Mailbag Monday | About the Bench, Latest All-Star Odds

we think they're doing pretty well. Your DMS, your calls, we do it every week right here on Mailbag Monday. We've had mighty Mailbag Monday's Lauren Rosen, I would say the first almost two months of the season. But we're going to try and do this week is have a no melodrama Mailbag Monday, just given the circumstances as of late surrounding the team two losses in the middle of this four game road trip which wraps up later Monday nights against the best team in the NBA right now,

these surging Utah Jazz. But I think before we dive into the mail bag, who knows what We're going to open up let's take a moment for perspective, peace, calm, serenity, because I'm going to pull up the standings, and the standings tell me the Sixers are eighteen and nine. That's the best record in the Eastern Conference. And I also see the number two in the GB column for the second place team, Milwaukee Bucks, which means two games behind the seventy Sixers. I'm okay with that. I think things

are still fine. As the meme says, yeah, I agree with you, Seltz, and I think, look, it would have been great to win these last two games in Phoenix and in Portland. They were both winnable games. The team was in the game the whole time. It's not like they got rocked in either game. They're pretty clear reasons why why things went the way that they did. So I would be it doesn't have the same ring to it as a mellow mail bag Monday. But I would say,

let's not overreact mail bag Monday. This happens. The team is missing Shake Milton, who's one of their top offensive weapons. There's just there's a lot going on right now. I think everybody can just like take a beat, take a breath. This is still the best team in the East that is, in my opinion, at least in the first few months, over performing from where we thought they might be at this point. I think, listen, this is just my opinion, only me speaking here. Philadelphia were a town, we love

the Eagles, We are passionate about football. There's sixteen games in football this season, there's seventeen. There's seventy two games in basketball. So while we may want to turn to our natural football routing instincts and ride the highs and lows of every single game, which is fun, which is what you should totally do, I think what I'm going to do here is like, right, like you said, let's

take a step back. If things continue, if we're looking at a second straight mail mellow mail bag Monday this time next week, maybe that's a different story. But one week in the NBA, if you go through a rut, it could feel like you're stuck in something and you can't get out. But then you get to the next

week and things could be totally different. So I'm kind of viewing these two games in particular It's Portland and the Phoenix Suns as real opportunities to zoom in and try and learn some more about the Sixers, like how can we fact find use these road games as a fact finding mission to see where the seventy Sixers might need to shore some things up. Listen, first of all, Portland and Phoenix two quality teams. I think one thing

that stands out to me is perhaps the Sixers. And it's a tough balance because Joe has been so excellent, but the volume of three point attempts for the seventy Sixers is one thing that I look at that has been an area at least the last two games that

have stood out to me. Despite the six Er shooting the ball well from three and efficiently, where with more attempts, perhaps that could counteract what some of the opposing teams have done with the volume of three pointers that they've knocked down, certainly, and I think that the team has

seen those statistics. Doc Rivers has seen those statistics. And there are guys like Tobias Harris who were shooting more threes, higher volume of threes earlier in the season, and he's probably been told that it's time to let's crank it back up again, and he's probably said, let's do it. There's there's a lot of things that we can look at that happened in the last two games that I would imagine the team is going to adjust right away.

Danny Green after Saturday's game said that every team needs wake up calls, and I think that this was an example of Okay, we're not quite where we want to be yet, which is something that the team knew. But I think sometimes it takes a little bit of adversity to really check in to where they can improve. And I believe that they'll use these next few games now we're getting close to that All Star break, but at least a few quality opportunities to adjust some of the

weaknesses that they've found on this road trip. And the other side of the coin, Larne is there's something going on at the seventy six ers absolutely zero control over. It's that Shake Milton is dealing with an ankle sprain, and that takes fourteen points off your bench, a guy who's shot really well all over the court and has

been playing increasingly better defense as well. Yes, indeed, I think that Shake's absence, especially from that bench unit that really did look pretty good, pretty solid, had a lot of strengths early in the season, is missing him, and

I think that that's okay. He was the most productive scorer coming off the bench, not only on this team, one of the most productive scorers in this league coming off the bench, so naturally when he has to step aside, it makes sense that their productivity might struggle a little bit.

