Getting a No. 1 Ranking!

a championship. We touch base with John Schumann, the guy who gave the Sixers number one billing on this episode of the broadcast, the first team to four and currently the only team two four that also does not have a loss caveat very least at the time of the taping of this podcast. How are you, Brian Seltzer back for another episode of the broadcast, And yes, this seventy Sixers are indeed off to a four and oh start for the first time since two thousand and two thousand

and one. We should all know, of course, where the seventy Sixers ended up going that season, and the Sixers are the only team in the NBA to get to four wins while also not having a loss on their ledger. The Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, and a Utah Jazz all go into the weekend with records of four and one, but the seventy Sixers are the only perfect team left out of thirty in the NBA, and for good reason. They've been excellent on the defensive end of the courts.

Going into the weekend. They were number four in the NBA in defensive rating, just under ninety seven points allowed per one hundred possessions, their first in the league. In steals, they are top five in deflections. They are best on the boards rebounding the basketball, top three in block shots per game. They have been monsters in the PA ain't scoring the ball, especially on second opportunities. Just phenomenal, phenomenal

and very encouraging stuff. We're going to talk to John Schumann about ranking the seventy six ers number one in the first edition of the NBA dot Com Power Rankings for this season, but first want to remind you that to subscribe to our podcast, search seventy Sixers Podcasts or seventy six Ers Podcast Network anywhere where you get your pods. It could be Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, tune In, Stitcher, SoundCloud, wherever. It's easy as typing in a few of those keywords

in your search and then subscribing to our feed. John Schumann in a moment. But we've been doing this the past couple of weeks. Now I hope you've enjoyed it our opening tip segments, and for this week, we'll take a trip down ninety five. The seventy six ers season, as we know, is well underway. The team now headed across the country to start a four game track against some very good Western Conference clubs. But back east, there's

plenty of work being done as well. About thirty miles south of Philadelphia in Wilmington, Delaware, at seventy Sixers Field House, That is where a collection of nearly twenty or so players spent this past week taking part in training camp for the Delaware Bluecoats, the seventy sixers G League affiliate. There were some noteworthy names in Coates camp. Mariol Shayak, this year's second round pick out of Iowa State, Haywood high Smith, one of these Sixers two way players last year.

Chris Camagi and Isaiah Miles are there as well, and they were in seventy sixers training camp. But the most prominent face of all was no doubt, Zaire Smith, the sixteenth overall pick acquired by the Sixers in the two eighteen draft. It's an intriguing story for sure. On the heels of a strong summer during which he displayed a lot of positives at Summer League, the twenty year old Smith was a sign of the Blue Coats with two goals in mind, to stay fresh and to continue to improve.

We're excited most of the up for the good and getting ready here come out of plays in damage out there do my minis just be a growthful play sing shoot the ball by name. The Blue Coats are in just their second season of existence. Prior to relocating to Delaware's largest city a year ago, the franchise spent five

seasons playing in Newark as the eighty seveners. In addition to twenty eighteen, marking the coach's first campaign in Wilmington, it was also the first season that the GM head coach tandem of Matt Lily and Connor Johnson worked together. Both guys aren't even thirty yet, and they boast really impressive resumes. Lily has spent nearly a decade in the G League, rising to a top front office position from

the ground up. He was Elton Brand's right hand man in Delaware before eb got bumped up to the big gig with the Sixers. Johnson meanwhile played Amherst in Massachusetts, worked for Jay Wright for a bid at Villanova, then landed a spot on Brett Brown's staff as an operations assistant. He proceeded to work his way up to Brown's director of player Development and coaching administration, and ultimately was tapped

to become the coach's head coach. What did Lillian Johnson accomplish in their first season simply put the duo fine tune and infrastructure that facilitates development on all fronts. It's good Milton nails a corner, three Simmons of the past of Milton in the corner, and shake Milton gives us

six first from a player's standpoint. Shake. Milton finished second in the G League in scoring, then had his two way contract converted full time with the Sixers, hell with another's slab at a Vala Detroit Norvelle Pell was named to the All g League Defensive Team and earned a two way contract this offseason. Highsmith, one of the two way players last year, made great strides and Jared Brownridge ended twenty eight nineteen as the lead leader in three points.

