Philadelphia Faith for a Broken Process

kindness it doesn't always feel like will they say? If uh, if everything was dripped in gold, baby, how would we ever grow? You know what I mean? Like we can't just just can't be all peas and cares all the time. Sometimes kind comes in the form of a stick stick stick stick. That's me, your accountability partner. Sixers fans. Let's make a therapy group. Go ahead, Brock, Let's drop the beach. Sorry about lake drop. When snow happens in Washington, DC,

the world loses their minds. I don't think we were ready for it, truthfully, like our city was not ready for snow. I am. I'm gonna confess something. I thought to myself, maybe I wouldn't confess this because it's egregious. But I told someone we got two feet of snow, and I sent a photo to them. They're from Minnesota. It was four inches. I mean, men, man love me, right, man, love me only I could confuse four inches for two feet,

if you know. You know. So that's why we didn't record on a Monday, because the world lost their fucking mind, because everybody in this city confuses four inches for two feet. Like we had people stuck on ninety five still it's like literally they're still struggling, you know, like the world was not ready for the snowstorm, and like we're gonna get to the episode, but listen, it was sixty five on New Year's Day. The next day it was twenty five and two feet of snow, you know what I mean.

I still haven't gotten my car out from the side street that it's on, so folks. Anyway, And then on Sunday, I did go on a podcast, the Rights to Rickey Sanchez and talked about Philly. It's a Philly podcast, probably the top Philly podcast in the country, hosted by my Guy, The Men and the Myth Philadelphia legend Spike Eskin, the son of Howard Eskin, and we went in detail about Joel Embiid. We talked about, of course Ben Simmons, the

future of this team, the future of the franchise. So wherever you can find your podcast, go and check that episode out. I also talked about why I left Barstool. I talked about my origin story. It was not just a Philadelphia conversation. It was a life conversation. But the prep for that, because you never know what people are gonna ask you. The prep for that got me thinking about Philly, and it got me interested, got me listen.

Now you have my full attention, Philly. Yeah. So now we decided to turn that prep that I did not need into this Sixers episode. Well, I didn't expect it to be a personal question, but like here we are. So my new year's resolution was to be nicer. So let's look first and foremost about what's good about the Sixers this year before I get into what the dumpster fire of this team has been just this year, but for the last eight like this team, the process has

been a joke. I think you guys know that, Like I'm not just trolling, Like the process has been a disappointment. So let's go into what you guys are doing well. First and foremost. The team is currently twenty and sixteen, and the truth is it could be so much worse. And Beid has been gone, Your star center has been gone. The player that you've built your entire franchise around multiple times has been gone with COVID for a solid month.

Tobias has been garbage. He's been stealing money, and of course you've had this drama surrounding Ben Simmons looming over this franchise like a gray dark cloud to the point where people can't even practice because he's like a distraction. There's like news reports all time about this. He's been mia outside that one practice. Considering everything, six in the

East isn't so bad, Cheer up Sixer fans. Like you thought you were gonna be the two or three seed in the East, which was an un we'll call it an unrealistic expectation. Like I said, I called you a six seed preseason. That was one of the only right things I got correct in the East. Uh, but you could be Orlando, Like you could be completely down in the dumps when your star center literally thought he might die.

That's what we said. I thought I might die, so less dissect some of the reasons from a basketball perspective that this franchise hasn't Turtle Turtle yet. You are a decent three point shooting team, even with Tobias having a down year. You're third in the league and turnover percentage twelve point three times per game, and a lot of that is due to your guy Tyree Maxie, who we're gonna talk about in this He is literally helping you.

He's keeping the ball from turning over. Without Maxi on the floor, you are twenty seventh in the league at turnover percentage. So it's really just him ballin', really just him becoming a true point guard, a real facilitator, a true floor general. And you're also leading the league in free throw percentage eighty plus percent. But mostly the reason that you're overperforming, which I think is what you're doing. I don't think Philly fans will like me saying that,

but that's what you're doing. Role players have become stars someone and exceeded at the least exceeded expectations at least for nearly the first half of the season. So let's talk about the number one reason why, which has been Tyrese Maxey number one bright spot all year. He's gone from six man off the bench to having an all star like season. I'm not sure now at this point if Rich Paul would want to trade him. Like rich Pass said, when when Ben Simmons goes Tyreee, Maxi will