So I know they'll be excited to get shake back in the lineup and then something that I'm excited about later on tonight, Lauren, the seventy Sixers have a great opportunity where they can rebound, and they're going up against the number one team in the NBA, the Utah Jazz, and that presents an opportunity to bounce back and come back home with a split, which would be nothing to

turn your nose up at. It would be a shame to beat the best team in the league right now and have to also take home two losses against teams that aren't necessarily the best in the league. But I do think the Sixers have a really good fighting chance against the Jazz tonight. The Jazz won seventh straight, but that doesn't mean that the Sixers are going to give

them their eighth. Ben Simmons after Saturday's game talked about the fact that the Sixers need to now get used to being the best in their conference and understand that teams are going to bring their best punch to face the Sixers on a nightly basis. And then he said that he is looking forward to seeing another best team in their conference because he believes that they will bring their best punch. And he said that they have to

start bringing that best punch every single night. But I do think Monday is going to be a really cool opportunity for two teams to really dial in and bring their best and see what happens. Let us do it on this mail bag Monday. Open it up. You have one new message. Hey guys, this is Dan. I was wondering what your take is on Shake Milton's injury how that has affected the team. Thanks a lot, timely question right off the bat, Shake Milton's injury, how it will

affect the seventy sixers. I think we just touched upon that a little bit. We've seen it in the last two games and obviously removes fourteen points per game from your bench, which has really helped the seventy sixers. I think anyone who's watched this year has seen just how vital shakes offensive threat has been for the sixers, and it tightens up the rotation, takes away a key body.

But what does it mean is that guys on the bench to get more opportunities right now, to get increased minutes and listen, we might not see the returns on that immediately today, but in the long run, you hope that that can help and benefit them. Yeah, you can't forget how productive Shake is for that bench. Not only is he their scoring leader, but he is there, let's say, like spiritual leader. He's the one that sort of sets

the tone for them, that keeps everybody involved. He's running the offense most of the time in an all bench unit, so more opportunity for Tyrese Maxie while he's away, which is always something that's a pleasure to see. But keep in mind, Shake being out of that second unit really does make a bigger dent than maybe people are giving

it credit for. Plus Mike Scott coming back from missing three weeks thirteen games, expect him to get a little bit better than what we saw from Saturday's game, as he was probably put into a situation where he was playing maybe more minutes than he expected to in his first game back. So yes, the bench hasn't had a great week, but there are pretty tangible reasons why, and I believe that they're going to figure out how to

write that ship. And what you said, Laren about Mike Scott, That's what I'm looking at, is that, hopefully, perhaps by the end of this week, he'll get his game legs back underneath him. Listen, four weeks to miss that's a considerable period of time. But Mike's a veteran, we know what he can bring to the table. It definitely fills an area of depth that Doc Rivers has talked about

in the past. So I'm looking at Mike Scott and I'm looking forward to seeing him get back into a rhythm and a groove, hopefully and not too long a period of time. You have one new message. Personally, I think everyone in the country should believe the Joel and Beach be an All Star because I personally think he's playing an MVP caliber level. Now on to Ben Simmon, the Tobias hair. Ben is he just said the other day he believes he's one of the best defensive players

in the league. I think that's accurate. He's a huge defensive president, he's a great playmaker, As for Tobias, you put him in an ISO, He's gonna score for you. Good defender too, great shooter is shooting numbers this season. Percentages from a field, from three, and from free throw been great. He's averaging over twenty points a game. And this is not being the first option on the team. He's doing all this. He's clutch. All three of them

should be in the All Star Game. Another voicemail, Dylan giving us an opportunity to shift gears on our theme of discussion so far, reminding us that yes, All Star voting is still going on, and we have three seventy sixers that we need to send to the All Star Game. Of course there's Dwell and Bid who's been doing great in the voting. Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris. Put all the muscle of your fandom behind those two guys and rack up those vote counts to try and get them to

