This Sixers series against the Celtics is the single most shocked I’ve been by anything that has happened during the Process Era. I am trying to figure out what emotion I can express to you the morning after Game 6, and all I keep saying to myself is “I can’t believe this is happening.”

I am obviously elated, and still kind of anxious (as they still have to win one more game), but the number one thing I am is shocked.

Markelle Fultz forgetting how to shoot was less surprising. Bryan Colangelo’s burners? Easier to predict. Zhaire Smith almost dying because of a food allergy he didn’t know he had from food that the Sixers served him? Well, if you look at the odds, there are a lot of food allergies out there and a Sixer was bound to have one of them.

Something happened prior to the 4th quarter of game five that turned the team into the ideal version of themselves. The way they’ve defended for the last game and a quarter is just not something I believed they could do. They went from a team that gave up more open threes than any team I’ve ever watched in my adult life to being able to prevent the Boston Celtics, a team that is built around getting open threes, from getting any of them.

There were no signs pointing to this happening prior to this series starting.

(Before I continue, I know you could be reading this saying out loud, “I knew they were going to win!” I am happy for you. I believe you thought they were going to win. If we’re all being honest with ourselves you’ve said this every time.)

The numbers didn’t say it could happen. The Celtics were one of the best teams in the league on offense and defense all year long. The Sixers were, even with Joel and PG on the court, pretty uninspiring.

The vibes certainly weren’t pointing to it. The Celtics went into the playoffs with a “we can win even sitting all of our best players” victory over the Magic, while the Sixers fumbled themselves into the play-in, and their best player had an emergency appendicitis.

History was not on our side. The Sixers haven’t beaten the Celtics in a playoff series since Ronald Reagan’s first term in office. And once the playoffs began, once the Celtics went up 3-1, 95.6 of those teams win the series. The Sixers have never won a playoff series after going down 3-1.

Mike predicted a sweep. AU was writing missives about how sad we all are just a few days ago. The Stat Man was like “better pray!” None of us saw this coming.

And yet, here the Sixers are, on the verge of the first good playoff series win since we’ve been doing the Ricky.

A lot of times people say, “I’d be happy to be wrong but…” right before they say they think something bad is going to happen. Every time I laughed at the idea of the Sixers winning this series, I would say that.

Needless to say, very wrong. Very happy. Go win Game 7.

Team Ricky

• Most of the content we’ve produced over the last week is really not that timely to be consuming now, to be honest.

• Here’s last night’s Ricky. It’s a good one. There is an NSFW part toward the end where I suggest Nick Nurse might show up on my doorstep and play a guitar solo with his dick so be careful there.

• Beckett, the Stat Man, wrote about how the SIxers could win Game 6. I suppose all of this holds for Game 7.

• The new album from The Fray is my favorite album of 2026 so far. It’s really incredible. We did an episode of The Carl Landry Record Club about it. If you want to suggest an album for the podcast, do it here.

Team Non-Ricky

• Kelly Oubre is a gift. Speaking of surprising, never thought he would become what he is. May he never sign anywhere else (unless it’s a record deal).

• KOC with some kind words about Maxey.

• I don’t really have anything else. The Sixers forced a Game 7 with the Celtics. The Flyers are not only in the playoffs but are “the hot young team nobody wants to face with the hot goalie.” The Phillies are now undefeated with Donnie Baseball signing the lineup cards (shout out SixersAdam). Soak it in, baby.

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There are several layers to being a Sixers fan at this point.

When I say “being a Sixers fan,” I mean in the way that we are Sixers fans. Not in the way that most people in the Delaware Valley would of course, prefer to see the Sixers win. I mean in that being a fan of this team is part of your identity to other people, whether you choose for it to be or not. It’s sort of like when I got a cat years ago (rest in peace, Alabama, love you), and even though I didn’t choose it, I immediately became a cat guy to my mom and many others. Cat birthday cards, etc… Oh, that’s Spike, he has a cat and he likes it so he must be a cat guy. I mean that kind of Sixers fan.

The layer I’m going to write about is the layer of having to answer for the team, even though you had nothing to do with it. And the material piece of information here is what you’re going to have to answer for if Joel Embiid comes back and the Sixers lose anyway. Particularly, if he comes back tonight (he is listed as doubtful), and the Sixers end up losing the series 4-1, so the final win we see is the VJ/Maxey game in game two.

This is, no doubt, a nightmare for this kind of Sixers fan. Not just because the Sixers will have lost to the Celtics again, which you’re likely very emotionally prepared for, but because you’re going to have to argue about Joel Embiid again.

“I told you they should have gotten rid of him!”

“They just play with so much more hunger when he’s not there!”

“They’re just so much more exciting without him!”

And although there might be some morsel of truth in these things they say, I must recommend you do not even engage. Your response should be, “haha yeah,” and nothing more. If it’s in text messages or group chats, just “haha yeah,” and come back later. If it’s in person, it’s obviously tougher, but the less interested you seem and the less your blood pressure raises, the better.

The well actually route is just going to make you insane, and this is coming from a card carrying member of the Well Actually… Hall of Fame.

Last Chance To Save These Poor Dogs That Don’t Have Homes

This is going to be the last money ask for a while. I’m just $391 from my goal of raising $10,000 for the Brandywine Valley SPCA and their mission to save as many of these dogs and cats (also the occasional bunny or goat) as possible. I look at my two idiots, Rebel and Scotchie, and realize how they’ve changed my life. I figure it’s my job to make sure I can save as many Rebels and Scotchies as possible. You can donate here. If you’ve already donated, or even have just shared this, thank you so much (to be clear it’s a slightly larger thank you if you donated than if you just just shared).

Team Ricky

• Beckett looked at the numbers of a Sixers vs. Celtics series and how the Sixers might be able to shock the world.

• We did a Carl Landry Record Club pod about an album from an artist named Samora Pinderhughes that I had never heard but am glad I did. Very cool album. New pod about the new album from The Fray coming out this weekend.

• If you’d like to suggest an album you love for the Carl, just submit it here.

• The pod after Game 2 was a fun one. Also, we had noted that some of the playoff pods might not happen right after the game, that is no longer true. Mike’s finished with his writing duties for the second season of The Paper, so we’re right on time now.

Team Non-Ricky

• Sixers Adam’s substitution chart from Game 2. Great job, Sixers Adam, on charting the substitutions again.

• Jeremy Lin is trying to gaslight us about Nick Nurse. I love Jeremy Lin but I will not forget this.

• Lastly, I have to admit, I’m Flyered up. There was a part of me that was like, “I do not have time to add the NHL playoffs to the diet of sports I have to watch,” but it is nice to watch a team in that spot we were in 2017, when the team was young, had no expectations, and everyone figured was going to get better for the next several years. The poor Flyers die-hards have no idea what’s about to happen next year, when everyone just assumes they’ll win the Stanley Cup, but for now, this is fun.

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The Boston Celtics really don’t bother me that much, all things considered. They never have. I don’t like them, but also, I don’t really hate them.

I have a hard time lying about how I feel regarding these sports things. I’m not good at faking optimism. I could never put a brave face on and just say I loved watching Ben Simmons. It would probably make my life slightly easier as some kind of public facing Sixers fan if I could.

If I’m thinking about Eastern Conference teams that I truly hate, the Celtics aren’t even close to the top. I hate the Knicks. I know this is rich considering my history, but it’s true. I hate the fans, I hate the whole weird, fake tough, “We’re New York bro!” aura of both the fans and the team to be really just disgusting. I hate the Heat, “Heat Culture,” and the way everyone slobbers over them and their overrated coach. The Bucks have always truly annoyed me, them getting Doc Rivers was just the icing on the cake.

