Sixers Slayed In Boston (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS, number to jump on in.

855-212-4227, you can always interact with being get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb. That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. And producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Kiki. This dumb producer, Hot Take Hiki. We'll get to Hiki's take on the game yesterday in just a few moments. But first, what an embarrassing, lethargic, and just horrific effort by the Philadelphia 76ers yesterday. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics. Jason Tatum did what a star is supposed to do in that spot.

Take over the game, dominate the game, and walk out on your home court giving the fans something to cheer for. And what Jason Tatum did yesterday was great. It was spectacular. 51 points, the most points ever by anyone in a game 7.

He was phenomenal. But on the other side, there is Joel Embiid, the MVP of the league. And this is not me today where you go, see, Joel Embiid shouldn't have won the MVP.

It's a regular season award. But Joel Embiid was the farthest thing from the league's most valuable player yesterday on Mother's Day, the Mother's Day massacre for the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid only had 15 points. He was 5 of 18 from the field in an elimination game. But it goes back to game 6, where in the final 5 or 6 minutes, you could put his face on a milk carton because he was nowhere to be found. He was missing an action in the final 5 or 6 minutes of game 6. And that's when the series was lost. The series was lost then because the Boston Celtics opened up a big door and were begging for the Sixers to just put them out of their misery. And Philadelphia thought things were going to change in game 5 where they played a great game. And after that, the Philadelphia 76ers failed to finally get to the conference finals with this core led by Joel Embiid. And in those final 5 to 6 minutes in Philly in game 6 is the number one reason why the Philadelphia 76ers aren't getting ready for the conference finals up against the Miami Heat. Because I know there was a game 7 after that. But in that game 7, and I told you on the air Friday, I did slightly lean towards the Boston Celtics.

I think it was like 51% to 49%. But then you saw that gambling line and Vegas was begging you, absolutely begging you, to plus the points with the Philadelphia 76ers with the spread getting as high as 7.5 points in favor of the Celtics. The moment when I saw that number, I said, uh-oh, it's going to be a long day for the Philadelphia 76ers.

And let me be abundantly clear on this. There's a lot of blame to go around. But each and every year when the Sixers get eliminated from the playoffs, one person that escapes the blame is Joel Embiid.

Today is the day of reckoning for Joel Embiid. You could tell me Doc Rivers is awful in game 7s. You're not wrong.

You could tell me Doc Rivers can't protect a lead in a series to save his life. You're not wrong. You could tell me James Harden is a horrific postseason player.

You're not wrong. Even though James Harden did win game 1 and 4 for the Sixers. But Joel Embiid needs to stop getting a pass for his poor postseason play.

Because I was in the building at TD Garden in 2018 when Aaron Baynes locked him down, down the stretch. In 2021, when Ben Simmons refused to shoot, Joel Embiid had a crucial turnover in that game. And I understand why in other years we pointed the finger in other places because the roster wasn't constructed properly.

And you could have issues with the way that this roster was constructed. But when you are the MVP of the league and you have a 3-2 series lead, you have to close it out. And Joel Embiid was embarrassing in the final 5-6 minutes where he showed zero aggression. And was not aggressive whatsoever in game 6. And then in game 7, that is as weak of an effort from a star, from an MVP that you're ever going to see.

And I said at halftime, I was watching the game with my dad and my mom, getting ready to go to Mother's Day, dinner, all that stuff. And at halftime, when it's a 3-point lead in favor of the Celtics. And you just saw Embiid struggling to go up and down the court and Harden with another no-show. And Tatum just going off.

I turned to my dad, I said, let me get to my app. I have to pull up one of the apps that I use because I have to hammer the Celtics in the second half. Because it was so obvious that the Sixers were going to go down without a fight. And that's pathetic.

