Things got heated between the Nets and 76ers.

So if I'm not mistaken, it was the first time Ben Simmons had been back to Philadelphia since he basically bailed on that franchise and then chickened out on playing a game last year. And it went as you would have expected. The fans weren't happy and it got a little chippy between the Sixers and the Nets. Sixers won a close game. Joel Embiid was unimpressed and I love it. And even Doc Rivers is talking about it was probably too much for the game.

But I think I think he thought it was a good thing. My friend Kanata Edwards, CBS Sports works with our friends Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander on the Ion College Basketball Podcast. And he joins us on the Adam Gold Show. Let's just start there. I'm going to ask you about the Panthers in a second, but that's good. I mean, I like rivalries born out of animosity. I like better than geography rivalries where the combatants don't like each other. It's even better when the combatants are on the court trying to guard one another. Thoughts on Embiid versus Simmons. It went like I said, it's like we all kind of expected it to be this kind of animosity almost.

I mean, quite honestly, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm really surprised that Ben Simmons tried to be aggressive in the third quarter. C.J. Tucker clearly tried to say something and it ended up being relatively ineffective, unfortunately. The Ben Simmons that we saw in the first few years is gone. And unfortunately the Ben Simmons that we deal with now is always just going to be seen as a high level role player. And unfortunately, like that's not going to be good enough for the money that they're paying him.

Unfortunately, it gets me back to this. And this is why I've always been skeptical of Ben Simmons. And there's no doubt that there is a level of talent there that has not been tapped.

Right. He had he has not got it's the the only thing we only use what, 10 percent of our own brain capacity. To me, that's Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons is the human brain. Like he has only used 10 percent of his own basketball ability. My problem with Ben Simmons is that he is an unwilling offensive participant. And if that's who you are, then you cannot be great for a great team.

You can't be because those in order to be that you have to be willing to fail. And he is terrified of missing a shot, which is why he passed up the layup three years ago in the playoffs. And that's the root of their of the feud between Simmons and Embiid, right?

Absolutely. It's just he's afraid he's in his own head. He is one of those people that clearly just needs the freedom to fail. And as someone that has gotten the maximum someone that has been the first overall pick, there is something to say that, yo, he can't fail and he's not he doesn't have the latitude to fail. Unfortunately, this is a sport where failure is going to happen to 98 percent of us. The only people that are really excluded from that are Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, for the most part. And even in Jordan's case, there's the 80s that no one likes to talk about. But with Ben Simmons, unfortunately, like this, he's just not good enough. And if he's not going to be this if he's going to be this high level role player, thankfully, he is not being asked to do more or he doesn't have to do more in two weeks to three weeks when Kevin Durant comes back from that from that injury. And he can go back to being just a defender, just a facilitator. But unfortunately, it's that that mental block that so many of us can have at points that have turned him into something, again, that watches him just waste his time right now.

Kenana Edwards, not to describe is joining us here on The Adam Gold Show. Here's the thing about Simmons and when Durant comes back, he can just sink back into the background and be just a useful piece. But at some point, that salary precludes the Brooklyn Nets from getting somebody that they need.

What is their path forward? And ultimately, you have not been bullish on the Nets future. Ultimately, is that basically does that put a ceiling on just how good they can be?

I don't think there's I don't think the feeling like like the one with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving has made me think that the ceiling is higher than it should be. But also at the same point, I would tell you that the buyout market is going to be robust because we see again, we've seen all the trade people rattling all the time, right? Oh, these teams want this X amount of picks X amount of this and ends up ends up happening.

No deal gets done. And then you have a whole bunch of veterans that are going to look for new spots. The Charlotte Hornets have a couple Kelly Oubre, Mason Plum, which surprised me if neither one of them were traded and ended up on the buyer's market and buyout market and somehow ended up in Brooklyn. No, this team is going to end up getting a veteran or two that's going to help them. Another big wing that's going to help them defend maybe a big that can spell Nick Clarkson who is having an all defense, all NBA defensive team type of season. I think the ceiling is higher than I initially thought it was. But I also think that they're the type of team that just need buyouts guys that can credibly play to just lessen the wear and tear on Kyrie and Kevin Durant till they get to March and March, April, and then we'll see where we are from there.