But the Celtics? Meh. It’s annoying that they’ve already eliminated the Process Sixers three times in the playoffs, but it’s not their fault they’re better than we are. I couldn’t stand Al Horford, but he’s gone. Kyrie was a little annoying, but he’s gone. I can’t really imagine Tatum or Brown inspiring much emotion at all either way. If I’m being honest, I mostly love Joe Mazzulla and wish we had him coaching our team more than a guy who spends most of his free time binging Pitchfork reviews, waiting for like Kurt Vile to invite him to a jam session.

In fact, when I’m thinking about this year’s Sixers, being eliminated by James Harden or Tobias Harris would be way more annoying. Being eliminated by the Knicks while their fans, drenched in axe body spray and false bravado paraded through the halls of The Eczema would be worse. Losing to the Celtics almost seems like the most merciful of all of our possible killings.

Mike will have to be your guy on this one.

Save These Doggies

I’ve got about 8 days to help get our team to over $10,000 raised for the Brandywine Valley SPCA. We’re about $3,000 away. Won’t you help me?

Verb Starter Pack

If you’ve wanted to try Verb Energy bars (protein or otherwise), they’ve got this starter pack now. It’s 10 bars for $20, and if you use the code RTRS at checkout, you get another 20% off. The bars have fit quite nicely into my life replacing the shitty for me Diet Soda I’d always have around noon.

Team Ricky

We did a Ricky after the Orlando game. It’s available everywhere now. It wasn’t available for about 16 hours on Apple and many other platforms besides Spotify. I want to be clear that this was not our fault. I don’t mean to sound like Doc Rivers here, but really we’re not the ones to blame.

I have to say, for once, I agree with AU. But he keeps talking about how he can’t talk himself into them beating the Celtics, though. I can tell it’s just below the surface.

Team Non Ricky

Sixers Adam on the ramifications of no Lottery Party this year. I’m so happy I don’t have to plan a Lottery Party this year. Not because it would mean the Sixers didn’t make the playoffs, and not because I don’t like Lottery Parties. I just didn’t feel like planning it. Win for me.

I was on House of Strauss earlier this week to talk about the NBA at large and some other stuff with Ethan Sherwood-Strauss.

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This was never going to work. We all knew it was never going to work. There was no chance that this Sixers season was going to result in the playoff success we all so desperately crave and deserve. Still, I’m glad they gave it a try.

There will be many people in the next days or weeks or months that say that the right thing for the Sixers to do with Embiid was move on from him a few years ago, and with him, this era of Sixers basketball. I will probably even be one of these people.

The debate will not be if they should have, but when they should have. Perhaps the best time may have been immediately after his MVP season as, insane as that sounds, as it may have been the last time he had positive value in a trade — but there was still fair skepticism that it was “ever going to work.” It would obviously certainly be before they gave him the extension and then went and doubled down on him with signing Paul George for four years and $212 million.

Still, I’m still glad they’re going to be a year late on that decision rather than a year early, even if it is the wrong thing strategically. It’s just the right thing for my soul… to make sure they gave this thing every chance they could have. There will be what-ifs in every scenario, but I am, we all are, so emotionally invested in Joel Embiid’s success in the same way (if not more) we’re invested in the team’s success, that one “what-if” I am not sure if I’d have been able to resolve would have been “what if we had just given it one more chance, and done it a little differently?”

I know this will probably result in the Sixers being in basketball purgatory until at least the end of this decade. But I just think leaving no stone unturned with this particular guy, for this particular era, is something I needed. Even if I have said or will say differently.

Unfortunately sometimes you turn over all the stones and there’s nothing underneath.

PS: We only have two weeks left to raise a few more thousand dollars for homeless animals for Brandywine Valley SPCA’s Walk For Paws. We want to get to $10,000. Also, I want to be the #1 team and quite honestly we’re in danger of falling to #3. Donate here. It will help dogs like Diamond.

Team Ricky

• AU wrote something about whether or not he’s gonna be able to talk himself into this Sixers team having any kind of shot at a postseason run (spoiler alert I’m sure he will).

• Beckett Sanderson put all this work into his numbers piece that is very good, and looks at whether Dominic Barlow or Kelly Oubre should be the sixth starter. Hours later, with the release of the Embiid news, it tuns out it doesn’t matter at all! Who gives a fuck! They were going to lose in the first round anyway but now this is even a bigger waste! Welcome to the team Beckett, it’s always like this.

• Here’s the podcast we did on Thursday night after the Rockets loss about the Embiid news. At least we had some fun Doc stuff to laugh about.

Team Everyone Else

• KOC broke the news on how NBA Lottery reform is going to work. I don’t think it’s going to work. It’s almost obviously not going to work. They should have consulted us.

• Here’s the thing Shams wrote about the Bucks with the awesome Doc Rivers anecdote from the pod.

• Sixers Adam is keeping everyone updated on the Sixers playoff/play-in scenarios.

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Well, God willing, these assholes are going to be in the playoffs again, so us assholes have to do our part.

Our part, is as always, convincing ourselves that the Sixers will have a chance to beat any of the teams they play in the first round. I, one of the head assholes, am here to help you do that.

I’m going to skip over all of the convincing you’ll have to do about the Sixers themselves. We know what those steps are (fresh legs, nobody there to guard Embiid, etc…). What I’m going to present to you here is how to convince yourself that the Sixers can beat any of the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference that they may play.

Detroit Pistons

This one’s pretty easy! First of all, we have the “they might not have Cade Cunningham” to lean on until proven otherwise. I will chose to believe that he’s not going to play.

From there it gets pretty easy. There is simply no way you’ll convince me that the Sixers are going to lose to a team who is starting Tobias Harris against us. The world is often times cruel, but not cruel enough to let us lose to a guy who scored zero points in his playoff finale against us. If it were a “carrying books into the locker room” contest, we may lose, but not basketball.

Boston Celtics

Are you kidding me? The Celtics are a tinderbox just waiting for someone to throw a match.

They were cruising along as the feel good story of the season as they looked great without Jayson Tatum, thanks to greatest coach of all time Joe Mazzulla. Tatum came back, and they’ve admittedly been very good since then. However, we all know they’re one playoff loss away from some Jaylen Brown subtweet or postgame comment that suggests they were better before Tatum came back. From there, it’s smooth sailing for our Sixers.

New York Knicks

Since I used to work in New York, with a lot of Knicks fans, I do get to see a lot of their chatter online. Let me tell you this loud and clear — if there’s any fanbase who thinks their team sucks more than we do, it’s Knicks fans.

They’ve benched KAT a few times down the stretch and it doesn’t seem like the other players respect him very much. Josh Hart has some comment once a month about what’s wrong with the team. And let’s be honest, Jalen Brunson is a guy but he’s not THAT guy. Does he hit clutch shots? Yes. Is he tough and not afraid of the moment? Also yes. But he’s just not good enough to dribble the air out of the ball as much as he does.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Going against James Harden in a playoff series? In this economy? Say no more.

Team Ricky

• Beckett took a look at which Sixers players will benefit most from the return of Joel Embiid and Paul George.

• Although I did a pretty good job of talking myself into things at the start of this post, nobody talks themselves into stuff like AU does.

• We had Sixers Adam on the Ricky this week and just tortured him the entire time.

Non-Team Ricky

• Truly, what is Evan Turner’s problem?

• Finally – has anyone been on the injury report for an illness more than Joel Embiid over the last five or six years? Could someone do that research for me?

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I’d like to explain why I yelled at AU on the podcast the other night. I know sometimes people think I make the content of the podcast about the podcast too much. But I also know that so many of the true Ricky people both A) love this stuff but B) really don’t need another opinion from me about Jared McCain or how I don’t think the Sixers are going to win anything this year.

Mike and I really don’t argue anymore, so it’s probably been a while since the pod has had one of these moments. We disagree, but much like any two people who have managed to get along for this long, you figure out how to avoid serious conflict. We’re both also older and much more tired. We have our rhythm.

