Wemby and Lakers struggle, Latest on Harden situation in Philly

eighty three win over the Spurs. There were seven Clippers in double figures, but John first. The attention is and has been and will continue to be on Victor Wembinyama, who comes away from this game with eleven points. He's four or ten from the field, h fifty percent from

the three throw line, taking six trips. From your perspective, your vantage point, seeing him up close and personal in live, what did you what did you take away from the performers last night of wembe and just how he continues to progress here in the very young young part of his NBA career.

winning by forty. But if you you know, never saw him before, first of all, you say, oh, wow, he's tall. That's first thing of course you're going to say, is this is the guy who everyone hyped, you know, so and again you had to really keep everything about wemben Yama in perspective. Number one, he's only nineteen years old, and then number two, he still hasn't filled out his body. Now that really was a factor. It's the Clippers because

right away Robert Covington on him. They tried to get really physical with him as much as the rules would allow. You know, you had a lot of help Kawhi, Leonard, Nick Patoom, his countrymen from Fronts jumped in there as well and gave him a couple elbows. So I think the Clippers were probably sending him a message about what the NBA life is really going to be like from

here for the next seventy nine or so games. And you know when be Yama knew this coming in and nothing's going to happen overnight with his body, obviously, that's going to take some time. But he did show flashes. You know, he made a couple of nice moves. Russell Westbrook really jumped as high as Russell Westbrook can jump now and tried to block that shot. He didn't get it, but you could see the look on Russell's face that he blew an opportunity because players are going to be

taking their shots against him. They want to dunk on him, they want to make him look bad, they want to get their highlight against him. But the good thing about this kid, women, y'am, and it keeps impressing me to this day, Sarah. He is so mature. Nothing rattles him. He could have a bad game, a bad moment, whatever, he stays even keeled. You have to like that about them. Greg pop Fitch talked a lot about that about him, saying, this kid has been a professional for a few years.

He's already seen it all, just in terms of the hype and everything his parents have done. A good job, and Poppa says, I better not screw this kid up, because this kid came to me, you know, pretty much already made from a maturity standpoint. Now his body just has to mature. I think he's going to look he's going to be a typical rookie. He's going to have

some ups and some downs. But I think his ups are going to just give you that impression that while he really is going to be the real deal, he's already a very advanced offensively as he could be in a running from both the Rookie of the Year award and the Defensive Player of the Year award. I don't think that's an outrageous statement to make after three games.

There certainly will be with any rookie ups and downs, but how it is that the complementary players around him are able to contribute on a night by night basis to free things up for him as well, and even like a true point guard or a point guard that understands how do you organize and best run the offense

facilitate for him. I think there's a lot of aspects with this, and with the attention to your point that it is going to be fluid, But over all, the fact that you've got a mature young player and an individual like him who understands that and has a disposition to handle this at the professional level, I think is something where the optimism and the hope for what he will become will continue. The flip side of things, Sean, you got to see this Clippers team, and I think

they've always been this on paper. What will they look like with their health with if they're healthy, when they have potentially players available, and it showed between Kawhi, Paul George, what Russ looked like. You got some contributions off the bench from Bones Highland, Norm Powell. What did you see with the Clippers in terms of their aspirations to be titled contenders this season.

is the first big test for the Clippers. Are they going to have a full line up on the floor for forty eight hour forty eight hours back to back games. So then we'll see this team, which is sort of like the poster child for the player participation participation policy, how the Clipper is going to respond. As far as on the court, I think they they played pretty well. I mean, look, they didn't look really great in their loss, but their first their two wins have been relatively easy. Uh.

You know, Kawhi looks good. You know, Paul Jeorges looks good in Spurts, Russell Westbrook looks good, the you know, the supporting cat looks good as the team shout town the lane. I really want to see how they play against the Lakers. I really want to see how they play once they really get on the road and have a string of games. But I would probably say, so far, so good. I just keep going back to the health with this team, and you know, Paul George and Kawi

lernd this. I think we got year four together. You know, are they going to be there in April, in May, and maybe if they make it that far in June. You know, let's really judge them. They judge them then, because we really haven't been able to judge the Clippers accurately since that time. One guy's been out, both guys have been been out, and it really hurt this team at the end. So let's see them over like a couple months, you know, wish them good health. I think

they'll play very well. I don't know if they're among the elite of the elite. But that will tell us a lot about this team and where it might be headed.

he was really special in overtime. Lebron James and another masterpiece twenty seven to fifteen and eight seventeen for Dangelo Russell, twenty for Torrian Prints. A lot of big numbers as you can see with that game and with let's first start with the Sacramento Kings, a team that was bounced in seven games in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. They come back with a lot of their core pieces, but Deer and Fox is the showcase of

that one. How do you see this Sacramento team really stacking up against some of the best here in the Western Conference.

