LeBron Chose To Work Smarter Not Harder

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Support him at SoundCloud.com slash May 1st Music. In the home of Will Chamberlain, in the home of Charles Barkley, in the home of Dr. J, in the home of Moses Malone, in the home of Mo Cheeks, in the home of Andrew Tony, in the home of Aaron McKee. In the home of Clarence Weatherspoon? In the home of Joel Embiid? In the home of Maul Cal... Nope, nope, nope, not that one.

In the home of Ben Simmons? Nope, nope, not that one. In the home of Jaleel Okafor... Nope, nope, not that one. Not that one. In the home of Tyrese Maxey. In the home of V.J.

Edgecombe. In the home of Jalen Brown? A little early, a little early. But we now can say without a shadow of a doubt, in the home of LeBron Ramon James, The Philadelphia 76ers, LeBron. We talked about business versus legacy. We talked about face of the league. We talked about a lot of things on the last stream slash pod.

LeBron did the right thing. You don't go out on your way out working harder. This is textbook smarter, not harder. If you are 41, soon to be 42 years old, you do not choose to work hard. You do not choose to have to carry Spider Mitchell, Jared Allen, the beard, Evan Mobley on your back for one last ride. No, no, no, no, no. No, no.

You don't go down to South Beach and deal with the distractions of yes, Ju. Mm, mm, almost said it. Ooh. You don't go down to South Beach with the distractions of nightlife and try to carry the Nigerian freak, try to carry Idris Adebayo. You don't do that on your way out. No, you don't do that on your way out. You don't go to Minnesota and have to babysit Ant-Man, LaMelo.

You don't do that. Rudy Gobert. You don't do that. If you're the king, if you're the chosen one that we're all witnesses to, you don't do that. You don't do that. You don't even go to Denver. You don't even go to Denver and try to figure it out with Jokic, Murray, Gordon.

No, no, no. You work smarter, not harder, and you go to a team that has Joel Embiid. You go to a team that has Jalen Brown. You go to a team that has Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edgecombe. That's where you go. And that's where the king has landed. And we'll make sure to bring the ticker off the screen.

You see it here. LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million deal with a player option. Also, don't sleep on Shams making sure he sneaks in that Rich Paul is also the host of the Game Over show. You know, because you want that story first, make sure you plug my podcast in your tweet that's going to go to how many millions of people? 10 million views. So not only do we get the whole thing a clutch, we already know that, but make sure, Game Over, show host, Rich Paul. The game is the game.

You want the scope? Make sure you plug my podcast, okay? So we're going to go to the chat early I'm going to hear y'all thoughts off top before I start really going in and cooking up. All right. Shout out to Chris. Not to what I'm talking about. Hey, man, look, Deke is a legend on and off the court and even in the afterlife.

If you know, you know, if that line was true, when we all think it's true, you already know the deal. Steph Early, last year, Stephen Axe, which was the biggest story? JB or Bron getting a ring? I guess they are one and the same now. Now, that's real. I mean, the fact that we have LeBron at a place where, obviously, smarter, not harder. But also, this is intriguing for basketball reasons.

This is extremely intriguing for basketball reasons. If you were trying to assess how is this team built, Tyrese Maxey is not a point guard. So if we're going to get into the basketball piece of it, of how this works, LeBron's your point guard now. As I have been talking about, I feel like for years, but specifically over the last couple of weeks in this whole LeBron saga, starting with the whiteboard to where we're at now, is OK, if LeBron could play point, how does that look? We talked about Miami and Miami was supposed to unleash point BAM, point BAM out of Iowa, all that type of stuff. Okay, now we got Bron, assumingly with a one-and-one deal, one year guaranteed, and then next year with a player option. LeBron could play point guard.

LeBron doesn't need to drop 20 a game. Assuming health, which especially with Embiid is always a thing, he doesn't have to go out here and drop 20, nine and nine. He could legitimately cruise with an easy 15. 15 points a game. Now he may still cook up on the boards and the assists, but I would expect that. But the load is not going to be on him to go crazy. If you have Maxie, if you have Edgecombe, if you have JB, and now you have the process, if you're Bron, you should not have to score 20 a night.

The only way LeBron should be dropping 20 a night is if the Sixers are out here trying to break the 73-9 dubs record. That should be the only scenario of which LeBron should be averaging more than 15 points a game. He is not needed in that capacity on this roster as constituted right now just the hour after the announcement of him signing. Steven out here for the culture. For the culture. They're doing it for the culture. You already know the vibes.

Bron and his Kevin Love bag outlet passer to the youngins and let them run. Hey, we talked about that, right? We talked about that. We talked about that in terms of how would that fit? How would that fit? Let them youngins go. You know, I'm not going to say Bron and them heard the stream or watched the stream, but if you know ball, that's a real simple conclusion.

Who you want to get out and run with? Who makes your job the easiest? Now, I said the Minnesota thing was the simplest or the easiest lineup for him to slide into. Where he could have played the four, go bare at the five, and then you have your one, two, and three already lined up. Jaden McDaniels goes back to his natural position of the three, and then you have LaMelo and Ant in the backcourt. This gets a little bit intriguing because I still think Bron plays the four, but now you're looking at point forward, Bron. I would hope.

I would hope he get point forward point forward Bron and now the outlet passes are going to go crazy. Bill Walton should be able to be resurrected from his grave to watch what LeBron is going to do with these outlet passes. Like that's how this should go down. 10. This should be the easiest triple double year for him possible. This should be the easiest triple double year possible. 15 10 and 10.

