[MUSIC PLAYING] This is 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coglin, wondering who you should root for at the Paris Olympics. I'm hosting my new favorite Olympian where I will introduce you to Team USA's brightest stars and the causes they are championing. It's hard to explain, and I don't think I really like talked about this with anybody. Get ready for the Paris Games by checking out my new favorite Olympian wherever you listen to podcasts. The Paris Olympics brought to you locally on NBC and Peacock by Nissan. [MUSIC PLAYING] [SCREAMING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Yes, in all its beauty and splendor, it is the Sixers Talk podcast brought to you by Wilmington University. Well, you were standing pomels. Noah Levick, our producer, Ben Barry, making things happen, pulling strings behind the scenes. And Mifidul on vacation, well-deserved for her, very hard-working woman, but we will hold it down in her stead. And some stuff to get to, for sure, Team USA in action. Of course, the summer Sixers going from Utah to Las Vegas and some contract signings to discuss. But let's start with a little bit of that housekeeping and a Dembona man. I think he bridges the gap between the Summer League and the signings for the 76ers. So a guy that I'm sure people should be paying attention to and starting to love this kid's effort and relentlessness is something to behold. And yes, he would have fouled out in the first half if it was a real NBA game last night for the Summer League. But you don't have to worry about that. He was able to play past that. And his four-year eight million-- is this similar to Ricky Council deal? It feels like to me that he got Noah, but a kid that definitely should be turning some heads with his effort and relentlessness. Yes, so the new CBA has this second round pick exception. So it's basically set that if you had a four-year contract, the most it can be is, I think, like nine million that gave Bona eight million in the fourth year as a team option. So it's this pretty standard new feature, which is great, because it enables teams to give players like Bona standard roster spots easier and it doesn't negatively impact the rest of their CBA outlook, essentially. So yeah, good for him getting that deal done. And yeah, he's been awesome to watch in Summer League. It's just all action. And he said, you know, I'm a guy who's going to be the best in the effort department and just hustling all over the floor. I believe he led the entire Salt Lake City Summer League in block shots. And yeah, it was a tough matchup last night for Donovan Klingen, the number seven overall pick, seven-two shop blocker. And he got one dunked on his head, but that's going to happen when you are extremely aggressive, defensively, and going for absolutely everything. So those guys were going back and forth. And yeah, I do think a dem Bona probably needs to tone it down a little bit, just so he's not piling up unnecessary fouls and maybe just trusting, you know, solid defense works at times. But boy, he's been, I think, the most must watch guy, arguably, for the Sixers in Summer League. I'd say council, council is right up there, but I think Bona, the newness is cool. And everyone is kind of learning about just how hard he goes. And I think just how athletic he is and how talented he is as a young defender for the Sixers. - People were on the edge of pitchforks and torches when Patrick Beverly got sent away last season. A dem Bona is like a six foot 10 bet in a lot of ways. I mean, a guy who is bringing this dog in intensity. And like you said, like his effort and energy, his determination, the ability for him to block shots and bring that energy and be such a motor, you know, down low is definitely something fans will claim to and really, you know, hop on the bandwagon there. But I'm curious if you feel like, you know, obviously Paul Reed had those issues in the past with the fouling and just being a little too overly aggressive. What do you think their approach will be to try to tone some of that down and try to find that middle ground between the aggression with the shot blocking? You think, you know, Joel's looking at that like, oh, I can mentor him or what do you think the approach will be? - Yeah, I think if you want to learn how to stay down on pump fakes and not put the hand in the cookie jar, Joel and beat as a good teammate to learn from and practices. So I imagine he'll be thrown into the fire in that department. As far as the Sixers coaching staff and their approach, I think they're going to lean much more toward just do your thing than the average coaching staff. I mean, Nick Nurse, I think it was day one at camp last year, I remember him saying, in order to get blocks, he got a swing for him. And that's one thing I want to instill in this team. Sometimes he got to be aggressive in order to reap those sort of rewards with blocking shots and forcing turnovers. And look, I think even in a scenario where Joel and beat a sideline, a demo is going to be the backup center. He's not going to be taken on a huge number of minutes. So you live with the occasional foul in pursuit of a block on defense. I think that's fair enough. But he was number