Breaking Down the 76ers Offseason & Joel Embiid’s Side Eye interaction with Paul George | Group Chat

Breaking Down the 76ers Offseason & Joel Embiid’s Side Eye interaction with Paul George | Group Chat

[Music] [Music] all right so before finals game 4 we had a little bit of a situation we did breaking out on on the ESPN Booth one Jo and God happened to show up next to Paul George next to Michael wilbon next to Malika Andrews next to Stephen A Smith and someone else was was also there I think it was perk uh so one really funny just just to have him there he did this for what the Premier League I think and then just decided to do it again no he did he showed up to Champions League that’s right that’s right uh two I think this is funny just because of all the free agency related stuff with Paul George and we can get into that but three the best part about this all is the story that Tim bontemps told on the hoop Collective podcast the other day that he was actually the conduit to get embiid yes on the D can I can I share some backstory about Tim bont’s story I love this back story to the back story so I’m waiting for the media elevator like get up to my seat and I I scan down the hall I’m like wow jool and be’s here that’s so weird like she just kind of snuck in through like the back part of the building and then I see bontemp cidal in yeah and I’m like okay this is this is interesting you know a little chatter about fre agency they absolutely have a rapport like Bon has done a great job like covering the Sixers like man that’s that’s so funny and so to hear all of these things come together and that that you know I witnessed a moment in NBA tampering history of of setting up Joel embiid to go on the show to shoot the side eye scene round the world at Paul George what a moment so your back story is that you saw two people talking that’s all I got I like you sell it well but later in context it was like oh that actually was something that actually was that was you know a brokering of a Kind come on come on the show I so one it was so it was such a crazy conversation and between M be and and Stephen A and the panel because it obviously wasn’t planned Joel didn’t have prepared remarks he was just like I’m watching this team hoop I’m like if we’re healthy I feel like we could beat these guys and he said I hate Boston which I appreciate it I was like I like to hear players talk that way but my favorite part is Paul George did not Noti this was going to happen and he was very sheepishly just sinking into his seat like yo this is freaking crazy right now yes that I love that it was like a real human Moment On TV captured live that was dope it was it was a crash course for if they’re going to be teammates because Joelle is going to put everyone around him into uncomfortable positions including saying hopefully this offseason we find a way to get better and then literally side eyeing him that’s what I’m going to do to Kyle man at the live show hey man that that was that was really compelling television um I love just the idea that Stephen A was like yo man like you know you should be angry about not being here and all of that and Joel was like look I’m a competitive guy like I feel like we’re that one step closer we’re going to get one step closer this off season like that was just dope to just witness that but yeah Paul George just an absolute like wow I can’t believe this is happening although I’m sure his agent was like this is fantastic my God it also felt like a flashback moment to uh when magic was on Kimmel weirdly enough talking about Paul George and what would happen if he ran into him in the offseason and would he tried to then recruit him to the Lakers and did the like I wouldn’t say come to the Lakers but I’m going to do like the wink wink exaggerated like please please come sign with us all we needed in that moment apparently was Paul George sitting on the couch next to him in the way that he was on the set with Joel embiid it it’s great NBA like you you can’t script this I was I was actually at the game where magic quit his job at Staples I was actually there and that was probably in my career the most surreal moment where people like yo magic just called an impromptu press conference which he just held in the hallway he didn’t commission a room or nothing like that he was just like yo I got something to say then he you know that famous all the memes came out of that um the I’m not going to be here um that like it it just fantastic and like this reminded me of that it’s just I love this because this is this is the first moment of the offseason I feel like we’re getting and this was an appropriate one the offseason has officially begun I think so just it’s like let’s go off season I also think like this is the situation you got to watch not only Paul George because before this even happened there are rumors like oh they’re farther apart with the Clippers we’ll see about that that seems pretty planted but I can’t remember people plant stories in the Press I’ve never seen that I can’t remember a time in which a superstar in his prime had as much opportunity to completely blank slate your roster and build a new one in the way that the Sixers have this off season and now as two senior writers in front of me you know how anxiety inducing a blank page with the cursor is tell me about a brother there are clearly a lot of stuff that needs to happen because they need to get this right um but I can’t remember like pretty much big three heat was the only thing I could think close to this where like they can put a whole new team together we could talk about like who should be there but Paul George I got to say would look pretty damn good in Philly next to him in Maxi I would be very intrigued by that um and I also say