I know AU quite well (maybe not as well as you’d think I know him, but I know him well), but we don’t podcast together a lot, so I certainly wouldn’t be quite as apt as seeing the ship heading for the iceberg.

Ok, let’s pull back the curtain, why it happened. It wasn’t because I massively disagreed or cared very much that AU thought the Sixers win over the Bulls was the biggest win of the season. I didn’t disagree all that passionately (though he’s clearly wrong). I think it probably came off like I got mad because he thought the Sixers were great at that moment (they’re not) and I thought they weren’t. I wasn’t trying to like, crush his dreams.

I got mad at AU at the moment because I did not know how we were going to talk about the game and do the podcast. I know this seems like a way too Xs and Os way to think about things, but it’s very difficult to debate how you feel about something, and much easier to debate what you think is happening/should happen. So we were 5 minutes into a segment of the pod that should take 20-25 minutes, and the core disagreement is that AU thinks it was huge and I don’t.

So when I’m yelling “go ahead and talk about it Buddy Boy,” I’m frustrated because I’m trying to convey that it’s not really a topic we can discuss. It just is or isn’t. I’m sitting not knowing whether to keep talking about the game or move on and go to the next topic. And then his mic didn’t sound how we wanted it (it’s my fault for not supplying him with the right one), and I had already spent four hours arguing about sports at my day job.

So, Spike the Host Who Needs Everything to Be Right threw a temper tantrum, that in the end was sorta funny but probably uncalled for, and that’s why I said “sorry AU,” and we moved on.

These Dogs Are Homeless and Only You Can Save Them

Please? My goal is to raise $800 more dollars by Sunday night to get me to $6,000.

Team Ricky

• Against all odds, Paul George is back and Joel Embiid is back at the same time. MOC wrote about both of their returns, and how he doesn’t generally trust PG and wonders why people get so mad discussing Joel Embiid. He also snuck in a Markelle Fultz segment, and I’m going to have to talk to him about that because we’re supposed to pretend like it never happened.

• If you happen to be a fan of Alkaline Trio, me and Mutlu did a podcast about Matt Skiba’s old side project Heavens, and talked a little bit about the new song from Joji on the Carl Landry Record Club.

• Wow, looks like Team Ricky has been mostly quiet this week. Maybe AU should be fighting with me less and getting on everyone’s ass a little more.

Non Team Ricky

• Where is Keith Pompey?

• Former Ricky guy Sixers Adam caught up with Zhaire Smith about his weird time with the Sixers.

• What is it with Phillies players and their family members stealing their money?

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I am not trying to cope about the Sixers trading away Jared McCain, I am truly living with the grief (anger).

Every time he has a good game, as I will do for the next decade, I tweet something about how good it was and say something sarcastic about how the Sixers couldn’t possibly have found minutes for him. After he led the Thunder in scoring (again) in a win (again), you have examples here, here, and here. As I’ve said before, I’m never going to let this go.

When I send out these posts, there are several coping responses I get, and all of them are bullshit. There is however, one coping response that nobody has sent me, that is not bullshit, and would be the one thing that could possibly save this for GM Spreadsheet and Rock N’ Roll Coach. Before we get to that though, some of the bullshit:

1. “He only does this in garbage time against bad teams!” - BULLSHIT! Sorry, this is bullshit. Did he score 26 against the Nets and lead the team in scoring in a win again? Yes. Do the Nets suck? Yes. But he also played well and hit big shots in crunch time against the Nuggets and Timberwolves. Also, for what it’s worth, we barely beat the Nets! We could have used him.

2. “He’s not going to play during the playoffs for them!” - BULLSHIT! First of all, I’m not sure about that. Second of all, I don’t give a shit! They’re the deepest team in the league, so what? During a game this week our backcourt was Cam Payne and Kyle Lowry. What the fuck! No disrespect to either of those guys, love ‘em both, but one of them didn’t think he’d even be playing this year and is playing with a spare tire around his waist, and the other guy was literally in Serbia a month ago.

3. “He’s too small and doesn’t play defense!” - BULLSHIT! Is he some longer super-athlete who is going to win Defensive Player of The Year? No. He’s also not Muggsy Bogues. He’s 6’2”, he’s got a strong lower half, he’s smart, he works hard and he’s got good hands. I’m not saying he needed to start next to Tyrese Maxey; I’m thrilled with Edgecombe being that guy. But if you’re doubting that McCain’s defense can’t get to a spot where he can play real minutes on a contender, you would be wrong to do so, as he’s doing it now.

Here’s the one nobody says to me that might be the only coping mechanism that might work: “The Rockets are only three games out of the play-in and we have their pick.” Now you’re cooking with a little bit of gas.

When we first got the Rockets pick, we all assumed it would be in the mid-20s. It may very well be. But the Rockets are certainly not a team that seems particularly stable, has been leaking a little bit of oil — and what if they leaked a little too much oil, fell into the play-in, and lost? There’s not what I’d call a large chance of that happening. It’s not even a coin flip. It’s probably below a puncher’s chance. But it’s possible, and whatever percentage it is, it could be the only chance our friends Dr. Data and Coach Jamz have of escaping being tormented by us forever for this trade.

Begging

Still raising money for homeless dogs and cats here. Many people have been incredibly generous. The list is too long for me to write out. But we’re still like $3,000 out of the top spot and when we raise money for stuff I always want us to be the best at it.

Team Ricky

• I, personally, have not cared about the NCAA Tournament in many, many years. As an aside, it did actually used to be much better, the teams were much better, and this not just some Gen X cope. It might be fine now, but it used to be much better. In any case… Since the Sixers have a pick (hey maybe two!) in this year’s draft, Beckett wrote a good piece about the players in the tournament for you to keep an eye on from a Sixers perspective.

• AU will eventually have his day in Ricky court to defend this anti-tanking post he wrote earlier this week. Mike and I hardly ever agree, but when we do it’s when we want to yell at AU for something. The best thing about this piece is you can feel how much AU feels it in the piece, he knew he had to write it.

Team Non-Ricky

• I am actually watching last night’s Sixers win over the Kings as I write this, and Justin Edwards is draining bucket after bucket. Mike and I generally disagree on Edwards (I truly believe this is a case of Mike being locked into his pre-draft assessment of Edwards). Sixers Adam wrote a good little ditty about the game Edwards had.

• Just a solid post from our guy Kelly Oubre of photos of him.

• I really can’t believe the NBA is going to expand and add two more teams while a third of the league, literally a third of the league is so bad that they’re trying to lose to get better players. It really seems like current NBA owners are trying to cash every check before their world starts crumbling in about seven years. The streaming deals were very nice but they’ll never happen again, a few of them have already sold, and now they want to add two more teams so they can get an easy check from the two new ownership groups. The NBA does not need two more teams! Move the Pelicans, move the Clippers or something, they do not need two more teams.

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It first came up a few podcasts ago, when Mike mentioned something about not making the playoffs, and I mentioned to him that in that case, we get to do another Lottery Party.

Then it really hit me during the Cavs game, when the Sixers were getting smoked.

It would be better if the Sixers didn’t make the playoffs, and had a chance at their pick, which they do not get unless it’s in the top four (otherwise the Thunder get it – cute, I know). Getting this year’s pick actually even saves the Sixers from having to give Brooklyn a first round pick, as Sixers Adam laid out for us.

But this is an entirely different situation than last year. I want us all on the same page. Last year we wanted to happen. This year is, “We’ll be ok if this is how it happens to work out, especially because it seems like it’s going to work out like this anyway.” We gotta play this cool.