also go. Those are both Rich Paul clients. It appears that this fit is working beautifully. He's averaging almost seventeen points per game, three and a half rebounds, four and a half assists, and putting up like outside of those numbers, he's putting up huge numbers in important games, like he did against Brooklyn. You won against Brooklyn with all their pieces outside of Kyrie in Brooklyn after just losing to

them a couple of nights ago. Another thing Maxi has improved on, you know, I'd say is underrated is his defense. He's no I mean, he's no Drew Holliday, But against Harden, you got Harden to turn the ball over six times in that game, Like he put up numbers, but he's gonna put up numbers on anybody like That's like when you guard Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant is gonna put up numbers, but his on the ball defense is improved. He's pressing the hell lot of guys. He's getting them to commit mistakes,

and that's important. Offensively, Maxi has been impressive too. I had twenty six players who finished with at least two hundred possessions as a pick and roll ball handler this season. Maxy is where Maxi is fifth in scoring efficiency, behind Donovan Mitchell, Steph Curry, Zach Lavine, and Trey Young. Excuse me, sir, sir, that is a fucking baller move. That is according to Synergy Sports, he is ahead of Chris Paul DeMar Derozen and Jaw. He's ahead of those guys. That is surprising.

I would say, I don't think people would put Maxie in the conversation there in terms of like pick and roll ball handler, but Jesus Christ, wow, like that's important. He's got wheels, he's got touch around the rim, He's potent in a two man game with Joe ellen b pick your poison, and he's become a real aggressive scoring threat. And I think the thing that people have been knocking him on for so long is that Maxi's too hesitant. Maxi wants to pass the ball too much. Maxi's not

a dog. MAXI now is taking important shots in important moments, and he knows when to pass and when to fucking shoot, and that is what you need. Seth Curry. He's a little shrimp, we know that. But the bright span spot for Philly two has been him in this two man game with Joe LMB. He's a bad defender. We know that he's little, he's too little, but and he's a chucker. But he is legitimately shooting fifty percent as a pick and roll ball handler. And he's a pick and roll

ballhandled like thirty percent of the time. That's up a solid six percent, which is a meaningful number from last year. Let's talk about my man, George Yang. This dude is I thought it was gorgee. First of all, I just want to tell myself again because that's what I do. I'm accountable too myself and to the fans. I got him confused with gorge y Jang Gorge Yang Like, I okay, George Nang, I'm confused. But anyway, he is a dog six seven power forward, perfect fit, shooting forty percent from three,

Like what fours? Do you know? That aren't stars that are shooting at this clip, and he's shooting eight per thirty six. He's shooting six of them joints a night at forty sixty seven. Dog and irritant. He's got the aggressive nature of like in terms of being an irritant like a Patrick Beverley or Joel Embiid. But he's just like making a couple like I don't even know what

he's making, but it's not law. He could be one of the more underrated signings this year for the Sixers, and like, you can tell he's good on this team because I thought about scenarios where, for example, like someone like Boston would want someone to space the floor, which is what you need for Joel Embiid, which is what you also need for Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and Sixer fans in my mentions like, nah, nah, we'll keep We'll keep Nang. He's been he's ours, that's how you know.

And six Ers fans will turn on you if you're no good. They're like, no, no, we're keeping Nang. He's been a piece, and he's been I would say, the only real bright spot as a power forward in this role since like Irion Iliasova like since that anyway, Cork Boss is always good. He's shooting. His shooting's dipped a little bit. He's slid under thirty from three now, but he's like he's been good earlier in the season. He's

been a bright spot, hitting threes in crucial moments. Of course, Joel Embiid has been out with covid, so Andre Drummond tremendous in his absence, rebounding Shake Milton has missed time, but he's been pretty good. Isaiah Joe another little bright spot, put up eighteen and twenty one minutes against the Rockets, And you know, he's just a little baby. He's just still coming along in his own and now it's time and now it's time. It's time and time. The bad,

the ugly. The Ben Simmons situation is not ideal, I would say, but but it's not the only problem. Let's talk about the bigger issue. The bigger issue is an asset on your squad who's a net negative like Ben Simmons is a net positive trade asset. It just is the case. Unfortunately to me, Like I don't think I mean, of course he is, but like he's just toxic, but like Tobia's hairs, actually is a net negative. You have to package picks with his contract to move him. He's

stealing money right now. He's stealing. He's making Check's notes thirty two point seven four million dollars this year. Is he worth that? I'd say no, I'd say sixers. Fans would say no as well, Like he's a Doc River, a favorite. The only reason that they picked him up and kept him and didn't trade him is because of I believe his relationship with Doc Rivers, like the fact that he's on this team and that him and Ben are on this team over Jimmy Butler is just a crime.