two in all of NCAA basketball last year in total fouls. And I think just given his athletic gifts and his instincts as a rim protector, the Sixers won't want to spotlight situations where it's not absolutely required for him to go all out. Like, all right, just keep your hands up here, stay vertical, and that'll be a thumbs up from us. You don't have to make that extra little bit of effort to try to do something spectacular. So it'll be fascinating to see his development there. I do think in contrast to Paul Reid, he feels like much more of a traditional big man, only 6-8, but has a 7-3 wingspan. We've all seen he's an amazing leaper and just obviously knows how to block shots and how to sort of be the back line of a defense, I think. So I do think there should be some inherent simplicity to his role, and perhaps that'll be helpful as he tries to fine tune some areas of his game. And yeah, figure out this right middle ground in the aggression department, but it's going to be fun to watch him grow. And yeah, I think the Sixers are happy that they were able to get him in round two. - Yeah, definitely. And he got up high to block one of Klingens' shots. And also, as you mentioned, went toe to toe with him and dunking on each other department. So this guy will be undeterred and definitely someone to keep an eye on. And on the flip side, we may have seen spurts and moments of Jared McCain's success in Utah. It just hasn't been a whole lot of that for him. Shooting wise, it's been a tough go of it. And you have a great article on our website, npcsportsfield.gov.com with some observations from last night's game. And on the bright side of things, despite his shooting woes and the air ball that tried to tie the game up and send it to OC last night, you drew a comparison between Ricky Council's issues in the summer league and how Jared McCain, who may have had some poor shooting performances, but still, you could see how Council was able to navigate that and continue to keep his confidence and grow and develop from there. And we see logo Ricky making a debut last night as he hit a bomb from the logo last night with the shot clock winding down, but it was a hell of a shot and just really accentuates his confidence and where his mind is at right now. But just talk a little bit about that, man. Like this dude, Jared McCain obviously comes in highly regarded and shown some spurts and moments of playmaking and change your pace and things like that, but just hasn't been able to get the shot to go with that. - Yeah, I think for me, I just look at Council last year and if he'd a shot the same way he did in summer league when the season was actually underway, I think that would have been a greater concern, but I think we all understand, sometimes players run cold in summer league and that's not something that needs to doom you or is impossible to recover from as a rookie or whatever. But yeah, Jared McCain, he'll be disappointed that the numbers are what they are. He's under 30% from both the field and from three point range, looked like maybe he'd turned a corner a little bit in the first half, got a long one to go, seemed to be gaining some confidence and then was just ice cold in the second half. I don't think he hit a shot. And it was a tough look that would have won the game for the Sixers, but he airballed it and you saw I put his head down and he was frustrated. I think last night for me was the first time you saw him maybe doubting himself some and not trusting his game so much. He had a late five second violation. And just with some of the shot selection, you could sort of see him not fully believing in what he was doing out there. So it would be certainly nice for the Sixers if he's able to break through, get some jumpers to fall and just feel a little better about himself in these final few games of summer league. I do think a lot of what he's brought to the table outside of the shooting has been solid too impressive. I think physically you see he's got a lot to overcome the fact that he's only 6'2", like he is really strong out there. He knows how to get to a spot, knows how to shift pace, looks like he has a good feel in the open floor, keeps his head up, spots open teammates. So five games, really small sample size. McCain and everyone would be feeling better if the shooting percentages were different, but it's been a rough go of it for him. And a few games left here to on his end, hopefully kind of bounce back and be the shooter, he's shown himself to be. I mean, he's without question and an outstanding three point shooter, but he would sure like to show that at the professional level pretty soon. - Yeah, and let's hope it doesn't, you know, get in the psyche and have him doubting himself because that's the last thing anybody will want is him to lose some of that confidence after the summer or heading into training camp. And listen, he has talked himself leading up to the summer league and in between, you know, the draft process about how he's dealt with criticisms and him, you know, being himself and painting his nails and the TikTok stuff and, you know, the social media comments and how he's been able to overcome those things and, you know, push that to the side and