Unfortunately we’re too deep into this to be rooting for losses and ping pong balls in front of everyone again. Last season was like alumni weekend at college, everyone knew why we were there so they let us have our fun as long as we’d leave on Sunday, or at the very latest Monday morning. Rooting for it again this year would be like if we came back again the following weekend.

(I would never go to an alumni weekend for college, I wrote it this way to seem more relatable. My actual version of this would be to go see, let’s say Yungblud once, be the oldest guy there, and have it be amusing to everyone until I showed up again the next time.)

So the “get the pick thing” just has to be in the back of your brain for the next couple of months. We’ll all do the “let’s see if they can get back to the six seed” thing, the play-in matchup thing, even the “if we’re healthy we can beat anyone thing” once the playoffs start (if they start).

Rooting for the pick is really the war on the zugwang. The zugzwang says nothing can happen that will put us in a better situation than we were before. The pick is its kryptonite.

Animals Again

Take a walk through animal shelter kennels just one time, and you’ll never stop thinking about getting those poor dogs and cats a place they can call home. I even slept in one of them one night with a dog, and I’ve never been able to shake it.

So even though I feel like I ask for donations for animal shelters a lot, I will never stop. This time I’m raising money with a local high school student named Alex for the Brandywine Valley SPCA’s Walk For Paws. Our goal is $6,000, and we’re about $1900 away. But to be honest, the real goal is to be the top fundraiser, and we’re about $5,000 from the lead. If you have it in your wallet and heart to donate, do it here.

Team Ricky

The Carl Landry Record Club is the music podcast I do with Mutlu that began with me and Mike reviewing albums during Covid. Believe it or not, The Carl is almost at 200 episodes and 400 albums talked about. This week we talked about a forgotten nu-metal era album from Boy Hits Car and a cool new song from Yumi Zuoma.

Speaking of music, this isn’t Team Ricky but I don’t know where to put it. We talked about a band called Jane a few times on The Carl. I love them. They have a new project called Yardsale that came out this week that you might enjoy. It’s five fun songs that all sound like they’d work as theme songs from a 90s sitcom.

It’s linked in what I wrote before, but MOC’s post about the Sixers being in the dreaded Zugzwang is a good read, though sort of depressing one. It’s worth reading and trying to figure out how he might be wrong, just so you can find a reason to keep watching the games at all.

Through just half of one season with The Ricky, Beckett is already like “how do you guys talk about the Sixers this much,” so he took a break. He didn’t write about food or the Phillies, but he did give the reasons why every single one of the NBA’s ideas to fix tanking will not work.

It’s funny, as it seems like this moment that AU wrote about may have passed so quickly for us and the Sixers that we never noticed. We went right from “oh no this is terrible” to “maybe they’ll get the pick” with lightning quickness. Still, a very adept observation from The Gold Man.

Team Everyone Else

Sixers Adam’s look at the tanking situation is a must-read (just if someone sees you reading it be like “these losers want to lose again LOL” but then privately be like “Adam write updates about this weekly.”)

I saw Robert Covington popping up everywhere and wondered why, and found out there’s a documentary about him that PBS produced. Here’s a link to the story, and I’ll watch it this weekend and let you know how it is.

Shout out Matt Cord for a great run.

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It’s been so many years since we started this that it would be easy to miss the irony of the situation that the Sixers are in, and thus, we are in.

As usual, I am here to remind you of the bad stuff that you’d like to file away in the back of your brain.

The reason you’re having such a hard time trying to calculate how you feel about this year’s Sixers is because they’re in the spot that we most dreaded at the start of this entire thing in 2013. The Sixers are in the middle. They are not good enough to win a championship, and they are not bad enough to get a high draft pick. And while they do have promising young players, they are not in a position where we believe that the first of those two situations is coming any time soon. The Atlanta Hawks were always the example we used, but now it’s us.

And you can see why those Sixers teams of the pre-Process era were so easy for people to check out on. It’s difficult to really inspire any real emotion out of you. It’s hard to get that excited because even when they play well, you know ultimately they don’t have much of a chance, so the feeling is fleeting. It’s hard to be that mad at them, because you already knew who they were anyway. Most normal folks (unlike all of us) just sort of turn a blind eye and move to a more healthy and sane “let me know if any of this changes” stance for the team.

I’m sure there are some people who can watch them lose and turn it off and just go to bed without thinking twice, or watch them win a game they shouldn’t and be excited it happened without worrying about whether it means they can win in the playoffs. Unfortunately I am not one of those people.

I do think that’s why everyone has gotten mad and rallied around the Jared McCain trade issue. It’s the first time in a long time we’ve all been really excited or mad about something at the same time, and it’s good just to feel anything at all aside from the dread at looking at the cloudy road ahead of us.

The scary part is that when you look ahead to this summer after our inevitable playoff exit, it’s hard to imagine anything significantly changing before next season. Joel will still be some version of this Joel, impressive in spurts but not truly playing enough to believe in the team, and with too many years on his contract remaining to imagine anything different. Maxey will probably find a way to get better as he usually does, but probably not by a measure that would change the ultimate outcome of the team. Edgecombe will improve, but still, enough to change the overall outlook right away? It seems doubtful. Maybe Morey will find a creative way to move on from Paul George and it’ll give an injection of life.

The middle sucks as much as we thought it did.

Team Ricky

We had a three-man pod on Wednesday night after the just atrocious Jazz game, with AU as the third wheel, and I thought it was a lot of fun. We haven’t done this much on the pod, but it seemed like the perfect antidote to a game that was almost impossible to talk about.

An absolutely great look at how Tyrese Maxey has evolved this season and how exactly he raises the floor of the team during a season where it’s been difficult to figure that out from the great Mike O’Connor.

Other Stuff

Friend of the pod Mike Su developed this website that will email you every time the Sixers play, and tell you after the game whether it’s worth watching or not. When you enter your email just make sure you click on the confirmation link email it sends you (they do this so people don’t sign their friends up). It’s good for when you record the game but don’t know whether the game is worth your time. Another Ricky listener developed this one that does it for the rest of the league as well.

Friend of the pod Kevin O’Connor wrote this great piece about how the Sixers fucked up the Jared McCain situation.

Jake Fischer actually talked to Jared McCain about the trade and wrote this about how he’s adjusting in OKC.

We heard from Ricky listener Ethan, who is fostering this great dog (see below) named Brick. They’re fostering from ACCT, who really needs all the help they can get. They can only continue to foster Brick for another month until they move, so they’re exhausting all avenues to try and find him a home.

Ethan says that Brick was a stray, and has even done well in their quiet one bedroom apartment. He is potty trained and crate trained, sleeps through the night, love to play and cuddle, and has been a great roommate to Ethan and his girlfriend. He can get a little scared on noisy walks, but nothing too much to worry about. He is a great walker, but if there are less distractions where you live it might be easier on him to enjoy himself. He’s about 40 pounds and he’s about for years old.

You can read more about Brick here and see more photos of him. If you have any questions, send an email to phillyfoster26@gmail.com. If you end up welcoming Brick into your home,please let me know so I can send him some toys and treats.

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The idea that we’ve been doing the podcast for almost thirteen years is not something I think about very much, it’s more just something I say. I am intellectually aware of how long that is, and I know it’s a fact we’ve been at it for that long.

It’s really only at Fly The Process that I can see and feel how long it’s been since we’ve all been at this together. I think it’s because the first Bus The Process trips to Brooklyn and more notably Washington DC, were alcohol-fueled, trouble-making bro fests. To be clear, when I say “trouble making” it’s not like we were getting arrested and getting into fights, more like wearing t-shirts that made the Wizards mad and doing silly chants. In New Orleans, I just noticed how grown up everyone is. It’s honestly kind of nice.