It should be light work. for the king. If he's the king, for real, for real, 15, 10, and 10 should be light work. Chris in the chat, Brown selection I feel was based upon wanting to save another organization that has not seen success in some years. He brings a final appearance or even better, a chip there. He is a savior. And he definitely has that complex.

Look, LeBron, you know, and that's why, You know, it's really that last stream we did talk about business versus legacy. And trying to figure out what is his game plan? What is his mindset? Rich Paul was saying it was about business. Now that this is done. Was the business just making sure he kept close to the fanatics bread? Was that the business?

I talked about the business of because Boston was allegedly in the mix. Well, they're owned by a private equity fund, hedge fund group and all that. Okay, capital venturist, right? Okay, he wants to get close to that. Oh, the Mavericks were on the whiteboard because oil money, golf, etc., etc. Okay, business. You talk a lot of business on the golf course, right?

That's always the rep. Was the business piece that Rich Paul was talking about actually just making sure he stayed close to that phonetics money? it's basketball reasons but then it's also business reasons when it comes down to this signing Steven in the chat Brown's ability to control the pace late game is what this team needed yeah and unfortunately a lot of teams needed that a lot of teams needed that right so again you have a guy who you could put the ball in his hands and he's going to make the right basketball play win lose or draw we've seen that we've seen him do that even during his Laker tenure when he could have went for self he still made the right basketball play and pass it to Rui try to feed Jackson Haynes like we've seen LeBron make the right basketball play but when it comes down to this roster let me see where we got here where's that roster All right. So this is what we got. This is as of right now. They don't have LeBron on here yet, but this is as of right now. Let me see.

Let me come off that screen. All right. So y'all can hear me, but you can see my screen. Let's maximize that. All right. Cool. So now we're talking about obviously Maxie, Anthony, Simons.

I keep forgetting. Simons or Simmons? Keep forgetting. It spells Simons, but I think it's pronounced Simmons. JB, of course. You got Embiid. They got some youngins here.

They're big on Phylon. Dean Wade, of course. So the bench is a little thin unless you're really, I mean, look, there's reason to be high on Phylon, right? There's reason to be high on Phylon. If you're big on Beauchamp, I'm not going to push back on that. The bench is still a little thin to me. But it doesn't matter because this roster is all about May and June.

This roster as constituted is specifically about May and June. When you have guys, all five guys at one point in time can take over on the court. Let me see where we have that at. We got the bronze statement in a minute. I'm going to pull that up. Yep, let's pull this one up. So at any point in time, all five of these guys could take over, right?

At any point in time. JB could cook and B can cook. Edgecombe showed signs that at any moment he can go crazy and get hot and we know Maxie can cook and then you bring in Bron. This is a scenario where if you are the Knicks. And I've been talking with a lot of Knicks fans. I've been letting them have their championship hangover and allowing them to feel, you know, the glow of what it is to have a Larry OB. They have been extremely.

Resiliently confident. None of the moves up until now. I got to check their temperature. They're a little bit quiet in my group chat. They're a little quiet. But they have been silently resilient or stoically resilient in terms of they feel confident they could run it back in the East. They're like, well, we brought the whole team back except for Megan Mitch Robb and Andre Drummond.

Okay, we'll figure that out. So they feel extremely confident. Is that confidence waning now? Because again, the advantages that the Knicks have over most teams in the East is that they have wing duality. Wing duality is a thing. Wing duality meaning between Bridges and OG and even Josh Hart to a certain degree. So you got Bridges, OG, Josh Hart.

Those are interchangeable wings. When you switch off, there's no concern. There's no drop-off in defensive acumen and or ability. Not a lot of teams have that, especially to that level. Now, when you're looking at Philly between Jalen Brown, Braun and Vijay Etchcombe, that is wing duality and flexibility. When you're switching off on those screens and just picking roles, you're not concerned. Now, look, Braun is 41 years old.

And teams are still going to try him. And at times he appears as though he's food, but in essence, the brain ain't food. The body might start to be food, but the brain and the instincts are not food. So if you're talking about switching off from JB to Edgecombe to Bron, and then you still got that seven foot two Cameroonian anchoring the paint. And then you have Maxie in the passing lanes. This is a formidable defense. And that's what you're going to need to be able to go through the Knicks.

You're going to need a formidable defense. If Jalen Brown is somehow cooking Maxie, then you got Vijay. If he's cooking Vijay, then you got JB. Like the bodies you can throw. And we're in a time and space where teams now have to construct themselves to beat the Knicks. This is the bizarro reality that we are in. Where now you have to construct a roster that can beat the Knicks.

So call Anthony Towns. OK, we got Embiid. OG, we got JB. Bridges, we got Braun. Josh Hart, we got Vijay. Brunson, we got Maxie. Check up.

If I'm Philly, I'm saying check up. We good. We got our five. All that Villanova shit is cute. How's it going to be to have all them Villanova dudes come back home to Philly and take an L to the Sixers? All that Jay Rice shit is cute. All the stories and, you know, they keep running those clips back and forth of Brunson finding out Josh Hartwich traded to the Knicks.

All that shit is cute. What happens when they got to go down to Philly, got to go down to Broad Street. And they walk in and they see Jalen Brown and LeBron in addition to Maxie, Edgecombe, and Embiid. Check up. Ball up top. Ball up top. Come on, Brunson.

