Transcription
In for Molly Kurum. We got a squad today. We're whip whipping around the sports world. HD Harry Douglas, good to see you, sis. It's good to The suit is sharp. You're doing your thing. Wifey picked it out for me. She did her thing. I love that you gave her credit. We've got Brian Winhorse from some location. But Wendy's with us. Wendy, what's up? Good morning. What's going on, guys? Uh, I love that greeting. It's good to have you here because we are definitely jumping into some NBA and we can't do that without the one and only Kendrick Perkins Park. How we feeling? What's up, Monica? Monica, don't start the show off lying to Harry talking about how great that suit looks. Lord, it's okay. See, look at that. All right. Well, that's that's the energy we got on this Thursday. I'm going to let y'all work that out in the discussion. And let's jump right into it, y'all, because there's an article on.com, ESPN.com, that is that is uh talking about Joel Embiid. The focus is highlighting his off season in terms of getting him healthy and back to an MVP level. I encourage you to read the article. It's fascinating stuff. Really well done. It's an interesting profile on one of the most fascinating players in the NBA. One of the biggest takeaways is an update on his return. It reads, "We're not going to push anything for my whole career. I felt like we never took that approach. We don't have a timeline. Hopefully sooner rather than later." When asked if his organization supports his new patient approach, Embiid had this to say. I don't know how they feel. The only thing I'd say is this is a business. It's all about the results. And if I come back early enough and I'm still not myself, guess what? You're not winning any games. H All right. So, look, that's just sort of the tip of the iceberg to me in terms of that article. HD. But Wendy, I'm going to come on and bring this conversation right to you. What do you make of basically MB disputing Mory's timeline?
There's so much in this story that it's very hard to look at one quote or one aspect of it and try to summarize anything. This story goes very deep into Joel's past, his childhood, his his his relationship with the Sixers over the last decade. Forget about the last three months. Um, and so what I would just say is it highlights something that remains true today, which is that Joelle is got an incredible blend of athleticism and size. It's really like a one in a billion type um skill and size. And that's why he won the MVP award two years ago. It's why before he really suffered this knee injury, you know, after that uh where he was really having one of the greatest seasons of the modern era offensively. It's one of the reasons why the Sixers have invested so much in him. But he's very physically and I think this story illustrates emotionally fragile. He he gets injured. He you know you know not just with knees and feet like we see with lots of big athletes, but he he's broken bones in his face five times in his career. He's fallen in warm-ups. He fell in warm-ups and got injured twice just last season. Okay. So he's physically fragile and this story illustrates in great painstaking detail over the course of a decade plus that emotionally it affects him in a way where he becomes emotionally fragile. And I don't say that as a criticism. I say that as a takeaway from what this very in-depth story says. So, we have a player who's physically dealing with um you know all these challenges and has to maintain and deal with his emotions just as much as he has to maintain his body. And so, you are going to have difficult situations because of that. And I and I and I know what you're asking is a simple question, Monica. I don't have a simple answer. You're asking me if they're on the same page. I don't have a simple answer because this is a very complex person this story tells.
I appreciate that, Wendy, because if ever there was an instance, Harry, where you need to have a little bit of nuance and touch, it would be on some of the things coming out from the story. Yeah. And I will say this, I I think it's glaring to me that when you look at Daryl my also look at the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid, they're not on the same page, especially when it comes to his body. And I would also say this, Joel Embiid, even though you may feel like you may have been pushed here and there to to play, at the end of the day, you have the final say. You're the player. You're the franchise guy. You're the guy that, you know, is the face of the franchise in so many words. And when it comes to the process that people talked about for so long for the Philadelphia 76ers, well, the process has failed. Mhm. And now hearing this from JoanB, it's okay to want to look out for yourself, but at the same time, I would ask you, why did you play in the Olympics last season? Mhm. If your body was not healthy and you needed time to figure out how to get ready for the season, don't go play in the Olympics. But it's clearing and it's glaring to me that the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid, they are not on the same page. Hurt, where are we on this?