And they should be fairly hot at that point too. All right, so let me go to another rivalry that I think snuck up on people. And first, just out loud, I want to say that I love the fact that the top four teams in the Western Conference are non-traditional powers. I love the fact that we're talking about Denver and Sacramento and New Orleans. I love that and Memphis.

I love all of it. Are the Warriors and Grizzlies right now the best rivalry in the league? Yes, it is. But again, it's one of those things like I only consider a rivalry if it's competitive. At this point, the Memphis Grizzlies have not been competitive at all with the Golden State Warriors in any iteration.

And at this point, I want to run this by you, Adam. What do you think? How close are we to calling the Memphis Grizzlies Gen Z, but a lot of things? Because we've got to be close, right? You never really want anything but talk a lot, right? Like we're kind of getting close to that, aren't we?

Yes. The thing is the Grizzlies have only been the Grizzlies like good Grizzlies for a year. So, I mean, I'm going to give them a little bit more time to get through this.

But yeah, if they butt their heads against the Warriors or another team again and don't advance, then I think the pressure is on the following year. But what's the difference between this? And I realize the errors are different. What's the difference between this and the fact that the Bulls couldn't get through the Pistons for the first few years until they finally did? There isn't much. The only difference is winning. And that's the thing.

If they're going to take these lessons and apply them and become something that eventually the Warriors can't handle over a seven game series and cool, that's when they become the Bulls. But for right now, all I see is a bunch of Gen Z guys. And I hate to sound like this because this makes me sound older than I actually am. But it's one of those like at some point you got to shut up and play. There can't be all this talking. There can't be all this. I'm not worried about anybody in the West because clearly you're seven and seven. Since those comments have been said and you haven't heard and mind you, your own three on this road trip right now could be the Lakers and Shannon truck. If we throw that in there again, like there's a lot of this where unfortunately you've got to be able to win these games. If you're as good as you say you are, Denver should not be lapping you when it comes to the wins and losses, even though you're just having an MVP level season. The problem is at some point, like these guys have in order to be this unlikable, you got to win. And until you win, I really can't take you seriously.

Nada the Scribe is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show at Nada the Scribe on Twitter. This is not a yells at cloud segment. I love it. Look, I understand what you're saying though. You do have to eventually shut up and go about the business of playing and winning. But the Grizzlies are super fun to watch.

How is it possible that Steph Curry got ejected last night? Well, let's let's be real. You call mouth mouthpiece and I think somebody in the crowd or something like that at some point, like that's disgusting.

We've gone through everything related in the last three years. You know what? I think that's a defensible objection. I am completely OK with that. Let's be a little bit more sanitary. That is not very sanitary with that thing. And I just know I'm OK with that. That is equivalent to someone spitting on somebody. I completely understand that each step should have been objective. And this is again, now we've extended this not a yells at cloud.

I appreciate this so much. You just took like one of the stars of the history of the sport off the court. He didn't even yell with the referee. He was mad at Jordan Poole.

See, what he should have done was he should have thrown his mouthpiece at Jordan Poole. Absolutely. I'm OK with that.

I am completely OK with that. Throw it at your teammate. Embarrass your teammate. Humiliate him.

Show him up. So don't hit anybody in the crowd. Don't hit a referee with the mouthpiece. There's got to be some sort of standard. We have to have some sort of baseline. He should have just told Draymond Green to take care of it.

That would have been fine. All right. I had this discussion yesterday. I'm going to get to the Panthers in a second, but I had this discussion yesterday after watching college basketball games involving State and Carolina and Duke over the last, you know, four or five days. I get I keep growing increasingly angry that we we we the the love affair with the charge call and other things in college basketball that bother me. So I have three things I want instituted in college basketball. I want your thoughts on this. You spent a lot of time with Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander.

They I'm sure they've talked about this. Can we get rid of the block charge? Can we include continuation in the college game? I don't understand if a guy's going into a drive to the basket and he's fouled and he takes another step and lays it up and a great basket. Why are we waving that off? Because the foul occurred before he left the ground. And can we also get to the quarters system since men's college basketball is the only Neanderthal game that uses halves only?

I agree with all of these and I would add add one more. OK. And we advance the ball on a timeout. Oh, you're you're just trolling, Mike, to, of course, see the sporting news, too.

