👋 Good morning! Two Spectrum memories on a Thursday in July…

And speaking of the ol’ girl, we have a great Spectrum-themed shirt in the store with our new Philly Collection. My good friend Jamie Lynch was wearing one in the studio just yesterday when we were poddin’ about the Iggles. Lots of good stuff in there, make sure to check it out!

Sp

I was gonna post my Sixers offseason grades today, but you know what? Let’s push that to tomorrow, the big fella unexpectedly gave us some summer content. Thank you, big fella.

As always, you reach me at [email protected]

Letting us in

The old-school newspaper/magazine profile is a dying art-form (along with newspapers and magazines, I guess), one that I miss.

You know, the type of stories that involved a celebrity (an athlete, in our case) agreeing to be interviewed and/or shadowed by a writer for a few days, or a few times over a few months. That writer would also talk to everyone else in that athlete’s orbit, before emptying their notebook and attempting to tell the reader something new.

The longform profile was a great way to spend 10 to 40 minutes, depending on the length of the piece. And I am not even yearning for the glory days of Gay Talese (look him up, Ocean City’s finest) profiling Frank Sinatra or Joe DiMaggio. I am not looking for Sports Illustrated’s heyday, the Dan Jenkins and Frank DeFord years, with Mark Kram waxing poetic about Ali-Frazier fights. Just give me the SI of the 2000s: Tom Verducci, Jack McCallum, Lee Jenkins, etc. Even Wright Thompson’s incredible Michael Jordan feature, written in 2013, feels like the Dark Ages.

The art form is dying for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that super famous people do not let you in anymore! And if they do, it is on their terms and with their spin. In most cases, they do not need traditional media to tell their stories. But that is a bummer, because of lot of the time, the subject is often the most unreliable narrator. I sure would be, if I was doing a documentary of my life. Even in the cases when famous people still participate in traditional media, it is often within varying degrees of what I would call “access journalism.” And I am not even trying to shame those writers/reporters, because that is often the only way you can get in the door.

All that said, credit Dotun Akintoye with an absolute banger on Joel Embiid. An old-school, well-reported profile that he clearly spent the better part of a year working on. But credit Joel Embiid for letting Akintoye in, because that story is not nearly the same if he does not participate. It is ironic that the guy who never lets anyone in is the rare athlete who played ball with a reporter in this manner.

Kyle and Devon talked about the piece on yesterday’s pod. Great conversation.

As Kyle put it, I do not think this article is gonna change people’s minds on Embiid. If you are a defender, you can find stuff to defend with. If you are a detractor, you can find stuff to detract with. But unlike modern fandom often turns out to be, life is not black and white. Joel Embiid, and his 11-year run with the Sixers, contains multitudes.

I have one overarching thought on the piece, which I will get to at the end. But here are six things I legitimately did not know, most of which contain multitudes. Not the first one, though.

  1. Joel started going to therapy last year. And that was at the recommendation of Jameer Nelson, of all people. Good for him.

  2. Joel had 9,500 unread text messages and 875 missed calls, plus he turns off all of his notifications. I got anxiety just typing that out. Joel said that his infrequent phone responses date back to the day in 2013 that he learned his brother tragically died. He basically associates phone calls with the worst possible news, with the grief he still carries over Arthur’s death today. That is super sad, but also a tough way to go through life. Especially because when I was around him, he was on his phone all the time. I guess Joel was just watching sports and on Twitter.

  3. Embiid is still mad about the team meeting leaking. You remember, the one from November when Tyrese Maxey called him out for showing up late and bringing down the mood. Joel maintains that he knows the identity of The Leaker, but will not out them publicly. At one point in the piece, Embiid even says, "No, there's a chance they're still around." Another perfect example of Embiid being both right and wrong at the same time. I would be frustrated as hell if the meeting leaked, that should be a safe space behind closed doors. But also, dude, don’t be late so often that Maxey has to call you out! That part is no less true because the meeting got leaked to Shams.

  4. Joel was incredibly banged-up during the Knicks playoff series. I remember when that series ended, I was partially relieved because it was so painful to watch him get up and down the floor. In the story, Nic Batum said, "I saw his knee. I have no idea how he could even walk." Joel is a warrior, and my biggest pet peeve is when anyone calls him soft. That tells me you are not paying attention. And Embiid even questioned the team for letting him play at all in that series. That is fair in hindsight, but the big fella is also someone who has complained that the Sixers were too careful with him for a whole lot of his career. My point is that the combination of his body and desire to play has not always been particularly easy to manage.