You know, I'm glad Harry brought up that point because two seasons ago, I know y'all been probably watching Love Island, but I'mma call this Perk Island because I stood because I stood on the island. I stood on I stood on the island by myself and said that Joel Embiid not only should he have not played in the Olympics, he should have not played towards the end of the season when they ch when they uh got bounced against the New York Knicks. And I said, "The Philadelphia 76ers need to shut him down and put a plan in place." And at that point, I got called everything but a child of God. But here we are now. Joel Embiid is speaking out. And it's hard because I'm not going to go on come on here and criticize this man. He's been injured since he's got into the NBA, right? Coming out of Kansas. Hell, he was injured there. And so when you think about this situation, at one point we was looking at the Philadelphia 76ers and at one point we saw structure, we saw stability, we saw culture, and then all of a sudden since Daryl Moore has taken over this job, it's gotten worse since he's taken over this uh uh organization. It's got worse. Let's be real here. And now all of a sudden you're looking at your franchise guy, well one of your franchise guys, your players not being able to start the season next year and Job because he's telling us right now that his body is not right, which we already know. Paul George just underwent a procedure. Now you look at your next guy in the diamond in the rough that you found and Tyrese Maxi and the Philadelphia 76ers are on the clock. They're on the clock when it comes down to Tyrese Maxi. And when I say on the clock, because if they keep trending in this direction of no culture and no stability, guess what? Tyrese Maxi is going to want out of Philadelphia. Okay? And we know who his agent is. Is Rich Paul. And Rich Paul don't give a damn. I'm telling you this. This is something that I know. And so when you think about the 76ers and Daryl Moore, they got to get it together right now because you understand you're dealing with Joel and B, but your franchise guy who you got late in the second round, you know, five or six years ago is Tyrese Maxi and you got to make sure that he's healthy. And my last point that I'm going to say real quick, Monica, go for My last point is when it comes when it comes down to Joel L and B, this is the importance of having a agent, right, Wendy? Help me out here. Jombb represents himself, right? That's correct. Yes. You need a agent at this point. See, you need an agent to be in the middle to be the bad guy to tell the the organization and the ownership, "My guy is not going to be playing. He's not healthy. We're going to go to other doctors around the country to get an evaluation, not just in the sil uh 76ers organization. Everyone doesn't everyone doesn't have a healthy marriage like when you look at Sam Prey and SGA and what they got going on right now. This is why you value ages for situations like this.
So Perk, those are all very pertinent points. And before we continue to go a little bit deeper in this, I just want to shout out the writer. I believe his name is pronounced Dojan Aentoya. did a great job and you can tell that there are some connections culturally that allowed him to get this insight from Joel Embiid. So I think he deserves a shout out. But you brought up the point Perk in terms of the relationships and in the article and be talks about basically his trust issues and not being able to expand out his circle or maybe not being able to but not willing to. So Wendy, when you consider that, how do you move forward? Because we have long talked about rest and empowerment and player sitting and Jo Alen rattles off the different narratives surrounding him in this article and the only one that I imagine he probably would agree with based on facts is that he has truly been injured and it has stifled his career. But how did the Sixers and Embiid move forward the way you see it, Wendy?
Monica, it's such a challenge to have a a a short discussion about this situation because for example, Joel Embiid told the Sixers that he needed surgery, that he was getting surgery on his knee last year when he told Lisa Salters before a game and Lisa went on the air to do the report and the Sixers were not aware that's where his head was at. That is just one example of many in this where there's a disconnect. But if you again read the entire story, you realize there's a disconnect with him back to his childhood that he once went to France from Cameroon with his parents on a trip and refused to leave his family's apartment and his parents just stopped taking him on vacations because he had a disconnect with his parents. But that doesn't have anything to do with the fact whether his knee is healthy enough to play. That's what I'm saying. It's a very elaborate patchwork showing of a player who physically has gone through so much and emotionally is is damaged because of it and has difficulty trusting people. So you're asking a player to do something very very challenging which is trust an injur injured knee or an injured foot or an injured back without the you know the the the layers of trust that are needed within his whole life much less on a basketball team. This is a very difficult topic to talk about on a TV show. if you want my honest assessment because you're looking for clear lines and we don't have them. It's it's it's very difficult. What I would say is this. Joel Embiid has both played through preposterous injury situations and been um you know not communicative of his injury situations and left the team in the dark. the team has probably pushed him to situations where they maybe shouldn't have pushed him as Perk is describing and other times was trying to absolutely doing everything in his power to help him even though it wasn't helping. It's a very difficult situation and all I can say is this. When Joel Embiid is right, he is masterful. He is brilliant. He won the MVP two years ago. He was averaging more points than minutes the following season. and and you know and so that's why they gave him the $200 million extension last year because of that player, but it's so hard to get that player. And he says, quote, feeding into the pressure of you got to play, you got to go out there, can't let people down, and this and that. That's probably one of the reasons why I'm in the position I'm in now, which I know, perk, ties exactly to how you started the show because two years ago, you sort of saw this.