The single people are now bringing their significant others and sometimes even their kids. Since everyone knows exactly what I think about the Sixers and they probably don’t want to hear any more of that, most of the conversations I have with everyone is about life, or music. Seeing Mike is another reminder, as we only really see each other at Ricky events. When we started he was just out of college and starting his career, now I see him in the back half of his 30s, he’s married, and he sold a script for a movie Emma Stone will be in.

Instead of a trip that is a cult leader with disciples, it truly just feels like a bunch of friends going on a trip together. The Sixers get crushed, and most of us are just like, “eh well whatever, Kelly Oubre was nice. Where are we getting dinner?”

We’re all sitting in the legendary Preservation Hall, talking about the Sixers, stuck in New Orleans because of a giant snow storm, all fully aware of how ridiculous it is, but so comfortable in our ridiculous skin.

I am truly forever grateful for what I have experienced with every person who has ever listened, emailed, called, said hello, or traveled with us over the last 12+ years. I have said it 1,000 times and I’ll say it 1,000 more, I would take this over a championship every single day of the week (we know Mike would not and that’s fair).

Team Ricky

• We’re coming down the home stretch of the season, and we’re all trying to figure out how we should feel about the team going into the playoffs. Beckett Sanderson on Enter Statman gave a true reality check of who the Sixers are and what we can expect this year.

• Sixers Adam made his return to the Ricky and filled in for Mike on Tuesday night. We kept talking about the Jared McCain trade, the win over the Pacers, and whether Nick Nurse is on the hot seat this season.

• If you haven’t heard the live pod from Preservation Hall in New Orleans, I would suggest checking it out. Really an all time performance from Amos Lee and then Mia Kang decided to make fun of me before performing her poem.

• It’s a week old but this one from AU isn’t any less true.

Other Stuff

• I’m in Florida for WIP and we interviewed Rob Thomson and Jesus Luzardo yesterday. You can find them on the podcast feed, and we’ll have interviews with Trea Turner and Aiden Miller today.

• A feature on Kelly Oubre’s alter-ego t$unami, the music producer and performer. Yes, please. I will read this every day.

• I’ve said it a million times but I do agree with what Sean

  Barnard wrote here largely about the Sixers and Joel’s lack of transparency on injuries.

  

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I can’t help it, I love Cam Payne.

It sorta sucks that Cam Payne’s arrival came while I’m being actively pissed off about the Sixers trading Jared McCain, but it wouldn’t be fair to Cam to take it out on him.

We all have a type, right? My type is over-confident small guards who shoot too much. Isaiah Canaan is absolutely my type. Of course Jared McCain was my type. And Cam Payne is absolutely my type.

There is no doubt that at some point this season Cam Payne is going to get scorching hot during a game and either put it away, or drag the team back into a game that they were definitely out of. It will be at this point during his tenure this season when this particular stretch during a game will be all I ever remember or bring up about Cam Payne.

I want you to know that I’m not doing this on purpose, I just know I’m going to do it. I will absolutely ignore the games where he scores zero points and thinks he’s hot. I will absolutely not pay attention to the fact that he can’t guard anyone. I will only make note of the fact that he is willing to shoot when everyone else is scared to, and occasionally we’ll get a game where most of those shots go in.

This is why, ten years later, I am still talking about Canaan’s four-point play against the Warriors in a game that the Sixers lost anyway but almost won, and an almost win against the Warriors that season was basically a win. That play is all that matters to me about him.

So as we’re stuck in this weird, pretty ok but not much more than that Sixers season, at least I know I’m getting the Cam Payne Game at some point.

New Stuff From VERB Energy

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They’ve got a new, limited time flavor that is absolutely worth trying – Red Velvet. Now, there is no dairy in there (so they’re vegan-safe), and the ingredients, as with all VERB bars are just real ingredients, check the label. But if you use code RTRS you’ll get 20% off your order.

Team Ricky

• We are truly blessed to have Mike O’Connor writing for the Ricky. I really can’t believe he’s still doing it for us. In any case, he put together five thoughts for the team after the All-Star break, including some stuff on Jared McCain, the third quarter, and some actual optimism.

• Speaking of the third quarter, we put The Statman on it. Beckett Sanderson did a deep dive on exactly how fucked up the third quarter is for the Sixers, and why it might be so fucked up. Unfortunately, the answer’s not super clear (about why, the answer is super clear that they suck in the third quarter). In any case, it feels good to know that you’re not crazy.

• WEEKLY BECKY WROTE AN ARTICLE FOR THE RICKY?!

Other Stuff

• Please listen to Kelly Oubre’s new song.

• Friend of The Ricky Kevin O’Connor did a very good podcast with Drew Hanlen, where Hanlen talks a lot about Joel and Tyrese.

• I will not feel bad about how we “treated” Tobias Harris. Sorry!

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We got an email once to the pod asking when I was going to “give it a rest” regarding Ben Simmons. I said never. I said, I believe, “I would have to die.”

As stubborn as I am, I do let things go, change my mind, move on, etc… But when I dig in my heels, I really dig in my heels. This is where we are on the Jared McCain trade. I’m sorry, I just cannot let it go.

I’m quite sure I’d feel this way if he’d spent his first three games with the Thunder on the bench. But seeing him flying around screens, finishing at the rim, making the right pass, and basically looking like a functional basketball player again immediately is infuriating. Every day I get just a little more pissed off.

It was this clip from Thunder coach Mark Daigneault that really put me over the edge. “I mean, what [McCain is] doing is very difficult,” Daigneault expressed. “It’s an unexpected situation for him. He’s joining a team that has had success together — a lot of continuity — and he looks like he has been here… I think it’s a credit to the fact that he is confident, aggressive, but also playing inside of what we do. It reminds me in the way that Caruso [and] Hartenstein were at the beginning last year. [It] reminds me [of] the way Mitchell was able to integrate kind of seamlessly. Those guys just plug into the system, and they look like they’ve been here for a long time. I think it’s credit to his sense, awareness, team orientation, IQ. He has done a great job.”

He just got to OKC and he’s “able to integrate seamlessly” and “look like he’s been there for a long time.” But somehow in Philadelphia every time he was out there he looked like the fifth guy on a team running full-court pickup who they called over because they only had four, and those four had been playing together forever. Daigneault has him running around screens, the ball in his hands, whatever, while Rock N’ Roll Coach had him standing in the corner, scared for his life. I’m convinced Nurse never liked him, and never really made an effort to get him going.

Surely, there’s a chance McCain never fully gets back from his knee injury and just sort of floats around the league for seven years. But there’s also a chance he’s the guy we saw last year, even a 5% or 10% chance. It’s making me insane. But hey, at least we sold high.

Team Ricky

• Quite a performance from Mike on Wednesday night’s pod after (during) the Knicks game. I envy Mike’s ability to get so, so, so mad after a regular season loss. I’m pretty sure he called the team “dickless.”

• AU thinks the trade deadline was a sign that the Sixers don’t think the Sixers are that good. I’m not sure I totally agree with him, but I do agree that they’re probably not that good. They’re at the All-Star break and their point differential is 0.3.

• We’re going back through some Carl Landry Record Club album suggestions we missed, and one of them is Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime. We had a great time talking about it.

Non-Team Ricky Related Sixers Content

• Still trying to figure out why this Ben Simmons video got made, and why all of a sudden he has an Australian accent? Instead of spending the money on this video, just give it to me. I’ll find a home for it.

• Doc Rivers is a finalist for the Hall Of Fame. What an outstanding job he’s done of convincing everyone that he’s a great coach, or at the very least, he’ll act like you’re a total asshole if you don’t say he is.

• Shake Milton said that the MVP version of Joel Embiid was the best basketball player he’s ever seen. No matter how Embiid’s time in Philadelphia ends, I’m sort of looking for the time about seven years after his career is done when we can look back at the top version of Embiid and just talk about how awesome he was.

  

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The first Corner Three of the post-McCain era. Can’t say I’m thrilled about it.

