Perk warns the Celtics to watch out for the 76ers in the East 👀 | First Take

Perk warns the Celtics to watch out for the 76ers in the East 👀 | First Take

which team you think biggest threat to the Celtics in the East is it the Knicks is it the Sixers you know look y’all know how I feel about big body Bronson and the New York Knicks did they get better with Mel Bridges hell yeah can they uh go out and win a championship in the next two or three years I strongly believe so but the Philadelphia 76ers acquiring Paul George to pay up with a young Tyrese Maxi and Joel embiid who of when it’s available arguably the best player in the game look Joel embiid averaged 30 plus on one leg this past post season when he’s healthy and a guy that is rejuvenated and and got a key in his back we’ve seen what he’s capable of doing Ben Simmons left Joel embiid elevated his game James horten left uh uh Joel elevated his game now you give him Paul George two-way player a guy that doesn’t need the ball in his hands I got to get a slight is to the 76ers right now I’m going to go Nicks because they beat the Sixers last year in the six games yes no George but no Randall for the Knicks keep that in mind uh you know Bridges and George George is a better player and plus you know Eric Gordon will help him and they made some adjustments Philadelphia with their bench obviously Drummond big kid had make a factor and they lost hartenstein which is a huge thing for the Knicks but I’m going to go toughness I’m going to go toughness resiliency down de you know back backs to the wall scratching and claing I’m going to say the Knicks are still a little better challenge for the Celtics and the Philly and the Sixers are Philly improved more than the Knicks did but I like the Knicks toughness so I’ll say the Knicks so the fit for Philly is ideal in every way I mean you’ve got a tremendous young point guard in Maxi you’ve got a terrific terrific player in embiid who went on the court as a top three player in the league and then you add Paul George to that as a perfect two-way player the problem is when are they all going to be on the court together again George this past year healthy contract year I look before that four years previous had missed on average 40% of his games leading up to that point we know about emb’s problem I look at the Knicks though and the Knicks made the bridges move with the specific thought in mind of beating the Boston Celtics this was about perimeter defense and two guys that could match up against Tatum and against brown with anobi and with male Bridges now normally you want to get that that second start I understand that but I think the way the Knicks are constructed and the fact that they are not doing anything to mess with any of their chemistry whatsoever is going to go a long way here I I would put the Knicks slightly ahead of the Sixers right now I mean perk for me it’s about matchups I mean listen you’re not wrong but here’s the thing about the Knicks and look I I love the Knicks I love Tom Tibido I won a championship with him I know how I feel about big body Bronson we know what Josh Harden those guys are going to bring to the table but Losing Isaiah hardenstein was huge for the New York Knicks and I understand they still got big Mitchell Robinson one of the best rebounders in the game when he’s healthy also a great live threat at the basket but sometimes I worry about his IQ for the game of basketball Isaiah hardenstein is one of the Brilliant Minds in the game when it comes to the center position he knows his road to the te he has an excellent IQ in the half court sets you could run your offense through him because he knows how to run drible handoffs he knows how to make the backo passes things to those things to that nature and I want to see how does Julius r fit because he was you you remember they went through the whole half of the second half of the season in the postseason without Julius will he come back will he sacrifice can Tom Tibido at times play him at the five position those the things I need to see but right now when I look at Joel and be if I had to take any player out of all those guys between the 76ers and the Knicks he’s the best player he’s arguably the best player in the league when he’s healthy and doggy the only thing and perk’s right on it when you look at PG and you look at joelan B will that knee and will will the injuries will they be available when it comes to playoff I I would think George would be embiid’s the guy you got to be concerned about I know George had a lot of injuries too but I think embiid I mean he played 43 games last year he was on one leg against the Knicks can he withand a long season where he plays let’s say 60 65 games and then play four rounds in the playoffs and the Nicks and the Nicks are bang bruis and all those things that’s a hard series for them uh it’s close and the Sixers have gotten better than the Knicks have I still think the Knicks are a touch better I’ll take the Knicks I do like connect I think he’s going to be a very good NBA player but you can’t say you can’t say yes they made a run at Hurley he said no they didn’t look that the offer was very punitive for a guy who’s that good ah head coach they didn’t handle the Jerry West thing well at all I’m you know they let the Clippers announce it and that was a disaster I didn’t like that and you know jeie Buzz telling us that West is not a top five Laker of all time really he bought basketball La ran out loud but I didn’t like that and then of course in this scenario listen they brought LeBron back good you like to know that yeah it’s good connect will help bronnie was there because of LeBron JJ will probably be a be a good coach he’s the second choice not the first choice and that conference you know certainly Oklahoma City got better they were number on they were high they were the one seeda uh Minnesota who they Dallas got tremendously Dallas