Also worth noting, for the past couple months, nearly it doesn't bluecoat staffers, coaches to talent evaluators advanced their careers either within the seventy sixers organization or elsewhere. So, yeah, Million Johnson, they seem to have something cooking down in Wilmington. We don't treat it as Sixer staff and bluecoat staff like it's one organization that works together, the kind of put together the plan for what path do we see

for this player? Are the what are the goals and checkpoints we're kind of looking to check off along the way. So I think it's it's really collaborative with myself, Connor, everyone is kind of onboard with carbon out what does the plan for this guy look like? What is our vision and how can we how can we help them

get there? That was Lily Here's counter Johnson. The Sixers have a strong culture since Brett came on board, and that is something that we aren't the same team as the Sixers, but at the same time, we value the same things and we preach the same things to our players, and I think that's another element of continuity that as the players go back and forth they can see it's progress that wouldn't be possible without committed, consistent support from

the seventy Sixers themselves, not just holistically but financially too. This is Elton brand. We take pride in having the Blue Coats, the ability to have the Blue Coats as an extension of the Sixers. That's what the Blue Coats

stand for us. They're an extension of the Sixers. It's not just the players, it's also for you know, staff, myself starter, you know, as in a leader's true leadership role as G League GM of the G League of the eighty seven Ers, which are now the Blue Coats, and it afforded me an opportunity to really grow and develop. And we're looking to promote from within and give our staff and the plays an opportunity to grow and that's

what's been taking place. But the top priority, make no mistake about it, is to develop contributors to the seventy Sixers and their championship aspirations, whether that's a player who's slated to be with the Blue Coats all season or someone a little more established like Zaire Smith who's with the Coats right now, to playing simple, get reps and

stay fresh. How do you guys like try and manage that type of dynamic with them that it's really ultimately only going to better them to just be playing actively somewhere, regardless of where it is. There's nothing like the opportunities to play in front of fans and have our great facility.

You can't replicate an actual game situation by practicing on the side or scrimmaging, even if it's against pros, all league NBA players being out there and actually, you know, having that opportunity, so you know, the fieldhouse being developed in the way it is Coach Johnson, the way he's marrying his systems exactly with ours, Matt literally the GM there making sure that the players know their roles not only to develop for the Blue Coats, but when they

have the opportunity with the Sixers. So it really helps us as an entire organization. Again, Connor Johnson, there's no break in what the player and get from whether it's they're here or whether they're up and camped in with the Sixers or playing in a game that they're getting the same things that they need and they experience kind

of the same resources that they get either way. So for as hype as you rightfully should be about the seventy Sixers, do pay attention to what's going on in Wilmington. The Blue Coat season opener is at home on November ninth at seventy Sixers Field House, and odds are, whether it's a player, coach, front office staffer, you might just be seeing them at some point in not too distant future with the Sixers. That was our opening tip, which

hopefully you've been digging. One thing I know you will dig or you should is something the seventy Sixers have planned for a couple of weeks from now. It's called seventy six Ers Crossover, the art exhibition presented by Reebok celebrating the creative crossover between basketball and the city of Philadelphia. How awesome is that. Maybe you've seen some of the teases of the artwork on social media or in arena

down at the Center. It's going to be a free event open to the public from Saturday, November sixteenth through Tuesday, November nineteenth at the Fittler Club in Philadelphia. That's on twenty fourth Street, just south of Ludlow, right by Ranstad and the event is going to explay more than two hundred pieces of art produced by artists from thirteen different

countries amazing. Visit seventy six ers dot com slash seventy six Ers Crossover and follow us on social media for all the additional information you'll need on specific showtimes and details for how you can enjoy this one of a kind art exhibition at seventy six Ers Crossover, presented by Reebok each and every week on Mondays on NBA dot com.

You can look forward to the release of John Schumann's Power rankings, and following the first let's call it half week of regular season play, the seventy Sixers were up three spots from number four to number one. John was at the Sixers game on Wednesday, the win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, and prior to tip he and I had

the chance to catch up. John. There is a boiler plates on your weekly power rankings column that reads, in part, if you have an issue with the rankings or have a question or comment for John Schumann, send him an email or contact him via Twitter. How often does the populace take you up on that offer? Pretty often? But I don't take it too seriously because one, I don't because one, you know, everybody that's doing that has their own biases, and then two I don't personally, I don't

stress the actual rankings of the team very much. I will tell you, I'll let you in on a secret that of the work goes into what's written about the teams, and then at the end I just put them in