Keep forcing up those 30-footers. Let's see how cute that shit is when we got Brown on the outlet passes. When Maxie leaks out after you chuck up yet another three from the right side of the court. When Maxi leaks out, then what? When Vijay leaks out, then what? When JB gets the rock off the glass and goes coast to coast, then what? It's a lot.

It's a lot. It's a lot. I don't do the whole prediction thing of already going to win a championship. We have so much time to get there. We got to see how it looks on the court. We got to see how it looks when they're actually trying because they're not going to try off rip. They're not going to try off rip.

It's going to take at least to the all-star break to get a real feel of what it's going to look like. So I'm not going to get into the production stuff. What I will say, though, is it's going to be interesting to see fourth quarter, close game. Who got rock? Who got the rock? as much as they now here's going to be the real key here and I'll come off the screen for a little bit here's where the real key is going to be fourth quarter big game not just a let's say one of their first few televised nationally televised games let's say it's Boston JB returns to Boston Phillies in Boston it's been a rivalry since most of us since before most of us were born fourth quarter close game who got rocked? You're going to let JB be the hero or you're going to give it to Bron or you're going to let Maxie do what he's been doing the last three, four years or do you still give it to that seven foot two Cameroonian?

Or is it Vijay's time? That's the type of stuff I want to see get navigated. They go back to LA. They're facing the Lake Show. Who got rock on the final possession? You're just going to assume it's Bron just because he's in LA? Or do you take advantage of the size mismatch of Joel Embiid?

Or the speed mismatch of Maxie? That's going to be the stuff I want to pay attention to. That's the stuff I want to tap in on because it's going to be extremely interesting to see how this team gels. We're not going to know right away. we're not going to know there's going to be a lot of time between now and May for us to figure out just what the hell this squad is so LeBron has released a statement LeBron I thought I was done when the season ended I wasn't ready to announce it and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game. So this is storytelling, right? LeBron is like he's like what's in your phone.

He is always on cinematic mode. LeBron is always LeBron and his camp and his team is always trying to craft the most picturesque, story ask cinematic movie imaginable. Now LeBron is going to tell us he was ready to walk away. But I was pretty sure I played my last game. I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and decide, typo there, so we know that's really him, if I still love this game. I still truly love this game and I have more to give. The last few weeks have really been special.

I've never been able to have no clue what to do and take real time just to think. I've had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all out. This is my last decision. That's extremely telling. This is my last decision. So this is it. Philly, you're getting the last of LeBron James.

I'm not going for money. I'm not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship.

Make sure y'all can see all of that. I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team, and I am also excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time. Thank you, LA, Miami, Alpha Ever Love, and Northeast Ohio will always, well, forgot a word there, will always be home. So what do we think of this statement? Again, always on cinematic mode. always on cinematic mode this is my last decision that's the most telling piece because you know we talked about this on the last stream what if this is the drive for five in terms of five championships what if he gets that fifth let's say the Sixers go all the way and get a Larry OB and LeBron now has five he's got to come back right he's got to come back he's got to come back because that magical that mystical magical number six will be right there staring him in the face and as much as he wants to downplay it he's still chasing that ghost he's still chasing that ghost he's still chasing that number 23 with the bloodshot eyes he's still chasing that ghost those jaundiced eyes are still chasing him and haunting him in his sleep if he gets to five that player option is there for a reason I think if he gets to chip at five he opts in to try to get one last attempt to get number six to be able to stand toe-to-toe eye-to-eye with that jaundiced-eyed ghost. But if they don't win it, if they don't win it, I don't think he comes back.

So Philly, this is all on you. You want to make the hot take debates go crazy for all eternity? Win the championship this year so LeBron can opt into the player option so he can make one last run to try to tie Jordan. If he can tie Jordan as a Jordan, I won't say fan because fandom is a mental illness, but as someone that truly believes Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time that's not named Will Chamberlain. If he were to win a sixth championship, I don't have a lot of legs to stand on besides what I saw. All I can say is 6-0 in the NBA Finals. But it don't matter, 6-6.

It don't matter how you get there, he got to the number. There was a point in time where we thought he would never even get to 6 with the way those Cavs teams were looking and even tricking it off in Miami in the early beginning. Like, oh yeah, he ain't never going to catch Mike. Now he has stayed around long enough. keep ticking off, grab a ring at the bubble, maybe grab one more ring with Philly, maybe two with Philly. He has hung around long enough and has sustained his level of play at such a high level for long enough that he's been able to chip away at that ring lead. But if he gets to five, we talked about it the other day, if he gets to five, that puts him in the pantheon of Duncan, puts him in the pantheon of Kobe, puts him in the pantheon of Magic.

But he ain't worried about that pantheon. He ain't worried about that level. That's a stepping stone. He wants that next level, that boss level. And that jaundiced eyed ghost. He's waiting for him. He's looking down upon him.

He see him. He see him climbing, climbing for all his worth. The jaundiced eyed ghost sees him. He's like, he's trying real hard. You even, damn, another super team? Like, that's going to have to be the only pushback. That's going to be the only pushback, you know, Jordan supporters are going to have.

It's like, all right, man, you just keep going to super teams. You just keep going. You had to go link up with your man's way. Y'all conspired this at the Olympics because Larry Brown was having y'all making love to the bench. So y'all were salty. He's like, we're going to team up. We're going to do it together.

