Friday Deep Dive | Sneaky Second Half Surprises, Plus Blue Coats Prospects

I'm Brian Seltzer. It's a Friday, so we're gonna dive deep. That's what we do on the seventy Sixers Podcast Network. Guys, great to be talking with you. I feel like it's been much longer than a week off. I'm ready ready to dive into the second half of the season. Roll call, How are we doing? Let's start with you, Devon, what's up? Give me something that went on good for you during the All Star break? Oh, great to be back with you, guys doing the All Star break. I'll tell you what

was fantastic. The rest that that's what was fantastic for me, the rest being able to kind of kick back and just enjoy everything, whether it be college basketball, get ready for the All Star weekend. But it was really the rest that stood out for me. So yeah, that's exciting for me in my world. I think Doc Rivers talked about this, and it's true. You don't necessarily even need to be away physically. It's if your mind can kind

of take a break. And I'll say it, at least from my standpoint, what I do comes nowhere near close to the stress level of probably what Doc Rivers does. But just knowing that there were like six straight days in the schedule where I didn't have to think about much or be up a little bit late, whatever it was, it was nice. I felt refreshed. I feel refreshed. I may not look at or sound you should, but I feel it. You look great, you look great. I do appreciate.

I will take those warm fuzzies. Okay, whenever they come, Lauren, what about you? Highlights from your break? The listener can't see me. I don't look as refreshed live. I did a lot. I actually worked pretty hard on a feature over the break that ended up taking up a lot of a lot of my time, and I was very

excited about it. So if you're listening and you're interested in the vibes, I would encourage you to head to sixers dot com, um poor to my Twitter and check out the feature that we were released today, because it was really cool to learn some behind the scenes stuff that's going on this year, especially when we don't have a lot of opportunities as media to see what's going on behind the scenes. And there's a lot of good

stuff going on behind the scenes. So while I didn't get as much ressed as I wanted to, I was really happy to crank that out and I hope everybody enjoys it. We've discussed this before. Lauren Rosen is unquestionably the undisputed expert of the seventy sixers vibe beat, and there is no bigger story about Sixers Vibes than the new feature that Lauren just referenced, good vibes only it's awesome. Tell the audience a little bit more, Larne. I know you gave a little multies before we dive in on

this Friday deep dive. Give us a little bit more of what we can expect from this feature. Sure, So, I guess all you really need to know is is that obviously, due to health and safety protocols, this team doesn't have a lot of opportunities to bond off court and NBA teams traditionally have the opportunity to have team dinners, to spend time at each other's homes, to celebrate wins, to discuss losses, and all of that has pretty much been eliminated this year because of health and safety protocols

and how little time these guys can spend together. But these are This is a group of guys genuinely really enjoys each other and and something that proves how much they're enjoying each other is the concept of the postgame party, which is what they do after wins. It is It sounds like a party, It might kind of smell like a party, but really it's it's a session in the weight room where the guys just go let off steam after games and enjoy one another's company, listen to music,

and get better. They're lifting weights, but they're they're turning it into a party. They call it the postgame party. I did not name it that. This is something known as the postgame party. And at the party, they compete for the big energy chain. There are some photos now circulating of Isaiah Joe and Danny Green, the first two winners of the Big Energy chain. So if you're interested in good vibes postgame parties, the VIP section that Danny Green has, the VIP section that Joel Embiid has at

the postgame party, definitely check it out. It's tremendous. I like that analogy that the smells are probably similar between the seventy six ers weight room party and just a general party that you might go to. I can I want to say, I can see that, but I can smell that. I get your old factory implications. I mean, if I'm being honest, if you walk in there and close your eyes right, it could be a party, and

it's It was really cool. I talked to guys sort of across the roster, the three guys featured predominantly in this one or Danny Green, Isaiah Joe, and Matisse's Bible, all of whom have very different roles in the team.