some sort of order. Right, So, like I care about when I write my Power rankings is if you're a Sixers fan and you watch every single Sixers game all eighty two, you can come to the Power Rankings on Monday and maybe learn something that you didn't necessarily know about them, like a stat or you know how a particular lineup has done compared to the rest of the league, how how they do in this particular category compared to

the rest of the league. Now, it's impossible for me to do that for all thirty teams for all twenty six weeks of the season, but that's sort of the goal when I go into it. And so therefore, like all the work or the bulk of the work goes into what I write. I think bit more of as a notebook than rankings to my as like a league wide notebook. Then to rankings, and then sort of at the end, I say, all right, who should be number one, who should be number thirty? And how am I going

to sort them in between? And some weeks it's a lot easier than others. Some weeks it's difficult. Even this week after Week one, it was kind of difficult just because there wasn't a team that we expected to be really good that was really dominant in week one. You know, the Sixers won their first couple of games, but it wasn't the prettiest of weeks or or prettiest of basketball

that we saw. But you know, it has has to do with a lot with how that team is doing, and then how the teams around them are doing, and sort of the teams that teams that there are in the same tier and how they've been doing recently. Yeah, I'd have to think that some of the toughest situations to rank the teams is when you've got a blank canvas and how many times a year. Do you have

that essentially now? And that's about it the first two weeks perhaps, and then also when there hasn't been much movement in the standings on a league wide basis, right, Like to me, that would be when when things are static, that's when if I were doing it, that's when the rankings would become difficult. There was a year, I guess it was Michael Carter Williams's rookie year when the Sixers were expected to be pretty bad and then they won.

They beat the Heat in week one, like in their first game they started, and I put them number one because if why not? You know it's week one and no, they're not going to be number one forever, they're probably not going to be number one again. And and I'm sure they quickly fell off at after that. But what I mean, like it's just rankings. It doesn't matter, Like really,

it doesn't matter. And hopefully, like I said, somebody comes in there and can read it, and yeah, they may not be happy with the way I ranked the teams, but maybe there's something in there that they can get out of it. So um, and like I said, like if if you did that, if you just said if you just ranked them on based on who you think

can win the championship at the in June. Then you know, the Warriors would have been number one for five straight years, you know, so what's the you know, not five straight year, but then you know, you get the point, and so you know, I try to have a little bit fun with it too. Is there a basic criteria formula that that you drop them upon and fall back upon? Yeah? I think quality wins is a big thing to me. A quality win is you know, a road team, a road win over a good team, or just to win

over another good team. So obviously, when I was looking at this week, the Sixers were two and oh, the Nuggets were two and oh. And I had thought pretty highly of the Nuggets, I had them ranked in the top five even before the season started. But the Sixers sort of win over the Celtics, and thinking that the Celtics were a good team and knowing, you know, knowing that they'd be a pretty good team. That sort of made the difference in in ranking those two teams and

putting the Sixers number one. Like quality, like good wins is matters to me, and so for instance, like the Spurs were also two and oh, but just had beat two sort of weaker Eastern Conference teams, and it was fairly easy not to, you know, push them too high because knowing you know who they had beaten, how much they win by, and that type of thing. Before the season started, you have the seventy six ers rank number four,

which is all things considered, top five, pretty good. What has you so bullish generally speaking at the outside of the year about the seventy six ers. I mean, they're going to be monstrous defensively, and we know that and they already have been. I mean their defense in Game one was terrific and that is a great foundation to start with. There are I think legit questions about their offense, but they're still talent. I mean, there's still talent there.

Like you have Joel and beat, you have Ben Simmons, who you know, as limited as his as he is with his jump shot, can get downhill and get buckets. We saw it in game one, I think get twenty four or twenty six, I forget which what it was. Yeah, Josh Richardson and Tobias Harris. So there's enough offensive talent there where they're going to be at worst average offensively. And then with how good they are going to be defensively.

That's you know, that's a formula for one of the best teams in the league and a team that can compete for a championship if everything comes together. Going back reflecting on the summer thing about the moves transactions the seventy six Ers and Elton brand made, do you remember was there one? Was there too a few that kind of made you pause, stopping your tracks and be like, wow,

I didn't see this coming. Ordin al Horford it's I've thought the world of al Horford for a long time, and I go back to two years ago in that playoffs where Boston reached the conference finals basically without Kyrie Irving and they beat Milwaukee in the first round and al Horford was guarding Janisanto Tokumpo and did a fantastic job on him. They went to seven games. Al Horford was the best player in Game seven. And then they played the Sixers in the second round and he outplayed