All right, cool. Cool story, bro. you had to go team up with what give me his D-Way then Pat Rowley made you feel the way you wanted a player empowerment all this type of shit okay cool you go back to Cleveland but you go back to Cleveland when they got Kyrie and make the deal to go get Kevin Love that's another super team then you make sure that the Warriors Draymond Green for whatever reason kept kicking you in the nuts He gets suspended. You're able to battle back from being down 3-1. You sneak a Larry O'B. Then you take your talents out there to Hollywood. You even remake my movie.

You make an even worse version of the movie that I made that was bad. And it took a pandemic. Oh, then you go make a trade for another top tier player. So you have another super team, by the way, which your man's who you saved. When you were coming into the league and you saw him at the airport selling throwback jerseys. Oh, that guy who you helped groom into a agent and start an agency with his top client. You just so happen to make a trade for.

OK, super team. But it took a pandemic for you to go get a championship. Against a one man band team in the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler. then when they got through with you they traded for the slovenian harden in the middle of the night now not only do you go to another team but you go to a super team because that team had already traded for jaylen brown so not only do we got joellen b we got jaylen brown we got maxi we got edge come and now we bring you in super team that's gonna be the only pushback that's gonna be the only pushback the Jordan faithful are going to have. Because what else you got if he's able to get to six? What else? If he gets to five, six is always more than five.

But if he's able to get to six, if he gets a Larry OB this year, you know he's opting in because he wants six. What's the argument then? Let me know in the chat. Steven in the chat ball distribution going to be one of the biggest questions Bron the most effective with the ball but Brown and Maxie knee touches to stay in rhythm and that's why I think Bron this really needs to be his Magic Johnson era I've talked about it here for a very long time this needs to be his Magic Johnson swan song channel the guy you were originally supposed to be the evolution of channel the guy who you were the evolution of. Magic 6'9", you're 6'9". He was a facilitator. You were a natural-born facilitator.

You were a scorer. You were a scorer. No one's debating whether LeBron James can score the basketball, but innately from a basketball brain, acumen, IQ perspective, he is a facilitator. Let him channel magic. Magic brawn. That's what the Philadelphia 76ers, if I'm that brain trust, I'm telling you, hey, look, you've done all the scoring. You're proving you can score.

For some people, initially when he was coming into the league, there was still some questions about whether he could score. It was silly, but it was a thing. Man has the most points ever. Hung around long enough that he can even overtake Kareem. got it you can score now can you give us the magic johnson shit now can you finally do it can you finally do it what you were showing us when you were a teenager at abcd at all those adidas camps all the highlights yeah we saw the dunks and all that shit but we also saw him throwing no look passes some of my best lebron moments are passes yes we have the chase down block. Yes, we have the dunks, especially the dunks over who was it? John Lucas, the third.

Who else was it? Was it Damon Jones? Who, who we do? He jumped over. Like we have some great. No, that was the jet, right? Jason Terry.

Yeah. Dunking over Jason Terry. Like we had those moments. But my favorite LeBron pass might've been a pass for the Chris Mim or Mazgov. We had the no look. Palm the ball. Fake the pass that way.

Looked away past it that way. Easy dunk. It's like my favorite. I'm like, that's who he is. That's him. The scoring and all that is nice. I'm like, that's who he was supposed to be all the time.

That guy. Will we get it? Will we get it? Steven in the chat you know Jordan fans won't acknowledge LeBron if he goes to if he goes to six they'll call it a longevity achievement but are they wrong though as someone that might be one of those Jordan fans although I'm not a fan those are mental illness but as someone that's in the camp of Jordan is the best I've ever seen there is something to I technically won six champion, well, I can't say six in a row. I went to the final six times. I won all six. There's something to that as opposed to I went to the championship.

What would it be if he goes to two more? What, 14 times? And I won six? There is something to that. We can't just poo-poo that. That don't mean nothing. There is something to I was 6-0 in the finals as opposed to I was 6-8 in the finals.

There's something to that. Yes, you got there eight more times, but you also lost eight more times. Would you rather be the guy who never lost or the guy that went more but lost significantly more than he won? this is his last decision hmm alright let's look at what this Philly thing let's look at what this Philly thing could be oh if you want the details of the contract I have that up here obviously you see it here the first year is only 3.8 mil so he's basically going to get the vet minimum LeBron James at the end of his career getting the vet minimum but the most important piece is this here this is the most important piece because I think this has everything to do with if they win this upcoming season if they win this upcoming season he's opting in or I'm of the belief that he would opt in if they do not win this year I think we're going to be around this time next year waiting for him to make his mind up again because why come back just to win a fifth I see coming back to win a sixth but why come back to win a fifth that doesn't put you in any different conversation unless you really think the LeBron versus Kobe thing is real I don't you're either Kobe staying or LeBron staying and those two sides will never come to some kind of stalemate but that LeBron Jordan thing it's enough for him to come back if he can get to six Stephon what does this mean for the Cavs who do you go after next shit ain't nobody left ain't nobody worth a damn left we'll go get Jalen Duren like I I never felt the Cavs thing was real like I'll let y'all know somebody from down in Miami hit me saying yo Braun South Beach done deal but working in this industry you meet people, you connect with people, you exchange information with people and people be texting you random shit all the time, stuff that they're hearing. My man's told me, oh, my man's got a plug in the front office. He said this. Oh, my man's a scout.

He said they're doing this, all this type of stuff. And I always just, I take it for what it is. But if there's only one person telling me that, I usually, I'm not going to run with that. I'm not going to start insinuating that, whatever. The Philly thing, I didn't hear no smoke. I didn't, I It wasn't text nothing or whatever, but it just made a lot of sense. We talked about the teams that made the most sense, the teams that made the most sense, but the teams that were the most stacked.

