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A few weeks ago, we noted Dave Dombrowski’s interesting comments about Bryce Harper. The gist of those remarks: He was good this year, but will he get back to elite? Some real talk packaged in a stream of consciousness style.

That is more or less true. Bryce had his worst year as a Phillie, but he also ranked 22nd out of 145 qualified MLB hitters in OPS. Good, nowhere close to average, but not elite.

I did not expect Dombrowski to go there, but he is a skilled media operator. He clearly did this for a reason. Now, I do not know the exact reason. Maybe it was to simply challenge Bryce and light a fire under him, Orlando Arcia style. But I thought Jamie had a very interesting theory on the Phillies show here: Maybe it’s a behind-the-scenes medical disagreement, particularly one to do with the wrist that has bothered Harper for two seasons now. Regardless, Dombrowski did this for a reason and we do not know what it is.

Whatever that reason, though, Bryce clearly did not like it. Credit to Matt Gelb for getting Harper’s thoughts over the weekend, including this little ditty: “It’s disappointing to hear me being questioned about my contribution to the team. Just really hurt by that notion because I love Philly so much.”

Now, Bryce is a skilled media operator as well. He said he was hurt this season, which is true. He said that he loves playing in Philly, which sure seems to be the case. He said that he has been totally committed to the Phillies, no argument there. The first seven seasons of his 13-year contract have been wonderful. But Bryce is also kinda dancing around the good-but-not-elite point that Dombrowski brought up. And he is bringing up all of those things to essentially say, “Why do I have to put up with this?” From his perspective, it’s understandable. Dombrowski did not lie, but star players do not usually get challenged in that public fashion.

Bryce brought up the natural trade speculation that arose from Dombrowski’s comments as well. Dombrowski did shut that speculation down in a later interview, and in fairness, it did not come directly from him. But it’s a moot point anyway. Harper is a 10-and-5 guy (10+ years of MLB service, 5+ years consecutively with the same team), which means he has a full no-trade clause. If he wants to stay, he’s staying. Bryce might as well have the key to the city.

I wonder if this all boils down to the desire of internal vs. external improvement.

Internal improvement: That is what Dombrowski is looking for from Harper. With potentially limited resources to improve the team after the Phillies’ Winter of Austerity in 2024-25, you then are forced to look inward. How can the Phillies improve? Well, Bryce Harper getting back to elite is one way.

External improvement: You know who does not want to hear about “limited resources?” Every Phillies fan, but also Bryce Harper, the guy who has recruited free agents to Philly. When Bryce gets asked about the Dodgers, all he does is compliment their spending power. And if you spend to get a better cleanup hitter than Alec Bohm, well, maybe you can survive with just Good Bryce Harper… which, in fairness to Bryce, is not a totally unreasonable outcome in Year 8 of 13 of a megadeal.

Needless to say, I hope to see some external improvement. But this has been an interesting start to the Phillies offseason.

The Eagles, all class: Hard not to feel really bad for Cam Skattebo, who suffered a gruesome injury at The Linc. That dude runs hard. Nice to see that he got an ovation from the fans after getting carted off.

And I love this touch from Dom. All class.

Good week in the NFC East: Cowboys, Commanders and Giants all lost. That Eagles win in Kansas City is gonna age nicely, the Chiefs look very good right now.

The Birds are now 6-2, with Dallas in second at 3-4-1. Good spot to be in headed into the bye week!

✈️ The Jett heads back to Guelph: #AsExpected

Not much to add here, we have already been over this whole situation. Jett Luchanko was not getting much of a role with the Flyers, even less of a role than he received last year under John Tortorella. His ideal landing spot this season would be the AHL, with the Phantoms. But because of the old NHL/CHL agreement that unfortunately lasts through this season, he has to go back to Guelph… which is admittedly not as bad as last year.

Sixers 136, Orlando 124: Let’s save the best for last. Kyle’s observations are here, and the post-game pressers are here.

Devon made a great point to me on last night’s post-game show: The Sixers were 3-14 at one point last season. 3-14! I looked it up, and we did the game together that night, Thanksgiving Eve. Decent fight in that one against Houston, that game went to overtime. But 3-14 is 3-14.

Well, the Sixers are 3-0 this year. And they are not just 3-0, they are the best story in the entire NBA.

The win last night against a full-strength Magic team that was picked to be among the Eastern Conference’s best was so, so good. The Sixers, who are gonna struggle with size even at full strength, were missing a ton of their frontcourt: Joel Embiid, Dominick Barlow, Paul George and Trendon Watford. And because of that, the Magic shot 65 percent from two-point range, they shot 38 free throws and they grabbed 13 offensive rebounds. The Sixers were holding on for dear life in the paint, like a drunk person on the bull at Xfinity Live. Comically overmatched in that regard.

Didn’t matter, because the Sixers guards were that much better. Shooting it off the bounce, making plays off the bounce, and committing just six turnovers as a team. On this night, speed and skill overcame physicality and force.

The Magic are huge, and that group had the second-best defense in the NBA last season. But this Sixers offense is running on all cylinders now. A 136-spot, about as good as you can play offense! It’s so impressive.

Tyrese Maxey had 43 points, and it felt Iversonian in so many regards. The amount of responsibility on Tyrese’s plate is crazy. Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black, the Magic’s best two perimeter defenders, guarded him all game. Whenever the Sixers offense broke down, he had to make something out of nothing. And despite playing 42 minutes, Tyrese had the energy to take the Sixers home in crunch time for the second straight game. Relentless stuff from Mad Max.

VJ Edgecombe had 26 points on 10-17 shooting, because of course he did. This move, a crossover into a step-back 3 in Paolo Banchero’s grill, made me fall out of my chair. He did not even attempt these shots at Baylor! And now he’s drilling them in the NBA? I thought that maybe this would be a Year 3 shot for VJ, not a Game 3 shot for VJ.

So much credit to hand out up-and-down the lineup. Kelly Oubre, back-to-back great games. Quentin Grimes continues to drill 3s. Justin Edwards came up with some clutch moments in crunch time. Adem Bona had a few monster blocks. And Eric Gordon even gave some shockingly competent minutes.

And one last guy who deserves credit for this: Nick Nurse has the Sixers playing the most efficient offensive basketball in the league. Give credit to the guards for balling out, but the Sixers have a whole new system and are executing it like they have been running it for years instead of weeks. Great start to the season for Nurse.

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Busy night. The Flyers are in action against the Yinzers at home (6:00 p.m., ESPN). 👏 Crosby sucks! 👏 Rick Tocchet is finally back on the right side of the rivalry. And the Sixers are in the nation’s capital to take on a bad Wizards team (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly), with Joel Embiid likely to play on the second half of the back-to-back. They are gonna need JoJo to step up, because even if The Wiz are an uninspiring young group, that is one gassed Sixers team.

Oh yeah, the World Series rolls on as well. It has been a fun one, insane game last night that I did not stay up to see the end of.

Your Tuesday schedule at PHLY:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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