I did, but I want to go back to the point of what you brought up before this. uh Monica and what Wendy responded to, we can't take something away from this. The number one thing we could take away from this is that the trust is broken throughout that organization. There's no more trust in that organization. And also in that article, Joel Embiid highlighted he highlighted the part that when when they had the the players the coming to Jesus meeting through uh last season and Tyrese Maxi basically called him out. Tyrese Maxi called them out about, you know, being a better leader. And Joel and B said, "How did this article how did this article get leaked?" Or, "I know who leaked this article." First of all, that it should that I mean that uh meeting, it shouldn't have been leaked, right? When you have a players only meeting or a staff meeting, it shouldn't have been leaked. So, he's absolutely right. But think about the things that Joel Embiid have witnessed since being in that organization, right? He's witnessed the the Ben Simmons drama, right? The standoff, right? He's witnessed James Harden come over there. He's witnessed James Harden get mad at Daryl my who they've been have who's who those two been having a great relationship since the Houston Rockets days. And we witnessed James Harden call he's witnessed James Harden call Daryl my a liar in in public right in the public media. And then all of a sudden James Harden leaves. You bring in Paul George and then all of a sudden all these things are being leaked. He can't trust the front office. The trust is gone and again we're talk here we are starting the season again for the fifth time in a row for the last five seasons. We're about to be starting the season and we're not talking about a healthy or a Philadelphia team being title contenders, but we're talking about the drama that's coming from this Philadelphia 76ers organization. Damn shame.
I I see no lies there, Perk. But Harry, can the trust be restored? I guess I mean you're a pro athlete. You did it. No. Okay. No. Whenever you have the face of your franchise, your franchise player, and it's going this deep, as Wendy and Perk just touched on, when there's no trust, but also there's no strong suit when it comes to transparency by both sides. Hell no. So, the next thing in my opinion, I I feel like that has to be done, either Joel Embiid needs to go somewhere else or Daryl my needs needs to go somewhere else. That's the next thing I think for the Philadelphia 76ers because I do not believe this can be repaired. I really don't. When but it but it's also sad though, Monica, tell me because when you look at the Eastern Conference and how it's structured right now, if you have a healthy Philadelphia 76ers team, there's no way they should not be in the mix of things. But because things are so fractured and there's so much drama and there's so much nonsense within this organization from a player side, from a front office side, no one believes that the Philadelphia 76ers can be in the mix with anything when it comes to the Eastern Conference and how it's constructed in 2025. As a consumer of basketball at large, to your point, that's a travesty of sorts.
Wendy, are any of the scenarios that HD laid out fathomable, foreseeable? I I I I think if you read this story, I don't think you're it's going to be difficult to connect with Joel Embiid 100% forever because I just think, you know, he describes in his own words why he has difficulty connecting with people. I'm not sure there's ever going to be a perfect relationship between Joel Embiid and his organization. When I think if you're talking about the 76ers, you get down to the bedrock situation. They bet $400 million a year ago on Paul George and Joel Embiid, two players who have a long history of health issues. They bet it on that and it immediately started blowing up in their face and a year later it's continuing to blow up in their face. Paul George has another knee surgery and Joel Embiid is facing uncertainty to begin another season. There's a lot of things in this that you can't necessarily control. you can control the the the uh the investment in the wagers and they made a wager that is right now not working out at all and is impossible to get out get out of. People may say Joel Embiid would need to leave Philadelphia. Guys, Joel Embiid and Paul George have two of the most four or five untradable contracts in the league right now. Forget about it. They're not going anywhere. The only chance here is making this work there. Uh, Perk, we're getting ready to go out west, but you got a final word on this one or you good?
Well, what they who they better be trying to please is Rich Paul and Tyrese Maxi because I'm telling you right now, they're on the clock and they're and right now when it comes down to pleasing or showing Tyrese Maxi, they can move in the right direction. And right now, that's not they they're not doing a great job of that. [Music]