Because at 41, soon to be 42 years old, there's no reason for that man to be working harder and not smarter. So now if you're the Cavs, I don't know who's left. I don't know. But that's an old roster. Let's go to... Where is it? Why won't they let me do it?

Okay, here. Teams. Teams, there it is. Okay, Cleveland. It takes too much time to get to the roster. All right. I mean, are they essentially running back?

They lost Levert, right? So they lost Levert. There's no one who's impactful that's left unless you want to go get Jalen Duren. And Jalen Duren's in a stalemate with Detroit. He wants more than 35 mil. but Detroit's trying to get him for the short? Is he willing to take an even smaller contract to go to Cleveland?

But he's restricted, ain't he? Is he restricted? He's restricted, so that might be a sign of trade. But as it stands right now, if you're Cleveland, this is who you got. I don't see anyone that's a pending free, I don't see anyone that would be worth a damn. Let's go to SpotTrack and let's see who's available still. But now we should get at least a little bit more movement in regards to guys that are free agents.

NBA Home. Top 2650 free agents. All right, so this is who's left. Let me move to this side of the screen, or let me go over here. Okay. All right, so we got LeBron. He's off the board.

Jalen Dern is still available. Norman Powell is a bull. Walker Kessler is a Laker. Yeah, I don't know who you're getting here. I don't know who you're getting here. And this needs to be updated because a lot of these contracts have been resolved already. There's not a lot of names here.

So the move for the Cavs is you just got to hope, hope and pray for injury if you really want to keep it a buck because you went from being the number one seed in the East to where now, or excuse me, my bad, Detroit was number one, number four seed in the East. I don't see how they're number four this year. Knicks will be better or Knicks will be up there. Miami will be up here now. Philly will be up here now. I would still say Boston just because of cosplay Kobe Jason Tatum he should be good enough to have this have that roster be a top four seed if Kawhi is ever allowed to play in Toronto that team will be right there like all of a sudden the East the East has gotten a lot older with Kawhi and LeBron coming over but they're still very good so Giannis teaming up in Miami, board man, well, at some point, going back to the six, and now you have Bron and Philly. If you're Cleveland, there's no way you're touching higher than third.

Like fourth would be a really great achievement if they could spin that back. If they could run that back and hit the fourth seed, I would be very, very impressed. I have them in that 6-7 range, to be honest. Because even if Detroit doesn't bring back Jalen Duren, I think Jalen Duren is going to have to just take that contract and then just figure it out. If Jalen Duren comes back, that's still a really good team. With Cade Cunningham and Thompson Twin, that's still a really good team. Boston with Cosplay Kobe, you got to put them in the mix, right?

They're a top four team. So Detroit should be a top four team. Boston with cosplay Kobe could be a top four team, maybe a top five, more than top four. Let's put them at five. Detroit could be at four. And then you're looking at the Knicks, Philly, and Miami. Cleveland's looking at six.

And don't let Boardman go crazy in Toronto. Because then they're looking at seven. So that Cleveland thing, it was brawn a bust. and that was the thing we spoke about when we were breaking down the whiteboard for LeBron and them. When we broke down this whiteboard I said Cleveland needs him the most. I said that here. Cleveland needed him the most.

And that's why he ain't go there because he ain't trying to do all that heavy lifting. He is not in the scope of trying to do all this heavy lifting. You could damn near say he went to the team that needed him the least, which is great if you're 41 years old. That's absolutely phenomenal if you're 41 years old and you get to go to the team that needs you the least. Because Philly was going to be a top four, a top four team in the East without LeBron. But they're not thinking top four. They're thinking we got to go through the Knicks and win a Larry OB.

You need LeBron. Yeah, there is nothing worthwhile enters our free agency Go ahead and chat Chris in the chat Cavs may be stuck with Harden at this point I think his money was tied if they landed yeah yeah no he'll be back in he's re-upping he's re-upping unfortunately there's not a lot of wiggle room like if you want to get some vets like okay if you're Bradley Beal now here's where it gets interesting if you're Bradley Beal you can go to Miami. You can take a short and go to Miami. Or do you take a vet mid-level exception type bag, depending on how much money Harden gives back, and go to Cleveland, where you could be more useful in Cleveland, whereas Miami, you're not starting, but you'll be a guy off the bench. If you're Bradley Beal, where do you go? Steph in the chat, you talked about Braun passing the baton. Can he pass it to Maxie as far as the face if they get this chip off?

I don't see Maxie as that type. Let me think on it. Let me think on it. Let me see. Is Maxie, is Tyrese Maxie a face? no what it could do though still highly unlikely what it could do though Jalen Brown's image is a little bit wishy-washy right now the non-melanated people don't know how to feel about Jalen Brown they're a little scared, they're a little nervous of Jalen Brown. The narratives have worked from even before he got into the league all the way to now.

Those narratives have been very successful in the perception of Jalen Brown. And again, Jalen Brown got caught on what a hot mic or whatever talking shit about Bronny, right? So I'm not going to sit here and say Bron is now going to take Jalen Brown underneath his wing. But what I will say is it is unlikely that Braun could pass the baton to Maxi, but I do think Braun, just the presence of Braun can go a long way as to sanitizing Jalen Brown's reputation. Being next to Braun, having that Teflon being right next to you, no matter what. Now, Jalen Brown in a city like Philly is a great match. There's strong black culture soaked all throughout Philly.

