No idea on why he chose DePaul but feels worth noting that Paul Reed was a 3-Star prospect coming out of HS and it's pretty incredible that from that he's turned into a good backup center in the NBA.
I am tentatively planning to convince my wife to name our soon-to-be-born son Ian in part because that’s the name of the guy from Fugazi. My reasoning: I am finding the naming process is losing meaning (ie I can’t decide what is or isn’t a good name any more) so why not – at least it might imbue him with a punk ethos that would serve him well in life. Is that cool, lame or neither? What would you think if you found out you were sort of named after a guy from some band?
Would depend on the band and the guy, of course. Ian MacKaye is a pretty undeniable paragon of both moral uprightness and sick jams as far as rock-world figures go so that would seem like a pretty good start to me. Dunno if it will have a material effect on your son's life or general personality but couldn't hurt I guess. At the very least it probably makes it like 10x more likely he'll listen to 'Repeater' front to back at some point in his life and certainly no one has ever been worse off for doing that.
Basketball question: given Kyle Lowry’s success with the Sixers so far, I feel like Daryl Morey made a massive mistake not trading for him at the deadline a few years ago before they lost to the Hawks. What do you think?
I have been thinking about this a lot recently -- they probably would've had to give up Maxey in that deal, so it depends on how much success that year they would have needed to have for the thought of Maxey being with the Raptors for the next decade to be palatable. My feeling is that they'd need to have won the championship that year, and that a championship with Simmons as a core part of the roster was always too unlikely. For sure get past the Hawks with Lowry, though, which would've been nice!
Pretty much echo what AU said here. If they traded for Maxey for Lowry in 2021 they probably make the ECF before losing to the Bucks, which would have been much better, but they're in an infinitely worse spot now while Maxey is Toronto's young superstar. So ultimately think it was the right call to not do it in the moment.
Even if Joel is close to 100 percent healthy, do you think the "new" way fouls are being called will be too much of an adjustment for him given the short timeframe before the playoffs? Non-basketball question: You have co-workers who are sensitive to deodorizing bathroom sprays. What's the call after taking a dump in the employee bathroom? A short spritz? Let it linger? I feel like I should do *something* more than the standard courtesy flush but I also don't want my co-workers gagging on potpourri.
As much as fans of other teams hate Embiid for the FT, the way he draws FT is way more genuine and real than most small guards (i.e. guys like Giannis and Joel are actually getting fouled, vs Dame just throws his head back and falls down when no one is near him and hopes for calls).
He definitely won't get as many free throws, but he can still be incredibly effective without that, especially if teams are doubling him and his floor reading + passing stays strong. Really the only thing that would tank Joel's value is him losing trust in his pull-up middy jumper, and bashing into the paint needlessly because of it (which is what he unfortunately did against Boston in last year's playoffs most of the time).
1. Fouls are always called less frequently in the playoffs anyway, I'd be more concerned about him getting the rhythm back on his jumper enough to continue trusting it and not get overly hopped up on playing ineffective bullyball
2. If it's a single-stall/toilet bathroom I might give it a single spray, if it's anything bigger I wouldn't worry about it, you're fighting against the tide there anyway
I'm probably in the minority here but losing to Boston again would just suck a lot. At least losing to Milwaukee would be something different. Having 4 of Joel's 7 playoff runs end vs the Celtics is a horror story one only could have dreamt of back in 2018.
Can Abbie create a graphic novel anthology of all of Chip Mitchell’s emails? Spike and Mike are both great, but the reason I still come back to the pod is for Chip. I would throw my money at you and whatever charity you support for a graphic novel of all of chips e-mails beautifully illustrated by the Ricky’s own Abbie.
In the long list of process mistakes (firing Hinkie, drafting Okafor, Simmons over Butler, drafting Fultz, letting go of Bridges, Harden over Haliburton, Spike and Mike not being allowed to ring the bell, and whatever others), which would you rank #1 on its ultimate impact on us not winning a title during this era?
Is there a dramatic difference between the kind of sets Nurse runs when Embiid is out vs when he was playing? How will the offensive play calling/style change when Embiid is back?
Related, how much of an issue will it be that Embiid will only have a week or two with the new players before the playoffs?
They've definitely leaned into more Maxey Ball Screens and DHOs (for obvious reasons) with Embiid out. Obviously way fewer post-ups too. Once in a while they'll try to reestablish the Horns Flex set meant for Tobias that worked really well to start this season, but it's not working anymore.
