ESPN's P.J. Carlesimo, Marc Kestecher Forecast Team's Future

best players in the league. As we head towards the All Star Break, Mark and PJ join us on this episode of the broadcast What's going on out there seventy Sixers podcast. People, Hope you are doing great. I'm Brian Seltzer coming back at you with another episode not too long after our previous episode dropped. If you have not

heard it yet. An interview that Devon Gibbons from ninety seventy five to Fanatic and I did with seventy six Ers general manager Elton brand about all things that went down at the trade deadline that came out a couple days ago, so it's still relatively fresh if you have not yet listened to it, thought that Elton told some very interesting and insightful story, so check it out. And coming up on this edition, we're going to sit down

with Mark Kestershire and A PJ. Carlissimo. If you are a hardcore NBA fan, you've probably heard them a bunch on the NBA on ESPN Radio. They are the top

national crew from ESPN's radio coverage of the league. They do the Finals, They're going to be doing the All Star Game this coming weekend, the top game each week, and they've been in town for a couple of games the Sixers have had lately against the Lakers and the Boston Celtics, so I had the chance to catch up with them, and we'll hear from them in a moment before we do. Reminders that to subscribe to the podcast,

it is very simple. Just type in Sixers Podcast Network and then go to any one of your favorite podcasting platforms. We're talking about things like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, tune in, pocketcasts, SoundCloud, all that good stuff, and that will take you to our feed for the Sixers. They have been a relevant story in the NBA for the last couple of seasons, but increasingly so as of late.

Not only was there the promise and the hype surrounding the team going into this year after the fifty two win season and second round playoff appearance last year, but then the November blockbuster that brought the Sixers Jimmy Butler, and most recently, the day before the trade deadline, the major move made with the La Clippers that netted Tobias Harris, boban Manyanovitch and Mike Scott, and then Elton Brand landed two more veterans and Jonathan Simmons and James and it's

the third before the deadline passed, So a lot has been going on in Sixers Land, not to say anything of the two most recent wins that the Sixers have picked up since the deadline itself, and that was against Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets last Sunday and Friday, respectively.

So Mark Kestershire PJ. Carlissimo of the NBA on ESPN Radio in down covering a couple of those games, and when they were passing through the seventy six ers training complex in Camden a couple of days earlier, we sat down to talk about it before the Sixers host the

Boston Celtics on Tuesday. One of the really neat cool things about these seventy Sixers ascent in recent seasons is that we get dignitaries from around the league passing through Philadelphia and Camden, and it's awesome to be catching up with Mark Kessiter and PJ Carlissimo from the NBA on ESPN Radio. Crew. Guys, great to see you in these parts. Thanks for coming on the pod. Well, one dignitary. I think PJ would classify as such. I'm just hanging on

good time. You're off to a rough start, Brian cred not good right now. We're only in the business of trying to butter people out the lob softballs when they're good enough to come on the pods like Well, we're just happy to be back to Philadelphia after many years of not coming to these parts. So it's nice to be back in Philly, and even better when we have a schedule where we have two games Laker games Sunday, Boston game on Tuesday, so we get a chance to

enjoy the city even more than usually. That was one thing I was going to ask you, guys, is there something need about it from your end too, where there's a team that re emerges after a couple down seasons and they become a little bit more relevant in the league, and especially the way the seventy sixes have done it, well, I'm prejudiced. Brett Brown and I worked together for five years in San Antonio. I've known Brett since he was a young not even a senior, a young high school player.

Of course, his father, Bob was a legendary coach up in New England and played against Brett when he was at Boston University and stayed in touching him all the time. He coaches in Australia, so it's somebody I know extremely well. I'm just so happy that the organization did what normally doesn't happen in the NBA. They stayed with a guy, the guy that took with the lumps for a bunch of years, and they rewarded him and allowed him to see here and see the growth that has happened. And

so selfishly I'm thrilled with that. I think he's done an exceptional job. And this year, you know, good news what Elton in the front office has done. It's really it's great the way they've reach the roster. But for a coach, I mean, it's funny that you're seeing tomorrow two teams go at each other or with the Celtic Sixer game, Celtics are basically untouched. So Brad's been coaching the same team not just for a year, but almost for a couple of years, and it seems like Pilly

changes every couple of months. That's really hard from a coaching standpoint. The good news is you're getting some better players and I think the pieces fit well together. But I'm really looking forward to watching these last twenty five plus games and seeing the Sixers continue to improve and seeing what they're going to be able to do, not just this year. Everybody wants to know you, hey, I'm