They represent different spec places rather on the age range of this team, and they all have really different personalities as well, and so it was cool to hear from all three of them that are all enjoying this thing that they're doing together despite having different personalities, different likes and dislikes, and different vibes, but they all feed into the good vibes that this team is really relying on

this year. We're definitely going to dive into what the second half of the season has in store, at least what we presume the second half of the season has in store for the seventy six ers, and talk about what it means to have a successful G League program based on the great season that the Delaware Bluecoats had. I don't want to spend too much time on this. I feel like we have to address it because who's

not addressing it. It's now three hundred and sixty six days since the NBA season was suspended and virtually the entire country went into a lockdown, shut down, our new pandemic life operating on Zoom, socializing and interacting virtually all that stuff. Do you guys, have any thought, a thought about anything related to what your last year has been like since all this happened. I mean, you know what,

I'll be honest. I'll start this off. I was on the air when the announcement was made, and I don't remember anything about I remember what I was feeling when that news broke the NBA season was being suspended. I don't necessarily remember what I said or anything like that. I was like, should I go back and listen to that? I was like, Yeah, what's the point? I mean, we all know this was kind of a I could use a lot more like honest and authentic chords here, but

I'm gonna use air quotes. Not great year for a lot of reasons, And I think my takeaway is like, I've just tried to look forward, ma'am. You know, just keep it, keep it moving forward. You know, I'm fortunate that I've not been affected as severely as perhaps some people out there by all of this. But I think it's just all about looking forward for me, focusing on

the basics. Like one thing I've tried to say throughout the last year is like, if people say, hey, how are you doing, I'm like, I'm living, breathing, I'm employed, and my wife and kids tolerate me. So that's it. I'm not asking for much more, so I'm just looking forward. That's it. I want to look keep it moving forward.

You know. I actually went back on Wednesday before I did my show, on the year and kind of reflected on the year, and so it's part of the thing that I did was to re air the first minute of your postgame show by Pistons to night here at the Center in South Philadelphia, one twenty four to one oh six. I'm Brian Seltzer. But literally within the last minute, we have breaking news. This is official from the NBA

from their public relations official Twitter account. The NBA is suspending the season following what happened tonight in Oklahoma City. Here's the background. This is from an official release from the end. When the news came down. You read the press release from the league stating what was going on in Oklahoma City and what needed to happen for the remainder of the night. You and I were doing this from inside the arena pregame. We talked about it in

the final segment just a little bit. And if you also remember Ben Simmons was just dealing with the back injury, right, so he was out and we were wondering, well, I openly wonder if you know, a week or two shut down the NBA season to get this thing under control wouldn't be too bad to make sure that we're ready for the postseason run. A little did we know that we would have to reconvene inside of a bubble in Orlando and fans would no longer be in the building.

The final thing I remember in Laren I'm sure you remember this too, is we talked about, all right, they're on the road on Friday, after this Wednesday game against Detroit Saturday, we had already started to hear there's a chance that there would be no fans in the building. But the game where we played on Saturday, sous I remember saying to you, man, I think I might want to come just to see what it's like in an

NBA game. And we did not have a chance at that time, but we had a chance this season as we started off with no fans in the building. So that's what I remember. I don't like it, and I can't stand that we're here, but hopefully we get things back to normal. Was close to normal was possible very soon. So those are my memories starting from March eleventh, which

was a Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons. I remember the first few weeks of content that we had to do during the shutdown, so probably between March eleventh and March twenty fifth. I remember saying that I was struggling to wrap my head around everything that was going on. Like that felt like the best way to articulate how I was feeling that I couldn't wrap my head around what

was going on. And now we're a year into it, and I still really can't wrap my head around everything that's gone on, honestly, and I admire both of you for all positivity that you're bringing to the table. Selt, especially you, and I spoke a little bit earlier about about maintaining a positive attitude and how important that is during a time like this. I don't think I've handled it quite as well as you guys have. I really miss what life looked like before this. I miss my

family is in Houston. My closest friends are far west from from where we are right now, So I just miss seeing my people. Professionally, I miss seeing my people. I love getting to interact with our players and our

coaching staff and my colleagues. I mean, I haven't even met this coaching staff in person, which is crazy when you look back at what my job looked like a year ago, to have never met I mean, I met Dave Yeager over zoom with thirty other reporters last night in Chicago because he was filling in for a non COVID related illness sale doc rivers and that was really interesting. I mean, this staff has been in place for almost six months now and we haven't met them, so I

