Should Joel Embiid return this season? What the current state of the Sixers? Can they beat Miami?

Should Joel Embiid return this season? What the current state of the Sixers? Can they beat Miami?

Mitch Joel and be practice today that’s good news great news for the Sixers you are locked on 76ers your daily Philadelphia 76ers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks for making locked on 76ers your first listen every day we are free and

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Terms and conditions apply hello y’all I’m Keith Pompei I’m one of the co-hosts of locked on 76ers I’m right here next to my rightand man John Mitchell the other co-host and we got a lot to talk to y’all about first we want to talk about Joel and be and I said today he

Actually returned to practice on Sunday he practiced with the Sixers on Sunday now he didn’t do they didn’t do contract contact drills but to be honest with you you know it’s like they played yesterday they got a game or they played on Saturday they have a game on Monday

Today so it’s one of those things where you know you you don’t know what you expect them to really do out there right but the thing is they put in some PL for him so we’re going to talk about that secondly we want to talk about the state of the 76ers

Because the roster done turned over twice it seems like and the Sixers been struggling mightily since embiid left and then the third thing we gonna talk about is Monday night’s game against the Miami Heat the heat are in seventh place the Sixers are in eighth place the heat if they win this game

They’ll have the tiebreaker so it might be a little sketchy you know if these two teams finish with the same record so we got a lot to talk about but Mitch your boy Jan be was at practice today campaign was like yo it was great

Because we put in 14 plays that they had to work on practice with um he said it was great to have him out there with the presents and everything now the thing is I was talking to people yesterday and I was saying like you know I don’t know

Man this things don’t really look good they like nah man Joel’s coming back Joel’s coming back Joel’s coming back and my question is like yeah it’s good and you know they’re saying the first or second week in April but he’s already practicing with the team yeah so it look like it could

Be sooner than that but my thing is is it a wise move to bring him back yeah that’s G that’s always going to be the uh million-dollar question you know um and I’ve kind of I’ve going back and forth with this uh you know is it wise but you know

He’s gonna be playing in the Olympics this summer but the way the team has been playing you know they’ve got what eight wins in the last 25 games um just a lot of different pieces a lot of moving parts when he comes back what’s what kind of conditions you going to be

In and and how you know the one thing the one thing you don’t want to do is Lord knows Philadelphia has seen this enough you don’t want to bring him back too soon you know you want to make sure and if he’s out if he’s out on the floor

And he’s um he’s playing but you know there there’s no contact involved that’s a good thing you know you take it for what it is on you know on today um March Madness is about kick off and maybe the Sixers can get you know April surprise

And have you know guy who was the best player unquestionably the best player in the league before the unfortunate miniscus tear so um you know is it wise for him to come back you know I’m I’m I’m it’s it seems like We’ll be asking that question I me just turned 30 now

And we’ve been asking this question ever since he showed up you know they’ve changed practice facilities since he’s been there they’ve made petitions for a new l for for a new stadium since he’s been there um you know I I say you know at first I was you know I was like let’s

Just save him till next season but you know what that’s what their doctors have paid for to tell you is he ready to go and if he’s ready to go man because this has been a miserable stretch you know it’s just been it’s been hard to watch

It’s just been a mic stretch of basketball you know they started the season off and they were you know the story lost the season opener W eight straight um but ever since then you know they’ve been picking with you know moving here changing pieces there um but if you if you bring him

Back you you damn sure better make sure he’s ready to go you know that there is no threat there’s no possibility of reinjury because if if if if I mean just that’s a nightmare scenario if he’s not healed all the way just I me just imagine how many people would check out

Of this on this team you know say you know what that’s enough is enough yeah I mean I mean yeah probably yeah they will and I mean I think that the biggest thing is for him is just maybe getting back in condition and and that could be it because I I’ll be honest

With you I looked at him yesterday um you know and he he looked good or or two days ago like I mean he looked good at the uh Arena like you know he you know he looked like he looked good you know it was one of those concerns when he’s

Typically off he gains so much weight but again maybe it was the clothes he had on whatever you know I didn’t see it but he didn’t look like a huge guy to me you know what I mean he just didn’t so you know I I don’t know like I the

Thing is the the thing with this team is this is you got to ask yourself is it just worth it you know like you said the city is going to be up in arms a lot of people going be upset um but I guess he has the pride thing and then also you

May ask yourself like you talk about it and I don’t want to be repetitive but the Olympics thing is real the thing Philly like we all say this let’s keep it real there are gonna be certain people that say look his team was out there struggling he didn’t come back and

Play but then he went there and was like beasting everybody in the Olympics and they won a gold medal right about the city of Philadelphia right but then at the same time you would think there would be certain people to say his knee has been banged

Up all year and even before he toured at miniscus right right he had an injury before and who knows he could have probably been playing on the tour miniscus the whole time right so and then this is the same injury that that he suffered in during the 2016 17 season