Going to forgo the format I started last week and just write about McCain, and maybe get back to the format next week. We’ll see how it works out. I haven’t written regularly in a while.

I’m not going to redo the “pay the tax” evisceration of the team and Josh Harris that I did on 94WIP and then did again with Mike on last night’s Ricky. Instead, I’m just going to write a bit about my current former favorite Sixer, Jared McCain.

I do not watch college basketball. So, as you probably know, I just figure out whether I like players by watching them on YouTube. Sometimes before we pick them, sometimes after we pick them. I never thought much of McCain when I watched him after we picked him and I checked out the videos. I thought even less of him after Summer League, when I’m sure I proclaimed him a bust. Then, in the pre-season, my priors were confirmed again, this guy isn’t any good.

There is joy in being wrong, especially when you don’t think a guy is any good and he ends up good. Kelly Oubre is a gift in that way. Jared McCain sort of broke the mold. McCain went from a guy that I was sure couldn’t play to my favorite player on the team. Untradeable (LOL). A higher ceiling than Maxey. These are all things I genuinely thought after seeing Maxey play last year.

It wasn’t so much that McCain was good, it was that he was good in a way I’ve never seen on the Sixers. The reason it was so difficult to find a comp for McCain other than Steph Curry was that he actually kind of played like Steph Curry. It was fun to watch him, and it was fun to really believe. His personality was kind of fun as well. Not because of the TikTok videos and nail painting, but because of the TikTok videos and nail painting combined with the fact that he was kind of a motherfucker out there. He was always just about 25% more confident than you’d expect.

Then he, as Sixers do, got hurt. He tore his meniscus, just one of the many curses of the 24-25 season and didn’t play again that year. Then, just before this season, he tore something in his thumb. When he came back, not only was he not quite right physically, his spot on the court was taken by VJ, or Maxey, or Grimes. You’d see last year’s McCain in fits and starts, but never for an extended period (until recently, over the last week, you know, right before they fucking traded him).

Doing my job, doing the podcast, being a fan for me is weird. Since I have to talk about it so much, I’m almost thinking about what I think more than I’m hoping or celebrating or disappointed. But watching McCain, rooting for him to come back, made me feel like a fan again. I am a Sixers fan but I will be watching Jared McCain in the NBA Finals and hoping he makes Daryl eat shit.

Still can’t believe they traded him to duck the tax.

Stuff to Read

• Noticing that the Sixers have trouble defensive rebounding is not something you need to look at a box score or get a calculator out to know. You can just feel it. It’s like every team has a Josh Hart just waiting there to get the rebound and kick it out to an open shooter. And then do it again if he needs to. Our own Beckett Sanderson wrote a nerd-out numbers look at how bad it is and how they might be able to turn it around in Enter Statman.

• Nobody is more exasperated by the Sixers than AU this year. I actually kind of feel bad making him write about the team and occasionally talk to me on the pod about the team. That said, an exasperated AU is the best AU. Is exasperated even the right word? In any case, after Paul George got suspended AU wrote a really apt “WHHHHYYYYY USSSSSS” post about it.

• Sixers Adam, who I think mostly writes for me and Mike, put together a nice little list of potential buyout candidates.

• Jared McCain bid farewell to Philly on Instagram.

• We’re working on a Duck The Tax shirt. Hoping to have it for you soon. Been a while since an awesome Abbie shirt.

• Seahawks -4.5 and then Darnold is elite.

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Before I get started here, I’d like to thank Zo for his service to the Ricky over the last several years (salute emoji). Zo has been and will be a cherished member of the Ricky family for as long as the Ricky exists (forever). Only Zo and Mike have had tweets that were the direct inspiration for Ricky shirts. People forget that. Toast a Surfside to Zo’s legendary run with the Corner Three.

That said, I’ll be handling this for the time being. So if you don’t get enough of me with two Ricky episodes, five four hour radio shows, and a Carl Landry Record Club pod every week, well then, you’re in luck. And with that, we’re off…

Team Ricky

Over the years, I believe the Ricky has been either directly or indirectly responsible for both good and bad things that happened to the Sixers. Welcome Beckett Sanderson to the club. Beckett wrote this excellent data-deep-dive on Jared McCain’s struggles this year, and he instantly woke up and delivered.

We celebrated Embiid’s first alley-oop in years on the pod, made some Doc Rivers jokes, and Mike had to pick between trading Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes.

Chuck Klosterman is my favorite writer ever, which I’ve mentioned incessantly. I was lucky enough to do an event with him at the Midtown Scholar bookstore in Harrisburg for his new book Football, and the entire event was recorded. You can watch/listen if you’d like.

Mutlu and I do a music podcast called The Carl Landry Record Club. You’re only allowed to listen if you truly love music. This week, we talked about Van Morrison’s legendary album Moondance and a new song from 5 Seconds Of Summer.

Stuff I Read And What I Think Of It

“League sources say Philadelphia, furthermore, has not contacted Milwaukee about a possible Antetokounmpo deal in the wake of a better-than-expected first half, but The Stein Line has learned that the prospect of teaming up with Tyrese Maxey — who, like Giannis, works with prominent NBA trainer Drew Hanlen — does have the 76ers on Antetokounmpo’s radar.”

That’s from Marc Stein and Philly’s own Jake Fischer in Thursday’s newsletter.

Here’s a few things I know for sure – 1) There is no way Giannis is going to be available and Daryl Morey won’t call. 2) Sixers fans are going to convince themselves they can put together a deal for Giannis that doesn’t include VJ Edgecombe. 3) I would be insanely surprised if the combination of Paul George, all three available picks (and maybe Jared McCain) is enough to get the job done. It would almost certainly have to include VJ Edgecombe.

I think Morey would do it unless ownership told him not to. I know we’d all say we don’t want them to do it because the future is always sexier than the present and hope is always more fun than expectations. It would hurt to lose Edgecombe after one half of one season, but can you imagine the first home game when Matt Cord is announcing Giannis? The roof would lift off the place. He’s one of the three best players in the NBA and one of the 15 best players of all time. You’d have to do it.

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The NBA has a new stat called “Gravity.” I don’t have any deep insight into this aside from the fact that I love looking at stats and sorting them and trying to find something interesting. You can play with it here.

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Stephen Noh with the Sporting News built a model that tells him how much a player is worth vs. what he’s paid. He uses the DARKO stat as the base of it. The tool itself is pretty cool. Much like the Gravity stat, it’s fun to just plug players in and see how they stack up.

In any case, Noh ranked the 11 worst contracts in the league, and of course our guy was ranked as the #1 worst contract in the NBA (using this tool). Noh says about Embiid:

Embiid is one of the toughest players to project because of his health. He’s on pace to play 46 games and average 30 minutes per game at the halfway point of this year. Even that modest total seems optimistic for his future given his chronic knee issue, but that’s what I put him down for over the course of his contract.

Embiid is still at a strong level of play. DARKO has him playing like an All-Star, which sounds about right. After starting the year off very slowly and looking hobbled, he’s averaged 28.9 points per game since Dec. 12.

The issue for Embiid though is that he’s the second-highest paid player in the league behind Stephen Curry. He needs to play like an MVP candidate in order to justify his enormous salary. And at age 31, he will be declining every year while his contract rises.

At $100 million over four years, Embiid would be properly paid given how much time he misses. At $244 million, he’s one of the worst contracts in the league.

What do I think? Well it’s not my money. The fact is I feel about Joel like most of us feel about Joel. The best Sixers player I’ve ever seen, a blessing that he’s back playing well again, can kinda tell he’s not really doing it on defense and perpetually worried about seeing the tweet that he’s out for 2 weeks due to fluid in his knee. I’m probably more vocal about the last part of it but I doubt I feel it any more than anyone else.