really miss seeing people in person. I wish that the three of us could do this in person. I feel that the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned on, which is such a relief. I don't know how quickly we're approaching it, but for a while it wasn't even turned on. And I'm glad that it looks like things are starting to trend in a positive direction after what's just been a really awful year for

a lot of people. But I am glad that that we get to share this time and that we get to work in jobs that are so much fun as opposed to I mean this year especially, you see the people that have real careers, right, the folks that are that were on the front lines while while I was covering the bubble. I mean, like it really puts things in perspective. So shouts to those people. Gratitude to those people, Gratitude to you guys, and hopefully we can start moving

towards that light. The one thing that's amazing is how quickly and devon you touch upon this. It went from maybe this is only going to be a shutdown for a week, couple weeks, maybe a month, to yeah, when is it ever going to end? What is the end of this tunnel? But somehow there are parts of life that did resume and have been carried out differently but

still giving us something. And I think, depending on how you look at things, the NBA and professional sports is one of those things where for people who do have to deal with and I'm only speaking for myself, a lot more serious stuff on a day to day than I do, this game sport can be a diversion, a distraction, and I definitely feel like the longer all of this lingered and hung over us, the more necessary it was to have these sorts of things in our lives we

can look forward to and feel good about and listen, I think I do think that we're just only speaking as far as like NBA stuff here on this podcast, But like all right, players in the league, sixer is like shout out, like I'm saying, I know they get paid a lot, but like this is human issue stuff. Good for the players, the coaches, everyone, like they've put themselves at risk, especially in this restarted the start to the twenty twenty twenty one season differ than the bubble

traveling around all that stuff. Like everyone's for the most part, had to make sacrifices regardless of what it is that you do. And I think that you can point to examples in every professional walk of life and certainly local to the NBA and the seventy six ers itself. Yep. I never thought we would be in this position for this long and just having to live through it. And trust me, Lauren, You're not alone with how you were feeling.

It's just kind of accepted for what it is and just try to keep pushing forward because of the other part, which is the personal part of it, and obviously so many people that have been affected by the professional side of things as well. So I'm glad that we have still been able to do this despite the fact that we are not able to be face to face, but I look forward to the time that we are able to gel back in there and through these face to face Yeah, it's interesting. I feel like my perspective on

everything has changed over the last year or so. But it's really hard to balance optimism and gratitude for all that we can still have as as people with jobs and with homes, And I mean like that I can't express my gratitude enough while also understanding how hard this has been for people, for people's physical health, for people's mental health. You want to be optimistic, you want to be positive, but you also need to be understanding of

what people have gone through. I mean, again, I said it already, but like, it's just so hard to wrap your head around everything that's happened and how it's impacted every individual person on this planet literally. So yeah, now we're getting a little far from the Sixers for my liking. But but I appreciate you guys being willing to have a talk like this, no doubt. Yeah, I was scrolling through my phone and I'd forgotten that I took a video of I think it was the final seconds of

the game they played against the Pistons. Who can forget at the great dunk that Mike Scott had in that game, But yeah, I recorded, I guess for whatever reason, probably anticipating that it might be the last time we'd be in the building for a while with fans just the final twenty seconds this time around off the clock from the win over the Pistons last March eleventh, And it's amazing how I did remember feeling like there were so few fans relative to the sellout after sellout after sellout

crowds the Sixers brought in and seeing the building half full, and it was like, Wow, I haven't seen that since like maybe the ten win season. But then looking at it now and being like, geez, that would be consider a sellout of all sellouts under our current worldview, you know, to have that many people in there. But I am happy for the fans that they've had this to look

forward to. And I know that for some fans it's going to be a really big deal to get back into the Center on Sunday when the Spurs come to town. I know there's probably a school of thought that's like, well, how loud can three thousand, one hundred fans b But I would put my money on the seventy six Ers fans being the most energized and engaged thirty one hundred or fifteen percent capacity of a building that you could find in the NBA, So I think that'll be a

really neat dynamic on Sunday. Moving on, we dove deep. That was deep, like that was it was the deep that might be some of the deepest of the deep. I felt cleansing in part for me somewhat. Mostly it was helpful, you know, else was helpful seeing the great run. How about this the old pandemic segue into talking about the G League bubble. It's a podcasting fundamental skill that you have to have. Segueing from pandemic to G League talk.