It's a crime to me. And he's the most inefficient player on this team. Gross he passes up open threes. I mean, you can't have you're one of your highest paid guys being an indeficient, like the most inefficient on your team. Like, you just can't. It's not fucking Carmelo Anthony in two thousand and three. I'm sorry, Like this is not the league that we're in anymore. He passes up open threes consistently and shoes worst tooths unopen twos.

We'll call it closed twos, disrupting spacing for Joel, which is exactly the opposite of what you need. This isn't the LA Lakers here right like this is We're not gonna just like do the wrong things consistently around Lebron, James and Joel and be like, no, he's not making his teammates better, like I said, he's stealing money, like forty percent from three last year and below thirty percent

from three this year. Why is that is? Because he doesn't get a bunch of open looks because of Ben Simmons. He's not just standing there in the corner when people collapse on Ben going to the rack and like passing out, kicking out, like he's just who's doing that for him? No one, not Tyree Maxey. Tyree Maxey apparently doesn't love Tobias Harris getting he's not getting open looks. The team

defense of this team is atrocious. They are twentieth in the defensive rating and last year they were in number two in defensive rating. Yes, a lot of that has to do with Ben, but you also do have Clamps and matist Saibel, who you know isn't that much. I mean, he's worse, but he's not that much worse to go from second to twentieth. They're dead last in the league in rebounds. They are getting absolutely, they're dead last in the league in rebounds, dead last, dead last. That's below Portland,

that's below Portland. I'm just saying this multiple times. You're your podcast isn't skipping. I'm telling you this for effect. That's disgusting. That's disgusting. You're getting destroyed. And you have Andre Drummond. So I don't know, I don't know. This is why this team is twenty seventh in second second chance points, just behind the Hornets, Kings and Raptors. Like you are allowing teams to feast in second chance points. Putback's galore. Uh, the three point shooting is bad, Like

this is the whole entire game plan for surrounding Joel embiid. Shooters, shooters, shooters. That's the reason the Ben's not working. Shooter shooters. At the moment, the Sixers are twenty seventh in the league in three point attempts thirty one and a half per game. That's not ideal. Fourteenth in percentage at thirty five point one. So too often the Sixers, like I've said, Tobias Harris, like they're just turning down open looks from deep and

then they just take tougher shots for less points. Tell me why that's a good idea. Philadelphia needs to start firing away like their name is the Boston Celtics, like where you shoot fifty of them a game. Like you have shooters, like I just said George nang Let him shoot ten of those joints tonight. Don't act like you don't know who George Nang is. Don't do that. Don't do that. Google him, don't do that. Also, passing the

ball is really not great either. The team is twenty fifth and assists per game n Ia and g Yeah, twenty fifth and assists per game. You've seen him before, which reflects a young point guard who isn't getting and beat the ball. And there's no swing swing swing, it's two man game. Brick or make right Maxi for all his positives averages less than five assists a game. You should probably get five assists just throwing the ball to Joel Embiid in the blocks early in the shot clock.

That's what you need to do, and that's why this team is in the middle of the road. Thirteenth in pace. Scoring is down from last year. They've gone from one hundred and thirteen points per game last year to one hundred and six per game. I know you have nine games without Joel Embiid, However it's not ideal, it's not great. And then, of course the drama surrounding the team with Ben Simmons. We don't need to get into the background of that. We've already done it so many other times

and other people have as well. But what we will look to do is look at the fallout from this. There are two ask questions, two questions that we should be asking now. Should Doc Rivers be on the hot seat and should Darrol Morey be on the hot seat? The Sixers just beat the Nets in Brooklyn without Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers, you can't ask Doc. If you're Doc Rivers and you blew the game as usually as your coach, and they ask you whether Ben Simmons is the is

the point guard on a championship roster? You should say, can I phone a front like I need to ask my g what he thinks? Because I need to ask our ownership group what they think I should say, because or say yes, just lie you lie all the time. These coaches lie every day. It's ingrained in their DNA. When you are on the back end of a disappointing loss to the Atlanta Hawks, which you didn't think was gonna happen, and they ask you these questions, you just

lie because if you want to move him. We've talked about this before. If you want to move someone, you don't decrease their value. If you're, you know, a stockholder of would just say Pfizer. You don't say like, oh, well, COVID's going away. You know, COVID doesn't exist anymore, or you know, if you're that's a bad example. But you know what I'm trying to say, you just can't artificially. It's like Elon Musk consistently says things to bring down Tesla.