like the points embid made about the Celtics in like the CBA like potentially like limiting their their pathway here thought they were pretty Salient and also correct he’s right like Jo’s Ted talk about the C they can’t AFF to pay Five Guys $40 million like at a certain point like Derek White’s going to be like all right Drew holidays getting 35 a year this off season I mean that was the report from o that he might be eyeing an extension already like you know what you sound like right now was bit of an a look look look look if the Celtics actually do that then more power to them right if they say damn it I don’t care um we’re kind of deep enough right now where we don’t need add-ons we can just do draft picks and whatever veterans minimum ring Chaser types like if they decide that they don’t need the flexibility of mid the full midlevel etc etc then they could do that it just seems like the owners put this in specifically so that none of them do yeah like that’s what it feels like to me so you know he he made some some great points and I I just to get back on the Sixers I don’t want to I’ve soured on Daryl mury I just think his like overexposure in the media has like you know kind of ran me like ragged however he does have an earned reputation being one of the most prepared in terms of like different scenarios and contingencies like I’m sure this dude has a myriad of possibilities that he’s planned for and I just can’t wait to see how this thing actually shakes out I think that’s why you see so many different rumors involved the Sixers it’s not just Paul George it’s connections to Jimmy Butler a player who Daryl M tried to acquire to put with James Harden and Chris Paul in Houston Once Upon a Time It’s you know some noise about LeBron and even though that was out in brand Four Seasons it’s fine we’re going to leave that entirely in a separate compartment but like they’re in a position to make those sorts of interesting pitches to say like come play with not only Joelle embiid but tyres Maxi to have this Blank Slate situation and in a lot of ways this is the flip side of not making deadline move that the Sixers could have like they could have made themselves meaningfully better this season and maybe they should have given the fact that Joel did come back didn’t look entirely himself didn’t look great at the end of some of those games but did come back maybe things could have been totally different for Philly if they had made a swing for a significant player at the deadline but when you don’t do that you get to play the blank slate and you get to make these gestures to Paul George and you get to explore all of these contingencies that you have mapped out and that’s that’s a pretty exciting place to be yeah I think they have to feel pretty good that the opportunity cost wasn’t all that much at the deadline cuz you look at the guys who ended up moving it was cakam not a great fit right for them yeah not the best fit no and then ogan anobi would have been great excellent fit but still still could be an excellent fit we should say technically uh but obviously injured and he has been injured throughout his throughout run especially most recently Harden couldn’t you know you let them go no so like there really wasn’t anyone that probably swung things so much for them now but they have a world of opportunity who that might be is obviously a big honking question if it’s not George it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be dominan Mitchell he seems like he’s destined to stay in Cleveland so who is it I don’t know but I do think Mor’s bet tends to be on that something will happen that stars will get disgruntled that situations will blow up and so they’ll probably find someone Brandon Ingram another guy we should probably talk about so they options Paul George again he keeps coming up cuz he’s a free agent but also the summer that he moved to the Clippers he was not on everybody’s board as this guy that’s destined to move that summer it was out of nowhere it was just like yo Kawhi Leonard signs with the Clippers and they trade for Paul George so like there might be somebody on the Block who we’re not even anticipating right now as being such and so that’s you know that’s why got fans get really excited about the offseason cuz there are all of these possibilities to reshape and reimagine your roster and if anything I think the shape of these Eastern Conference playoffs suit the Sixers very well right Boston is going to be here apron or not going to be a very successful and probably pretty dominant team for a good stretch here if they if they choose to kind of keep all these guys together other than that there’s been a string of injuries but also a string of kind of exposures as far as some of these other teams vulnerabilities and there’s no one else you look at I would say maybe the Knicks are the one exception to this is saying okay that’s a pretty complete 80 Nick fans yelling at me just now a fair a fair caveat given the fact that they were so hurt but Milwaukee has a ton to figure out Indiana has a fair bit of growing up to do there’s nobody if you’re the Sixers who you look around and say like that team is definitively better than us in terms of getting at least to the Conference Finals yeah unless you think that Klay Thompson will put the young Orlando Magic over the top I I do not yeah I don’t either

Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and Rob Mahoney discuss what the Philadelphia 76ers could do to build around Joel Embiid this offseason and whether there was anything to Embiid’s interaction with Paul George on the broadcast of the NBA Finals during game 4 of the Finals.

Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons

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