Delaware Bluecoats had a great run in Orlando. Awesome to follow that filled some nights from me during the All Star break. That might be too revealing of an insight into what type of life I have, even when the sport is supposed to be on break. But it was really enjoyable seeing the boost Isaiah Joe gave the squad and listen. I think that when you look at what a development program is supposed to be, the most important

thing is development. But if you can win while also doing that, then that's the holy Grail and the Blue Coach were able to strike that balance in a great way over the last couple of weeks down in that

Orlando bubble. Yeah, that is and to see, as you said, Isaiah Joe just to go fit in seamlessly with the team, Paul Ree MVP level play as they talked about there, the coach that coach Connor Johnson, the work that he's been able to do, and just implementing everything with all of those players and they have the team has different types of players, so it all just blends very well. And once you start winning, as we know, the thing just becomes contagious and you buy into your roles and

you understand what needs to happen. And even when Isaiah Joe comes to the team and he joins in the bubble, and I'm sure he wanted to, you know, but he got to work in. He wanted to be with the big club, but he got to work in. It really

miss any time. So that's what was important. And for them to make the run that they have in Orlando and build their chemistry and the camaraderie that they've had, it's really good to see and it only helps with the overall program, the organization of the seventy sixers and what the lower tier players could eventually turn into with smaller things when they look back to a situation in a place like this. So good on them for the work that they did. And they entertained this as well,

no doubt about it. And it was really cool to see Isaiah Joe go down there, really cool to see Paul Reid just absolutely dominate the G League bubble or the gubble as they're calling it. It's been awesome. And then I'll add it was really cool to ask both Daveyager and Danny Green. I asked them about it on Wednesday night in Chicago, and they said that they're watching, They're excited for these guys. They've they've enjoyed watching them succeed.

I know that Isaiah and Paul and probably Rajon Tucker as well, but Isaiah and Paul specifically still in the group chat with the upper team, I guess you'd say. And it's been cool to see how these teams really do support each other and how successful this system that the team has really put a lot of emphasis on over the last few years, how successful this system has become.

The impressive thing is is that, yes, to win at the level of the Blue Coats sit down there, it requires team basketball and you need to play team basketball. But I also feel like a lot of these G League teams, the Blue Coats being one of them, they don't make a secret about who some of the top priority guys are. And of course you're talking about two way players like Read and Ray John Tucker. And when you send Isaiah Joe down there, he's taken someone's minutes.

He's in there, and he is a featured part of what the Blue Coats are doing, So he's taking someone minutes away. Yet at the same time they were able to come together and go on this great push towards a championship. As far as Paul Reid is concerned, obviously, the question everyone asks, if he puts up numbers like that, what can you do at the NBA level? What do you think? I'm still a little unsure as of right now.

He did struggle a bit when he had the opportunity to play early on in the season, when so many players miss time due to the coronavirus. You know, Hitt in the locker room, there are a few weeks back. It's encouraging to see him play. I just don't I'm just not sure until we actually see him do it on the NBA level, I still have, you know, just a little bit of questions. He's still a young player.

There's a lot to it. We're talking about a second half run with the top team in the Eastern Conference where you want to see the number one seed lockdown. You don't want to fall too far down in the event that it does happen to go on a backwards slide a bit, so I a little bit of a cop out answer. I don't know yet when it comes to Paul Reid, the energy, the things that he brings to the table, sure it can help. How much of

that has changed. How much of that experience is now going to just bust out there and burst onto the scene on the NBA level when he does, in fact, if he in fact gets the call up to the big squad. I think for sure you can make the case that the G League is the second best and closing in perhaps in the second best professional league in the world over in Europe EuroLeague ACB really good. G League is attracting and bringing in more and more talent.

You know, the NBA is investing in the G League, trying to make it the second best league in the world. With what they did with that G League Ignite team that was down there in the bubble. But it is a totally different game between the NBA and the G League.