If you're going to lose, at least go out with some heart. And Joel Embiid and the Sixers yesterday showed no heart. So we could go and have this conversation and tell you Doc Rivers should be fired, you're not wrong. And James Harden should go somewhere else, you're not wrong. But this is on Joel Embiid. That is the person that is the number one reason why the Sixers are not advancing to the next round. And if you try to spin it, if you try to point the finger other ways, the Sixers will always be in this same problem.

Where they're stuck on this step of just getting in the second round and then letting their fans down. Embiid has to be better. You can't be the MVP of the league and have that performance. Because that series was a winnable series. Embiid was even joking after the game that he told Tatum, you didn't really do much most of the series until game seven. You had every opportunity to finally get over the hump of the Boston Celtics and get to the conference finals. And be four wins away for playing for a Larry O'Brien trophy. And you had so many things break your way this year in the East with the Bucks going down in the first round. This was a golden opportunity.

It was right there for the taking. And Joel Embiid ran the other way in game six and wanted no part of game seven. It's almost as if for the Sixers, this is a mental hurdle for them. Because they find new and embarrassing ways to lose games this late in the year. It's really remarkable how it's almost the same story each and every year with the Sixers. And you could tell me they haven't got Embiid that second star. You could tell me they don't have the right coach. You could tell me Daryl Morey's overrated. You are right on all those accounts.

But you know what? I've seen Jimmy Butler go to Miami and dominate on his own. I've seen Kawhi Leonard, his one year in Toronto, dominate on his own. We've seen Dirk Nowitzki win an NBA championship on his own.

Sure, super teams make it easier. Yeah, we're in a league now of dynamic duos. But Joel Embiid can't have those performances that he had on his home court in game six and then on the road in game seven. And that was disgraceful.

It's like you still sit here a day later. And as great as Tatum was and as awesome as Tatum was, the other star and the other team was not just bad. He wasn't average. He was horrific. It was disgusting how Joel Embiid played in that game. And he looked absolutely gassed. Sure, he's playing on one leg.

You appreciate the effort. But there's been moments in the postseason where Embiid's still been a force. And he's got to get in better shape. And he's got to stay healthy. But what you saw yesterday from an MVP, it was so small and he came up so small on the biggest stage.

That was right there for the taken. And it was almost as if the moment that flagrant foul was issued on Harden, where he had the elbow, when he lost control of the ball and his elbow was flailing. It's like the Sixers just got punched a little bit. And the next thing you know, this game's a blowout in the second half.

It was really crazy to watch. But if you've watched the Sixers throughout the years, you could see this coming. I'm on a group chat with a bunch of my friends from Philadelphia, all of them at halftime in a three-point game. All admitted, this ain't good. This isn't good with the way that that team looked outside the first few moments of the first quarter, even when Hickey's guy PJ Tucker was showing up and performing in a big way.

So Hickey, I've already made it clear. I'll say it once again. There's a lot of people to blame, but I'm not pointing the finger at everyone else. The one guy that needs the finger pointed at him today is Joel Embiid, because in previous years, he's got the pass. There's been all the excuses and I'm sick and tired of the Embiid excuses. He was brutal, brutal on Thursday and brutal on Sunday.

Your reaction to what happened yesterday? Yeah, I mean, just even take a step further about Embiid, forget just even the Sixers. I think it's a bigger story of him no-showing that it even is Jason Tatum's 51-point game. Tatum was tremendous.

He was outstanding. But for me, what he did was almost secondary to how little of an impact Embiid had and how little interest he looked even being out on the floor in the early first quarter. He just looks like he doesn't want the ball. He's not being aggressive. After, of course, ironically in game six, after the game, complaining that he did not get the ball first.

And we were both talking about it on Friday. Be aggressive and you'll get the ball. And then I think he would have been happier. Part your ass in the paint and call for the ball. He would have been happier on the bench for that game than he was on the court. Or just chucking up threes. Running around.

Right. He just didn't want to be involved whatsoever. He did not want the ball.

He just tried to hide in the corner. He was shooting way too many threes, was not aggressive. It was it was frankly embarrassing from a guy who won the MVP award. It was you could not have a more disappearing act than he did in game seven. And a lot of people in Philly are blaming you for that performance.