got Thompson didn’t Minnesota just signed somebody they signed oh they made the trade they made the trade the Dillingham from so Shannon from ill who’s going to be good now there’s legal issues are taken care of well yeah that’s over with me uh so I mean from that standpoint I think the Lakers are not nearly as good and I think they’ve had a very shaky three or four weeks I I think when you look at first of all I’m glad you brought up the West thing I mean a two cent statement oh it was terrible absolutely they did a terrible absurd it’s ridiculous uh secondly I don’t know how you can possibly say that they’ve had a successful off season you’re right about connect he’s going to help them and what do they need they need shooting conect can shoot it’s going to help that’s great it’s not turning the Lakers into a top six team and I really have a lot more trouble believing that the Lakers are actually a playoff team as opposed to a team that is fighting to get in the play in again and they may have fall short this time because I don’t know how I can count on somebody like Anthony Davis to be able to play that same amount of games again at 31 years old now we’re getting further down the line there’s not a I mean I don’t know how much Treads left on the tire he’s got enough left don’t don’t get me wrong he’s still a very very good player but how do I expect him to stay healthy when for the years leading up to this that hasn’t been the case I’m operating more on History than anything else and this is what history tells me and with LeBron it’s successful for him he got his kid on the team he got it basically everything he wanted he got the coach he wanted you got everything he wanted but if he wants to win they’re not winning anytime soon like this whole idea that all right last year they should have gone out and traded a draft pick or two was that putting them over the top to win a championship last year I know what we could talk about when it comes to you know being in the Conference Finals a couple of years ago and a bad draw this past year with the Nuggets doesn’t matter you don’t you’re not that great of a team and you’re not a true Contender when everybody else in the west is getting better right now and you’re relying on doton connect to be a Difference Maker per has it been a successful offseason it it hasn’t but it hasn’t been an off off season for them I mean you know uh Chris you you a Mad Dog y’all keep tossing out there that the Lakers are not a top six team right now in the Western Conference can y’all name me six teams that are better than them I y name me six teams that are better than them if I’m looking at the western conference right now I I have no problem telling you the nuggets are absolutely better Oklahoma City is absolutely better uh where El D Dallas no questiones better Minesota is absolutely better Pelicans you think Pelicans border line got to see it you know if I am am I going to sit there wear the Clippers in the mix right now they lost Paul George it hurts a lot let’s make him fifth best that’s not the end of the world let’s make him fifth best point is though perk I mean this is a team that while they won what 47 48 games this past year I don’t expect them to all of a sudden get a whole lot better and be a team that is going to contend at the top of that conference when those teams up top have gotten markedly better here it’s it’s only listen only two teams really made powerful moves this off season in the Western Conference okay it was the Oklahoma City Thunder get Alex Caruso and then getting Isaiah hardenstein and then you had the Dallas Mavericks getting Klay Thompson outside of that tell me another team that got better or made I think vnesa got better I think Minnesota got better with Dillingham but we got to see it you can’t just put all your your eggs in one basket and depend on the rookie when we haven’t seen them on the NBA level I think he’s going to come in Off the Bench and produce some great minutes for them but again we have to see it we don’t know what he could do on the NBA level and let’s talk about the Denver Nuggets are we sure they’re one of the top teams in the in the west right now I mean damn damn it they just hold on hear me out they lost Bruce Brown who they realized this postseason was a crucial piece to they success along with Jeff Green who was coming in off the bench they just lost kcp one of the ultimate 3 andd guys to the Orlando Magic who are they they like who’s filling in those blanks okay and then if you want to look at if you want to go uh go down the line and look at the Clippers right now I mean they’re a disaster I don’t know how Lawrence Frank still has his job to be honest with you you give up uh SGA who was who was arguably a top five player in the league right now and five draft picks one of those draft picks happen to be jayen Williams and you lose Paul George for nothing in the off season and who do you bring back D who do you go and get Derek Jones Jr Kevin Porter Jr I’m not throwing slight and saying that these guys are some scrubs they could play both of those guys in my opinion or Elite role players you know one could argue that Kevin Porter Jr at times is knocking at the door of being an Allstar caliber player but when I’m looking at the western conference right now it’s only three teams that I’m actually saying that are better than the Lakers right now and that’s Minnesota Oklahoma City and Dallas so they are a top five team in the [Music] [Applause] west NBA is

Perk warns the Celtics to watch out for the 76ers in the East 👀 | First Take
On First Take, Chris Carlin, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Kendrick Perkins debate whether the New York Knicks or the Philadelphia 76ers are the bigger threat to the Boston Celtics and weigh in on the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason moves.
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