And I think, more than anything, Laaren, one of the obstacles for Paul Reid to get some minutes to the Sixers is, even though it's only been half a season and a shorter half season than what a traditional year would be, there are some things that are in place for the Sixers. We know what the Sixers are gunning for, and if any moves come down the pike in ten days to two weeks, that player is going to be

the one who's priorities whatever minutes are left over. And I just think that, maybe to no fault of Paul Reid's own, the Sixers are set up for situation where they're making a run at something and it might be hard to give someone like Paul red despite how much promise he showed, the leash to figure it out at the NBA level. I could be wrong. Part of me hopes so I'm wrong. I think be great for him to get some minutes and he could come in and if he gets a shot, he could set the world

on fire. But I just think it might not even be a hymn thing, it might be a team dynamic and mission thing this year. Yeah, I'm with you, Selt. It's something that we've actually gone back to as a bit of a theme when we talk about young players on this Sixers team over the last couple of years. We talked about it with Matisse Thyble, We've talked about it with Tyrese Maxie, We've talked about it with Isaiah

Joe this year. It's hard for young guys to come into a team with championship aspirations and grow because there's not a lot of space for error. And that's why these opportunities with the Bluecoats are so important, because that's where they really can grow and thrive and take risks and try new things and play heavy minutes. We saw

it from Shake Milton. It's another perfect example. So if these guys can go down to the Bluecoats, have a great experience there, grow there, and bring back what they've learned to their more limited minutes with the Sixers, I mean, it's only going to do good things for them. But

I do agree with you. I mean, you have to wonder what would it be like for a Paul Read for an Isaiah Joe for any of those young guys that I mentioned to be starting on a team that isn't starting as in beginning their careers on a team that isn't of the caliber of the Sixers, and you have to imagine that they'd get more opportunities there. But I mean, there's no way that this is a bad thing for Paul read, there's no way that this is a bad thing for Isaiah Joe. And it's been cool

to see them succeed in this situation. And listen, they're guys who have had legit runs in the NBA. Just look at that Rafters nine oh five team that we're playing down in that G league bubble. And I think the good news if you're rooting for someone like a Paul Reid or a Ray John Tucker or Isaiah Joe is that they stood out in games that featured guys who had more than just a cup of coffee in

the NBA. So to me, I don't know, Devin how you feel about this, but to me, that shows that they can hang for sure and make an impact at the G league level and that they're kind of not unlike some guys who have gone on to have great careers that are currently with the Sixers, by the way, like this early on in their career, they might be in this tween stage, you know, where they they've shown they can cut to the G league level, and now it's taking things that they can do there and refining

it and continuing to wrap it and develop it to get them into a regular rotation NBA level. I thought the exact same thing as the example of the nine oh five Raptors and the names that we've seen in the past that have worked out on the NBA level. And I just only hope that these players don't get discouraged if they don't get the minutes that they want and see the opportunity passing them by. They can have

a very long career. This is a strong room learn as you know, Celts, and I would only think that they will make sure that they understand that, hey, your time will come and your number may be called at some point where Doctor Rivers might need five minutes from Paul Reid. With the hustle of the offensive rebounding, we may not need just scoring tonight. We need everything else, the little things, the intangibles that helps the team win.

So stay I hope that he just simply stays encouraged the other players as well, Joe and Tucker if and when they are up here on this level, and just be ready. That's the thing. So there are too many examples. The G League exists for a reason because these things, these examples are there. So as long as they know that they understand the pathway and know that there is a pecking order and things will get to you when time does get to you, when it caused your number,

just be prepared. And there are three great examples living right in front of them with the Sixers right off the top of my head in shake Milton and people are mentioning in the breath of six men of the Year converse stations, Danny Greene, a three time champion, and then Seth Curry, one of the best three point shooters in the planet. All of them had considerable time spent in the G League before making an impact on the

NBA level. A very good locker room, and those guys have lived it, they can speak on it, and you just hope that they absorb that information and understand that their time will come. So for the seventy sixers, as they get back to it to start the second half of the season. That certainly is one subplot. Will we see some of the guys who made an impact on the G league level surface with the Sixers at some

point the second half. But yeah, we've got thirty six games essentially, well thirty five after the game in Chicago on Thursday to go and to me, Lauren, the one thing that jumps out is just how furious of a pace this second half of the season is going to go at. I mean, I thought the first half was insane because there were only maybe two or three times where there were consecutive days without a game. Second half of the schedule seems totally nuts. Yeah, it's pretty brutal.