gonna win a championship this year. I'd love if they could do that, But I just want to see what they're going to do in the future, because they seem to be set up extremely well going forward. You make a great point. There are only a little bit more than two dozen games left in the regular season, and regardless mark of the type of talent that you have on a roster, that's still a relatively limited window of

time to try and get everything's right. On the surprise scale, where did let's go over the two big trades Elton Brand of the seventy sixers have made this season. On the surprise scale, where did Jimmy rank for you from a national perspective as someone who falls league and then the Tobias Harris La Clipper swap. I wasn't as surprised with the Jimmy trade. I mean, it was so early in the season and it was inevitable, right something was

going to happen. He was going to get out of Minnesota somehow, and it seemed early enough where it was almost like an offseason acquisition that you could fill him in, and you know, he's an upgrade in many respects to the roster. I was not as I wasn't surprised with the three player trade that Tobias Harris was involved with. Maybe more surprised on the Marquelle Folds trade, you know, just looking down the future, maybe not you know, for

this team. But to amplify on Pj's point, it's I'm sure he could tell us from a coaching perspective when you have and it reminds me of Cleveland last year right before the All Star break when they brought in all these guys and ty Lou had to first of all figure out how to play them in the one game before the All Star break, and then try to mesh them together in the sprint to the finish. It's not even the halfway point anymore. It's like the final

third of the season. And even though they know survived Indiana in the first round, it was still flawed all the way to the end. So I think, you know, for Brett, you know, his job of trying to figure out not only how to match these guys to where they work to their best, it's also a matter of when the rotation starts to come down even more from ten guys now to nine and as coaches told us, you know, maybe eight and a half when we get

to the playoff spot. Is just figuring out what are the best combinations to put you in the best frame of mind. So neither really surprised me totally. But I think at this stage, with twenty six games to go in the regular season and then the postseason sprint, there's still a lot of work to do. A phrase that Brett often uses when he's talking to us the media is it's early days. It's early days, and really with this revamped starting five, it could not be earlier days.

Just two games but against quality opponents. Try not to make too much the numbers. But the net rating right now is over twenty, which is pretty darn good. And I wouldn't want to peg you guys down to a specific number or a rank, but in general initial vibes, where would you put this starting five, Like what class are we talking about here when you compare it to the rest of the league. I mean, if you're looking in the east, I gotta put it right up there

near the top. I know, on the day that the Tobias Harris trade was made, some people are saying best five in the NBA, and you know, to me, I don't think you could touch what Golden State is doing right now. So I don't know if PJ if you agree with that, it's yeah. I mean, there's no question the talent is incredible. What jumps out at you, though, is you're not talking a ton of experience and you're not talking a ton of playoff success, And that really

defines when you talk about players in the league. That's what it comes down to. It comes down to playoff success and that usually goes hand in hand with experience. So I just think it's really hard until they you know, it's a big deal to make the playoffs, and it's a big deal to get in a round or two. When you start talking about winning a conference final or

winning an NBA championship, it's a whole other level. And I think, to me, that's what separates you know, are like, yeah, hey, that looks pretty the starting Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent starting lineup, but they have a lot of filling out to do on their resumes before you, in my opinion, before you can compare them to some of the other groups. And it's also the egos too, right, You've got to have guys that are willing to take

a step back. I mean, you have five guys that are averaging what's seventeen points a game, and you see a golden state if you know, it's it's rare that Steph Curry has an off night, but when he does, you know he's more than willing to Okay, this is me and that I'm gonna have eleven assists or twelve assists. And you need that from guys that are alphas that

are able to step back. Don't get me wrong, there's a whole lot of us that would love to be sitting where Brett's sitting right now and working with this group. But I just think sometimes everybody kind of looked at it and said, well, now, I think it's going to be what a cover on Sports Illustrated, So god knows what they're gonna say. But I was like, whoa wait a minute here, guys, Let's let's play some games, let's

win some playoff series. Let's do some real successful things in April, May and June, and then you can start elevating the group. I know a lot people talk about the length of an eighty two game season, I think, especially in a context like this where so much can change.