Joel Embiid. I mean, he guarded Joel Embiid. He even guarded Ben Simmons at times, and he was he outplayed them both. And I think he's just obviously he's talented, but what I think about him is that he just he executes the game plan to a t. Like he knows the game plan and executes it perfectly on both ends of the floor. He knows what he's supposed to do offensively, he knows how his team can take advantage

of the other team offensively and then defensively. He knows where to be and what to do, what his job is, and like he is just sort of like I just see him as the epitome of execution as a veteran player. He has his limitations, of course, and he's not going to have the best shooting games all the time. But I feel like, you know, that was a huge coup for the Sixers to get to, as Brett Brown has said it, to get him and then to take him

away from the Celtics at the very same time. How much have you found over your time covering the league that as players get up there in years, how much farther can IQ take you a savvy for the game in all can that be a prevailing factor and prolonging not just a career, but how effective you are in this middle stage in terms of age of your career absolutely, And you know, Al's a great example of that that

he you know, isn't the most athletic guy. You know, isn't as obviously getting older and you know, doesn't move his wa well, but just executes. A coach is going to trust him all that, like, is always going to trust him to do the right, to do what the coach wants. And I think that's a huge part of sticking in this league is just gaining the trust of the coaches and then in the extension the front office

that's that that's making the personnel decisions. Um. You know he shoot, look at TJ McConnell, like a guy like that that just doesn't you know he I was talking about him with somebody today. He's just amazing like that this guy is in the league considering how small he is. He's not that athletic and he really can't shoot outside of seventeen eighteen feet, but he's tough and he's smart.

He knows what to do. Um And so like, there are gout great examples of that, and a lot of them came out of this organization when when when the team wasn't winning, that just um didn't come in with a ton of talent. It just knew what to do and worked hard, and also you know, listen to their coaches and if they execute well, they can stick around for a long time. You talked about how in your power rankings you like to drop in a few nuggets and each capsule about a team that might open fans

eyes to something else. And one that stood out to me from the recent Power rankings and you're writing about the seventy Sixers, is that the Sixers allow the Celtics to score just thirty seven points on fifty one possessions

with Joel Embiid on the floor. Obviously, that is telling of Joe's defensive impact, but it also makes you think back to last year and how much of a subplot it was, particularly in the Toronto series when the Sixers were eliminated, of what happened when Joel wasn't on the floor. And when I look at this year's Sixers team, it's obviously different, especially on the offensive end, than it was

last year. There's no jj Reddick in particular, but when Joel's not on the floor, this year you do have Horford. And for all the great things that Al does, I think simply his presence of being available provided good health. When Joel isn't available, whether it's for a substitution or a game off here or there, I think that makes

the Sixers better. It should in theory, yes, yes, I think that would like if you look at the Toronto series, well, what went wrong, Well, we were I forget the plus minus in how exactly how many minutes it was when when mbid was off the floor, but it was staggering. And yes, and we know, speaking of staggering, Brett Brown staggers the minutes of his starters. Now there's a plus in a minus that the plot. The positive is that you're always going to have two starters on the floor,

right and you have a talented starting lineup. If you have two of those guys on the floor at all times, you can take advantage of the other team's second unit. And we saw in the playoffs last year him starting the second and fourth quarters sometimes with the with the whole starting lineup on the floor, which was unique, and

they obviously took advantage of that. The negative is that if you're doing that, you don't have all five starters on the floor together at the same time for as for as long as you would if you didn't stagger the minutes, Like if you just say, okay, we're gonna play them the first nine of the first and the last seven or eight of the second quarter, And so maybe you lose some of the potency that way. But then maybe you know, with this starting lineup, maybe the

fit isn't perfect. You know, it's a lot of talent, but maybe the fit isn't perfect, and so maybe staggering the minutes is the way to go. But like you said, I think the benefit of it obviously is to have you always can you know, when they're healthy, you always have either Joel Embiid or Al Horford anchoring your defense and that's huge. Speaking of fit, how do you see Josh Richardson fitting in all this at this stage of

his career. It's interesting because they're asking him, I think, to be a more of a ball handler than he's ever been. I think he's he's they're trying to I don't want to say force isn't the right way, but like because of the lack of pick and roll ball handling that they have on this team, he's sort of

now like pushed into that role a little bit. And so and I think so far so good in that regard, and I think that's that could be a big factor in just how good they are come you know, May and June is just how well Richardson does with handling the ball and making those decisions out of pick and rolls to give them something different, something other than you know, uh and bead post ups and and uh, you know