A lot of people are upset. Yeah, because there was a tweet sent out 15 minutes before the start of the game. The funny part is your first line was right.

And then after that, game seven is about one man and one man only. Joel Embiid. Oh, that's it. That was a tweet. That was a tweet. I wrote nothing else. After that, I called it ice for show for seeing this happening.

Well, unlike some media outlets that only put out part of the clips, I believe in seeing the entire clip. No, no, no. After pulling a Houdini in the final four minutes of game six, I think Embiid bounces back in a big way today. Here was the hot take hickey prediction. The hickey hex is undefeated. It's like when you get rid of a football team from a university and they always release shirts like American football undefeated at American University. The hickey hex is undefeated.

It's you. You always find a way to get it wrong. But in some way, if you're betting and following what you're saying, just fade hickey, you'll win a lot of money. Here was the prediction for hickey yesterday. 42 points for Embiid.

13 rebounds in the biggest game of his career. Sixers win. Next time you go to Philly, they're going to be throwing tasty cakes. They're going to be throwing cheese steaks at you, and they'll be throwing some dilly dilly beers at you as well.

But they're going to be throwing at it viciously towards you because you hex them, bead. Here is a guarantee. I have rarely believed in Philly teams. I will never, especially the Sixers, make that mistake again. That was I was drinking the Kool-Aid. I've diverted because usually I always doubt the Sixers. I've diverted my path for whatever reason. I've learned my lesson that would never happen again.

That's a big statement from you. Never happened again. Never, ever, ever happened again.

Well, not too hot. Take hickey with this core. If you break it up in 20 years from now, it's different.

OK, maybe I'll, you know, go back on that guarantee from 20 years ago. But right now, no, sir, hickey will be 73. Folks, I'm finally ready to go all in on the one, two, three, four, five Sixers, ten, nine, eight, seventy. Sorry, folks. I think I'm croaking.

That's going to be the way that hickey dies on the air one day. If I'm doing radio at 73, there's something wrong. I love this job. I love sports.

Radio is truly a dream come true. If I'm still working at 73, we have big issues. Yeah, I would imagine to be bald then, by the way. But you're known for your hair. That's one of the few. Yeah.

For your luscious locks. Ma'am, a lot of things will be different 50 years from now. Yeah, I wonder if radio is still even around.

That's also true. Maybe talking to myself in the closet. I think he's going to be on the toilet just screaming out takes, hoping someone is going to listen. But I'm telling you, this hickey hex is genuine because Embiid wasn't just, oh, he was fine and they lost. He was horrible. It was almost as if a spell overtook his body.

And that's what we call the hickey hex. So today is the day of reckoning for Joel Embiid. He deserves all the blame. Sure, you could tell me Doc Rivers needs to be fired and James Hart does need to come back, but I cannot give Embiid a pass because for so many years he's received that pass and that needs to end right now. It is the Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio, a sensational performance for Jason Tatum yesterday. But when we come on back, why, that needs to be a wake up call to the Celtics so they could finish the job this year. We explain on the other side.

You're listening to the Zach Gilp show. Zach Gilp show, CBS Sports Radio, Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals are set as in the East, the Boston Celtics do advance and they will take on the Miami Heat. And in the Western Conference, we got a heck of a matchup between LeBron James's Los Angeles Lakers and Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets. I will actually be going out to Denver next week, going to be visiting the family a little bit. My sister and brother-in-law live out in Denver and my niece Raquel, they all live out in Denver.

So I'm going to head out over there. I'm going to do the show Thursday from Denver. But on that Wednesday, I'm going to be off the day before because my brother-in-law and I are going to be heading to game five of the conference finals between the Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers.

And watch, Hickey, I already booked the airfare, all that got us the tickets, you know, did all the work that needed to be done to make sure that we could go have a little fun trip with yours truly and my brother-in-law. Watch it be a sweep and we don't even get to a game five. I'd be surprised if it's a sweep, but knowing my luck, that's going to happen. Like if you got on the radio today, Hickey, and you said Nuggets or Lakers, I guarantee you are going to sweep one or the other.