I don't know if Brett put it to you guys like this, but in the media scrum, he was saying like he feels like this is the third different team he's coached this year, and so that's one of the neat things about an NBA season that long, that you can have so many different iterations. But it is tough not to look ahead to what happens after April the tenth, and we talked talking about the playoffs for two guys

in particular, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. What's what's the pulse that you guys see on those two players in particular, And you're gonna see them this weekend too in it All Star Game on opposite teams. You know, Embiid has I mean he stepped right to the four amongst the best players in the league right now. You know, for Simmons, there's still some aspects of his game he has to work out, notably the shooting aspect. You know, from range.

He does just about everything else. I know, the playoffs, the second round series didn't go well against Boston last year, so that's going to be his measuring stick to see where he can get get to the next level. Yeah, Joel, I mean to me, Joel has gone to another level, diminishing what Ben has done. But Joel's at a different level. You're talking clearly one of the best players in the league.

Just is so versatile, does so many things. Again, the only missing element is, you know, some championships, some playoff series wins, things like that. Because he's accumulating everything else. Ben's got a hole in his game. I mean he doesn't make free throws and he doesn't shoot the ball. It was bizarre watching the way Lebron played him on Sunday. I mean, he was Lebron. I'm I said early, I

told Kessie Lebron's gonna get like five defensive threes. He didn't get one until I think the last six minutes of the game. Right I couldn't believe it. I mean, he was not even and that's a little unsettling to be played like that. But there are a lot of players in this league who have not been great perimeter shooters who have done very well that The free throw concerns me more because he's a point guard and he's got the ball in his hand a lot, and he's

got to do that now. Haven't said that. You know, I'm bringing pretty hard on Ben. He's had a great career right now. But I just think Joels a lot further along in his development than Ben is right now. And that's the player perspective. And I think the other part of your question two is how the standings are going to shape up this game against Boston. You've got four and five home court advantage. We don't know where

Indiana is going to end up. I think they've played way better than anyone anticipated after Victor Oladipo's season ending injury and the way Milwaukee and Toronto have played this season. You've got four, and you could say five, really good teams in the Eastern Conference. And as we talked about

on the Sunday broadcast, you don't want to be the five. No, you absolutely though you don't want to be the four or the five, to be honest with you, You'd like to be in the two three, And there's a better path to get into the conference final. I think up there not diminishing those teams at all. But the other thing, and Brett didn't duck away from the question in the post practice scrum about playing Boston is not just another game.

There's obviously a long standing rivalry. But the other thing is simplistic as it is when you're competing with teams in the conference and you play them, your win is their loss. I mean, the other nights you sit there and hope the team doesn't do well. This is a night like you control each other, you know, So this is going to be a Boston win and a Philly loss or vice versa, which is game everybody's looking for. So it's very significant. It's not just another game. It's

a big, big game. It was amazing seeing right up to the end of the three o'clock trade deadline the other week, just the teams that were making moves and you're starting to think, who does what after this team does that? The Rafters acquiring Marcus All. I do want to ask you guys about Elton before we wrap up, but I also want to circle back to Brett. How much I mean you were I want to make sure

I have this right. Two thousand and two was when you and Brett linked up and san Antonio San Antonio two three and that was re season, I think the start of his second go round with the Spurs because he was there for the one championship season and then went back. So what's different about Brett Brown? Now, what's the same from from what you can recall from those Well, the person is the same. That's the best and that's still his strength. And uh, he's he's not a good person,

he's a great person. He does an incredible job I think relating with the players, which has become more and more important in terms of coaching everywhere, but particularly in the NBA. I think he's a great representative for the franchise. I think he's great for this city. I just think he handles it very very well. Some people might have been surprised, but they forget that he had been a head coach in Australia and he grew up in a coaching family. And when you look at his tree, I

mean his father wasn't a good coach. His father was a great, great basketball coach. That's what he grew up with. There was no question what Brett was going to do from day one. He played for Rick Patino would be you that's a pretty good guy to play for and learn from. When he was down in Australia, he worked with Lindsay Gays, who's Andrew Gays's father, who's a legendary Olympic coach and former player in Australia. Then he goes and works for Greg Popovich for a whole bunch of years.