just focus on the end of self and, you know, and doing what he enjoys playing basketball and, you know, interacting with people and things like that. So I would be surprised if these couple of poor games or poor shooting performances would deter him, you know, it seems like he has a strong psyche. It seems like he has a great mental outlook. So, hey, you know, basketball is a weird game. You know, it's, you know, sometimes you're 50 point for concork mods in the summer league and then you can't even scratch the surface, you know, when it's season time, so. - Absolutely, yeah, I think for me, I'm never super concerned with the numbers in summer league. I think that's a, that's a spot where I'm much more about what, what are my eyes telling me. And I think up until the second half last night, I thought Jared McCain's confidence and the way he was processing the game seemed to be in a good spot. And that was the first time it just looked to me like, as soon as he made a negative play, he kind of put his head down and some of the decision making did look a little bit shaky, but he's a young player. He's 20 years old. This is to be expected. And I think just all evidence suggests to us that he's going to start making jump shots soon. I really don't have any concerns in that regard. And I think we've all seen with many players once the jump shot falls, then everything sort of clicks into place. So that'll be the hope for him, six years right back at it again tonight. And he'll try to have a better performance and start trending in a better direction here. - Timber wolves are the opponent, if I'm not mistaken. - Will be interesting. And I don't know if people have been noticing just the crowd, the arena, the frivolity of the summer league is just continues to just boom and blossom. And it used to have the Orlando summer league with no spectators. And it's just like a who's who of NBA people in there. And now it's just like the players and the fans and the celebrities that WNBA players, just it's just become a big business for the NBA, particularly in Las Vegas, where I'm gonna imagine that they're getting a basketball team here pretty some time soon. Is it true the CBA mean, are they expanding to two more teams? Am I wrong with that? Have you heard about that? - I'm not sure what the official status of it is, but I think that's been expected here for a little bit. So yeah, it does seem like that's coming down the pipe. That also reminds me just as kind of a footnote. We got the Sixers NBA Cup group. Of course, the semis and the finals are in Vegas. And that will feature a playoff free match against the Knicks. So we'll see how that goes down the second year of what was initially known as the in season tournament. But yeah, that's another example of the league feeling pretty comfortable in Vegas and wanting to bring marquee events to the Sin City. - Send my boy Noah to Vegas. All those people listening out there from the powers that be send my boy Noah to Vegas. You can do a podcast, these in Vegas. I'm here in Philly, like, come on, send them to Vegas. - You're not joining? You're not wanting to join me, sir? - Oh, please, I'm on the next flight. I'm a fan of Vegas, getting a little poker in my off time, maybe, you know what I mean? But, have you been to Vegas? Are you Vegas guy? - I don't think I've ever been to Vegas. So yeah, I would like to check that off at some point. I was in San Antonio last summer, just thinking about extremely hot places. And yeah, it is consistently, like, 105, 110 there. So I guess it'll be a little more pleasant around NBA Cup time, I imagine, the weather will be more livable. But yeah, it's hard to picture living there day to day in the summer. I think you gotta be really built for it in order to endure those sort of temperatures. - Gotta have access to a pool. Like, that's just mandatory pool time. - Sure, an excellent air conditioning, yeah. - Right, for sure. Sixters in the NBA Cup, a little bit of housekeeping, but we didn't get to Kyle Lowry, KJ Martin, back in the full Kyle Lowry, to be expected, definitely avoid there at back-up point guard campaign, going to the New York Knicks. So a player that was on the roster was not returning, Kyle Lowry is, KJ Martin is. And is the KJ Martin deal really a precursor to him eventually being traded or having being a good piece in a trade down the road? Can you provide some clarity on that? Because we were speculating about that fact. And so many people had discussed and thought that the Sixers would sign him to this type of, you know, with his bird's rights, a deal that would make him viable to be traded later on, but I know they can't bring back more salary because that would push them past toward the second apron, but can you provide a little clarity on that if you can? - Yeah, I think you summed it up pretty well. I just think the idea is, it's beneficial to have an $8 million-ish contract on your roster come mid-January, early February, when perhaps you do want to be in the market for a player who can enter your rotation, like a veteran role player who could perhaps be an upgrade at a certain position where you've identified a need. But I don't think this contract should be read as KJ Martin is