00:00You know, I got to start it in the city of brotherly love here, man.
00:03This era now of LeBron James taking the final chapter to Philadelphia here.
00:09What's your take on that, man?
00:11I mean, impact.
00:12I mean, Embiid in the last, what is it, three years now has not played more than 39 basketball games.
00:17You know, you go back to his MVP season when he played more.
00:20I mean, how do you see this thing playing out here in Philly?
00:23First of all, Dan, good to see you.
00:25As always, we were just talking backstage before we get to the basketball, man.
00:28What a time to be alive as a sports fan, huh?
00:30Baseball, we're going to have the first World Series winner ever in history for one of these two franchises.
00:35College football was crazy this last weekend.
00:37NFL was crazy this last weekend.
00:39And as you mentioned, probably my favorite association to follow the NBA is back as well.
00:43So what a time to be alive as a sports fan.
00:45Everybody take a breath and take it in, baby.
00:47But yeah, it's really crazy.
00:50This Sixers team has been talked about a lot in the offseason.
00:52And I've been a big LeBron guy my entire life.
00:54I was with him when he got drafted in the Cavs.
00:56And obviously, it followed him his entire career.
00:58And there was a lot of shockwaves when he decided to, quote, unquote, take his talents once again to Philadelphia.
01:03And then, obviously, the Jalen Brown domino dropped as well.
01:07So it's really fascinating to see what's going to happen with this team that has definitely pushed all of their
01:13chips into this particular window.
01:14As you mentioned, with the Embiid health, with what LeBron's going to bring to the table, you obviously already have
01:20a superstar in Tyrese Maxey.
01:22And oh, by the way, you have a budding young developing player as well that's got superstar potential in Vijay
01:26Edgecombe.
01:27So how these guys are going to mesh?
01:29I said it in the offseason.
01:30We're going to find out today in their first game, what is this going to look like?
01:34What's the mixture going to be?
01:35What's their chemistry going to be like on the court?
01:37Because, I mean, if you have eyeballs and you're a basketball fan, these are five of the best players in
01:42the NBA at their various positions on a given night.
01:44So if this works, this is going to be really fun in Philly.
01:47If it doesn't, it's going to be a talking point all season.
01:49But, you know, they've got to go into New York tonight, man.
01:52They've got to go into the Mecca.
01:53And they've got to watch these guys hang the banners for the first time in a long time.
01:56So it's going to be a fascinating first game in two teams that also really don't like each other anyway.
02:01Playoff rematch from last season.
02:03And something that I think New York Knick fans have been looking forward to all summer long.
02:08So a really interesting matchup and excited to get the NBA back going, especially what we're going to see tonight
02:14in the Garden.
02:15One more dynamic here, too, that LeBron is going to be facing for the first time, maybe since he had
02:21Eric Spoelstra when he was with the Miami Heat.
02:24Nick Nurse's role in this and putting all these pieces together here.
02:27I mean, how important is he going to be because you just mentioned, you know, what's the role of LeBron
02:33going to be?
02:33What's Maxie?
02:34Is he going to be the centerpiece of this thing?
02:36Or is it going to be Embiid?
02:37Can you build around that?
02:39So his importance is going to be big in moving these chess pieces around.
02:44No doubt.
02:44I think the index factor for this team, everybody's looking on the court with how these guys are going to
02:48play and how they're going to mesh.
02:49But I think you're right.
02:50I think the X factor to me is how is Nick Nurse going to manage this roster?
02:54How is he going to manage minutes?
02:55How is he going to make sure that everybody is, you know, happy?
02:59You know, there's the old adage, the metaphor that a lot of people hate to lean into.
03:02But there's only one basketball, Dan.
03:03You can't.
03:04You can't.
03:04Everybody can't take all the shots.
03:06Everybody can't be the guy.
03:08But if these guys are able to put their egos aside, if these guys are able to buy into a
03:12system that they feel like is working offensively, but also defensively.
03:16Like, you look at this team right now, the way that they're constructed.
03:19And LeBron James is obviously has been an all-defensive player in his career, but he's almost 43 years old.
03:25He's not that same defensive presence like he was previously.
03:28Embiid is a good defensive player, but he can't stay on the court long enough to impact the game defensively.
03:32So what is this team going to do defensively?
03:34I think Nick Nurse is going to have the challenge of not only pressing the buttons correctly offensively, but also
03:39pressing the buttons correctly how this team is going to defend.
03:42So if you get this team bought in, and if Nick Nurse can make sure to press those buttons, it's
03:46going to go well in Philly this year.
03:48If it doesn't, though, I think that the wheels could start to fall off pretty quickly on the Nick Nurse
03:53leading this train down the road.
03:56So it's definitely something to watch.
03:57And I think you're right.
03:58The X factor is definitely how Nurse is going to lead these guys offensively and defensively.