the All Star Game. And I think this voicemail, Lauren was all encompassing shouting out all of those three candidates. And listen, I think that focusing in really on Ben

and Tobias. Some great points that Dylan made. Defense by Ben, just look at what he did in the second half against Damian Lillard, and then Tobias Harris evolving his game and being so clutch certainly, and I think, look, it's hard to get three players into an All Star Game, but you've heard all three of them say that if there's an opportunity to get three players in, it's because

you're leading your conference. And the Sixers are not only leading the conference, but they have been for a while, and I think that the All Star Game is an opportunity to give those guys respect that are making those

wins happen. People will have things to say about the statistical difference between let's say Ben and Tobias and maybe the best players on lesser teams in the Eastern Conference who might have a better shot at getting into the All Star Game, But I personally would argue that the teams that are doing the best work, that are leading the conference are the best teams, and the guys that are making that happen, even if their numbers aren't as flashy as leaders on lesser teams, deserve a chance to

play in the All Star Game. So I'm biased. People who listen know how I feel, but I do think it would be great if we could sort of show up and show out for those two guys, assuming that Joel is already already a sure thing also of the Dylan, clearly an avid consumer of seventy sixers content, brought up the bite that Ben Simmons had after the game against Portland. I believe it was the other day, that he believes

he's the best defender in the NBA. I thought that was great to hear Ben say that and own that and speak confidently about a statement that I'm not sure he's wrong about. I mean, there's certainly an argument to be made that he's the best defender in this league. Nobody likes when Ben Simmons switches onto them. You see a change in the way that offensive players have to protect the ball and play when Ben Simmons is their defender. I can't necessarily definitively name someone that is a better

defender than Ben. And I think what you said about confidence is really huge. If he's willing to make that type of statement, he knows he needs to back it up now on the court. And I like the fact that he's set that goal for himself and that he sees himself as someone who can stop really anyone in this league. It's it's a special thing. Could we possibly see three of at least the five, perhaps most impactful defenders on the court at the same time Monday night

in the entire NBA. Definitely would we put those three guys, Ben, Joe and Rudy in that category three the five most impactful. I'm not saying best, I'm just saying maybe effective impactful defenders in the entire league. Absolutely. I don't think it's close to me those I mean, I guess Rudy and Joel can't both be First Team All Defense in the current setup, but I would. I would definitely put those three in the top five. Yeah, I like it. One of the subplots for a big Best in the East

verse Best in the West matchup on Monday. Thank you Dylan for that. Voicemilk, you have one new message. We're gonna run through. A couple Instagram submissions on a similar topic about the seventy Sixers and their three potential All Stars, Matthew Lowenstein says best record in the East if the Nets Big Three at sixteen and twelve or All Stars Sixers Big three are to the transitive property of All Star candidacy. I like it. I like that argument as well.

I wish I had come up with it. That feels like that feels like a really good way to explain what's happening here. It's not necessarily fair for guys that have more star power to get into the lead get into the game over guys that are winning more, because winning is the ultimate test of how good you are and how good your team is. I love that. I love the transitive property of all stars. I'm gonna maybe start using that myself. Listen, we're just here to spread

things that help the cause. Thank you, Matthew Lowenstein, Alejandro SGBO six Joe's MVP Simmons is good on all aspects to bias fifty forty ninety potential. I think these are all legitimate messaging points, talking points. I'm curious. I need to look it up really quickly. Did Tobias get back into that ninety range for his free throw shooting? I know he was at eighty nine prior to Saturday's game, and I'm not exactly sure how many he shots, So I'm going to look that up while you talk. Seltz

four tenths, I got you covered. Podcasting partner four tenths of a percentage point off of the fifty one one ninety club, so close, and it was such a shame to see Seth Curry miss his first free throw of the year because he was headed towards the first ever fifty fifty one hundred club, which would have just been something very special and of course not necessarily something you could expect out of anyone. Nobody's perfect, but it is crazy to think about how far he got into this

season without missing a single foul shot. Some more rapid fire from Instagram. You can look every Sunday for our weekly question on at sixers on Instagram. Just type in your response to the sticker on their story and we will see them and read through them. On a mail bag Monday, forty one dot ed Ben an All Star because he does in all caps everything with five exclamation points. He does. He does a little bit of everything, a lot of it, or everything. It's true, very well, it's true.