I don't know why, but he does. He just does. That's like basically what Doc Rivers did. And this guy Dan Burke who's taking over for Doc when Doc has COVID. When Doc has COVID, he actually calls plays, he calls timeouts, And that was the game that they ended up winning

against Brooklyn. Doc wasn't coaching that game. Folks, Like this is like when very similar to like when Lloyd Pierce, head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, went on paternity leave and the trash ass Atlanta Hawks went on a tear and you're like, hmm, maybe just maybe the roster's better than we think it is, and maybe this coach has got to go, and he did go, and then all of a sudden, the Atlanta Hawks ended up in the

Eastern Conference Finals. The mismanaging of the rotation really is a symptom of the problem plaguing Doc Rivers, which is just he's stubborn and he lacks creativity, and he's resting on one championship largely created by Tom Tippodau just truth, just the truth bomb, and like it comes from it comes out in late in games when he just doesn't draw up place, just doesn't come up with ways to get players and stagger their minutes, and guys like Joel

Embiid are ending up being gassed. And the elephant in the room, of course is Ben Simmons. But rather then to recap the drama, and also Daryl Moury can't be asking for the moon, for Darryl, for everybody, for Ben Simmons, Like you can't be like I want a top top twenty five player and also five draft picks. You are you were delusional and I think, like I said before, if you can't move Ben with Daryl Moury at the Helm, then Daryl Moury shouldn't be at the Helm. Ben. There's

some trade ideas floated around here. They are a lot of These are just a few that are just coming out over the weekend. Philadelphia seventy six ers receive Evan four Cambell Walker, Obi toppin New York Knick's twenty twenty two first round pick unprotected, which is probably gonna be tasty because they are looking not good twenty twenty three

first round pick. Maybe a swap more favorable to Philly New York knicks twenty twenty four first round pick top ten protected or the twenty twenty five first round pick unprotected if they end up getting a top ten pick New York Knicks twenty twenty six first round pick swap. So that's one deal. I don't hate that deal. I don't love that deal either. I don't think they need Kemba Walker Listen four first rounders Fournier net negative, Kemba

Walker net negative, Obie Topping nice young piece. Don't think Evan. I don't think my man Darryl Moorey is gonna go for that one. Here's another deal. Sixers get Carris Lavert

Norm is a three team deal. Sixers get Carris Lavert, Norm, Powell, Larry Nas Junior Pacers get c J. McCollum, Nicer, Little Cody Zeller, Portland's twenty twenty four first round pick, lottery protected twenty twenty second twenty twenty two second round pick from Portland Trailbaz get Ben Simmons, Miles Turner, Danny Green. Do not hate that whatsoever. But with the Sixers in

sixth place currently, let's just be real. They're ceiling's probably fourth ceiling, absolute ceiling, and they're not a real contender. And I think they know that, which means another year wasted of Joel Embiid's prime. And the man has a million injury, million injuries and a history as long as a CBS receipt and like so long, and like truthfully, I ask Spike on this podcast and I was like, Yo,

what do you think is the future? And he goes, if they can't get a real player for Ben, there's a real chance a non zero, and it's actually a likelihood that Joel mb will not be on the team in two years from now. He will be somewhere else.