Right so when you bring all that in you’re all right like it might be best to just shut it all down but again if you shut it all down and you go out there and you win Olympic gold medal then there’s going to be certain people saying look man the city of Philadelphia

The the Philadelphia 76ers are the ones paying your max salary contract your super max salary contract right so where is your loyalty to winning the gold medal or is it to the fan base is it to the organization so when you factor all that stuff in it is a tough decision to

Make um and then also you you know I don’t know it’s just it’s tough but you are right if it goes wrong it’s gonna look go bad it’s gonna be horrible horrible and you know what I say Keith two things can be right at the same

Times um if he’s not ready to come back during a regular season I I kind of I kind of get the feeling that if he if he is ready to come back the team will set him out there you you know but uh but that’s only if there’re and this

Is the great unknown you know there’s no it’s not known whether or not he will injure that reinjure that knee um the team has to protect its interest now because I mean like most people we’re looking let’s be hon if you’re if you’re a 76ers fan you’ve been following this

Team you’re really looking forward to now you’d like to see him come back this year that would be wonderful if he came back um but the reality of it is you know with all this flexibility in in in in in uh the cap space that they have

The ability to do deals um and and the the ability to come back with a better team uh the 24 25 season is real so um I think you got to take your motion out of it I think you gotta say look you know if if he wins an Olympic gold medal with

Hell the United States usually wins the Olympic gold medal anyway you know um you know you just got to take that whole Rocky bboa with Philadelphia fighting no one likes us we don’t care you got you got to step aside with that and just say

Um you know welcome the next year but if he if if he can come back and he can play without injury um I say get him out there you know uh it’s because it’s it’s been that kind of a season for the for the fans you know the fans of the city

Have been extraordinarily loyal to the 76ers and they if he can come back you know people will understand he’s playing on an an inur miniscus so so right now let’s let’s talk a little bit more about LinkedIn when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals

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Channel locked on sports today Baseball fans mark your calendars from March 20th at 700 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for the best MLB season preview coming exclusively to locked on sports today on March 20th at 7 pm Eastern Standard Time be the first to get local Insight from

MLB local Experts of the locked on podcast Network find it on March 20th at 7 pm Eastern Standard Time on the locked on sports today 247 streaming Channel on YouTube with a free Amazon Fire TV channels app do that on March 20th yeah you know what Mitch we talked

About it a little bit we alluded to it and and you know it’s it’s kind of hard not to talk about it when you talk about Jo L andb but what I want to talk to you about is the state of the 76ers right I mean from the beginning of the Season

You knew that there was going to be some drama you knew that this season was going to be crazy and what I mean by that is like think about go back in August James Haren called Daryl Mor a liar he said play for him organization

He’s a part of he doubled down on it James Harton did not show up from training camp right so that was uh well excuse me media day he’s a late uh he shows up late for training C he does not practice with the team they said he was

Out there doing stuff but he was doing like you know he was like doing skeleton like he wasn’t really working out with them right right like he was he was good in the gym good dude but he wasn’t doing nothing yeah then so then all of a

Sudden he wants to try to make it on the plane he wants to try to make it on the plane they’re like nope you ain’t making it on the plane the next thing you know he gets traded to the Clippers well then you’re like looking at these dudes like

Yo who are they these are guys that ain’t even on the team like even in the rotation like you know this and that the clippers but then all of a sudden they start rolling they start better right yeah so out the gate out the gate the

Gate yeah so they do all that and then all of a sudden it’s like they make the trade Joelle gets hurt they make the trade and the team got worse so once the team got worse you say to yourself like what the heck is going on yeah like

You know and the people get mad and Joel may come back you know he’ll come back he’s gonna come back but at the same time you look at it you saying yourself like dude this team looks closer to the team that was tanking years ago than the team that was

Winning 50 50 games a year yeah yeah where I push back and record wise yeah well actually not record wise that was just a horrible year and there was no Tyrese Maxi but the results have been the same you know they’ve um I mean they’ve literally rolled their Ro their

Roster twice during the Reg regular season you know um and uh I think I don’t be I don’t think they regret making some of the moves they made because you know at the start the season Tyreese did come on Tyrese came on like Gang Busters um you know and you get a

Chance to look at buddy Hill and you say that he may um you know that he may be a player they they may want to bring back next season and you know with with well out there he’ll be able to find his range easier on the jump I mean

Everything will come easier if he’s part of the scenario next season but you know for them to be in the stretch that they’re in you know I mean you make a good point they just don’t have they they had they had trash drama when they had James

Harden you know going to you know going overseas and saying you know I’ll never play for darl Moy team and darl mo is a liar and it just like okay dude you know you just shut up and play man you made about $250 million in your career I here