I mean I don't think we already talked about it. Is he the best defensive player in the league? Maybe? Is he the best two way player in the league? Also, maybe I'm not sure that someone can be as impactful on both ends of the floor outside of maybe Joel embiid as Ben Simmons can be in this league. One more Instagram rapid fire mailbag submission. I don't know if I'm gonna get this right. I'm Romeo, I'm Romeo. I'm not sure, but I'm going to read your submission. Tobias

is averaging twenty on fifty one percent shooting. Come on, you can't beat that. In fact, depending on how you split up his numbers, you can slice him, indice him a little differently. But in one way, if you look at his splits in his shooting combos, it's only him and Kevin Durant doing one thing. If you split the numbers another way, it's only him and Nickela Yokich doing it.

So versatile is all about Tobias Harris this year. Yeah, I got in a deep deep stats dot NBA dot com hole the other day and I tweeted out some of my findings. But like you said, his numbers are comparable to only players like Kevin Durant, like Yokich. There was another one where he was he was among just Paul George and Chris Middleton. Okay, what do all four of those players have in common. They're All Stars, and they continue to be All Stars, and they will be

All Stars this year. So maybe that's the transitive property of statistics. We have the transitive property of all stars, transitive property of statistics. All signs point to Tobias Harris should be an All Star this year, and I really hope that he can get in back. It's the voicemail. You have one new message TI. My name is Milton. I would just calling to explain why Joe and Tobys and Ben should be an All Star. And I'm saying that Joe should be a All Star because clearly he's

been dominanting. He's like the next big man after shock, to be dominating the game. It's crazy and the effective that he could shoot do everything. You don't even know what his next move is going to be. And Tobias are his game divorced a lot man, like you know, fully need him, Like if he's off, then he really brings a lot with the team, and he really been sipping up his whole game, and then you need a point guard like that. Somebody that sighs is something he's

been doing. I know everybody was saying neither Shoe, but I think he's perfect the way he is. You know, he could get in the whole and going the restive. He played defense, he played the lead defense, and I think I think that's really all the only thing the team needs. Those three guys have been on top of the game, and you know, the rest of the team to give everything that they got. I love that he said Ben is perfect the way he is. I'm not sure Ben would tell you he's perfect the way he is.

I'm not sure Doc Rivers would say that, but I like to hear a member of the populace projecting that sentiment that Ben, you know what, he's pretty damn good as he is right now. I'm with it. That's something that Doc Rivers has been saying a lot in his media, that there is too much focus on what Ben doesn't do and not enough focus on what he does do. And you and I obviously like to focus on the things that he does do, but it's cool to hear other people sort of fall in that camp as well.

We've already talked about him being one of the most impactful two way players in this game, and I think to say that he's perfect the way he is is just that's nice, and we should say that more about that. What I'm really interested to see, Lauren, is how simmons status among the media and coaches and players will affect his All Star voting, because right now we know that he's got an uphill climb for the fifty percent share from the fan base. And when you look at his numbers,

this has been well documented. His shooting attempts per game down by one per thirty six minutes compared to last year. His free throw rate is about the same, His rebounding is up per thirty six from last year. The same

goes for his assists the steals right around the same area. Listen, I think that if it's not a coincidence that some additional scoring talent comes in on the offensive end, there's a new head coach, and the one thing that changes is not Ben's defense or his defensive play, it's what's happening on the offensive end. And oh, by the way, he's tasked with responsibility of being the primary facilitator for

