they had two years ago or these new situations for Janice and LeBron and whether or not the Pistons, where is Jalen Duren now? Like, like, how many more... Like, what is his physical location currently? Like, where is his...

contract status. Is he a Pistons player still? Yes. He's a restrictive agent. I would be absolutely blown away if he was not a piston next year. The Sean Sweeney effect on Orlando, do they become a little bit more dangerous? Charlotte is their like Ewing theory

with Lamello? Like I just think, yeah, it's going to be exciting almost every single night. And there's a lot of trade stuff still to happen. Yeah, to me, like pre-Lebron, Boston, Philly was like the no brain or Christmas game. Because of the Jalen Brown trade and the resulting animus and all that.

I just, they are division rivals. The game is if you could somehow not have Philly and Boston play until Christmas, which is hard because they play four times a year and then backload the schedule and have that be the first Jalen Brown versus Boston game and it's LeBron and it's LeBron versus the Celtics, who is old nemesis. I think that's still the game. Other than that, LeBron at Cleveland would be a lot of fun too. Any final thoughts on this guys?

Anything we didn't hit? It's really in the eye of the storm. It's very, I mean, like, for 15 years, like, I think the Sixers have been the kind of object of fascination of, like, real NBA heads because it's like, is this going to work? And the controversy over the process and obviously, like, Calangelo, and there's always just been this kind of comic tragedy

to the way the team has been operating. And, you know, our buddies at the Wrights to Ricky Sanchez are just kind of, like, chronicling this multiple times a week. and it's just like is this Sisyphesian task to kind of cheer for this team to have the same result in the same round of the playoffs. And so to be here and just be like somebody chose us, somebody wants to be a part of this, it's just really like mind-altering.

So I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts until the first sort of like, are we sure this is working? Happens. More likely that they lose in the first round or win the championship. Win the championship. Okay. Bina? Wow.

Okay. I got to go with losing the first round more likely. I would too. I'm sorry. But that doesn't necessarily mean they haven't aimed in the right direction. That's just the nature of the Eastern Conference. They're more likely to win the championship than they were before. By the way, you're wearing a Phillies act.

Can I just tell you one of the things I've learned in my return to baseball the last two years? I don't mean this in the true sense of the word hate. It's more respect and fear. if I never see Kyle Schwabber bad against the Mets again, that'll be fucking fine with me. It seems like he hits a home run every single time. And then I look at his stats. He's like, oh, yeah, he has 9,000 home runs and 9.

Like, he's just incredible. Every time they play the Mets, even the outs or like warning tracks, I can't even watch when he's up. I have seen the Phillies multiple times this summer in other stadiums other than Philadelphia, and they've lost every game in Schwerber has like barely made contact. And so it's just been this surreal experience of every time I check in,

it's like, I hit two dingers today. So I'm glad I'm glad that he is, he is hurting you, Zach. I'm sorry. My 11-year-old, my 11-year-old daughter is like, there's that Schwerber with his beard again. This is bad news for us. I'm like, yeah, it is. All right. Michael Pina, you already wrote a column on the ringer.com about LeBron.

We'll have a lot more off-season content. There's not much off-season left to go. Chris Ryan, you are everywhere. What was the latest thing you've done? and what do we should look out for early next week? Well, tomorrow we are doing, I think we tweeted this out. We are doing obsession live on Netflix on the rewatchables. So 2026 movie and very excited.

And some might say that I made a wish that came through today. Is that the fastest rewatchable's turnaround in rewatchable's history? No, we did Top Gun Maverick, I think, while it was still in theaters. I still haven't seen Top Gun Maverick. God bless you guys. I cannot wait to see that. That's going to be amazing. All right. Thank you guys for circling the wagons on Friday. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the show tomorrow, Chris. And we'll see you guys soon. All right. That's it for today's edition of the Zach Lowe show. Thank you to Chris Ryan. Thank you to Michael Pina for scrambling and getting on the show today. Thanks as always to Mike, Billy, and Jonathan on production. And thanks to you all for listening to and or watching the Zach Lowe show.

We'll be back later this week. Hopefully some more stuff happens in the NBA before we all leave for a well-eat. deserve vacation. Thank you all for listening. 21 or over and President Select States for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over in President D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming, gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or 1-800-My reset. Call 1-888-7-9-77 or visit ccpg.gagggy.org

slash chat in Connecticut, or is it MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, MA.org, or call 800, 327-50-5-0. 5-0 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope NY in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-7-7-867-7-867. That sound? It means summer's biggest event is here. The fashion is unmatched.

The crowd's buzzing, the bets are down. This isn't just a race. It's the King's Plate. Canada's most iconic day at the track. World-class racing, live music, gourmet food, and pure, hard-pounding thunder. Saturday, August 15th, Woodbine Race Track. Tickets start at $35. Don't miss out. Lock yours in today at kingsplate.com. The Kingsplay, rule the day.

Must be 18 plus to wager. No way to take the reins. Responsible gambling.org. If you win a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend? Or try a bunch of new hobbies? Would you feel free to upgrade and listen, add free? Don't worry, we get it. Every $20 ticket could win you $3,000 a month for life. and supports life-saving cancer research at the Princess Margaret.

Feel free to buy your Payday for Life ticket today. Raffle number 155-2194. Please play responsibly.