Last year? You know, they had a great year, not taking taking nothing from them, but you know, the Lakers weren't completely healthy, the Clippers weren't completely healthy. You know, when those teams had been better than Sacramento last year, had they been healthy, probably whatever, we could play that game every year. So and I'm not going to, you know, shortchange the Sacramento Kings. Mike Brown has done a great job.

Some bonus Darren Fox were All Stars last year. Malik Monk was terrific off the bench, and I think that's the way it's going to shape up so far this year. Fox, what an incredible game. This guy just proved last year how good he is in the clutch and then you know, against the Lakers, he basically shows out player on the floor. With that he shares with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Bots oh Man, quick, Sid Drible got it to go off.

young cores. We're growing and we just happen next take the next step, and suddenly whenever teams see us on the calendar, they're not circling it anymore, saying we don't have to play our starters against him, or we can wrest some guys against them. No, we have to play hard against the Sacramento Kings. As far as the Lakers look, Ron, it's mostly positive signs of Lebron James and Anthony Davis. I would probably say that there's red flashing signs with

you know, like Austin Reeves, Gabe Benson, Rory Hatchamura. I mean, these were the guys who got contract extensions last year or signed in free agency, and we haven't really seen that much from them. You know, Austin Reeves has played on Team USA. You know, that's a long summer, you know for him, and you know, look it's a short sample size. You know, he could come out and have a fantastic game, you know, next next night out, but he's it's been slow for him, it's been slow for

the supporting cast. And because of that, you know, the other night, Lebron James had to play the entire fourth quarter of a game and they had to win against the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers don't want to put him in that position. That's why they want to manage.

James Harden. He was in the building. He did not play last night for the seventy six Ers, but he was in the building. We will get to that right after the brand Welcome back to NBA Pulse. Sarahkustak joined by Sean Powell. And Sean, We've we've been discussing the Western Conference, but in the Eastern conferen friends, I think there's some clear delineation of who a lot of us expect to be up towards the top with the Milwaukee Bucks, with the Boston Celtics, but the Philadelphia seventy six Ers

are a team. Continue to keep your eyes on in the ceiling for them, it is so high, but there are a lot of X factors, one of those being James Harden. So Philadelphia comes away last night with a one twenty six to ninety eight win over the Portland Trailblazers. Joel embiid another monster game thirty five points, fifteen rebounds, seven assists, as for Tyres Maaxy as well with twenty six points.

over any other emotion. The love of the game. This is why you're hear it to play basketball. So when you when you come back and you play basketball, things tend to take care of themselves. But you got to play basketball first. And you know, how is Joel and be feeling about this? You know, this is your guy, this is your team. This is a guy you wanted to be aligned next to. The guy that helped you lead the NBA and assists last year, the guy you helped get the MVP Award. This is a team that

needs you, you know, to try to the throne. The Milwaukee Bucks, spots of Celtics, Miami Heat, whoever else is going to be your main contender in the East. And again that's just me. James Harden is wired differently. I think we know this, Sarah. I don't know if he's going to continue holding this grudge, but he was in a building, he was on the bench. But until James Harden seems something played, the storyline is always going to be James Harden. And how long this is going to keep up?

for a title. And so that's where when you've watched how they come out in the early part of the season, how they've played, the growth of Tyres Maxie, a lot of factors that you wonder what it could look like if they do get a James Harden similar to who they saw last season leading the league in in you know,

and assists. But overall, I think to your point that there's a lot to figure out, and a lot of it does rest on what James ultimately decides and what his ultimate goal is out of this and how he is playing this situation, and also what the seventy six ers are are willing to do or concede. So something that we will continue to keep our eyes on, as we do always shone with with the rest of the league and across the league. We appreciate your time, safe

travels to you. I know we're going to be talking with you soon. Michael c. Wright will be joining us with some early early MVP conversation this Friday, but we will be talking to very soon.