I would feel a whole lot better about the money that I just put down. So should I say that it's guaranteed to go seven? Oh, no. We're going to see you. This is going to be the best series of the postseason. Should we really just kind of... Ever. That would be a new take.

This, folks, sit down. We're about to see the best seven game series we've ever seen in NBA history that might, you know, put the Maloik on even game five possibilities. Yeah. And we know even when you try to intentionally mush things, you are 2-0 as well.

So no, I don't know if that was intentional or not, or maybe you're just trying to help me. I truly do not think this would be a sweep. So, oh, boy.

The TikTok music is playing. Oh, no, we're flirting with, I guess, a little danger here based on a small sample size of track records previously. But I think you should be good for game five. No, no, you will be good for game five. LeBron's going to get hurt in game one. Anthony Davis going to get hurt as well.

Darvin Ham is going to get suspended, and then there will be a nugget sweep. That's exactly what's going to happen after Hickey tells me I'm going to be good for game five. But yesterday, the big story, six is embarrassing. Jason Tatum was just absolutely phenomenal. You know, we had Sean Grandy on last week, the play-by-play voice, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Boston Celtics. And he made it a point that this is what the Celtics do, that they play with fire and eventually it catches up with them and they ended up, you know, they end up getting burned. But there's been so many times where you look at the Celtics, you're like, OK, they shouldn't be in this game seven and they still find a way to get the job done. Like last year, up against Milwaukee, even though it didn't result in a championship, they were down 3-2, and the next thing you know, they win games six and seven. This year, down 3-2, horrible performance at home up against the Philadelphia 76ers. Jason Tatum did nothing in the first three quarters, then comes alive in the fourth quarter, outscores the Sixers in the fourth. And then in game seven yesterday, most points by any player in NBA history in a game seven. You had Steph early in the postseason with 50. Tatum then breaks that and goes for 51. This needs to be a lesson learned for the Boston Celtics, though, because if they fool around once again in the conference finals up against Miami or in the NBA finals up against either Los Angeles or the Denver Nuggets, they're going to get burned.

They will. And this is a, out of all the teams remaining in the postseason, on paper, this is the most talented team. This is probably the deepest team as well out of all the teams remaining in the postseason. I don't know about you, Hickey, but I look at the Celtics and the Heat. Yeah, I'll give Jimmy Butler and Spolstra two games.

But if this goes more than six and if you win and you advance, then you probably throw it out. But it's like eventually Boston needs to realize, and I know it gets tougher the later you go on in the NBA postseason, but you can't keep on doing this because eventually it's going to catch up to you. Like we saw with the Suns in the first round. Yeah, they only needed five games up against the Clippers, but they had to go extensive minutes when the Clippers had basically nothing. No Paul George in that series, no Kawhi Leonard as well. And the second series, I know injuries caught up to them, but later on in that series as it did progress, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker had that egregious no-show in that elimination game.

So for Boston, yes, you celebrate it. Yes, you love what you saw out of Jason Tatum. Yes, it looks so bleak after that game five performance and you found a way. But if this group wants to win a championship and they've been close, they've been knocking on the door the last few years. They were once young.

I know they're not terribly old, but you start to progress and you're in your prime years. It's now about championship or bust. And you got lucky the first two rounds because the other opponent wasn't ready to win. That Hawk series should have never gone to six games. This past series, you should not have needed Jason Tatum to bail your asses out in the fourth quarter of a game six and go for an all-time great performance in game seven.

They got to make it easier for themselves or else it will eventually catch back up to them and bite them in the you-know-what on the biggest stage. So it's like I look at Celtics heat first thought Hickey and I have so much respect for the heat organization, but the Celtics are just a better team. The Celtics are more talented team and the Celtics and this is me being respectful. They should win this series in six games. So I know it probably shouldn't matter how you win this time of the year, but with Boston, it's now mattering how you win because last year against the Bucks should have never got to that point. This year up against the Sixers should have never got to that point, but it keeps on happening. And when you keep on putting that hands on the stove, eventually that still is going to be on and you're going to burn your hand.