this team. To me, that's not surprising. So I think at just looking at that number in a vacuum isn't necessarily a fair way to analyze or evaluate what Ben Simmons is doing in the effect that he's having this year. I agree, And when you only evaluate players like Ben offensively, you're missing a huge part of the story. The energy that it takes to defend the other team's best player

is so much more energy expended. Like there's no way to necessarily track that, but like net net, energy expended by the player that's defending the opposing team's best player is something that should be taken account into account. On the offensive end, when you look at this league's best offensive players, they're not wasting the energy that Ben Simmons is wasting on defense. In fact, they're usually being hidden

on defense. So to only look at offensive stats, especially this season with the defensive load that Ben has taken on, feels a little irresponsible to me. One more, We're going back to the Graham. You have one new message, Lauren. I felt there was no better way to end mail Bag Monday than with this submission from mcne eleven. Actually, I'd like to hear some Bozo's reason why they aren't all all stars. Referring to Joe, Ben and Tobias Enough said, I'm with it. I hope other people are with it

that have power in these types of decisions. I know that the Sixers fans are showing out with the voting. Please continue doing so. There are only two days of voting remaining today and tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken, and then it'll be up to some other folks around the league.

So hopefully everybody else is sort of looking at it as a why shouldn't they If you do, look back at teams that have led their conferences, they have historically had more than one All Star in the building, if not more than two All Stars in the building, and hopefully the Sixers can have the same type of success this season. You can vote a couple of ways, go to NBA dot com, or you can just open up the old Twitter hashtag NBA All Star plus the player

of your choices handle or hashtag their name. I gotta walk it back, Lauren, this was not a Mello mail bag Monday testament to you. You brought alacrity and energy. I think we should have called it. I should have led with we're going to make this a no melodrama mail bag Monday. I like that, and I think, look, the year that we're all having has been rough, to say the least, So when you're a member of the fan base of the organization of a team that's the

best in their conference. You've got to celebrate that while it's happening. And even if you lose a couple here or there, even if you're not your perfect finished product one third of the way into the season, that's okay. We need to celebrate these victories that we have had. We need to celebrate where the Sixers are in the standings. And I think I realized that midway through this podcast

that we can do a little bit more celebrating. Despite what maybe the last two games have looked like, this is still the best team in the East, and that's something that's worth price. Don't let your frustration be born out of worry or concern. I think that a month in, we know the seventy six Ers have a really good shot to when it's all said and done at the end of the regular season, be the number one team in the Eastern confer I don't think that's far fish

to say. So, you know, if you're worried about the team, if you're like feeling this anxiety, like I would say, be confident. I think we've seen that this team has when it's fully healthy and it is at its max strength. Could be pretty good. Could you use a little bit more help with a couple of spaces, Sure, but I

think they're pretty good. Something I would add, Celts this is a group of guys that hold themselves to a really high standard and guys that talk a lot about accountability and pushing each other and being better and growing. This is not a group of guys that has rested on their laurels whatsoever this season, even on their biggest winning streaks, after their biggest wins, they've talked about wanting

to get better. So I can tell you for sure that the Sixers aren't happy with how the last two games went either, and I think that that's a good sign for what's going to happen moving forward. We love the supports and engagement that you guys out there are giving us rain or shine. It has always appreciated. Again,

we'll do it every Monday. You send in your submissions on social or the pod line two five four zero three seven six three seven, and if we read your response or inquiry, you are put in the old random name picker for the chance to win a Sixers swag bag coming out later this week on the seventy six ers podcast Network, latest installment in our Black History Month

Inspiration series, this one focusing on Danny Green. Tom McGuinness speaks with Danny Green, and then Lauren and I will be chatting with Devon Gibbons for our weekly deep dive on Friday. Lauren, thank you as always, thank you self, Thanks for everybody for listening, Keep submitting your questions. We love hearing from you, and we'll see you guys. Well, not next Monday, but we'll see you guys on all sorts of platforms over the next few days.