They were leaning heavily into the Flip and Fake Flip DHO actions during the December win streak, but again went away from those as teams started more aggressively helping off defenders to stop Maxey. Most of all, all their Horns sets that were duck-ins for Embiid post-ups have gone away, which sucks because it was probably their most efficient play. Wastes Nico Batum's skill as a post entry passer that neither Paul Reed or Mo Bamba are good enough to do that. They tried to get it rolling with Tobias a few times but it has not worked well at all.
So to answer the "how will it look when Embiid is back" part, I have to imagine Nurse is gonna try way more Horns sets with Embiid ducking in again, way fewer "Maxey save us" ball screens, while also incorporating all the Spain PnR + Veer actions they've been trying to run for Buddy Hield the past few weeks.
Also wouldn't be shocked to see a lot Iverson Cut actions for Buddy and Maxey to get them the ball on the move before flowing into a ball screen from Embiid.
Could you rank the RTRS staff according to their basketball skills, from what you know of them (and by that I do NOT mean their knowledge of basketball history nor their willingness to murder their loved ones)?
Mike and Dan are both good, Spike and I both have fucked up bodies and can't play (and I haven't played seriously in over 20 years and was never good anyway). Couldn't say about MOC, Abbie or Zo.
Depends on what point in my life you had asked me tbh lol.
When I was first watching basketball in elementary school Andre Igoudala was the Sixers star so I just looked up to him, my parents are from Ohio so I also love the Ohio State basketball teams then and was a huge fan of Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger.
By the time I was in high school obviously Joel Embiid took over as the favorite, though during the early Process years I would've died for TJ McConnell, so those five feel like a pretty good quintet to go with lol. And if we're going favorite players on non-Sixers teams, I might have to go with Steph Curry and J-Dub from the OKC Thunder.
basketball question - in the offseason, would y'all prefer to go after PG13 or make a trade for someone like Lauri/Mikal and potentially have the space to sign buddy and/or oubre
non-basketball question - given we are now seeing baggy jeans, nirvana tees, short sleeve shirts over long sleeve shirts, what 90s trend do you hope comes back and what 90s trend do you hope never comes back
I don't think Bridges or Lauri are possible, as I think there will always be someone who can outbid us for them and I don't think either is demanding to go to Philly. Not sure why utah would trade Lauri at all.
The 90s trend I hope comes back is everyone thinking politics is a waste of time.
Really interested in trading for Lauri, he's looked fantastic the past two seasons, though it's worth noting that *could* be more a product of being a off-ball player in Will Hardy's system (Hardy is one of the five best coaches in the league, imo). Love Mikal Bridges and he would fit better here than in Brooklyn, but I'd prefer to see him get back to his old level on defense first. He's actually been bad on that end this season. I know I railed against PG13 in my last column, and I do think Sixers fans should know he has been MUCH worse than James Harden this season, but the fit is pretty clean and he's obviously an upgrade over Tobias Harris. So out of those options I kind of lean toward trading for Lauri, however I doubt Danny Ainge gives him up for anything less than literally every first round pick the Sixers can offer.
biggest thing i worry about with PG13 is having him, maxey, embiid, and bball under contract and only having the room MLE and minimums to build out the rest of the 15 man, as well as having next to no tradable salaries going forward
Was just saying the other day that I'd like to see "I'm Audi 5000" come back into casual conversation.
Fashion-wise I'd love for cargo pants to be cool again. Very practical.
Hard to imagine any '90s fashion trends coming back I'd be actively upset about bc they'd all basically just be amusing to me. I guess No Fear-type tees would still be a little tough. Or those designs with like Calvin pissing on something.
I think they'll be outbid for both of those guys and will absolutely make PG13 the priority. Also, as we've seen summer after summer, there's bound to be one or two wildcards depending how the season and playoffs end for some folks.
I hope the NBA All-Star weekend becomes 90's cool again. It won't, but still.
What level of likeliness do you guys think it is that B-Ball Paul chose DePaul University as his college entirely because it had 'paul in the name?
No idea on why he chose DePaul but feels worth noting that Paul Reed was a 3-Star prospect coming out of HS and it's pretty incredible that from that he's turned into a good backup center in the NBA.
I think it's 50/50 proposition.
I am tentatively planning to convince my wife to name our soon-to-be-born son Ian in part because that’s the name of the guy from Fugazi. My reasoning: I am finding the naming process is losing meaning (ie I can’t decide what is or isn’t a good name any more) so why not – at least it might imbue him with a punk ethos that would serve him well in life. Is that cool, lame or neither? What would you think if you found out you were sort of named after a guy from some band?
Would depend on the band and the guy, of course. Ian MacKaye is a pretty undeniable paragon of both moral uprightness and sick jams as far as rock-world figures go so that would seem like a pretty good start to me. Dunno if it will have a material effect on your son's life or general personality but couldn't hurt I guess. At the very least it probably makes it like 10x more likely he'll listen to 'Repeater' front to back at some point in his life and certainly no one has ever been worse off for doing that.