Everything you just outlined. I agree with which is why I'm picking the heat to win this series. Oh, I feel great now about the Celtics winning.

I just you mentioned it. I don't think that you see now the last two years. It's not a one series thing or maybe even a one postseason thing. This is now two years in a row. They truly have a focus issue where they cannot lock down for three, four, five games in a row and put lesser teams away. They keep on opening the door and it's almost like an arrogance, really.

It almost is. And for the most part, outside of the Warriors series, which you could say that the Wars are better teams, so maybe that's a wash anyway. They have gotten like they have escaped or they did with the heat last year. They did with the Bucks last year without Chris Middleton. They should have did with the Hawks and the Sixers. They've won all four. I think when you play that dangerously, you are due, like you say, to get burned and the heat this year with the way they play.

They are the one thing they are is consistent. Like they will take advantage in a way that Philly could not and defense when you constantly open the door and allow teams to put the series away. I just look at the heat as a team that I think they will take advantage of the Celtics opening the door the way the Hawks could in round one and the way these Sixers could in round two. You'll get a good sense in game one. And I know game one isn't going to totally decide the series, but we've seen Jason Tatum now go to bleep you mode.

That's what we've seen. And thankfully, we're not on camera because I just flipped the middle finger. It was just habit right there while I said bleep you mode, because that is what Jason Tatum did in that fourth quarter in game six. And he carried that over into game seven, where I loved what he said after game six. You know, humbly, I'm one of the best players on the planet. There's one thing to say that and then you have to show it. He showed it yesterday while Joel Embiid will tell you, I deserve the MVP.

I deserve the MVP. And he was absolutely horrible in the fourth quarter of games, game six. And then in game seven, I don't even want to call it game seven for the Sixers and for Joel Embiid because they didn't even show up in the game. But you'll know a lot in that game one up against the Heat, because if Tatum goes off for like 40 something points, maybe it's just his time where, yeah, they got to the finals last year, but to put that cherry on top of the Sunday and end all these great runs the way that it's supposed to end, ending with an NBA championship in Boston. I would like to think you're right, but even with how they have played this postseason with they just take the flood off the gas, whatever, like they could win by 40 in game one.

Are you feeling great about that in game two, then them coming out and leaving Boston up two? Oh, like I don't. Let me ask you this, though.

Does the opponent matter? Because, like, I think everyone respects the Miami Heat in basketball. They know how tough they could be. And they know the Heat culture.

And also, you got to beware, according to Mike Greenberg and Jalen Rose, when you go to Miami, those muscles get a little bit too relaxed in the sun in Miami. And that could play a major role into the series. I still can't believe Greenberg and Rose use that as an excuse for the New York Knicks. But it's like they didn't need to respect their first round opponent. You know that they own Philadelphia. So whether they want to say it or not, their play showed it that they let Philadelphia and gave them every chance to take advantage.

And ultimately, Philadelphia couldn't get the job done. I almost feel as if with the Heat, there is respect there. There is history there. And everyone knows how dominant Butler is and how great of a coach Eric Spolstra is and how respected that organization is being led by Pat Riley. I almost wonder if the opponent matters in this situation for this year, where the first two rounds, they didn't really respect their opponent. They have to respect the Miami Heat here. And you would think, but also to me, this was also the team that, I mean, look, you talk in the histories there at the Sixers. And obviously in the end, ultimately we saw the Sixers do what the Sixers do best fail in the playoffs. But at one point with six minutes ago on your home floor, the Sixers were winning. So it's not like it's like the Celtics weren't like they didn't take them seriously. And there's never, you never thought at any point in the series actually going to lose it. There was a point halfway through the fourth quarter, the Celtics were losing. And if they lose the game, they're eliminated. Oh, in game six. So it's like, it's one of those things where, yes, maybe they respect the Heat more than the Sixers, but also they got themselves into a point where they almost were eliminated by the Sixers.