Ben Simmons trying to get downhill. How much was Richardson's assent and the more that he did in Miami something that was talked about within league circles the last couple of years. I thought he's terrific. In fact, there was a year I don't I don't think it was last year, maybe the year before where Gordon were There was a bunch of injuries for All Stars and the Heat were a good team and Go Drag was selected by the

Commissioner's office as a injury replacement for All Star. When I was looking at I thought Josh Richardson should have been that like, I thought he should have been there All Star that year. Um, he's really good, just a terrific two way player. Um has turned himself into a great shooter. Um. I think the ball handling is coming. I think you know, we're gonna see it with this team a lot more than we have in the past.

And then defensively, he's he's fantastic and obviously he's going to have a huge role in this on this team guarding opposing point guards. Um, with his length and his size, he's just obviously the sort of default matchup for opposing point guards. So um, he's a he's a fantastic two way play. Like the fact that they were able to get him out of the Jimmy Butler deal was was great,

Like it was terrific. Like it's you know, they they lost Reddick, they lost Butler, but they gained two borderline All Stars in to replace them, and you know, it switches to the dynamic because you're, you know, swapping two wings for a wing and a and a big but um, you know, talent wise, they did just fine. I want to ask at the top, would we have kept the

seventy six ers at number one? We're recording this on Wednesday, October thirtieth, after their win over the Atlanta Hawks, where they have maintained their purchase this point of the week, or sure, I mean, it wasn't the prettiest of wins. I think their offense, we saw some more offensive struggles. But I've always say a roadwin is a good win, you know, even if it's not against the best team, and even if it's only by a couple of points,

road wins are good wins. You can you'll take a roadwin, however, you can get it um And so no, I wouldn't. I in my mind in my midweek power rankings, which are only in my head, they are still number one. One storyline that emerged from that was the seventy six ers going to Joel and b late in the game, fourth quarter type battle. He was doubled a lot in the game, he got to the free throw line, made

the final two to win the game. As far as the next phase of Joel's evolution, is it about handling increased attention that he gets, drawing double teams, cutting down on turnovers, recognizing those situations, executing late in the fourth quarter when Brett Brown said he is the team's crown jewel and they'll look at that. Yeah. I thought it was fascinating that they ran a design duck in basically for the last play of the game. Like, you don't

see that, It doesn't happen. But before the season started, you know, Pep Brett Brown was asked, you know who's going to be your go to go to guy down the stretch and he said, I think it's Joel. Look well, other thought as well, how are you going to do that? He's you know, you're gonna getting the ball into the post is not as easy as it as it sounds. But there was example number one of you know, them trying to get Joel the ball on the last possession

and it worked. And give credit to Al Horford for making that pass. That was not the easiest past to make.

And you know that's that's huge, and you know we're talking right now, but before the Minnesota game, and it'll be fun to see how both the Sixers and the Wolves going into this game guard post ups because Joel and Carl Anthony Towns are number one and number two, I don't think in that order, maybe in verse order, and post ups per game, So it'll be interesting to see how both teams handle that and how both those guys handle, you know, the defense that comes their way.

I obviously live in a very hyper focused seventy sixers world. Is it rare what we're seeing from Matisse Stybe. I know it's only three games in and he did do some pretty good stuff in the preseason. What stood out to you about Batist Styble. He's been a guy Bret's gone to early on in the rotation. He's Kawhi Leonard esque in his ability to snatch the ball from anybody

who's got a loose handle anywhere in his vicinity. That's it's it's pretty ridiculous the way U or his hands and his um, his quickness defensively, and it says a lot about the guy that he trust. You know that he earned, um the coach's trust. Uh, to be in the rotation from day one like that says a lot that you know, uh, to to earn that job over people that have been here before. You know, they've been here, have been around already. UM. And so uh, you know,

he's obviously got a ways to go, especially offensively. UM, but he's starting from a pretty high floor, let's say, you know, with what he can do defensively and just his size and UM, you know, his defense on Kemball Walker and in the opener was was terrific and was noteworthy just because they have not only this huge starting lineup, but then now they have um guys off the bench that can can def and just as well. He came in against Trey Young the other night Trey Young got

off to a quick start for the Hawks. Thought he kind of threw Trey off his game a little bit. Yeah, he he does seem to have a pretty ridiculous snack for just being able to sniff things out make I guess Brett Brown, Shoot, I'm forgetting the exact phrase, the reckless thief. I think it's what Brett called them the other day. But you know, he's like, and he made