Would not have any issue at all! Unless the person I was named after was a creep.
Basketball question: given Kyle Lowry’s success with the Sixers so far, I feel like Daryl Morey made a massive mistake not trading for him at the deadline a few years ago before they lost to the Hawks. What do you think?
Simmons hill was still too big to climb.
I have been thinking about this a lot recently -- they probably would've had to give up Maxey in that deal, so it depends on how much success that year they would have needed to have for the thought of Maxey being with the Raptors for the next decade to be palatable. My feeling is that they'd need to have won the championship that year, and that a championship with Simmons as a core part of the roster was always too unlikely. For sure get past the Hawks with Lowry, though, which would've been nice!
Pretty much echo what AU said here. If they traded for Maxey for Lowry in 2021 they probably make the ECF before losing to the Bucks, which would have been much better, but they're in an infinitely worse spot now while Maxey is Toronto's young superstar. So ultimately think it was the right call to not do it in the moment.
Even if Joel is close to 100 percent healthy, do you think the "new" way fouls are being called will be too much of an adjustment for him given the short timeframe before the playoffs? Non-basketball question: You have co-workers who are sensitive to deodorizing bathroom sprays. What's the call after taking a dump in the employee bathroom? A short spritz? Let it linger? I feel like I should do *something* more than the standard courtesy flush but I also don't want my co-workers gagging on potpourri.
Playoffs are always more like this version of the NBA than the one that's been happening in the regular season for the last few years.
As much as fans of other teams hate Embiid for the FT, the way he draws FT is way more genuine and real than most small guards (i.e. guys like Giannis and Joel are actually getting fouled, vs Dame just throws his head back and falls down when no one is near him and hopes for calls).
He definitely won't get as many free throws, but he can still be incredibly effective without that, especially if teams are doubling him and his floor reading + passing stays strong. Really the only thing that would tank Joel's value is him losing trust in his pull-up middy jumper, and bashing into the paint needlessly because of it (which is what he unfortunately did against Boston in last year's playoffs most of the time).
1. Fouls are always called less frequently in the playoffs anyway, I'd be more concerned about him getting the rhythm back on his jumper enough to continue trusting it and not get overly hopped up on playing ineffective bullyball
2. If it's a single-stall/toilet bathroom I might give it a single spray, if it's anything bigger I wouldn't worry about it, you're fighting against the tide there anyway
Basketball: what would be more painful…. losing to Jimmy in the play-in then Boston in round 1 or winning the play in and losing to Doc in round 1.
Non basketball: rank these sensations when they are a 10/10 need
-pissing
-shitting
-🥜ing
-drinking water
I think ultimately losing to Doc would be the most painful.
I'm numb to losing against the Celtics anyway.
I'm probably in the minority here but losing to Boston again would just suck a lot. At least losing to Milwaukee would be something different. Having 4 of Joel's 7 playoff runs end vs the Celtics is a horror story one only could have dreamt of back in 2018.
What’s your ideal closing line up if everyone is healthy? I’m thinking Maxey Melton Oubre Batum Embiid.
Spike, have you heard the Varejao screen before?
Tell me more!
Can Abbie create a graphic novel anthology of all of Chip Mitchell’s emails? Spike and Mike are both great, but the reason I still come back to the pod is for Chip. I would throw my money at you and whatever charity you support for a graphic novel of all of chips e-mails beautifully illustrated by the Ricky’s own Abbie.
*the Ricky's own Abbie
Fixed!
I'd have to find them all!
In the long list of process mistakes (firing Hinkie, drafting Okafor, Simmons over Butler, drafting Fultz, letting go of Bridges, Harden over Haliburton, Spike and Mike not being allowed to ring the bell, and whatever others), which would you rank #1 on its ultimate impact on us not winning a title during this era?
1. Drafting Ben Simmons
2. Not trading Ben Simmons at least one year earlier
What would you have done in place of drafting Simmons looking back? Draft Ingram or trade the pick for mucho assets?
Is there a dramatic difference between the kind of sets Nurse runs when Embiid is out vs when he was playing? How will the offensive play calling/style change when Embiid is back?
Related, how much of an issue will it be that Embiid will only have a week or two with the new players before the playoffs?
They've definitely leaned into more Maxey Ball Screens and DHOs (for obvious reasons) with Embiid out. Obviously way fewer post-ups too. Once in a while they'll try to reestablish the Horns Flex set meant for Tobias that worked really well to start this season, but it's not working anymore.