Would it change your opinion? Because I just talked about game one. Celtics are home the first two games. If they go up 2-0, will you then view the Celtics as differently?

Because maybe that's what it is. Maybe they have to go take a 2-0 series lead here. And maybe they have to put the Heat in a really deep hole and then everyone will use that old cliche. Oh, you know, a series is never over until you drop one on your home court. Maybe we need to get to that stage with the Celtics when the Heat go back to Miami for game three. I want to see how they play in game three. Obviously, look, they go up 3-0, it's over. But it's one of those things where it's like... Oh, so even at 2-0, you wouldn't be convinced with the Celtics?

No, I wouldn't. Wow. Okay. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27. Let me take one here right before the break. Rob and Charlotte next up on CBS Sports Radio. Rob, what's happening? What's going on, Mr. Zach? Doing great, Rob.

What you got? Hey, man. Hey, Embiid. Harden rubbing off on Embiid, man. Embiid used to be a dog. I will tell you, man, Harden rubbed off on him. Now he ain't even a little puppy now, man. I'm playing like a little puppy dog, man. Crying.

I don't understand it. Well, James Harden has been abysmal in the big spot for years. Joel Embiid, in the regular season, he was awesome this year. There's a reason why he won the MVP, but like I led the show with, there's been a lot of other years, and I understand why, because Ben Simmons is on the team and there was other fingers to kind of point the blame at, but this is not the first time Embiid has no showed or come up small as the series progresses and as the game progresses as well.

But there's a lot of players on there that don't show up. Zach, like Tobias Harris, he goes to average at least 25, 20 points a game. Yeah, it's a waste of a paycheck. And he's from my hometown, but that's a waste of a paycheck, Tobias Harris. Next time I run into him at the ATM, which I have before, it may be a little bit of an ugly confrontation with me and Tobias Harris, but he didn't show up yesterday. He didn't show up this series. He was brutal.

Don't show up, man. I don't understand how these boys getting paid, man. I mean, you can't blame Doc, man. Doc doesn't have these guys that don't want to be playing for no more or something. I mean, you can't blame the coach. He can't play. He can just coach. You know what I'm saying? Well, Doc has been historically bad when he has a lead in a series.

And then what is that hickey now? It's 10 losses in a game seven. Is that right? 10 losses in a game seven for Doc Rivers. You know who Doc Rivers is becoming? He's really becoming John Gruden. Like you'll win a championship.

Everyone says you're a great coach. And then throughout the years, and I know that Gruden stepped away for 10 years to go do Monday Night Football, but you just see in life after that championship. Yeah, maybe you're in a situation where the reason you won was because of your players. Like, look at that Celtic scene that won a championship. You had the big three in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Look at the defense, the all time great defense that Tampa Bay had.

I get it. Brad Johnson was the quarterback of the Bucks, but you could put whoever on that offense with that defense, you should be able to go win a Super Bowl. And that roster is practically built for him. He inherited that team.

So it's like you look at Doc. Yeah, he has that one championship. But ever since then, it's not just been like, oh, yeah, you lost a few series.

He's lost 10 game sevens. I know a few of them were before that and all the blown leads as well and the jumping around the teams and all that. It's actually kind of crazy how the narrative and the conversation about Doc Rivers has changed where a few years ago people would say that guy's a great coach. But as time goes on, just like I did with Gruden, you kind of realize, yeah, that championship was a one time thing. And Doc Rivers is not going to win another championship in this league.

There is no doubt about that one. And Philly could fire him and they probably will. But after that, it's like, OK, who you bringing on in? Like you bring in Monty Williams? Monty Williams sure got the Suns to the finals. But the last two years, his teams couldn't show up in big spots.