I don't I don't know what else to even add. I know that the guys have reservations about it. Doc Rivers has had reservations about it. I mean, luckily, the team did a really good job of tackling the challenges in the first half of the season, and hopefully they can use that experience to inform this second half. But I'll tell you what, when the NBA schedule goes back to normal, we are going to feel so fun and

fancy free. It is going to feel so laid back and slow and relaxed, because this season has been a marathon, and the marathon is not over. It's not even close, so it'll be interesting to see how the group hopes. I mean, we talk about health and safety protocols and the potential for guys to miss time to due to COVID contact tracing, but there's the potential for guys to miss time due to injury because of how congested the schedule is. I know that's one of Doc Rivers' primary concerns.

So I mean, my hope is that they all get through it with positive attitudes, with good vibes, but most of all get through it healthy and at least I mean, plenty of entertainment to go around around the league at this pace. But it is a little bit daunt a little bit scary for sure. Have you guys ever heard of the HNI? And it's okay if you haven't, it would be me like asking you before our previous episode, have you heard of the game Answers or Samesy's So

that didn't exist before our last episode. H and I the Human Nature Index, And to me, when I look at the second half of the season, my gut tells me that perhaps for some teams in the league, the H and I is going to start to increase, at least for a period of time over the next four weeks, perhaps a little bit longer for the teams that are on the cusp of the top eight in each conference. At this point in time, I see the human Nature Index being We see that there is going to be

a finite end of this. We are starting the second half of the season. Perhaps there might be some more urgency from teams that are a couple games out of the race but might have enough to get in, especially

now with that playing game in play. So I look at teams like the next the Bulls, the Spurs, just some of the first teams the six is half right off the bat, and you would have to believe that those teams particularly would like to start the second half of the season strong to try and catapult them towards a potential push for a playoff spot. Absolutely, even Washington not too far back, ass as tough as their season

has been. With the East on that bottom, with the seventh through ten play in tournament that we're talking about, there are a lot of teams that are going to be trying to find themselves into the postseason. So you're right, that index that you just share with this is definitely

in play. There are a lot of games that I looked at on the schedule, as you guys have as well, starting with the first six, the first two on the road last night in Chicago and tonight of course with Washington, and then the next four at home, starting with the

Spurs and Sunday. I try to look at them in tears because then after that, guys, you know, the six game road trip that is there for you starting in New York, Any and Cleveland, but four games out west once again, and you want to try to you hope that they continue to just stay at the pace that they were on, hopefully in those six game increments that you have four and two records or five and one records, where they stay at the top of the Eastern Conference.

It's gonna be tough, a lot of games and a certain amount of days squeezed in there, and I'd like to see how they respond. And I actually think this team will respond well to the challenge either two. I feel like they've played with a freshness and urgency about themselves, certainly a level of seriousness that we haven't seen in the past throughout the first half of the season, and I don't think there's any reason to expect when the roster is at full strength, why that approach wouldn't hold

up going into the second half of the season. Because right the schedule this first part beginning the second half of the season is crazy busy between the first five games and seven days in the long road trip. Then in the middle of April they come back and there's a good cadence of home games spread out over two to three weeks. But then the final two weeks Lauren are a crush as well. When they're on the road again, they have a couple, they have three back to backs

in two weeks. I'll be interested to see how it plays out. Yeah, it's intriguing, and I mean you look at those lists of who has the toughest strength of schedule or the weakest strength of schedule, and the Sixers allegedly have an easy schedule. If this is what an easy schedule looks like in this NBA, Like, how crazy is the second half of the season going to be.

I think those long road trips, You're right, will be a test, especially without the ability to socialize like normal, or to go sightseeing or whatever may be being gone and being from hotel room to hotel room for ten eleven, twelve days. I mean, that's a lot for anybody. So it'll be interesting to see how this team responds to those types of situations, how they play at home with fans.