The Last Word

Dan McQuade died this week. I’m pretty sad about it.

If you didn’t know Dan, it’s sort of hard to describe him simply, but he was one of the OG Philadelphia Sports Twitter people from back in the day when it was fun. Think the Meech/Cranekicker era. Dan wrote for Philly Mag, then Deadspin, and then Defector.

I would be lying if I said I was super close to Dan, but I did know and like him very much, and most of our relationship was exchanging messages about the Sixers, bootleg T-shirts, weird South Philly sports bars, Color Star and strange Philly sports stories. I went back through all of our messages since 2011 when I found out he passed away, and it made me smile to know someone so specific existed and I knew him. The last time we talked he told me he wanted to talk to me about a book he’s writing about shopping malls. Unfortunately we never got to have that chat.

Dan was creative, smart, kind, and one of us. He announced he had cancer last year. He was 43 years old when he died, and he leaves behind a two year-old son as well as his wife. He does leave us with a lot of content to smile at when we read it.

Love you buddy. You made the world a better place.

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To the equity partners of RTRS Podcast, L.P.: I hope this letter finds you well. I have been serving the Ricky at your pleasure for the past 60 months. Atul Gawande, a Surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, remains (from afar) one of my favorite reads. He laughs that reading scientific studies has long been a guilty pleasure. Reading investor letters has long been one of mine.

I felt like it was only right to start this with an ode to the GOAT and a ton of gratitude to you all, who over the years, have made this an awesome experience. I began writing for this podcast just looking for a way to get my Sixers musings and sometimes frustrations out to people who I felt had the same feelings toward this team and countless rounds of shitty ownership/front office leadership.

Years later, I’m just as thankful, grateful, sour on big collars, and fervent in my belief that Ainge was never going take Fultz — but also busier and ready to tackle new endeavors and new mountains in life. So as is always such, this good thing has come to an end and it’s time to smooch goodbye.

I’ll still be around, still OG Ricky, will still be up late for the trade deadline pod and for whatever pod happens after we beat the Knicks to go to the ECF, but just as a fan — which will be a different approach than in previous years, but change is change, and a corner three will always be the best shot in basketball.

That said, it’s been an honor and a pleasure. Be Good and forever fuck Toronto, Boston, New York, the Bubble Playoffs, and magnetic rims.

Peace,

Zo

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Team Ricky Rundown

• How good is Jo right now? More importantly, how long can he sustain it?

• Can the boys win the East (YES!); more recliner talk.

• MOC with his state of Jo and how it affects the rest of the league all of a sudden.

• Maybe let’s chill on the selling high on PG & Embiid talk.

Around the League

• Absolutely ridiculous that this toxic ass relationship has festered this long. Kuminga was once a core piece of the Warriors’ next era after they re-upped him last offseason (after not being able to trade him!). There’s always a deal to be had in the league but I don’t think this one will be easy for the Dubs, then again, neither is having $22.5 Million be a healthy scratch each night.

• No offense to the Grizzlies but I’m no fan of being a facilitator for any of their moves. They’re on the upward swing of a rebuild the second a Ja Morant trade goes through so that rules out any of their young promising/intriguing guys making their way to South Philly. Hard pass.

• Two years removed from a 14-win season to favorites to win the East. What a world.

• Rob Dillingham’s league journey hasn’t gone according to plan, and assistant coach Micah Nori just laid out the context in some blunt ass terms. Timelines and commitment to development absolutely matter but I really wish Rob had stayed in school, man. One more year would have been worth it.

• The League is trying to plant a flag in Europe’s basketball infrastructure in a major way. If it works, it could reshape international hoops and create a new tier of pro basketball outside the traditional EuroLeague system. Makes perfect sense though, no disrespect to football and whatever they are trying to do with the London games but after soccer, the global game is hoops.

Five Things to Care About

• This year’s NBA trade deadline might not-so-quietly be about leverage. With fewer teams willing to take on long-term money, leverage has shifted. Front offices with cap flexibility and patience can wait teams out, while contenders feel pressure to justify standing still. The result might be fewer headline trades — but more subtle ones that reshape rotations and future options.

• The NBA’s young guards are forcing timeline decisions and it’s fucking awesome — that is, if you have one. Around the league, teams with promising young guards are reaching the point where “development season” no longer fits. These players are good enough to win games (love you VJ!), demand usage, and influence roster construction — even if the rest of the team isn’t fully ready yet.`

• The league doesn’t have a single, obvious face right now, but it has a lot of players capable of carrying nights, moments, and entire weeks of attention. Instead of one dominant storyline, interest is spread across matchups, individual runs and short bursts of relevance. That’s not a problem — it just means how we consume the NBA is changing.

• This might be the most competitive March Madness tournament we’ve seen in years! Between expanded conferences and fewer true non-conference showcases, teams have less room to pad resumes. Every neutral-site loss or missed road opportunity carries more weight, which is going to make Selection Sunday feel tighter and more controversial than usual.

• I’m a complete asshole and should really know better for thinking a team can all of a sudden flip a switch from OK to playoff mode. That said, Mike McDaniel should be the next Eagles Offensive Coordinator, capri pants and all.

  

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Team Ricky Rundown

• New guy absolutely crushing his first piece on the cardiac Sixers and VJ’s very real clutch gene.

• Much more important topic than whatever the hell that Nuggets game was.

• Ok yea, this is a good team. New Team Ricky member!

• Adding to the Knicks woes felt oh so good. Maybe this IS the year.

Around the League

• I’m okay with this trade for both sides. The Wizards get a top 50 veteran to accelerate their rebuild, even if they’ve already made it known he won’t play much the rest of this season, and the Hawks gain useful veterans and a clear path to flexibility and growth and build around soon to be All-Star, Jalen Johnson without Young’s huge cap hit hanging over them.

• Aside from some obvious big chips maybe moving, I’m taking a wide-angle view with this deadline. It’s healthy for the league to have narratives on both sides — contenders trying to add, rebuilders reshaping — and it gives your audience a clear lens through which to follow February’s action without just repeating rumor mill noise. That said, I’ll be interested to see: 1. Where Anthony Davis and his desire for a max extension wind up. 2. If Giannis grows a pair and tells his agent to put the ask in. 3. What the Pistons/Sixers/Knicks might do to sure up mid to latter halves of rotations.

• Never been much of a “check the ratings” guy but I love this. It’s a positive signal for the sport as it’s about to lose at least 3 of the greatest of all time in the next few years and a good backdrop for everything we’re watching unfold on the court, especially the ushering in of young, charismatic talent and a rookie class that has been nothing short of amazing so far.

• Real Day Ones remember Keith Pompey showing us hand-drawn evidence when the center had a similar wet floor issue.

5 Things to Care About

• Welcome to smokescreen season! With Trae Young already moved, the most interesting deadline question isn’t who’s next, it’s which teams actually know who they are. Some contenders will resist the urge to overpay, while others will quietly pivot toward flexibility and future assets. The smartest moves might be the ones that don’t dominate the timeline.

• Across the league, younger players aren’t just developing — they’re forcing decisions. Front offices are choosing between timeline alignment and comfort, coaches are adjusting rotations on the fly, and veterans are no longer guaranteed runway. Whether teams lean into that or fight it will shape the next two seasons.

• Between transfers, fifth-year seniors, and NIL keeping guys in school longer, college basketball is once again driven by players who matter more to their teams than to mock drafts. That’s good for March, good for rivalry games, and good for anyone who actually enjoys watching college hoops instead of just tracking prospects.

• More NBA teams than ever feel competent, competitive and directionally fine — but not close to a title. That middle class is comfortable enough to avoid blowing it up, yet fragile enough that one bad matchup, injury, or contract decision can tilt everything. How long teams choose to live in that space — versus picking a lane — is one of the quiet stories shaping the league for me.