absolutely only here for another half a season. I think the Sixers see him as a young talent who has considerable room to grow. He's only 23 years old. And as we've talked about the Sixers, they could always use some grit at that power forward position, some athleticism, some versatility. And KJ Martin, I think, did flash those qualities last season. We all know he's legit above the rim athlete, but I do think you saw spots where he fared really well as a small ball five. And I'm intrigued to see whether he gets occasional opportunities there next season, especially as we mentioned, since the Dembona is a rookie, as the Sixers current number three center. So maybe that does open a window here and there for KJ Martin in Joel M. Bless games to get he minutes at that spot. I do think still an open question, whether he can become like a solid NBA three-point shooter, whether that should be part of his game and whether he's able to improve there. But yeah, to me, he's still an intriguing guy just from the on-court side of it. And then yeah, I think certainly does not hurt come trade deadline time to have that sort of player on your roster number one, and then also to have that sort of salary on your roster when you're pursuing players who might be making $10 or $12 million and you're trying to see if you can make a deal work there. - Just interesting how the Sixers had this, interesting mix of young talent with McCain and the Ricky Council and KJ Martin and Bona, it just will be, I'm sure some crazy scrimmages with the athleticism, the versatility of Ricky Council, KJ Martin's athlete, you know what I'm saying? It's just like a lot of guys who can play above the rim. - Yeah, I mean, KJ Martin and Ricky Council definitely got close there. Yeah, they get along well and I think it kind of makes sense when you think about them on the court. Like there are two of a very, very small group of guys in the world who can just have their head at the rim and a snap of the fingers. So yeah, it's neat that the Sixers have a couple of those young sort of talents on their team in addition to of course having this win-now attitude and being pretty veteran-heavy otherwise. Still of course, a few more roster spots to fill and given what you just noted there at Imagine, those slant more toward Vex, but yeah, they haven't neglected the young players' side of things and I think they'll hope that players such as Council can take another step forward. I think that would be really great for the Sixers of course, if Ricky Council in year two were to become like a somewhat reliable rotation guy that Nick Nurse would feel good about turning to. I think he was already starting to knock on that door and Council will hope to make some more strides forward. - We'll be fun to watch for sure because Villy loves the underdog, loves a grind, get it out the mud and Paul Reed's honors type of story. And those are guys who are definitely overachieving, particularly based on their draft status and what the expectations were for them. But let's get to more Sixers talk podcast in a minute. Let's pay some bills here as we want to show love to one of our title sponsors, of course Wilmington University, find your higher education home at Wilmington University where your academic success is celebrated by a caring community. Explore your opportunities at willmu.edu. 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And you will not believe where he's going next, the AMEX dedicated card member entrance for the win, unbelievable. - When you get travel perks with AMEX Platinum, you're part of the action. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply, learn more at americanexpress.com/with AMEX. - Back here on the "Sixters Talk" podcast and Mr. Levick to Wallen B. And the Team USA, the men's national team Olympic squad is in Abu Dhabi before heading to France. They took on Australia last night. And M.B. is a defensive presence that we know. And Team USA would be in dire straits without him. Just based on the way things went last night where they had a lead and B went to the bench and that leaves shrunk because Australia was getting a lot of opportunities at the rim. And what have you made of M.B.'s performances and his work with Team USA so far? And not that you need to pan a big broad picture because we've talked in the past about what they did against Canada and we talked about some of the things that we've seen just based on his decision making and things like that, as far as where he would like to play whether with France or his native country Cameroon or here with USA. So I'm just curious what you saw from him last night and his conditioning as well as his role on Team USA. - Yeah, I think it was a much improved performance from his first game where he felt out in 12 minutes. Doesn't seem like his conditioning is at 100%. I don't think anyone expected it would be. But yeah, 16 minutes, he had 10 and five, had a few sloppy plays, definitely still developing chemistry with this new group of teammates. But I think for me, in Olympic competition, you got to be prepared to face a variety of styles and personnel and dwell and beat in some of these games that's going to be vital for Team USA. Like you think