Nick Piccone
Dave Uram is an update anchor and fill in host at SportsRadio 94 WIP. You can follow him on Twitter (@MrUram).
Watching Joel Embiid Wednesday was the final indication that the fountain of youth is planted directly in the middle of the Philadelphia sports scene, spreading ample optimism to all four teams.
When WIP switched to FM in September 2011, one of the reasons was to take advantage of the thriving sports scene. The Eagles were placed with high expectations of “The Dream Team,” the Phillies were embarking on their fifth straight NL East Title with the belief they’d be in the World Series, the Flyers were two seasons removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance and Doug Collins was apparently pointing the young Sixers in the right direction if the NBA ended its lockout.
Philly was supposed to be one of the most competitive sports cities.
However, quite the opposite happen.
The end of the Andy Reid era was filled with unusual losing seasons, while the Chip Kelly tenure plummeted faster than his predictable college offense.
Ryan Howard blew out his Achilles and the Phils front office was too sentimental to move on from franchise icons sooner rather than later.
The Flyers handed out horrific contracts and went through two coaching changes in three season.
The Sixers made the one of the worst trades in sports history by acquiring Andrew Bynum, then poured gasoline on their franchise and set it on fire with the arrival of number crunching nerd Sam Hinkie.
It’s been five years of hell with a couple of false hopes mixed in. But, even the pessimist in me sees that much brighter days are ahead, possibly glorious ones like October 31, 2008, when my high school buddy and I drove in from middle of no where upstate New York for the day as 20-year-old college kids to march literally from City Hall to Citizens Bank Park.
Best day ever.
Those days could be coming soon with the arrival of Carson Wentz, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, Maikel Franco and other young players throughout the Philly sports scene.
But they will only come in those in charge fill in the necessary pieces to their respective puzzles.
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If I were GM of the Eagles:
I’d put talent around Carson Wentz on offense as soon as possible. The Birds defense is in fact good enough as proven in their bounce back game against the Vikings. Jim Schwartz’s unit has the potential to carry a team like Denver’s D did last season, and Tampa Bay’s in 2002-03 and Baltimore’s in 2000-01.
There has been rumors the Birds may trade for either San Francisco’s Torrey Smith or Chicago’s Alshon Jeffrey.
DO THE DEAL, HOWIE! Will it lead to a Super Bowl this year? Likely it won’t. But why waste the two to three year window on this defense with older veterans like Malcolm Jenkins, Connor Barwin, Brandon Graham and others? Unless Roseman is confident he can pluck No.1 wide receiver talent in the draft, improve the team now and adjust later.
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If I were GM of the Phillies:
I’d start loading up on bats otherwise Pete Mackanin will age to the level that’s worse than gray. There’s clearly pitching talent in the organization at the major and minor league levels. Injuries are obviously a factor with Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin and Vince Velasquez, but assuming those three guys can stay healthy with “workhorse” Jerad Eickhoff and young arms in the back of the bullpen in Edubry Ramos and Hector Neris, hitting will send them to the next level.
John Middleton made it abundantly clear in his phenomenal sit down with CSNPhilly’s Jim Salisbury that winning is the only option. This guy is “wacko,” but in a good way. He has a “Whatever It Takes” mentality. Matt Klentak needs to take advantage of the hand that feeds him and use the resource of “George Steinbrenner South,” as Jimmy Rollins referred to the Phillies face of ownership.
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If I were GM of the Flyers:
I’d find a new captain.
Easy there Claude Giroux fans, I’m not getting rid of G. I’m simply putting him a role he’s much more suited for. I want Giroux circa 2011-12 when legendary No. 68 Jaromir Jagr was by his side setting him up to be “the best player in the world,” as Peter Laviolette once stupidly declared him as.
Giroux isn’t “the best player in the world.” The captain is often upstaged by true leaders such as the Islanders John Tavares, Blackhawks Jonathan Toews and Penguins Sidney Crosby (painful to type…fingers hurt).
G is a great player, but he needs “A Jagr.” The Flyers need scoring in general. Ron Hextall’s next goal should be finding more offensive talent.
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And, if I were GM of the Sixers:
Hire a witch doctor to rid the franchise of “The Curse of Sam Hinkie.”
In all seriousness, Joel Embiid is a multi-time All-Star in the making. He was the second best player on the court Wednesday behind Russell Westbrook. But, three years of Hinkie Cult Loving Tanking means nothing if Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Dario Saric, Nerlens Noel and Ben Simmons don’t play together at some point, even if it’s not all five on the court at the same time (obviously a completely front court heavy combination).
But, whether you “trusted the process” or not as a Sixers fan, you deserve to see a roster with all five HEALTHY at the same time. Brett Brown deserves a chance to coach these kids HEALTHY at the same time.
And who knows, if healthy no longer plagues the cursed Sixers, maybe they can build something really special alongside “The Process,” Mr. Embiid.
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Putting everything in perspective:
From 2007 to 2011 Philly sports was ruled by a mixture of Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Brian Dawkins, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Carlos Ruiz, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux and Andrew Iguodala (needed to include a Sixer). Due to most of those players, those were five really fun years with a World Series Championship sprinkled in the middle.
Those guys (minus Giroux) are in the past and it’s time to create new memories with Wentz, Embiid, Simmons, Konecny, Provorov, Ghostisbehere, Franco and others.
The question is, will they get it done? I believe they will.