You talk about polar opposites, even though Boston has some, you know, Roxbury and all that. If you know, you know type shit when it comes to black culture. But in regards to Philly, Philly. Black shit personified. So that's a real good symbiotic relationship. Jalen Brown being in Philly. But then you add on the Braun factor.

Maybe now LeBron could finish the Malcolm X book. Maybe Jalen Brown's greatest contribution could be encouraging LeBron to finish the autobiography of Malcolm X. Because we know LeBron never finished it. Never finished it. But do I think he can turn Maxie into the face? I don't think Maxie has it. I don't think Maxie is a personality like that.

I don't think he has charisma like that. I don't see it. I don't see it. No, not Maxi. Now, Bron could do some things for Joel Embiid's image as well. See, just the aura of LeBron makes other guys' personalities come to light, right? Like, J.R.

Smith was always like that, right? But in New York, it was deemed as a negative because he was outside, he was partying, whatever. But then he got next to Bron. And even though, you know, we got the meme of that and all that, right? But still, J.R. Smith's image got rehabbed just by being around Braun. Kyrie, for better or for worse, Kyrie can have whatever thoughts he has about the whole Braun thing and Braun overstepping the boundaries, trying to act like that was really his daddy when Kyrie had a daddy.

Like all that stuff, you know, be that as it may, right? But Kyrie had a reputation of a selfish player, a losing player and then the aura of Bron and that chip and coming back from 3-1 and both of them going for 40 pieces on the way to coming back from 3-1 did a lot to rehab his image. Anthony Davis, street clothes, all that type of shit. Man's got a ring. Like the aura of being around LeBron. Kevin Love was thought to be just a guy that was a stat stuffer. Good guy on a bad team, whatever, whatever, right?

Get next to Bron. Now we notice the little things that he does. Oh, he's not that bad on defense. Oh, shit. He locked up Steph Curry on the last possession of the game in game seven. The aura of being around LeBron. I think the aura of being around LeBron can help not only Jalen Brown, but even Joel Embiid, who to the casuals, he's a coulda, shoulda, woulda.

We know both. We all know how Joel Embiid actually is. The problem is just, you know, his body just, his body gives up. His body gives up to him, gives up on him. He's been snake bit by some bad drafting and trusting the process and all that bullshit, bad coaching, all the stuff, right? And then also his own pension, shooting too many goddamn threes, all that stuff, not being aggressive in the moment. All that stuff is valid.

Playing next to LeBron, it could go a long way to cleansing, getting some of that off your docket, clearing up some of that. Like playing with LeBron is like putting some of your old baggage into the recycle bin. And if you're able to get a Larry OB, you can then clear out that trash bin. And somehow it just all magically goes away. So, no, I don't think Maxie could be the face. I don't think Maxie has it. I think the only places where LeBron could legitimately have passed the baton would be San Antonio or Minnesota.

I think those are the only two places where he could have legitimately went and passed a baton to a teammate on the way out. Chris in the chat, Westbrook and DeRozan looking for places. Let's see. Westbrook in the beard again? I don't want to see that. I could see Westbrook in Miami. I wouldn't be mad at that.

DeRozan's a funny one. DeRozan. Cleveland could need Cleveland needs another three right because they lost Dean Wade who was a four slash three who's replacing Levert and Dean Wade it was supposed to be LeBron I guess right so if you get DeMar DeRozan I mean it's something is it great no it's something though right like it's something. Yeah, Cleveland needed him the most and he didn't go there. Now they're stuck. That's just because Minnesota still should feel good about where they're at. They got LaMelo.

They got the black hole Julius Randle up out of there. They should feel good. So let's revisit the whiteboard, right? Let's revisit the whiteboard of these teams. And let me come down. Do I need to go down here or where we want to be? Or do we want to be over here?

Is it easier to be over here? It's easier to be over here. Out of all these teams, oh yeah, there's two losers here. So out of this whiteboard where we have the Spurs, the Cavs, the Knicks, the Nuggets, the T-Wolves, the Heat, the Sixers, the Mavs, Boston, the Warriors. The two biggest losers are Golden State and Cleveland. Golden State and Cleveland are the two biggest losers. Because now what do you do if you're the Warriors?

Now what? Draymond was popping off, talking all that shit. I'm going to play golf with LeBron. We're going to recruit him. Wardell talking about, yeah, we pitched him on playing basketball, being with friends, all that shit for LeBron to go play with the easiest option imaginable. He don't like y'all like that. He cool with y'all in the offseason.

Cool with y'all in the group chat. He ain't trying to be on no plane for six months, six, seven months out the year, potentially eight months if you get to Larry OB. Eight months out of the year with y'all. He ain't trying to do all that. He ain't trying to do all that. You think LeBron want to be around Draymond that much? Draymond probably thinks that.

But do you think LeBron actually thinks that? So the Warriors are the second biggest loser. The Cavs by far are the biggest losers because they were the team that most needed LeBron. But the Warriors now are stuck with, again, having the habitual nut-hitter Draymond Green hold that roster, hold that organization in that front office and ownership group hostage for all these years will be the biggest detriment to Steph Curry's career, the back half of it. The Warriors are going to waste away the back half of Wardell, Stephen Curry's career because of his allegiance to the habitual nutheader, Draymond Green. They're the second biggest loser. Dallas was never really a factor.