against Serbia, of course, Nicola Yokich, and you think against France with Wembley and Go Bear, great to have an ultra powerful, ultra skilled seven foot former MVP on your team. So I don't have really any deep takes on his presence or role other than I imagine down the line, he's going to be really important for this team. Of course, they can go a lot of different directions, use a ton of lineups, Anthony Davis is another option at the five, so is Bam out of bio, Steve Kerr's been playing out of bio and Davis together a good amount. And yeah, they're working through some kinks. I mean, they had a lead as large as 21 against the Aussies and it actually got a little tight there down the stretch. So yeah, I think they're still working some things out and everyone's getting into shape and learning each other. But for me, I haven't seen any reasons for deep concern yet either within beat or with the team. I think sure you prefer like really easy peasy exhibition victories in which the ball is humming around and there's zero turnover problems and everyone is locked in defensively. That certainly was not the case this last game, but they've got three exhibition games left before the real ones begin in Paris. And as we've said, they're surely the most talented roster in the world, albeit perhaps not extreme leaps and bounds above everyone else. There's gonna be some real challenges down the road. And just for me, I'm really interested to see how Joellen B does in those spots where Team USA needs him to be great and they need him to more than hold his own against the other elite big men on other countries in the world. - It's just such a weird contrast between how he's used in the 76ers. He's just obviously trying to fit in with the other superstars as to knowing he's gonna get the ball, where he's gonna get the ball, how he'll be able to produce offense or go at as opposed to defender. We know he likes to work in that top of the key area and pump fake jab, maybe shoot the three from those areas, but it's just gonna be a situation where they really need his defense, maybe not as offense as much, but when they do need his offense, they need him to do his thing. So it'll be interesting to see how he, like you said, handles it, adjusts and deals with just trying to really fit in with the other guys as opposed to being taken over the basketball game, which he does more over the 76ers. It's just like, you just can clearly see, he's the best player on the floor and no one can stop him and while no one can stop him, he may not at times be the best player on the floor or he may not be getting the ball as the best player on the floor. So I'm curious to see what he learns and how he develops and changes from what the experience is with the Olympic team providing. - Yeah, those are some good points. I think the Aussies were doubling him from the first touch. So it doesn't seem like that's gonna change at the international level. I still think the consensus opinion is this is a guy you need to send two players at, you can't guard them what they want. Yeah, so his passing, of course, is gonna be important and he'll have an opportunity to make a little more progress in that department and redefenses make the simple play and get it to an open teammate. We did see Team USA call a post-up or two for him. So even with this immense talent, sometimes a logical play is just get the ball to the big dominant dude and let him go to work on the low block. But yeah, it looks like there's gonna be a lot less of those chances to attack from the middle of the floor and beat all have to figure out when to wear to space and how to compliment these superstar teammates. So yeah, they're definitely not at their A game yet, but this is not when you want to peek. You want to peek in a couple weeks when it's time for those metal rounds. And yeah, I'm curious to see whether it can all come together in a way that produces a gold medal. That's obviously the goal and it does feel like this is a spot where anything else would be a failure. Like this is a roster that has essentially everyone they want in on it. No one is skipping out on the Olympics this time and the Americans all hope to bring home the gold from Paris, but do not think that's an easy task whatsoever. - Well said, man. And in my head, I'm like, man, maybe this experience with Team USA will translate and help him with his role with the Sixers this upcoming season because I just have this vision of Tyrese Maxie's continued rise and development along with Joellen beads. He's kind of plateaued or reached almost the peak of how great he can be in a lot of ways of room from improvement in some areas, but he's at his MVP level. Paul George trying to maintain and milk and get as much out of what he has left in the tank. So I'm like, like a equalizer in a car is like Tyrese Maxie. Like I'm hoping that these three guys can balance each other out in a way that for benefits each of them, like they're all, you know, kind of, you know, benefiting one another because there's a bit of a balance there between all that they each can do and spreading it out among the three of them so that there's no, as much burden on any of them, you know, not as so. Yeah, like they