You stop your wiing you know um and then they moved on from him and the Clippers struggled with him and now they we see where they are now but yeah it was um yeah there it’s it’s it’s square one it’s square one and now you know you’re you’re waiting and you’re in desperation

You’re you’re more desperate because you’re hoping that come April Joel em be will come back and in your mind you’re praying that he looks something like the player who was you know I mean for the first time since Wilt averaging more points per game than he was minutes

Played the game um so so that’s where we are and and I I understand the frustration of 76ers fan because it’s frustrating watching I’m sure it it’s frustrating you to cover it you know to know what once was um to see that they got they they they they went from a just

A ghetto fabulous Squad if I can say that you know all sorts of drama they um and you know then they started lo and behold eight and one out the gate you know after that loss in M against Milwaukee they came out and they started running

People um made you know and then they you know made trades again and Joel got hurt and now they were they’re where they are now so um you know I I I just don’t know that things are any better they will um you know can it get any

Better um and and again with their hopes are so are so tied more so than any player um but you know what I will say about the 76ers you know we we talk about what they’ve lost but I mean you take take the Joker off of off of Denver

Now I think they still have better Personnel than 76 but they’re gonna struggle you know take Yiannis off of the Bucks they’re gonna struggle man you take one of those Mega players off of that for anybody’s roster I mean you go you’re going to struggle you know take

Tatum off of Boston you’re going to struggle so nobody has had to deal with that to the degree that the 76ers had um so you know Philadelphia loves a comeback story they love the Nick F story you know so I’m not saying this is going to be you know that type of a

Comeback like the eagles in 2018 2017 but you know Joel comes back and I mean he he stunned people with the way he was playing throughout the season um and like you said you know I saw I saw those images of him um you saw him in the

Flesh and he doesn’t look like he’s gay that I mean he had on baggy clothes but he looks there’s no weight in his face there’s no extra weight in his face from what I can tell um so you know again fingers crossed toes crossed ankles crossed all these things hoping that um

You know they can pull out this terrible slide they in because they are back they are back where they were at the start of the season I mean it worst than where they were at the start of the season I mean here’s the deal dude this is the

Thing that I the thing that stands out to me so we look at this team and what you got is you got a lot of guys with expiring contracts you traded dudes with expiring contracts for other dudes with expiring contracts to me it just looks

Like you know the focus is to get guys and evaluate them to see if there’s somebody that maybe you might want to bring back next year that be buddy Hill to cuded right I’m serious but here’s the thing the Sixers need a center now they but they riding with these two guys

Right now they were unable to trade for Drummond they tried to get them but they couldn’t get him so then here’s the deal you got Kai Jones right you go get this guy but here’s the deal now you know he pulled his hamstring right you got a

Hamstring string so he’s he’s on the Shelf but the thing is they gave him a 10day to be on the G League team seriously yeah so they got him for the g- league team so that’s a try out so me and and I’m not knocking them but my

Thing is if you really trying to win and you trying to do stuff this dude ain’t play all year but what you’re doing is you’re just bringing guys in to evaluate them right about so me it’s like are you really trying to win or are you saying

You’re trying to win but they got to C trying to win right yeah you got to yeah but but you got to but you look at it like and I like campaign I do like campaign the good dude this and that but you want out to get him to be your third

Guard you know Pat de and them providing toughness yeah Lowry yeah you bring him home he’s a real point guard right his shot is is struggling a little bit but he can running offense they nobody else on the team could run one quite like he

Can right but you ask your s you asked yourself was they were one of the deepest teams in the NBA are they still that way not without I’m telling you what I always say without see here’s something else people forget without MB and Maxi and and and your boy Nico baton

They almost beat the Boston Celtics and Boston right right but we but we know that how many wins they have with with maxi and and B just one without without them yeah I don’t think they won I mean like I don’t think they got one at all so

Yeah you know when you take them guys off the rock like like I I keep saying everybody’s got they got one they beat the Knicks they beat the Knicks and that hor one those horrible games one those yeah that was a horrible game that was a

7972 game yeah yeah yeah that was that was one one to set basketball back into the stone ages but listen let me talk you about Stitch fix you know that instant confidence boost you get from an outfit that makes you look really good that’s what I get with Stitch fix with

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A point believe it or not I remember when I was in like the 10th grade then kids start wearing like tracksuits you know I mean I forget that then all of a sudden now you I mean you might see a couple of those kids in suit but nah

Anym more like I saw a dude rocking Tims one day I like on Easter the world has changed press old here I’m like okay all right all right go ahead with that but look here’s tonight the 76ers play the Miami Heat both games got a 30 both

Teams have a 37 and 30 record right it’s crazy do you know this is going to be the third game this season that they played the Heat and none of embiid has yet has played will not play in any of them so he when he comes back he’ll

He’ll go to Miami for that one but it’s weird because Miami is a team that last year or you know they or yeah last year it was like yo we just trying to get to the playin round got the eighth seed and ended up going all the way to the