That is the man who's grown up in Philly with a father, who's been talking about Philly for a fuck load of time, like many many years, tapped into what's happening, and he believes there is a real scenario where Joe l Embiid will not be in Philadelphia, which means that the process starts again, folks, And that means this franchise is at a crossroads. Gotta be tough for Sixers fans. Couldn't happen to a nicer fan base, a more humble

fan base, a sweeter fan base. So yeah, I hate to say it, but there's more Sixers uh pain to come, more Sixers drama to come. This is just the dude, But I couldn't hear at a Wayne first class just a good light, my whole night long look back on my life and my life gone. Where did I go wrong? Where did I go wrong? Where did I go wrong? Speaking of systemic failures, where did we go wrong? And

the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. I don't know that there's anything more exemplary of this issue than my man, Mark hel Foltz. Yeah, do you remember Mark kel Foltz If you're a Sixers fans, for sure, the rest of NBA, especially casual fans, he was a blip in the radar. He was a quick little number one overall consensus piece. Was he consensus because the Boston Celtics didn't think so? And he got lost in the shuffle, which is wild considering number one pick in the twenty twenty seventeen draft.

And that was the guy the key cogged, the piece that the Sixers were waiting for in the process to put it all together this we need a point guard. They can score, they can be the floor general, like a lesser version of Damian Lillard, some taller but just lesser. He could shoot at the time, he could distribute at the time, and he was the man, what do I need Jason Tatum for? They already have a wing, right, they already have wings. They need a point guard. And

that was Mark kel Folds. And that seems pretty insane to say in hindsight, because he entered the NBA with a decent shot and then all of a sudden, maybe it's broke as hell. Maybe it really smells broken jumper. Broken jumper. He went from being able to shoot well, Like if you look at his YouTube film which I did at Washington, you dubbed Huk the Fuskies as an

organ duc fan. That's a non sequitur. But all of a sudden it just busted, just gone, just not being able to shoot at all, like just to push shot. It was like his elbow was broken. And then being the number one pick, it was under a microscope. What's wrong with markkel Fultz? What's happening with the shot? Nobody that I remember has had their jump shot dissected more by people have never played basketball in their life more than markkel Folts. Like, we're all just like, maybe it's

the elbow, Maybe he shoots with the wrong hand. What's going on? Is there something wrong with his shoulder? And there's like hundreds and hundreds of articles about this, and the Sixers are scrambling now. They're hiring coaches and developers and scientists and like algorithms specialists just to fix markel Foltz's jump shot. Yeah, interior designers, literally everyone under the sun who has any bit of creativity to be able to fix him and it was how ugly did it get?

You might ask, well, it got the ugliest. The lowest it got was when he double clutched a free throw in twenty eighteen. It was like, it was like when your your your PlayStation or your Nintendo freezes like and

then it jumps forward again. That was him, and it led to many articles everywhere about like he has broken, broken, broken es be Nation wrote this, mark al Foltz's broken jump shot hitting all time low when he double clutched a free throw that you guessed it didn't go in the way he catapult pullted the ball off of an extended pause, resembled a player who grew eighteen inches overnight and is just figuring out how to play basketball in a new body. And then, of course social media took hold,

caught flame hoops hype. Alex Kennedy reported within minutes of that free throw that trainer Drew Hanlin and Folts were current not on speaking terms, and we're no longer yeah working together. Handling then denied the report, which, let's be honest, was a lie. After the game, then Folts gave his own breakdown of what was happening. Hey, I mean the ball just lies slipped out of my hand, he said, the ball just slipped out of my hand. No, biggie, I just had to do what I had to do

to regather the ball. And I'm not really worried about it. I work on my game. The ball just happened to slip, That's what happened. Yeah, it didn't. It didn't slip. It didn't look like it slipped. Because people were zooming in and rewinding and like keeping it everywhere in sight. You got to see every angle, and you know what sucks that every bit of your shot all of a sudden being critiqued, analyzed, and numerous conspiracy theories developed about how

you went from this yes to that boo. That's what it was, is like, get this guy the fuck out here. The Sixers then, because they're a trash franchise. Truthfully, in many ways, that's the hedge in many ways, got tired of trying to fix them, and as a final gesture of surrender, they shipped them off to Orlando for my man Jonathan Simmons and a bag of chips. And the chips were probably the more valuable part of that trade.

