Anthony’s Openign Diatribe- What a Game Last Night
See what Anthony Gargano had to say in his Opening Diatribe this morning…
What a game last night. It’s not the playoffs yet, but man what an amazing fun game last night. As the Sixers take out Ja and the Grizz last night. What a tremendous performance by the EmBeast. Joel was unbelievable last night. It all starts defensively. He grabbed 19 rebounds last night. He had 6 Blocks. Swat swat! Was just incredible down the stretch. Memphis frustrated him early. He was 1-11 from the field to start the game. They were running 2 and 3 guys at him all night. His second half was tremendous. He finishes with 6 assists, a steal, and 27 points…
He played a tremendous game. But he wasn’t alone. Harden with an amazing game. 6 of 9 from 3, and finished with a game-high 31. He also hit the biggest shot of the game. Where he was in no man’s land, trapped in the corner, with the shot clock dwindling. And he buries the long-range triple to pull them within 1. If they don’t score there, Memphis could go up 6, and that could be the game. You’re inside 4 minutes, it was a big shot. He played terrific last night.
And let’s give a lot of flowers to Tobias Harris. That corner 3 has been an issue, but he buried 4 of them. In 34 minutes he hits 4 3s and gets you 20 points… They were telling you let Tobias beat me. Because they were just running at Joe. It was a really interesting game plan Memphis had last night. Which was to run everyone at Joel, you are not going to beat me big fella. Everyone else is going to have to step up, and everybody did…
Early on it is ugly. Bane was shooting the lights out. The Sixers were turning the ball over. They give up 59 in the first half. 37 in the first quarter. They are up 12 at halftime, and it could have been more…
That was one of the greatest games I have ever seen (Joel) play. As amazing all those 50 burgers were. Last night, that game was amazing. He played 39 minutes… He wanted it. Joel was determined last night. He is on the floor, he busted his ass trying to win that game last night. Especially with the way they played him. He was such a force in altering shots. We remember the block on Ja. But he was just a force. 6 blocks last night.
If Harden can play like he did last night, they can beat anybody in the East. They can. Because there will be other teams that try to play the Sixers that way. This is where you need Harden to do what he did last night. If he can give you that 5 times in a 7 game series, you will win the series. They can beat Milwaukee, and you can beat Boston if Harden is playing like that.
And you can listen to his full Opening Diatribe below…
The 9 Key Dates To Know For a Busy 2023 Eagles Offseason
Feb. 21-March 7: Franchise Tag Window
We are already within the window for teams to franchise Tag Players. There are a lot of big names this offseason who could have the tag placed on them. Lamar Jackson could be tagged. The Giants could tag either Daniel Jones or Saquon Barkley. And the Eagles may need to use the tag too.
Keep an eye on both CJ Gardner Johnson and Javon Hargrave for that. Adam Caplan from Inside the Birds reported that the Eagles will use the Franchise tag if they have to keep CJ Gardner Johnson.
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Feb. 28-March 6: NFL Combine
Next week marks the start of the NFL Combine. The best college prospects will work out and meet with team scouts and Front Offices. While perhaps too much is made of the results of some of the workouts, the combine still is a major event that can have a huge impact on where players go. It is not just seeing how athletic these guys are, but teams can sit down with and talk to these young athletes to get a better idea of how they will fit their franchise.
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March 7-31: Pro Days begin
And following the Combine, colleges start to hold their own Pro Day for their leaving players. It represents another chance for teams to meet with players. Guys who perhaps didn’t perform their best at the combine get another chance to impress. And team can get a more hands-on workout with the players. It can also be a chance for some players who were hurt during the combine to have a chance to work out for teams for the first time.
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March 13-15: Legal tampering period
Legal Tampering sounds like a made-up term. And the two words do contradict each other. But while Free Agency technically begins on March 15th, most of the negotiations will take place before that. March 13th is when we will start to have news coming out of which free agents are going where. Though it may be tough this offseason for the Eagles to be too busy with a tighter cap space for them, and many of their own free agents to try to resign. Knowing Howie he will have something up his sleeve though.
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March 15: New league year officially begins
And then on March 15th those deals made can become official. And the same goes for any trades made in those two days prior. This is when we will know that there will not be another Frank Gore situation, and the guys the Eagles sign will be locked in to be an Eagle this upcoming season.
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March 26-29: NFL Owners’ Meetings
The Owners Meet between March 26th and 29th. This is where the yearly rule changes will usually be made. One to watch out for this year is whether or not they will ban the tush push as has been rumored. It’s a play that was unstoppable for the Eagles. Which is why the other 31 teams want to ban it because they can’t stop it or run it as well as the Eagles do.
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April 27-29: NFL Draft
And then the best night of the NFL Offseason, the draft takes place on the weekend of April 27th. Starting with Round 1 that Thursday night, Rounds 2 and 3 on the 28th, and then 4-7 on that Saturday. The Eagles have two picks on night one, and two picks on day 2, but they currently have just 2 7th round picks on day 3. But don’t be surprised if Howie moves some pieces around to get some extra day 3 picks.
From now until the draft, we will be putting out profiles on some of the players that could end up Eagles in the draft. We started already with a look at Christian Gonzalez from Oregon.
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May 1: Fifth-year option deadline
May 1st is the deadline to pick up the 5th-year option on players selected in the 1st round of the 2020 draft. The Eagles spent their first-round pick that year on Jalen Reagor, since he was traded, the Eagles have no decisions to make on that deadline.
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May 1: Free agent signings no longer count against comp pick formula
Before May, any signing you make of a free agent counts toward the comp pick formula. The actual formula is complicated, but the gist is if you sign many big contracts you get fewer comp picks, and if you lose many big-money free agents, you get more comp picks. With the Eagles having several big-name free agents, it is likely that they will get many comp picks for the following year. Howie said so himself at his year-end Press Conference. The downside is they can’t benefit from those picks until the 2024 draft.
Another thing to consider though is Howie often can be busy after this deadline. He loves to wait until camp begins to pick up late cuts, or free agents that are still looking for teams. See James Bradberry last year.
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