I mean, there's a lot of change coming. There's a lot of intriguing storylines, for sure, but you can't not be a little nervous when you look at just how congested this second half of the season is going to be before we start to wrap this up. I wanted to ask you guys, because we kind of talked about this the last time we did one of these, but any I asked for both. I think we talked about

bold predictions the last time. Anything that you feel could be a surprise, a surprise good for the Sixers and the second half of the season. Anything that you think, whether it's something about the way the team plays or a particular player or who's you know that's ready to kind of go to a new level, that's a great question. I could take that on. Yeah, go for it. I'm intrigued by the existing Whatever the day is March eleventh

bench unit and reserve unit. I think that because of the condensed schedule, because they're going full speed towards the playoffs, because of health and safety protocols and potential injuries, there will be a lot of opportunities for those bench guys to play heavier minutes. Even if all the starters are healthy and playing and available, they'll have to play heavier minutes together. I think you see in a lot of strong performances across that bench unit for Concorkmas Dwight, Howard,

Shake Milton obviously, Matisa Tybel, Mike Scott. They've all had their nights, and I think they're going to find a way to all have their nights on the same nights. The more that they that they get to play together, the more that they find that find that continuity. And I do think some of those guys are going to start stepping up in a bigger way as they're asked to step into the starting lineup, perhaps on occasion. So

I have my eye on that bench unit. I think we might be disappointed by how often the bench might have to step up because of the schedule and because we might see guys not be able to play every single night. But I am excited to watch them embrace that challenge and I think that they will. So I guess I answer both questions with one answer. I'll go I'll go with the H and I theory here where you look at as you talked about the strength of schedule,

you also with the human nature index. Actually can't help here, Yes, thank you, you can't you can't help. But hear as you talk about, Lauren, the strength and schedule where the excuses are being made for the seventy sixers and the first half of the season as to why they're there at the top of the Eastern Conference during the All

Star break. So the human nature index, where you have an MVP candidate, too, defensive Player of the Year candidates are frustrated, I would think missed All Star appearance by one of your third star if you will, for your basketball team, and that the surprise for me is they're going to be motivated, not just because of in house and what they know they have to do and try to keep pace of what they wanted to do their goals, but just to show everyone else that, Okay, you can

talk about these other teams around the Eastern Conference, but sleep on us if you will, and we'll be right there in the mix at the very end, like we were after thirty six games in the first half of the season, and when you're talking about us after seventy two games, you're going to understand why you're still talking

about seventy two games. So I think they're gonna really in a good way, get their backs up because of the human nature index, and push forward through these thirty sixty games and find themselves in a very good spot by May. I'm gonna go micro for a macro here, and I'm gonna say I think Matisse thyble when he's in the corner or on the wing and the ball finds him, I think he's gonna knock a few more of those down. I like that, I think he is. I'm not I don't know how much, but I think.

I think we saw it in flashes last year. I think that Matisse has trended upwards just in general, like how he's been into it throughout the first half of the season. Started slow obviously, then solidified a spot in the rotation. I like the fact that he's been chucking it up there a bit. I think some are gonna start falling for him. That's gonna be my my positive hopeful micro for a macro subplot. No hesitation and half

fire it up. Yeah, fire it up. Just because I've become the vibe check person and the postgame party person. I believe Matisse thybel four went for gone, four went yeah. Four went a postgame party a few games ago to shoot postgame after he played pretty heavy minutes. And so he's putting in the work. We've seen him do it before, and I think anytime you know that a player is putting in the work, good, good things are going to come.

He's he's attending optional shooting, he's shooting postgame by himself. I mean, it's something that he's focused on. He knows what he's got to do, and he's a good work ethic. So I feel it all right. Great, I'm looking forward to next week. I feel like I feel like this was just a get back into it for the start of the second half of the season. I think we'll be able to sink our teeth into more definitive, less ethereal subject matter next week. Oh, we have a good

week ahead of us. Yes, guys, thank you very much. As always, thank you everything from pandemic shutdown, reflections to a great run by the Delaware Bluecoats, and looking ahead to the second half of the season. Our programming here on the seventy Sixers podcast network main feed will resume

as normal next week. That means Mailbag Monday with myself and Lauren Rosen on Monday, and that'll be followed by an episode of Coach Check on Tuesday, debriefing and recapping their season, and later on in the week it'll be Tom's Talks with Tom McGinnis and then back with another Friday Deep Dive with myself, Lauren and Devon. And a reminder,

follow the Scoop, our brand new feed. Search seventy six Ers Scoop wherever you get your podcasts for daily five minute pods about your team, your town, your seventy sixers. Dick