Championship yeah so you know what I mean you look at it that way but this is at practice yesterday of course they said everything is well it’s not about this game we got a lot of games we don’t pay attention to it you know D going well they paying attention to this

Because the thing is it’s like they they lost a lot of tie Breakers with teams yeah and I think that this is one that they really want to get you know I mean you know I mean they say that you know I think sometimes as players they they

They play these 82 games and they start regurgitating some of the same stuff some of the same stuff you’re hearing in uh March is some of the stuff you heard in you know February or January yeah we just got to go out there but this is a

Crucial game for them man I mean I think it’s I think it’s professional malpractice for any player on a 76ers roster to go out there and not say hey man look what look at the standings look at the slide you know and and beyond that you know if you need something

Because I’m gonna use your favorite word Keith they can’t really go out to a bunch of games on the west coast and you know you could be you could be here saying boat race boat race all next week you know describing this basketball squad so and another thing we know about

Miami is you know my Miami is just by Nature the players on their roster and the culture is tougher than the 76 is culture it just is that’s just the way it is so you know they’re GNA come here and you know say what you will about the

Heat it’s like they never give up you know like you said they did they’re in the playing tournament and next thing you know they’re beating Boston you know when they’re going to the finals and that’s just the culture of the um of the Miami Heat and you you I have a strong

Feeling man you’re going to see that tomorrow you know you they’re not going to come in here is they’re desperate and they know that if they you know you know their mindset is can we break these guys you know well you know why they always say stuff like that right they when the

Coach will say and it is malpractice but the reason why they say that is is because and Doc Rivers was the master of this now Brett Brown will come out and say nah we need to win this one so the deal is you don’t say it’s a must-win game

Because what happens if you lose and then people like yo yeah yeah is the sky falling right nah it ain’t falling but you just said it was a must win you know what I mean so they try to make it seem like nah all of them add up nah they

Don’t all add up not at this point particular point of season when we talking about tie Breakers and stuff like that but that’s the reason why they they they try to get away with that you know what I mean but but they know because then afterwards when if they win

They were like yeah we really had to get this one we really had yes it’s all unfortunately man it’s all about formulating a narrative you know but why not why not go out there and and and challenge yourself you know I’m not talking you know like you know somebody

Say you know this isn’t like saying we wion a championship this year we’re going to come back and win it again next year this is just like hey man you know the majority of our upcoming games are against teams Bound for the playoffs they’re on the west coast I mean hell

When they come back off of that West Coast sh they got the Clippers you know so I mean you know whatever they say and and and they do like to create narrative in the NBA this game is a must-win for the Philadelphia 76ers um I mean let’s they almost appear

To be locked into the playing tournament you know they almost because I don’t I don’t anticipate them climing out climbing out of the hole there in um you know we saw a football team in the city limp into the playoffs um and look disoriented and disheveled like they

Didn’t know like they had never played alongside each other and the 76ers will be getting their best player back so they got a punch his chance but um you know this is a must win for them you know just just like that Knicks we talked about that Knicks game last week

They beat the Knicks um and they were obviously the Knicks were short-handed next game you know OG came back and they were loaded for bear but that was another must-win you know it was two games in the garden it were must wins for them and they got one of them but

They showed up and and took the game back to the stone ages twice and the Knicks took him seriously in that second game and you know there you have it yeah I agree with you 100% I mean that’s that’s yeah they got to get this they I mean and all that and

You know we’ll see I mean we’ll we’ll definitely see what they’ll do but um you know because like the one thing that you eluded I mean you said not alluded to you said it like afterwards it’s going to get tough now the thing is when you look at these teams records their

Records are all the same around the same like the Lakers and and all that of course the Clippers are better but but when you look at their talent level they have more talent and the still trying to figure stuff out see part of the problem is you got you know

The Anthony Melton still out you got I mean we talked about CV before um you know Tobias is struggling you know Maxi against the great teams and I love Maxi but against the great teams because no one else is stepping up they’re blitzing him and then getting forc him to get rid

Of the ball but if you ain’t making shots then him blitzing get being blitzed ain’t really helping the Sixers at all because it’s taking the ball out of his hands and if you notice they’ve been struggling a lot towards the stretch so those are things that

Happened but look y’all I want to thank y’all for listening right I want y’all to know that lock on has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it’s also a available on Amazon Fire TV and a free Fire TV channel app locked on sports

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Locked on 76ers cohosts Keith Pompey and John Mitchell ponder if Joel Embiid should return this season. The reigning MVP returned to practice on Sunday for the first time since suffering a knee injury in January. The duo also discusses the current state of the Sixers. And they preview Monday night’s much-anticipated game against the Miami Heat. Both teams are 37-30. A victory would give the Heat the head-to-head tiebreaker if the teams finish the season with the same record.Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
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