a joke about it. He's like, I've been out of position my whole career, and that's why I've been successful, but like at a position within reason, like he's been consistently successful. Yeah, I mean, I mean the one thing to watch is just you know, how he how he does with with with fouls, you know, just being able to stay out of foul trouble and and keep his

team out of foul trouble. Because if he's coming in you know, late first quarter or whatever it is, you know, and and and that the other teams in the bonus that you know, those those things are more important I usually ask Gott National reporters and they passed there or were able to get them on the pod or even just see them like in passing and I'm just making bad small chat. I'd like to ask stuff like, well, what is from what you've been hearing, what do people

think of this person that person? The other Elton brand. I mean, obviously this team has been shaped aggressively within his vision line over the last year and a half. Now at this point, what do you think are some of Elton's distinguishing traits as a front office executive from what you've been able to gather and that's allowed him to be able to pull off some of these aggressive moves.

I mean aggressive is the word? Like, that's that. I mean, it's amazing just how far they've come since two years ago.

I guess it was they were twenty five and twenty five right like, and then just went on that huge run down the stretch of that season, and then we've just seen so many like like, the team is unrecognizable from what that team was that was, you know, the Sarach and Covington starting lineup that was so good, you know, and then there was you know, a fairly quiet summer, and then the Jimmy Butler trade and then the Tobias Harris trade and then uh, you know, Butler and Reddick

become Richardson and Horford. I mean, it's just it's just keeps rolling, and it's you know, given the age of Ben Simmons and Joel and beat it's unusual for a team to be so aggressive in trying to win a championship right away. But you know, you gotta admire it, like, you know, why not, you know, and bead is a force and one of the best, maybe one of the best two way players in the league, an MVP candidate if and a Defensive Player of the Year candidate if

he stays healthy. So um, you know, if you if you feel like it's time to go for it, you go for it. And they've done that. And I mean just the Horford and Richardson acquisitions this summer are just I you know, I don't think any many of us saw that coming, and that just speaks to his prepared to be able to you know, pivot from you know, Butler and Reddick to those two guys like that. That says a lot about how prepared Eldon and his staff were going into the summer and just one final thing

before we wrap this up. How much do you think that approach was dictated by seventy sixers front office seeing that well, Joel while he still has room to grow, we have an established sense of what he can do, and Ben Simmons, while there's still areas that he can

obviously grow. Like that, they saw enough evidence out of the two of them to know that they were I guess I'm saying is how much was a reflection of the readiness of those two players that the seventy six ers were, like, even though they're young, all right, now is the time to try and capitalize on this rather than wait a little bit more for more growth and evolutionary development from those players. I mean, hey, even though

they're young, they're all stars. Like, they're all star level players. So and then you can just go back into time and realize that you never know when you're when your time is up or like or when your time comes. Like I remember in when the Thunder we're in the finals in two thousand and twelve. You know, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrooke, James Harden and Serge Ibaka, all those guys were like twenty four and twenty five years old, and

I was like, oh, you know they'll be back. You know we're going to be coming to Oklahoma City for the finals for years to come. And well, no, we haven't, right, um. And I remember at that time looking back and seeing Okay, well, Shack and Penny were like twenty five when they made the finals with the Magic and they never got back as a as a tandem. Um. Dwight Howard was twenty five ish or when he got to the finals, UM with the Magic and he never got back with that group.

You know, it's you There are teams that get get pushed far and you're like and maybe and they don't make it all the way, and you say, you know they're they're young, you know they're that guy's just entering his prime. He'll be back. But you just never, like no, not necessarily. You know, you never know what's coming around the corner. And so you've got to you gotta push for everything while you can. You know, you can't take take anybody's talent for granted and think that it's it's

always going to be there. John Schuman, thanks so much, man, appreciate it. YEP. John's Weekly Power Rankings on NBA dot Com. Get them every Monday. Always a good thought provoking read. Follow John on Twitter at John Schumann. All Right, the Sixers continue this long run of road games. They are out West, taken on some quality teams, at least in the early part of this season. They've got the Portland Trailblazers,

Phoenix Suns, a Utah Jazz, and Denver Nuggets. Will keep tabs on what's going on next time here on the broadcast, and oh be sure to listen out for rewind editions to the podcast, recapping every game the morning after you see it.