So maybe they bring Monty Williams in who knows Philadelphia very well. Maybe he just fit that kind of Sixers culture. And Daryl Morey had it with that guy. All the praise that gets bestowed upon Daryl Morey is a joke.

I've never seen someone that loses more in the postseason and gets celebrated more than Daryl Morey. And if he goes out there and gives a big contract to James Harden this year, he should be fired on the spot. Because Harden even run a shovel and said today, if he's going to come back, Doc Rivers not going to be there. So you're going to cater James Harden doesn't show up in the big stage, reward him with the big contract, get rid of the coach.

And then what is that going to accomplish you? And Harden's already leaking out left and right. Houston all year, the Suns as well. So the Sixers just kind of screwed. They really are screwed where I think this team has reached their limit and it happens over and over again. And it's just how is the new way that you can find an embarrassing way to to lose the series, but it's always going to happen in the second round. It makes you wonder, should they trade Joel Embiid?

We'll discuss that on the other side. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

I was talking about the question right before break. Is it time for the Sixers to trade Joel Embiid? We all know how great Joel Embiid was in the regular season. You continue to see Joel Embiid teams come up short in the postseason. I don't think Philly will do it. The only way I think Philly does it is if Embiid comes to them first and goes, guys, I've loved my time in Philly.

I want to go somewhere else. Wouldn't surprise me if Embiid eventually finds his way down on South Beach with Jimmy Butler and you see them reunite the short duo that we once saw with the Philadelphia 76ers. But I don't think Josh Harris is going to trade Embiid unless Embiid says I want out. But you can make a case here, Hickey, that maybe it is right now in the moment to trade Embiid because I remember we had Eric Snow on last year that Eric Snow said he only felt like Embiid had like two to three more years of a championship window.

And there's a lot of wear and tear on that body. There's a lot of injuries, especially that are well documented each and every year in the postseason. I know he hasn't been playing the game for that long with how late in his development in life that he wanted to finally pick up a basketball and his parents finally allowed him to play basketball.

I think it was when he was 15. But you look at the stock of Embiid, even with yesterday's anemic performance coming off at MVP, his stock will never be higher with what he did in the regular season. And Embiid, even though he didn't play like a star yesterday, he still is a star. And if you have a team that thinks they're one piece away, maybe they call up the Sixers and they try to get a deal done and you just get a boatload of picks back for Joel Embiid. Because really, the Sixers, they missed the opportunity, in my opinion, to win with Joel Embiid. Their best shot was probably the year where they lost to Kawhi in that game seven, also on Mother's Day, where Kawhi Leonard got the fortuitous bounce. Because that team had Jimmy Butler.

That was a team that you looked at and you're like, OK, they were going for it and they still couldn't get out of the second round. Like, if they bring James Harden back, the same thing's going to happen. If they get rid of James Harden, who are you bringing in that is going to be able to take this team to the next step? If you want to tell me Damian Lillard, I'm all ears, but Damian Lillard winding up in Philadelphia, I think is unlikely. You're going to have to give up Maxey if that's the case.

And I think Maxey, even though there's been some ups and downs, he has shown you enough signs where I believe Tyrese Maxey is going to be a really special player in this league. And he's young. So you look at it, even though it's tough to advocate that a team should trade their best player and a team should get rid of someone that just won the NBA MVP, you do start to think it may behoove the Sixers to reset and get as much as you can now back for Embiid, because I just don't see how they ever turn this thing around and end up winning a championship with Joel Embiid because that window was there and that window is only getting smaller and smaller and smaller. And it's not that far away from being shut, because every year we say the Sixers got to go get Embiid to finish her, Sixers got to go get Embiid to finish her, and they don't end up doing it.

They don't get the right guy. And the one guy that was the right guy was Jimmy Butler. And with that whole relationship with Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris gets the fall for it, but it was really Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, like, let's be real, Jimmy Butler was the perfect piece, and he's no longer there. And look what Butler's done since. So it does make sense now, even in a bizarre way, because the guy just won the MVP, that the Sixers probably should just hit the reset button.

