Can Spike Root for a Sixers Team With LeBron?
Not everyone is rooting for The King to end his career in Philly.
The LeBron James Sixers thing is happening again. A short eight years since Malvern-Gate and Brett Brown and whoever else flew to Los Angeles to not meet with LeBron or even Rich Paul, it’s happening again.
I was hoping this whole story would be over before I’d really have to talk about it. But it’s been a week, and it’s not dead yet, so here we are. I just have to make myself clear.
I will have a very hard time rooting for the 76ers if LeBron James is on the team.
I am just being honest. If you’ve been with us for a while, this is not surprising to you as it’s not a new opinion. I felt the same way in 2018 or whenever someone would dream about it.
I am not denying that LeBron is one of the all-time greats or that he’d make the Sixers better. I don’t want to get into the basketball of it all.
I’m not saying he’s a bad guy. I don’t know him and have nothing personal against him. I just simply can’t stand him, especially at this point of his career. I just wish he’d sort of fade off into the sunset, and he refuses. Insisting that he is merely one more record I’ve never heard of away from convincing all of us he’s better than Jordan (he’s not).
This would, of course, be great for content. The Ricky would become more popular, more people would listen to our radio show, etc.. Maybe we’d get a few more LeBron lies out of it. “Yeah, I’ve always been a huge fan of Skinny Joey.”
But all Sixers content would all be about LeBron, as it is wherever he goes, whenever he goes there. I find it annoying and distasteful. I’ve found this entire Decision III or whatever number it is particularly irritating.
I do not think he’s going to the Sixers, at all, as I’ve said before. I don’t buy any of the arguments that people make as nearly strong enough for me to imagine LeBron spending his final year (or one of them), in Philadelphia, making $50 million less per year than three guys on the team, watching Jaylen Brown dribble into long fadeaway twos and Embiid decide at the last minute whether he feels like playing. I don’t think it really represents his best shot to win, and I don’t think the narrative arc is nearly as strong as Cleveland or Miami. I think ultimately the Sixers are in the conversation because it makes Tyrese Maxey look great, and Rich Paul is his agent.
What’s more, how does this work if he does choose Philadelphia? I will only know for sure if it happens. But I imagine it’ll just be like a supercharged version of when Ben Simmons was here. Except that it will be so supercharged that it will be difficult for me to put my happy face on for the sake of everyone who listens to the pod and cheers for the Sixers. It will be torture for me and I’m probably not going to be able to cover it up.
I’m sorry in advance.
Team Ricky
It seems like I miss one week of podcasts and Mike is apologizing to everyone because of an opinion he had? I’ve got to get back (be back Sunday).
Where is everyone else? Maybe time for some food lists.
Team Non-Ricky
I haven’t really consumed much/any sports stuff over the last week. So here are some things I did consume that I enjoyed.
I re-read Otessa Moshfegh’s book Eileen. I really liked it this time. My favorite book of hers is “My Year Of Rest And Relaxation.” I read Elieen after that one and only thought it was ok, but enjoyed it much more this time. I generally have trouble reading fiction, but I find her style, which is particularly descriptive (like Chuck Palahniuk) to work for me.
I half-listened to and half-read Dave Portnoy’s new book Cancel Me If You Can. I liked it. I’ve never consumed very much Barstool content but how he built the thing is definitely interesting.
I watched Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. What a fucking wild ride that is. If you’re a horror fan, give it a go. You gotta get to the second half of the thing to make it worth it, when it really gets unhinged.
