Keith Pompey Saw a Lot Of Growth from the Sixers
Last night the Sixers had one of their best wins of the season. A gutsy comeback vs the Grizzlies from down 17 points. In the second half, everything seemed to be clicking. Joel Embiid dominated on defense, and James Harden was hitting seemingly every 3 he put up. After the win, fans seemed to be a bit more on board with the team, after going into the break a bit negative for whatever reason. And to discuss that win, Keith Pompey from the Philly Inquirer joined The Best Show Ever.
One of the things they discussed was what could make this team different from the past Sixers teams that failed to escape the second round. Here is what Keith Pompey said…
“This Sixers team is dangerous. They could go deep in the playoffs… Last night was one of those games where Embiid’s shot wasn’t going well. But he became an elite rebounder and an elite rim protector. Harden was the Harden that we thought of… It was one of those games in the past I thought they would have folded… Seems to me there was a lot of growth last night. Who knows they could mess it up tomorrow, but there was a lot of growth they didn’t show in seasons past.”
And Keith also discussed what makes Embiid and Harden click so well as a two-man game…
“They realize they have to. That is the best way they have to play… Doc Rivers has been saying this since the pre-season. It is about you two. I want you two to get off. Then all of a sudden you start going to other people. I feel like they understand that when they are clicking that way, they are both at their best. Harden is racking up assists. Embiid is getting open looks. When Harden isn’t doing that, shots are harder to come by. They realize the tandem is better than trying to do it by themselves.”
They also discussed this team’s ceiling, what this team could still do better if Maxey should continue to come off the bench, and more. You can listen to the rest of the interview below…
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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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