So I mean you talk about you know, you look at somebody's resume, were they ready for the job. There's no question Brett was ready. People might not have realized. You know, you look at him, he still looks very young. He say, well, is he ready to be a head

coach in the NBA. He was, he is, And I think almost as importantly the way he handled the losses those tough years when you know, Philly was processed whatever people want to call it, it showed how well he handled that and he still tried to be positive and kept the guys going, you know, and being competitive. So I just think if you if you sit back and even me, who's not objective, you would you just look

at you know, Brett, here's his lineage. You've got to be, you know, not very bright to not have expected him to be this great a coach. It's always ever talked about his culture, and that, of course, I'm sure extends from what he's been exposed to over the course of his career. And when you're losing games, you're like, Okay, I understand all this positive talk in the culture. But now when you bring in guys like Jimmy Butler and

a Tobias Harrison, you absorbed them. I mean it seems like so far, you know, there's still high emphasis on passing and sharing the ball and selflessness. It has been an amazing story. Then Elton Brand finds himself about two and a half years and moved from actually playing some games for Brett Brown being the general manager of this team. How fun do you think relationships and the ability to work that aspect of being in a front office can go to getting deals done? Mark, Hey, it's it's remark.

I take back. PJ and I were in Las Vegas right in July and the seventy six ers were one of our first games, and I remember being in a hot gym and like, Oh, there's Elton Brand and then oh, isn't he the general manager of this team? And he just had a command And I think he had that as a player too. You know, he was very well respected in his playing days. But I think he has he's way ahead of the curve already for what he's doing and certainly what he did, uh, you know last

week at the trade deadline as well. We said it on the broadcast on Sunday, not even just make a move. He made a series of moves. He made very bold moves for a first year general manager. And he doesn't seem to like confidence as he did not as well as No. I mean, the only negative Eb has is having gotten to Duke. Other than that, there's there's no question you know what an impressive person he is and how talented he is. And again you're talking a guy.

Was he ready? Yeah, I think he's I mean, experience is a great teacher. Will he be a better GM in five years yeah, probably, But still the moves he's made you have to love. You talked about the word before that I thought was most important relationship. I think his relationship with Brett it has been and will be critical. And again, not everybody always holds up the Spurs as perfection, but when you do what they've done for as long as they've been able to do it, and the heart

of that relationship is RCBU Freed and Greg Popovich. So Brett understands very well so does Elton than anybody else in the NBA. When you have that, because so many organizations in this league don't have that. You don't have the coaching staff in the front office tied together the way it appears eb and Brett are. So that's a great thing. Last thing seventy six for ceiling for this year will be if such and such happens, I'll pull it to you, guys. Well, I think the ceiling for

everybody in the East is conference Championship. I mean, the Golden State Warriors are just that good. Not that nobody's going to beat them, but it's hard enough, you know, to get to a seventh game and have a chance to beat them four times. Like we said earlier, I think this is there's a lot of stiff competition in the Eastern Conference, so just to make it to the finals will be impressive with this lot. And then the second part of your question is if these if these guys, Mesh,

I think Tobias Harris already is showing he can. I think the bench guys as well, have given Brett Brown a new look at what he can do and some of the different rotations he could put out there. But if they keep this up post All Star Break, I think, to me, you got to say, to make the NBA Finals would not surprise me, but it will be very difficult, you know, to get past that second round and into

the conference finals. Yeah, almost identical. I think if they get to the conference finals, that would be great year, period, regardless of what. Are they good enough to win the conference finals if they get there, Yes, they are. I agree with him. I don't think they're going to be whoever comes out of the West. But that's just a bias for the Western Conference. It's going to be interesting to see when the roadbox come up, you know, when somebody thinks he should have but I mean, you know,

it's been two it's been two games. I mean, there's gonna it's inevitable in this league, even in twenty seven games or however many games are left. It like all of a sudden, guys are struggling, or heaven forbid, there's an injury. So you gotta wait to see how you handle adversity. But if they stay healthy and they stay on the same page, they're going to be as good as going into the conference, going into the Eastern playoffs.

They're as good as anybody. I mean, I would I would never go against him if things progress in a normal path going into April. Guys, it's been awesome. Thanks so much. Had to be here with you. Thanks some good wisdom seventy six Ers perspective from PJ. Carlissimo and Mark Kestershire of the NBA on ESPN Radio's top broadcasting crew in Town a couple of days earlier this week to cover a few of the Sixers games. Thanks to them for taking the time to talk and thanks to

you as always for taking the time to listen. You can try to get one more episode of the podcast in before the All Star Game break. Then we'll be a little bit quiet for a few days before coming back and wrapping up for the home stretch of what has been a really fun and exciting and hopefully even more promising twenty eighteen nineteen season. Talk to you next time. See