• I will keep this as simple as possible. Coach Nick and Jalen have earned the right to not be doubted during the playoffs and I’m not going to start today. Birds 24 49ers 14.

  

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Team Ricky Rundown

• Ridiculous and borderline unexplainable just how good a shooter VJ is right now.

• Big game VJ, caps off 2025 for us the right way.

• Figuring out the Big 3’s woes, and incredible MPJ (past) easter egg.

Around the League

• Man, this season has had brutal letdowns — from teams that looked poised to compete to just… flat-out meh performances. A bunch of expected contenders have sputtered early, with injuries and inconsistency dragging squads down and making you question every preseason take. I say that to say this list is pretty consistent, but if I had to make a favorite or in this case a guy I’m least happy with, I’d say Paolo. I had such high hopes and it’s looking more and more that he’s lost in the sauce down there in Orlando.

• Wasn’t a Deni guy before this but a great story out in Portland. Fans, media, and even advanced stats are starting to hype him as a legit contender, not just for an All-Star spot but maybe Most Improved Player if he keeps this up. The league needs new energy at All-Star weekend and it starts with guys like him and Mad Max etc. I just hope Portland’s record isn’t held against him too much.

• Not much stock to put into these but quite frankly if I had a vote it’s going to the guy who outplayed the number one pick twice in 3 weeks, my middle son, Valdez.

• I know trivial shit like this can get lost in the shuffle, especially given the gaudy numbers that the Thunder as a team are putting up, but the tear that SGA is on is wild. 42% from 3, 104 games with 20+ points, and Hall of Fame levels of grift.

Five Things to Care About

• D-League/NBA fringe guys cashing in ancient eligibility to go back to college basketball is an absolute joke. Great work by college basketball presidents saying guys with NBA contracts can’t come back, but still, James Nnaji was the 31st overall pick 2 years ago and now he’ll most likely be playing in a March Madness game.

• Having the time of my life watching these lame talking heads all of a sudden walk back their undying love of the arbitrary 65 game post season award rule now that their favorite guy(s) not named Embiid have missed or are on pace to miss a month or two of games.

• Now that the Big 3 is officially a Big 4, it’s absolutely time to start thinking about deadline reinforcements. It would be awesome to take a flier or two on another big body who loves to rebound and bang in the paint.

• Wemby vs. Chet Holmgren is what the league needed. Getting too nice. Wemby can’t stand him nor his team and it’s fucking awesome.

• Perfectly fine with coach Nick resting the starters Sunday. I’m in the “take the second bye week” club. This team’s issues on offense strike me more as a playcalling issue anyway and I don’t think that’ll be fixed until at least the first playoff game (we hope!).

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Team Ricky Rundown

• This is absolutely the team to get behind (pre trade deadline).

• If Drum was this good an outside shooter 6 years ago, the talk about him is completely different.

• It’s OK… Christmas is a busy time, great opportunity for a stinker against the Nets.

• Man… Feel good story of the year!

• Jared McCain: It’s going to take some time this time.

Around the League

• People were quick to pile on Cooper Flagg and other rooks early, nitpicking every miss and acting like greatness is supposed to arrive overnight. But this game against the Nuggets felt like the turn — confident shot-making, total control of the game, and zero fear on the big stage. All the dope shit he showed at Duke. When Nikola Jokić (who can fuck off but is still top 3 in the league right now) goes out of his way to praise you, that’s not hype — that’s respect. Flagg is clearly rounding into form, and if this is the baseline now, the league might want to get comfortable seeing him for a long time.

• Christmas in the NBA has always been about more than ball — it’s tradition, pressure, family sacrifices, and stories that span generations. The narratives are as rich as the hoops. For many, it’s also the official start of the NBA season, so the NFL slate can go to hell!

• If Snake Silver and the owners and most importantly their TV overlords want to get serious “about protecting competitive integrity”, then maybe limit pick protections and make the lottery applicable after the top 5. It really is insane and feels illegal that a team on pace for 70 wins is about to have a top 5 pick.

• Crazy what’s going on in Cleveland. The bell for hard conversations about supposed franchise cornerstones and guys who have yet to make it to a conference finals has finally been tolled.

• Not for nothing, and I know Draymond has been more than an integral part of the machine, but there was a time when even the Rodman/Barkley antics grew old and stale on people, most importantly the front offices paying them.

Five Things to Care About

• As the year winds down, however you celebrate, I hope this season brings reflection, gratitude, and a little joy before we turn the page to what’s next.

• If you’re sleeping on Philly’s own Quadir Copeland, let me wake you up.

• I genuinely haven’t changed my stance on the East, it’s very winnable. I do wonder now though how Morey and Co. will approach February’s trade deadline, assuming the team continues the high 40’s, low 50’s win trajectory.

• Not meant to be a hot take, but Jalen Johnson, to me, is who we all prayed tirelessly that Ben Simmons would eventually turn into.

• Much respect due to our friends in Orchard Park, NY but I never bet against Jalen and Coach Nick in December/January/February. I like the Birds 24-14.

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Team Ricky Rundown

• AU having a hard time deciding just where we are with the best Sixer of our era.

• NBA Refs vs Alaa and the McCain minutes fiasco (oh boy).

• Jo’s best game yet this year, with hopefully more to come. Plus vintage VJ (that’s a thing now).

Found Around the League

• KG is officially coming home to the T’Wolves in a new ambassador role and, even cooler, the franchise is finally going to retire his iconic No. 21 jersey — a long-overdue tribute to the guy who put Minnesota basketball on the map. It’s awesome to see an organization honor its true legends and close the loop on a chapter that should’ve been celebrated years ago.

• One of my many GOATS, Penny Hardaway, didn’t hold back on the current NBA, saying that “it’s just not fun to watch anymore” because the league has drifted so far from fundamentals and put too much emphasis on threes over real team basketball. Whether you agree or not (and I agree and disagree with some points), it’s a reminder that part of honoring the sport means valuing what made us fall in love with it in the first place, which is where I think he’s ultimately coming from.

• This is mostly right, until Mad Max jumps back into the race post cup break. Honestly though, from a fan standpoint, it’s been fun watching the numbers, the wins, and the nightly performances stack up and shift the conversation week to week. Long seasons aren’t the players’ fault, so I appreciate them taking early season games seriously enough.

• Now this… this is the kind of shit that would actually get me to take the cup seriously. Don’t stop at Cameron though, play a game at one of the football stadiums, use the Palestra, play opening night on an aircraft carrier or something man, let’s get nuts.

• Bron has one foot on the golf course for good but I respect this from JJ — can’t dog the other guys for more effort if they don’t see you getting on the stars’ ass about the same nonsense.

Five Things to Care About

• The holiday season (and Sixers season) isn’t always easy, and for a lot of people it can quietly feel heavy or overwhelming. If that’s you, give yourself some grace — take a walk, get some fresh air, and do one small thing that clears your head. And if you can, reach out to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while… sometimes that simple connection helps more than you realize.

• I don’t know where I stand on yet fully on the college football playoff system, but what I do know is things just don’t feel that nostalgic anymore. Bowl week used to mean something, now it’s kind of bland.

• Adam Silver told the Miami Heat brass that he was consulting with other teams on what to do about Terry Rozier’s contract and trade situation, since a guy being brought up on fed charges mid season was so unique — and sure, consult, but not with other teams. Why the fuck would I want my peers who I’m competing against to decide if I get any kind of cap/roster relief?

• The Nick Nurse chatter, has cooled but I still think he’s out at the end of this season — regardless of how it ends. Changing the voice in the locker room is always the easiest thing to do.

• Sometimes all you need is to see the ball go through the hoop, or a perfect pass make it down the seam to AJ Brown. I like the Birds 27 - 10 this weekend.

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