They were salt and vinegar. If you're wondering what kind of chips they traded Jonathan Simmons, Like Jonathan Simmons for the number one player in the draft at age twenty one, that's how old he was. They got rid of him in two years for a guy who's now in China playing for the Shang He looms, sir, sir, you made that trade, sir, And then two things happened since that trade that I personally find fascinating. First of all, as it turns out, Markel Foltz was not as broken as

everyone on the earth thought he was. His first year in Orlando, double clutch free throw guy, same guy shot forty seven percent from the floor, averaging twelve three and five and twenty seven minutes. And at the start of last year, before he got his ACL tear, he led the Magic to a six and two start on thirteen three and five. Shot looked nice again. Then I mention, by the way, sir, he's only twenty three years old. Right now, he's old at this very second, I'm speaking

about it. In twenty twenty two, he is twenty three years old. Is anyone else fascinated about how they discarded him so quickly, like a little piece of trash that you didn't spend anything on. You spent the number one pick on Marco Folts, and you just got rid of him for a guy that's on the shan he loongs, loongs Nobody. To me is a bigger symbol of the Sixers ineptitude than folks, and it has way less to do with him than it does about the Philly brass.

They are terrible decision maker, so they moved up to get him, and they discarded him after thirty three games. He was twenty when they traded him, twenty. He couldn't even when they traded this guy, they made up their mind he's unfixable. And you know how the Sixers fan base be when they decide, When they decide to be patient, they're patient. They weren't even patient with Joe el Embiid.

They're like, why isn't this fucking guy playing? Get this fucking guy out of here, Joe l Embiid, Come on now, an organization that has poor decision making quality to begin with, because it wasn't the right pick, like you should not have picked Markel Foltz. Do your own research. Don't just wait for Bleacher Report to tell you who the number one pick is. You know, sometimes I feel that that's

what's happening these owners. These owners they're they're literally just hanging out drinking OJ with the kids and and they don't know shit, and they're hanging out with the kids, and the kids like, Daddy, are you gonna draft Markel Faults? And it's like who's that? And then they read bleach your poor and then they talk to their scouts and like the GM they're like, I want Faults and they're like, sir, MARKL. Folts,

isn't the I want MARKL. Folts Because my son today on his oculus was telling me about Markel Fulton how good he is, and you don't even know, Like that's the process that we're talking about. So poor decision making, quality ownership that's probably involved way too much a bump or two in the road. You start to question your

own scouting because it wasn't really your scouting. Maybe your training department isn't great because you've got injury after injury after injury, and that's how you end up with Jonathan Simmons who ends up on the Shanghy looms and a bag, a small bag of salt and vinegar chips, Jonathan Simmons put up sixteen points for the Shanghy Looms. You maybe you should should bring him back on a COVID hardship. Listen against the Gualong Tigers. What are we talking about here?

Think about all of this mistakes. There's not just one, there's so many. Come on, come on, Jalio okafor you trade it away. Mical Bridges on draft night and his mom works for the Sixers. This man went to school at Villanova, is from Philly. You draft him and then fifteen minutes later you trade him back to Markel Fults. Apparently it wasn't that Falts's shot was even broken. It's that Falts his entire body was broken, as in, his shoulder was actually broken and they didn't see it. This

is the kind of shit. I have things to say about CG. McCollum, but it'll come out another time. But just know that they didn't diagnose his lung until it was almost too late. These people, it's just tremendous the level of We're in an elite sport here and the things that are happening are not elite, you know what I'm saying? Like feeling the pressure of number one going number one. Mark kel Folts tried to play through a broken scapular a scapular muscle and balance is what they

called it. This is what he said. You know, people just don't know my love for the game. Growing up in the area you grow I grew up in. You have bumps and bruises, and that's where it becomes a business taking care of your body and me being who I am, loving the game so much. I feel like although my shoulder was messed up, I can hit. My shoulder was messed up. I told no one. I told no one when they were clowning me. I didn't even say, hey,

there's something going on on my shoulder. I'm playing through injury. That's the kind of baller he is. This is what he said. I felt like I can contribute to the game and help my team win. So I wanted to go out there and just compete and have fun with the game. Did you have fun, Mark hel Foltz, Was that fun for you? Also? It was my first year, and I think I did a poor job of communicating to my agent and to my family what I was feeling.

And instead of just going out there and trying to compete without expressing what I was feeling, and all I was doing was making it worse. Hell yeah, you were literally every thought. Everybody thought you were just a bum? Now a bum? How long was this injury a problem, you might ask? Turns out pretty much the entire time he was in Philly, literally before he even arrived, actually started. My shoulder started hurting before training camp my rookie year.