That's just me, though. I mean, I have a tough time arguing with it. Like yesterday, I think, was confirmed Joel Embiid is not the number one on the championship team, whether it's the injuries, whether it's his play in the playoffs, we've seen now a large sample size, six postseason appearances, zero trips to the Easter conference finals. Yeah, I mean, I was just going to say the only, like, my hesitation in trading him was just that I was more thinking of, okay, you trade him and then still try to keep the championship window open.

You're probably right. If you're going to trade him, it's hitting the reset button and just blowing the entire thing up and starting over from scratch, which if you can get a young, at least a young play, you can hopefully send your team around with a boatload of picks, I would entertain it for sure. It's just so tough trading one of the best players in the league still, just because you are never going to get full value for him. And he's 29. Joel Embiid is 29 right now.

And look how many injuries there have been already. And he's a big man. He carries around a lot of weight.

He could definitely be in better shape, which is like crazy for a talk show host to say. About an athlete, but you see him huffing and puffing up and down the court in game six, in game seven as well. It's like, I really look at the championship window for Embiid for two more years. And if you tell me, oh, don't trade Embiid, what are you doing in the next two years? Because the only name that I hear that I go, aha, that would make sense is Dame Lillard. And every time we talk about Dame Lillard potentially getting traded to the Sixers, it's like, okay, that's a smart answer.

But how do you do the math to get to the answer of Dame Lillard? And if Daryl Morey is this great, this wonderful general manager, this fantastic general manager that celebrates losing like what he did in Houston. Oh, look at our five and eight record up against the Golden State Warriors. If he's so great, he should find the way to get it done. But, you know, Daryl Morey is not going to find the way to get it done because he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that his BFF in James Harden, who he saw James Harden was a disaster towards the end in Houston in the playoffs and wasn't capable of winning a championship in the playoffs, exceptional regular season player. We all know James Harden is going to be Hall of Famer. He knew that James Harden was not a guy that gets it done in the postseason. And when you have been had the task put on you and finding and beat that finisher, James Harden is the guy that you bring in.

Yeah, sure. It's better than Ben Simmons, who what a joke Ben Simmons is, by the way. Not to go off on a tangent hickey, but the fact that this is how petulant and how much of a loser Ben Simmons is. No one's you never hear from this guy.

The guy doesn't play. He has all this money. And of course, he Instagram stories a picture of the game yesterday as the Sixers are getting blown out because he's so insecure and Ben Simmons is a loser.

Oh, when he posted that yesterday. And by the way, you could have a better TV set up to in your house. I did not like his TV set up for a guy that makes that much money as a better TV set up. I don't even make close to what Ben Simmons makes, but he put that up yesterday. That was such a loser behavior from Ben Simmons. I saw a lot of people giving him props and like, oh, that's a good one. I'm with you like that. I think if anything made him look worse, like your best accomplishment right now is laughing at the Sixers getting blown out in the playoffs while you're at home.

Congrats. If you're saying good job, nice troll move by Ben Simmons, you're a loser as well because Ben Simmons does not deserve anybody support. That guy just steals money. I mean, are we ever going to see him on a court again?

Seriously? No, actually, you'll see him this summer. This summer. He does it each and every year. This is the Ben Simmons playbook. He's going to put out a video of him, like dominating some high school kids or college dropouts, and he'll be taking a shot and making it rain. Everyone be like, yeah, there we go, Ben. Here comes Ben Simmons. Come on, maybe have a puff piece done by him some by some outlet.

You know, that's this is every he's going to go on a revenge tour. This this is the year for Ben Simmons loser to post that photo yesterday. Just ridiculous. But that's Ben Simmons. Never took accountability.

Never, ever. Oh, why are you pointing the finger at me after the Sixers patted you on the ass for years? They finally have a little criticism of you and they want to make you a better player and you cry like the big baby that Ben Simmons is. I knew the Ben Simmons rant was going to be coming today at some point. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

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