  5. James Harden is not talking to him. It seems like Joel did not want to get in between Harden and Daryl Morey back in 2023, and their relationship became collateral damage because of it. In that case, I feel sympathetic for him, that was not his fault. But the way it is portrayed in the story, Joel also drifted away from his longtime physical therapist Kim Caspare (someone who spent a lot of time helping him) the second she moved closer with her family and also stopped working with him. In that case, I do not think he looks all that great.

  6. Joel is a seamhead: OK, I guessed this one from his tweets and knowing that he watches sports all the time. But twice in the article, he is watching the Phillies and his new favorite video game is, “MLB: The Show.” Joel, if you are reading this, we all would like to know who your targets are at the trade deadline.

Spinning this forward, my big worry is that I do not know who Joel’s allies in the organization are anymore. He still seems pissed with the way that the last 1.5 years went down health-wise. He called his memorable Lisa Salters interview on Super Bowl Sunday “a cry for help.” Caspare and David Martin, two people who used to take care of him on a daily basis, are long gone. Passive aggressively calling out The Leaker does not seem like a great locker-room dynamic. And what is his relationship with Morey and Nurse like? Nurse apparently plays the piano at Embiid’s house when he comes over, I guess that is something? Seems like he has allies in Jameer Nelson and Tyrese Maxey, but who knows?

We did not get a ton of clarification on a return-to-play timeline, which is fine. That is not what the piece was about. Regardless, I hope Joel can get back on the floor and play at a high level again. I always liked dealing with him and the guy has clearly been through a lot in his life, both on and off the court. He seems to still be sorting through all of that stuff, which is very human… except that his stuff plays out in public in a way that our stuff does not.

But one piece of advice I would give him, even before you get to his physical rehab: It might be hard, but you gotta start trusting (ironic, I know) some people. Maybe everyone and maybe not even fully, but some people. Let some of the people in the organization in, just like you surprisingly let Dotun Akintoye in.

Maybe not The Leaker, though.

The Washington Olds: There is a new 30-something coming to the DMV! At this point, they should just embrace the full bit. Marcus Mariota needs to do a training camp press conference declaring that they have a Dream Team down there. What is Cullen Jenkins up to, can he give Dan Quinn some snaps?

Flyers schedule: I am happy to report that the Orange and Black are gonna play 82 times. Quitter Gauthier will be back in Philly on January 6th. No Black Friday game, because the Birds are playing Da Bears across the street.

The first few weeks are brutal, though. From Charlie:

❝

It’s not just the two games versus Florida that make the Flyers’ start so tough. Carolina is a clear-cut Eastern Conference title threat, and the Winnipeg Jets won the Presidents’ Trophy last season.

The Flyers will be clear-cut underdogs in all four games. An ugly 0-4-0 start to the Rick Tocchet could easily be in the cards. Even Minnesota (97 points in 2024-25) is no pushover in Game 5. It’s not until the homestand-closing battle against the Kraken that the Flyers will be prohibitive favorites in a regular season game.

Charlie O’Connor, PHLY

Put it on a t-shirt: The follow-through from one knee was so sick.

Daryl Morey PHLY Interview: I am gonna re-up this jawn tomorrow, since we are doing offseason grades a day later than I expected. But the fellas sat down with Morey in Vegas and talked about the Sixers’ offseason.

Summer Sixers 90, Summer Mavs 82: No VJ on the back-to-back, but second straight nice game for Johni Broome (22 points, 13 rebounds). I do think he has showed some real promise from beyond the arc. That is his path to becoming an NBA rotation player, making shots, facing up and facilitating from the perimeter.

Union 2, CF Montréal 1: Doop it up, doop it up! Good to see Tai Baribo back, he got his 14th goal of the season.

The most sports-less night of the year! Seriously, watch Sinners on HBO Max, we got baseball back tomorrow. You will get Trivia Friday, too.

Your tentative Thursday schedule at ​PHLY​:

  • 🎙️ Philly Philly with Jon Marks: 8:00 a.m.

  • 🎙️ The Anthony Gargano Show: 9:00 a.m.

  • 🦅 Eagles: 2:00 p.m.

  • 🏀 Sixers: 3:00 p.m.

  • 🏒 Flyers “What If?” Show: 7:00 p.m.

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS

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