complement each other in a lot of great ways, but hopefully that kind of elongates the success or the opportunities and what the team can do as a whole because no one person is needing to do too much for them to get to the finish line. And maybe some of that can be gleaned from what indeed and can do with Team USA where there's so many other players who can, you know, he doesn't need to be the guy to shoot the clutch shot every night. He doesn't need to be the guy that comes up with the defensive stop. There are other people there that can do that. So mentally doesn't have as much pressure physically. There's not as much demand. So I'm just trying to, you know, draw connections. Yeah, no, I think that's, I think that's fair. I mean, I think defensively you'd hope that having a little less on his plate on the other ends perhaps allows him to consistently be elite at that end of the floor. I mean, we've all seen flashes of him being a first team, all NBA, you know, first team defense, caliber defender, and yeah, the six years old hope. If there are more nights where Paul George or Tyree's Maxie are taking over, then MBE has a little more juice in those legs to deliver that kind of level consistently. But yeah, I'm reminded a little, even just hearing you talk about the early days of the Miami Heat Big Three where it wasn't always smooth and there was a lot of your turn, my turn action and everyone was maybe a little too selfless. So not at all comparing this six years big three to that iteration. But I do think when you have three all-star players, you gotta work through who's best in what situations and kind of just learn through those experiences. Like maybe everything I'll click right off the bat, but I think sometimes it's not as easy as it would look on paper. But clearly a great thing for the sixers that MBE now has two all-star teammates. And yeah, of course, there are many, many all-stars around Team USA. So I agree, I think ideally having this summer should serve him well when he comes back to Philly. - It will be fun to watch and determine the sixer still with some opportunities to make some moves, maybe sign a veteran, minimum player or two. Is there an area on the team before we get out of here? You feel like they need to address where? You see some weakness? - Yeah, I don't actually see any glaring weaknesses right now. I think Kyle Lowry definitely helps a lot adding that backup ball handler. Still some pretty good players on the market. Don't think it would hurt to get shooting. I don't think it would hurt to get more depth in terms of someone who can play the three, four. So yeah, like you could go for some veteran options here, like a veteran wing, Reggie Bullock, Wesley Matthews, those sort of guys. If you want to go pure shooting, like Doug McDermott is still out there. - Didn't set him back to Charlotte with him. - Back to Charlotte, so he is off the board if you're hoping for a reunion. Of course, Robert Covington remains unsigned. I'm not exactly sure where things are at for him health-wise. I do think if he's healthy, he'd still be a really nice deep bench sort of guy for this team and O'Shea Brissette is still out there. Raining NBA champion, guy who has played with Nick Nurse on the Raptors and Team Canada and is just a high energy three, four, more of a four who's, yeah, he's gonna give you rebounding and a lot of juice, I think, when you turn to him off the bench. So Lonnie Walker is another guy out there too, who I think would be an intriguing minimum sort of option. For the Sixers. So, yeah, just looking at the names, those are a few of them, or I could just see it making sense for both sides, you know, but still, yeah, still some dominoes to fall into place and the Sixers still have a few more spots left on the roster to fill out. But, yeah, O'Shea Brissette, if he doesn't return to Boston and he likes the look of things in Philly, that would be a thumbs up for me, especially given his history with Nick Nurse and just the fact that he's a guy who, in my opinion, just really consistently brings good energy and gives you that classic sort of spark when you turn to him as a situational back up power forward kind of guy. - He is Noah Levick. Check out his work on NBCswordsphiladelphia.com. For Ben Barry, I'm Danny Palmel. So thanks for listening and watching to the Sixers Talk podcast brought to you by Wilmington University, Wilmy Works. - See you next time. (crowd cheering) - Calling on coffee drinkers. If you've been trying to enhance your daily coffee routine, then Quest has got your back with their brand new iced coffees. Now available in two delightfully delicious flavors that'll be sure to add an extra pep in your step, vanilla latte and mocha latte. Quest has been on a mission to help fuel you with protein forward food you'll love. Each bottle of Quest iced coffee is packed with 200 milligrams of caffeine, the same amount as two cups of regular coffee, plus 10 grams of protein per serving to help you supercharge your day. And did I mention that they only contain one gram of sugar? It might just be time to cheat on your iced coffee with iced coffee. Find Quest iced coffees on amazon.com/questnutrition. That's amazon.com/questnutrition.