But I just thought it was for how much work I was putting in all those shots, me from shooting so much that my shoulder was just sore. Pause, excuse me? Where was the training staff in all of this? Sixers? They had to have known that something was wrong. You saw what his shot looked like. You're watching him like, mmm mm mmm, sim's not right here? Mm mmm. I can see when my co hosts haven't slept one last

hour the night before. If Mark l faults my number one pick was in the gym and I'm watching, I'm like, hey, uh you good cause uh you're a little twist it up right now. But no, they tried to force him to change his shots in a way that put more pressure on his fucking shoulder. Are you kidding me? I've been waiting to do this segment for probably two months now. I'm incensed. Faults concluded. I tried to work through it. I'm in the gym shooting thousands of shots on a broken,

broken shoulder. I'm trying to shoot through it, and the whole time I just made it worse. Is this not heartbreaking? But again, the mindset that I had, I'm just trying to grind. I'm trying to continue to work through these issues, not knowing I'm making it worse. Pause again, training staff, that's your job, not his job, to diagnose and put together a plan of Hey, don't shoot thousands of these shots. Maybe get yourself into a sling. Oh maybe just me again,

I'm just young, being selfish. I guess I would call it in a sense not understanding my body. And I think that was a big part of it. And once again, once I communicated, yeah, Mark, I'll pause. You shouldn't have to say a word. You can see it in his broken fucking jumper, his body. You saw it. He looked, he looked, his shoulder was twisted. Turns out he had thorscic outlet syndrome. Another thing people don't know. Thoracic outlet syndrome is not diagnosed through an MRI or a cat skin.

It's very hard to diagnose, and it's a big part of why in the beginning, he says, I kind of thought nothing was going on, and I just thought with my shoulder because when I got scans and MRIs, they didn't see anything. But I had to just keep going, had to just keep shooting. I went from shooting forty percent in college to coming into the NBA and now

I don't know, becoming a meme, becoming a meme. The final really good news is that Folts is very close to returning from his left knee ACL injury, which is what we would call full circle, a moment for us to then watch them in his glory and make fun of the Sixers once again. Uh. Now that his shoulder is one hundred percent, he's feeling good and he's ready to get back out of the court. This is what he said. I took a big step in this summer.

We were watching film, understanding the game. It's slowing down for me even more. And the latest news is that he should make his season debut sometime in January. This month, he was cleared to practice on December tenth. You're adding Folts to Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs, all of them twenty three years you old or younger, Dinamic. You know who could use a dynamic young playmaker on their roster right now? My man. The Philadelphia seventy sixers could use one.

The Boston Celtics, of course, could use one. But all of this to say that the dysfunction in Philly has been around for so long now, and it's time, baby, increase, increase my volume on this. This is me rubbing my hands together. Time to clean house. Spike Eskin of Ricky of the rights to Ricky Sanchez said on his pod that he thinks and bead might go. Before I pulled that trigger, I would make sure Daryl Moury and Doc

God theirs that they got the click click boom. For those of you deep in the weeds, remember what Jimmy told Nucky on Borderwalk Empire HBO show. You can't be a half of a gangster, and you can't do a half of a rebuild. You're either all in or you're all out. There are no half measures in war, and there are no half measures in basketball, which is why my Portland Trailblazers will continue to suffer. And all of this means will the Philly fans have to trust the

process all over again? We'll have to see the process started in twenty thirteen and being on life support the previous two years, sank to the bottom of the deep blue sea in Game seven of the Hawks last year when Ben Pott passed up and open dunk, choking on his meat. And guess what. The team is exactly where it was in twenty twelve when the process first began, a massively disappointing second round exit. All of that tanking, all those high draft picks, that money spent time is

a flat circle, never getting beyond the second round. The process, folks, is dead. I have to say, long live though the sequel process Dua duo too and Dose Dua lipa Yes. Sequel begins in twenty twenty two, and the big question is who on the Sixers team will be around when it's over. I'm betting no one unless the entire culture change is implemented. Remember this team has really really bad culture. That's all the time that we have for the heat check.

We'll be back Friday morning, early squirrely with a new episode. Do not forget to download, subscribe, Tell all your friends you can say things mean in the comments. I don't really care. Just engage. Just build up that algorithm, baby, every damn one of those comments. Just get in there and forget. Do not forget. To follow us on social ad, at this heat check, and at trist Creek on TikTok see writing word