I don't think Boston was ever a factor outside of having proximity to the private equity hedge fund group. Miami did not need LeBron. It would have been an embarrassment of riches. I mean, obviously you could argue Philly doesn't, but Miami didn't need it. They got their big fish in Giannis. Minnesota got their big fish and LaMelo Denver could have used LeBron but I think they feel as long as they got Jokic and Murray and Gordon, they're fine the Knicks are fine, they got a Larry OB, they're fine the Spurs, now that they have an actual coach on the bench next to their actual head coach they should feel better about themselves but Cleveland's the one Cleveland needed LeBron and the fact that no Darius Garland actually factored into this is wild Stephon in the chat three of the starting five on the Sixers could be after this on court on Team USA in a few years it's crazy to think about that no for sure I mean, when you look at this roster, this starting lineup. All right, let's go ahead and have some crazy takes, right?

Let's go ahead and start some crazy takes. Is this the best starting lineup LeBron has ever been with? Is this the best starting lineup LeBron James has ever played for? Kind of have to think so. He's never had a center as good as Joel Embiid. As much as I love Anthony Davis, healthy Anthony Davis, we know he's not a real center. He's never played with the wing as good as Jalen Brown.

Now you could do the argument of Dwayne Wade versus Maxie. Edgecombe, I mean, this would be his second year in the league. I can't put him in that pantheon of anybody else yet. But in terms of one through five, is this the most talented one through five LeBron James has ever been a part of? That's not an Olympic team. To be 41 years old and go on the way out and play on the best starting five of your career, that's kind of wild. That's absolutely wild.

Alright, let's see what else we got here Try to hang on for a little bit more I do have to hit the gig But once this news drops I definitely gotta do a stream before Before I go to the gig Let's see what else We got some tea on the timeline It's a good name for a stream Timeline tea An NBA coach reportedly told Miami Heat to stay away from Russell Westbrook because he's difficult to coach. An NBA source who has relationships with Eric Spolster and other coaches said that a coach that Spolster trusts told him that he advised the Heat to not sign Westbrook, asserting that he's too difficult to coach. the Miami Heat are expected to contact DeMar DeRozan so you lose out on LeBron you spin the block and go get DeMar DeRozan that doesn't move the needle at all for me in terms of Miami but you got to fill out that roster they have no depth they have no depth so they got to fill out that roster they lost Norman Powell they gave up everybody else in the trade to go get Giannis so DeMar DeRozan filling out the bench not horrible but it doesn't move the needle for me the Warriors could now pivot and look to upgrade their roster via trade after missing out on LeBron James who they gonna trade? who they gonna trade? they have been siphoning off the young pieces on that roster for the last four to five years who is left on that roster that's tradable and tradable that can actually be an upgrade to hoop with Wardell and the habitual nut hitter and Jimmy Butler. Who? LeBron James reportedly asked Anthony Edwards what would happen if he didn't join him in Minnesota and reportedly said he'd be okay because he's going to tear LeBron's head off every time they play each other.

I'm telling you that the Minnesota thing, that this whiteboard, this is why this whiteboard was so instrumental. Because it made the most sense. I legitimately think it probably came down to Minnesota or Philly. Because the Miami thing, as much as it would have been a storybook thing, a Hallmark movie type of thing, you still got the Pat Rowley stuff there. He still thinks he's the guy. Spoh is locked in. LeBron likes to come in and have some say.

There's a reason why LeBron left Miami. They could have ran it back. Chris Box was going to re-up. D-Wade was going to re-up. LeBron decided, nah, I'm out. Because the control he was looking for was not going to be given to him. he could have had that control in Minnesota you think Alex Rodriguez A-Rod was going to say no to LeBron athlete to athlete star to star superstar to superstar you don't think A-Rod knew the deal A-Rod who took advantage of his own stardom to have control when he basically told the Mets when he was a pending free agent it's 24 players and then me.

Like 24 plus one. Like I'm the one. Then there's 24 of the dudes. Like so there's rules for me and then you can have rules for the other 24. Like you don't think that guy would understand that when LeBron's coming to your squad you're going to have to relinquish some control? I think it probably came down to Minnesota or Philly. I don't know if we will ever get that tee.

But I would not be surprised if that's how that went down. Will the Warriors ever be able to land another superstar to play alongside Steph Curry? I mean, they got one in Jimmy Butler, right? I thought the Jimmy Butler thing was... Funny how that works. Philadelphia wasn't seriously in the mix for LeBron until the 76ers acquired Jalen Brown. Again, LeBron wanted to work somewhere where the job was not going to be difficult.

What else is Sean saying? He's not doing anything else. People are just reading the article and pulling stuff from the article. Okay. All right. So that's that. so we begin and end with the bottom line of LeBron James despite what people were texting despite what Kendrick Perkins said he knew or heard from a guy that he knows is close and he's going to go home LeBron goes to Philly LeBron goes to the most stacked team that had a roster spot available for him He goes to a team that has an ownership group that has a lot of power in and around the game of sports.

We know LeBron wants to be a future owner in this league. It makes a lot of sense to lock in with the dude who is close and runs Fanatics. Makes a lot of sense. Wasn't he at Fanatics Fest and all that? The deal might have been done at Fanatics Fest. Might have signed the contract at Fanatics Fest. This is business Rich Paul said it, business This is business It's not private equity hedge funds It's not playing golf in Dallas With the oil tycoons It's I want a team So let me go link up with the fanatics dude Tap in with the fanatics dude And keep building inroads in the sports ownership landscape because I want a team.