It's not even trolling. It's just I want the sport to join the 21st century like the rest of them. Like you said, this is a Neanderthal sport sometimes. And I want I want college basketball to continue to be interesting. My finances rely on college basketball being interesting. Unfortunately, there are times and the way that the sport is run, sometimes it seems like it's the express purpose to lose money instead of make money outside of the NCAA tournament.

I would like this court to actually evolve and allow the people in charge to evolve the sport so that I can help sell the sport because it makes me money. So therefore, I agree with everything you said. All right.

So because it bleeds down. Did you did you see the video I sent you? I texted you a video. Did you see that? I did see that. OK. Was that a travel?

Not. I said I said not a video, but old school me. Old school me absolutely thinks that's a trouble. New school me that understands that there's a lot of this stuff that goes by the wayside, understands why it wasn't called travel, even though I wish it was.

No, no. That was my kid. They called for a travel and I was so annoyed because it wasn't a travel. He picked up. He picked up his dribble.

He took two steps. He's going to the basket and he was fouled. And I'm thinking, why are we doing this? Why are we discouraging these kids from playing basketball?

Why are we just discouraging kids from playing basketball? Come on now. You know the rest about them. We're all there to see them. Adam, you know that it makes me so angry.

Oh, man. Referees love. They love calling travels. They don't even call travels when they should. When a guy takes two steps before he starts his move to the basket, that's way worse than even taking a third step on his way to the basket. It's not even close, not even on the same planet.

All right. When the white puff of smoke comes out of Main Street, a Bank of America stadium, and David Tepper selects Steve Wilkes to be his head coach, how will you feel? That he finally listened to those around him, that he finally read the room right for once in his ownership tenure.

That'd be the first time he's ever read the room right. If Steve Wilkes is the guy, it makes more sense than Frank Wright. It didn't make sense to go with the Ben Johnson route. Ben Johnson didn't make sense. If Shane Stikin wasn't going to be your guy, then he was the only coordinator that kind of made sense. Mike Kaska did not make sense. Ken Dorsey made even less sense and then continued to eliminate himself further with his play calling in Buffalo. Steve Wilkes was the only guy that ever made sense, and it also depends on how you look at this.

Me personally, this should not have taken this long. This should have been Steve Wilkes' job the day after the season. As you go through your sham hires, you hire him at some point last week, you do all this stuff, you get it over with, and you worry about fixing the program, letting him build a staff, apparently a good staff, a very foolproof staff, depending on who you talk to. This guy has gotten and understands the DNA of Panther football, and if you can't hire that guy, and it's not obvious, it's very questionable to wonder how well you're going to read the room with other situations in mind, namely when the Pepperdome gets go, how much are you actually going to be able to read the room with that as well? So when I hear Jonathan Jones say that David Tepper now values leadership, that I have bells going off that says that Steve Wilkes is going to be the head coach, and I am on board with that because a couple of weeks ago, the mantra was David Tepper wants an offensive whiz kid. Suddenly, suddenly, it's leadership, which is what it should have been all along. cannot edwards at none of the scribe on twitter tell gary and matt i said hello i'll talk to you i'll talk to you very soon as always thank you my friend absolutely that was not a travel by the way yeah yeah no maybe maybe when we get to uh spring training that was not a travel by the way fair fair i will i will next time i will defend you better on that one i apologize just go watch that video again i have i have i have issues i have major issues i was i honestly i appreciate not as time um i was at the game my senator game um two nights ago as a game tonight and i have to admit i don't i don't talk to the referees i don't i don't i don't i don't but i talk to myself and the surrounding parents yes and i just make little comments little comments i feel like i might have been a jerk on tuesday night i mean being a parent you can't help it i'm sure i wasn't arguing i'm mostly making these comments out of ingest yeah i just let the kids have fun yeah just let them have fun yeah i don't see anything wrong with eighth grade basketball and you couldn't have been that bad because i don't see you going like viral on tiktok or anything oh i'm very careful about that yeah i am very careful about that yeah uh but yeah i sent him the videos my my son got the ball in transition went through uh the lane in traffic put picks up his dribble a little bit below below the foul line takes two steps and he's going up travel but get out of here with the travel seems legit he's fouled too never mind never mind should have been an n1 yeah but we didn't get it all of them just throw that thing too yeah i don't want anybody ejected no uh anyway uh their team's uh teams a little mid yeah oh no they'll suck