They were leaning heavily into the Flip and Fake Flip DHO actions during the December win streak, but again went away from those as teams started more aggressively helping off defenders to stop Maxey. Most of all, all their Horns sets that were duck-ins for Embiid post-ups have gone away, which sucks because it was probably their most efficient play. Wastes Nico Batum's skill as a post entry passer that neither Paul Reed or Mo Bamba are good enough to do that. They tried to get it rolling with Tobias a few times but it has not worked well at all.
So to answer the "how will it look when Embiid is back" part, I have to imagine Nurse is gonna try way more Horns sets with Embiid ducking in again, way fewer "Maxey save us" ball screens, while also incorporating all the Spain PnR + Veer actions they've been trying to run for Buddy Hield the past few weeks.
Also wouldn't be shocked to see a lot Iverson Cut actions for Buddy and Maxey to get them the ball on the move before flowing into a ball screen from Embiid.
Who's a nicer guy, Tobias or Mo Bamba?
They both seemed nice but on the pod is the only time I've spoken to either. I'd give Mo the edge.
Now that Spike is an Oubre guy, how important is resigning our team poet laureate, whatever the cost?
I am not there yet, but the "bitch" moment will live in my HOF forever.
He plays guitar, has a Misfits tattoo, got a full arm sleeve, great-looking guy, and he dunks a lot, why is he still not your GUY?
Could you rank the RTRS staff according to their basketball skills, from what you know of them (and by that I do NOT mean their knowledge of basketball history nor their willingness to murder their loved ones)?
Mike and Dan are both good, Spike and I both have fucked up bodies and can't play (and I haven't played seriously in over 20 years and was never good anyway). Couldn't say about MOC, Abbie or Zo.
If it matters to anyone I do believe I hold my high school's record for most consecutive games with at least one made three lol.
Who's your favorite player growing up, Dan?
Depends on what point in my life you had asked me tbh lol.
When I was first watching basketball in elementary school Andre Igoudala was the Sixers star so I just looked up to him, my parents are from Ohio so I also love the Ohio State basketball teams then and was a huge fan of Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger.
By the time I was in high school obviously Joel Embiid took over as the favorite, though during the early Process years I would've died for TJ McConnell, so those five feel like a pretty good quintet to go with lol. And if we're going favorite players on non-Sixers teams, I might have to go with Steph Curry and J-Dub from the OKC Thunder.
No mention of CJ...
fair to assume CJ is good at everything
basketball question - in the offseason, would y'all prefer to go after PG13 or make a trade for someone like Lauri/Mikal and potentially have the space to sign buddy and/or oubre
non-basketball question - given we are now seeing baggy jeans, nirvana tees, short sleeve shirts over long sleeve shirts, what 90s trend do you hope comes back and what 90s trend do you hope never comes back
I don't think Bridges or Lauri are possible, as I think there will always be someone who can outbid us for them and I don't think either is demanding to go to Philly. Not sure why utah would trade Lauri at all.
The 90s trend I hope comes back is everyone thinking politics is a waste of time.
Really interested in trading for Lauri, he's looked fantastic the past two seasons, though it's worth noting that *could* be more a product of being a off-ball player in Will Hardy's system (Hardy is one of the five best coaches in the league, imo). Love Mikal Bridges and he would fit better here than in Brooklyn, but I'd prefer to see him get back to his old level on defense first. He's actually been bad on that end this season. I know I railed against PG13 in my last column, and I do think Sixers fans should know he has been MUCH worse than James Harden this season, but the fit is pretty clean and he's obviously an upgrade over Tobias Harris. So out of those options I kind of lean toward trading for Lauri, however I doubt Danny Ainge gives him up for anything less than literally every first round pick the Sixers can offer.
biggest thing i worry about with PG13 is having him, maxey, embiid, and bball under contract and only having the room MLE and minimums to build out the rest of the 15 man, as well as having next to no tradable salaries going forward
Was just saying the other day that I'd like to see "I'm Audi 5000" come back into casual conversation.
Fashion-wise I'd love for cargo pants to be cool again. Very practical.
Hard to imagine any '90s fashion trends coming back I'd be actively upset about bc they'd all basically just be amusing to me. I guess No Fear-type tees would still be a little tough. Or those designs with like Calvin pissing on something.
I think they'll be outbid for both of those guys and will absolutely make PG13 the priority. Also, as we've seen summer after summer, there's bound to be one or two wildcards depending how the season and playoffs end for some folks.
I hope the NBA All-Star weekend becomes 90's cool again. It won't, but still.
Will there be a live Ricky this year?
Hoping for Fall!
Why wasn't Spike at Mike's wedding ?
Wasn't invited!