I wrote out the CliffsNotes from the Josh Harris and Brett Brown press conference earlier in a sort of stream of consciousness style, kind of like a Ghostface verse from a Wu-Tang song. There are a lot of words, and they all sort of work together, but you then have to slow it down and run it through again.

So I wanted to listen to the 26 minute presser for a second time and try to focus on some of the more important quotes and come up with some takeaways from there.

For starters, I don’t really understand people ragging on Josh Harris for this idea that he’s not a great public speaker. I mean, he’s a wealthy businessman, not television star. He’s not Joel Osteen or Dr. Phil. What do you expect? Do you expect unparalleled eloquence and word weaving? The guy responded to everything we asked. He may not have given much of an answer in some cases, but he also didn’t try to overtly bullshit us. It’s not like he has tons of experience doing a press conference answering questions about an executive who was fired because his wife was running fake Twitter accounts.

Anyway, Brett Brown, of course, is always articulate and well-spoken, and he joined Harris on the dais.

That said, here are my organized thoughts on today’s press conference:

1.  Harris used the term “general manager” throughout the availability, so I don’t knew if they’ll slap on the “president” label that Bryan Colangelo held when they bring in a new person. It doesn’t really matter, I guess. Seems like semantics to me, though “president” suggests a larger role when we know the person is really just a player-personnel executive.

2.  There were two questions about Jerry Colangelo. Mike Sielski of the Inquirer asked if he held any influence during the investigation.

Harris:

“Jerry was not involved with the process in any way. I’m aware of the press report, which is not true. We did give Jerry a heads up at the end of the process, this morning, just before seeing you all, but Jerry was respectful of the process we had to go through.”

Later, Harris was asked if the elder Colangelo would continue in his “special advisor to managing general partner” role:

“So that’s not today’s issue. I certainly appreciated Jerry’s counsel. His deal goes through the end of the year. We’re going to be talking about that and it’s not today’s issue. We’ve enjoyed having Jerry and this is unfortunate, but my respect for him is certainly not colored by this unfortunate situation. “

I don’t think this is as big of a deal as most people are making it out to be. Jerry is just a faux-figurehead with no true day-to-day role on the team, so they can essentially ignore him, ice him out, whatever, and just let him walk at the end of the year. If you wanna buy him out and move because you think that’s healthy, go for it. I’m sure some people feel like a purge of the Colangelo name is the way to proceed, but I don’t think it really matters that much.

Continue Reading

There’s gonna be a lot to digest here, so let me just type out key notes as I go, and we’ll circle back and double over the more important things that come out.

It’s Josh Harris and Brett Brown at the podium, and Harris begins with an opening statement:

• difficult day for me personally, love the team and our exciting future, this is a disappointing situation for everyone, want to thank everybody for the patience while we conducted a fair and thorough investigation
• investigation determined that Colangelo failed to safeguard club information and he offered his resignation understand how that affected us and the ability to do his job
• Colangelo has “positioned us well for future success”
• Brett Brown will oversee basketball operations on an interim basis, we have tremendous confidence in him and our staff, looking forward to strengthening the team through the draft and into the offseason
• will interview internal and external candidates for the GM search, will “take our time” and try to position the franchise for longterm success, “it’s not about making the choice quickly, it’s about making the right choice.”

Questions now:

Continue Reading

I know you’re dying for Bryan Colangelo news, or more Eagles vs. Donald Trump content, but let’s take a quick break to look at a few more Sixers draft prospects.

This is part three of a series that I’ll keep doing until I no longer feel like it. We’re going three players at a time, and started on Monday with Mikal Bridges, Miles Bridges, and Jevon Carter. Tuesday I touched on Wendell Carter Jr., Trae Young, and Collin Sexton.

Today we’re gonna take a look at Michael Porter Jr., Lonnie Walker, and Grayson Allen, and that’s the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so. 

Michael Porter, Jr. (Mizzou)

There’s always some guy who enters the draft with injury concerns, and this year it’s the 6’10”, 210 pound Missouri combo forward.

Porter played just 3 games during a freshman season that was almost entirely wiped out due to spinal surgery. In fancy medical terms, he needed a “microdiscectomy of the the L3-L4 spinal discs.” In layman’s terms, he was suffering from herniated discs in his back, went under the knife, and missed the majority of the year.

Drafting a guy with injury history might be a non-starter for Sixer fans who are weary from the Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons situations, but look at how those guys turned out after getting healthy. There’s an element of risk involved, certainly, but the upside is there, and Porter was seen as a potential lottery pick coming out of high school.

For starters, he’s just got a wonderful athletic profile, a tall and fluid player who strides in transition and just makes a lot of things look really smooth. We obviously didn’t get much film from his short stint at Mizzou, but he looked like a future pro at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 championship, where he played alongside Markelle Fultz, Mo Bamba, Jarrett Allen, and others:

Continue Reading

Somebody emailed Kyle last night and told him that Duke guard Grayson Allen was spotted at Fishtown’s Mad Rex, a post-apocalyptic-themed restaurant.

I don’t know how to describe it; it’s sort of like Mad Max the movie meets Tupac’s “California Love” music video and the servers are all wearing steampunk and/or ripped denim and biker gear. I went there once and had a… “lengthy” experience, but if you wanna check it out like Allen apparently did, go for it:

No thanks pic.twitter.com/Rlq1OmD4lo

— Kyle Scott (@CrossingBroad) June 6, 2018

Turns out he didn’t do a pre-draft workout for the Sixers on Tuesday, but reportedly did one today, according to the Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, who says Bryan Colangelo was there:

The #Sixers and their embattled general manager Bryan Colangelo had a predraft workout at the team’s practice facility today that included Duke guard Grayson Allen, according to league sources. It was not open to the media. pic.twitter.com/rkJ3sB7X9h

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) June 6, 2018

Seems awkward.

Continue Reading