Wild, wild, wild. There's going to be a lot of bad takes just to forewarn you. There's going to be a lot of bad takes of where this is going. how good this team's going to be. Somebody's going to jump out here and say they're going to be better than what the Warriors did at 73-9. Someone's going to say that they're going to go 74-8. You know someone's going to say it.

Or that's going to be a topic on someone's bottom line of will the 76ers break the Warriors record? There's going to be a lot of just bad takes and spitballing takes because that's the world we're in right now. That's the hot takersphere that we're in. what else we got Mr. Whiteboard we got LeBron did he make any other statements or that was it nope that was it alright that's that there NBA Central we did come off the screen look up something else where's Legion Hoops at trying to hit all the aggregate sites to make sure we're not missing anything before we get on up out of here. Appreciate y'all tapping in on the stream. If you have not hit the like button already, there's a good amount of y'all in here.

If you have not hit the like button already, please go ahead and do so. Here's a good point. No player has won the NBA Finals with four different teams. LeBron has a chance to be the first. Player empowerment. It's another good tweet. They sacrificed that Heat social media guy for nothing.

So the Heat allegedly, or not allegedly, it was real. They had a press conference YouTube video scheduled and it got leaked. So they fired the guy that was running their YouTube account and immediately posted his job. Only for LeBron to go to Philly. Y'all snatched a man's career because y'all thought y'all were getting LeBron. Nasty work. It's a good question.

What about Bronny? Will Bronny be a sixer? His contract is guaranteed. I don't know if I'm Philly if I'm doing that. Alright, now this is, you know I don't like to get into all this shit right here But just to play this out Championship odds The OKC Thunder Are still Wow I'm a little surprised by this But again, this is all marketing and shit like that But just playing it off as if this is legit Thunder with a 24% chance of winning the championship, the Spurs at 19, the 76ers at 12, and Nick's tape, the defending champions, at 9. Are the Spurs better than the 76ers? I could see why someone would say OKC is.

Are the Spurs a better team as of right now than the Sixers with LeBron James? Stephon Castle Tyrese Maxey Advantage Maxey Vassal or Vijay Etchcombe ooh that's tough that might be a push but I might go Vijay I might go Vijay there Vijay Etchcombe Champagny or Jalen Brown Come on. And who is the four? Let's see. Castle. Oh, De'Aaron Fox is in there, right? De'Aaron Fox are.

Yeah, how are the Spurs? Nah, the Spurs are not a better team than the Philadelphia 76ers right now. The Spurs are not. Now, again, Wemby versus Embiid. Some would say that's advantage. Spurs, I'm more inclined to say it's at work. a wash.

It's a push. Now, if Wimby comes back and he's put on 15, 20 pounds, if he gets on that Giannis weight training program, different story. But if he comes back looking like Slim Vic and not Big Vic, I don't see a scenario where the Spurs are a better team than the Sixers right now. OKC, SGA over Maxie, give me SGA. Jalen Williams or Edgecombe give me Jalen Williams I think unfortunately all the rest is advantage Philly all the rest is advantage Philly so what are you talking about Kaysan Wallace or Jalen Brown what are we doing it's weird, very very weird if you have not subscribed to the channel you should go ahead and do so. We've been breaking down the LeBron James signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. It is a two-year deal, which is really a one-in-one deal.

He will sign with one year guaranteed at $3.8 million. The next year, 2027-2028, will be a $4 million deal, which is a player option. My thesis is that if the 76ers win a championship the first year, I think LeBron will opt into that player option to try to come and equal Michael Jordan with six championships. If LeBron and the Sixers do not win a championship and he does not get to five, I do not see a scenario of why LeBron would come back and opt in for one more year at $4 million. Let me know your thoughts in the chat. And if you're catching this on the replay in the comments, Is LeBron going to Philly to get that fifth championship? And if he gets to that fifth championship, do you think it's a guarantee he's going to opt in for that player option so he can try to catch Mike?

Let's see what else we got. That might be it. Yep, I don't see nothing else. Too crazy. All right, if y'all are good in the chat, I'm good. I wanted to make sure I jumped on here. As soon as that news dropped, I was like, oh, let me start to cook up a thumbnail.

Let me start to get the cameras set up and the lights and all that stuff going because I got to do this before I hit the gig. So if you have not subscribed to the channel already, I encourage you to do so. We are growing a community of ball knowers here on this channel. I go by the name of The Sam D. I am a almost 20-year veteran in the field of sports media. I try to take that information and that knowledge that I have acquired over the years and the contacts and the links that I have made over the years and funnel that information to you here. So if you want to be up to date on the latest information, up to date on real information, not bias takes, not algorithm takes, not takes fake contrarian takes, actual ball knowing information and having people in the chat like you've seen here today that are also ball knowers, come join the community.

Come join. It's like welcome to Defro. If you don't want your hot takers trying to be all up in your videos and all that type of stuff, come over here to Defro. we just want to get the information out there we just want to shoot the shit have some fun, have some jokes and all that type of stuff then talk ball you know what it is this has been the V10B podcast a podcast that is talking about sports and sports media in addition to other things soon we will be talking those other things the brand is growing, the brand is evolving walk with me, stay with me this podcast is available on all major podcasts and platforms don't forget to subscribe and rate start something less tell a friend if you're into the visual component holler at the the samd youtube channel at the samd that's t-h-e-e-s-a-m-d for all my thoughts on tech that channel is now up and running and is strong at shill free tech on youtube thank you again for listening to this episode i will catch you again on the next one i go by the name of the samd this has been the The Sandy Podcast. I'm out.