John Gonzalez joins Gallen of Questions to talk Philadelphia 76ers signing Paul George, more

[Music] welcome to a gallon of questions my name is Pat gallon and my guest here today is someone you probably know from his days at the inquire uh where else NC ftic NBC Sports Philadelphia which was then Comcast sportset si.com now with CBS sports.com John Gonzalez in studio hi buddy my man how are you this is better now that thank you this is wonderful homecoming get to see your smiling face happy birthday thank you this is amazing belated birthday but yeah happy belated birthday we were just reminiscing about working together a very long time ago and how quickly Time Flies what was the show we did that you would invite me on uh lunch break oh lunch break I forgot about lunch break we did lunch break uh the 700 level show all kinds of stuff yeah yeah we go way way back um so today gallon of questions 20 questions in the can we don't know what direction it's going to go in but that's the the beauty of it right do you prep these questions I do prep these questions these are all yours these are all mine okay for my demented brain okay no there's there's some uh there's a lot of basketball questions in here obviously because the Sixers had a big off season you were an NBA writer analyst for CBS Sports um so I figured let's knock some of that out but there's some extra stuff in there so why don't you do the honors and just grab we'll go back and forth and we'll just do I give you both no you open I open you open okay all right tell me what you let's see here who is the one NBA player more people should be talking about yeah okay I have to think about this for a second um there's a number of candidates here yeah uh I had one name come to mind that it's he's a star okay but do more people nationally know about sheay gilis Alexander or should more people know about him I mean absolutely like I I was even skipping way past him well he finished second in the MVP race and he's but he plays in Oklahoma so are are like non NBA like fans and die hards do they know that name so well I would hope so because he's an incredible basketball player as I said he finished second in the MVP race and and rightly so and there's a case to be made for him finishing first I mean they they're in Oklahoma City they're the youngest team ever in the playoffs to end up with the number one seed right uh they had a gang busters year they're built not just for right now but for the future in perpetuity because Sam prey has done such an amazing job this is a great by you I'm you're doing this for me you're this you just come up with one on your own uh I would have gone SGA but I thought that was too obvious uh Ant-Man does do enough people talk about Anne Edwards Maybe not maybe now after the Olympics he's so good and so fun he is uh he's super Dynamic and then also like he loves to talk and I love to listen he was great in Hustle with Adam Sandler excellent movie great actor uh already kind of unfair all right next question this is great uh who's the most annoying player in the NBA Dylan Brooks yeah that's it has to be Dylan Brooks gotta be Dylan Brooks God he is so how are you his teammate like what do you think as his teammate because there are guys like throughout Sports history that you're like I hate that guy on the other team but I love him if he's on my team I don't even know is that the case with Dylan Brooks uh I don't know I think Patrick Beverly would have been that guy that you just mentioned but he's been now he's out of the league and he's playing in Israel this season uh but we saw what happened last year when you know when he was on the Sixers people liked it and then he goes uh to the Bucks and he was supposed to try to help them and then he was just like a total jerk in the locker room to a reporter but yeah Dylan Brooks what redeeming qualities does he have I don't know not a lot play he's good yeah he's fine but I don't know that it's like at the level of uh like his mouth to his game is like a little disproportionate all right we're cruising through okay all right all right here we go try to get to all 20 this is the greatest gimmick ever oh is it I on the 700 level show back in the day I don't know if you remember this very early we did a very stupid bit called rotating guest okay and we would put somebody in a chair yeah and spin them and ask them questions and that was rotating guest as they got super dumb this is much better uh that's a good one though all right here we go was Paul George the only move the Sixers could make this off season uh no but it was the best one and if they hadn't made it I don't know what the backup plan was yeah exactly like what was the other move that was even remotely possible I me Brandon Ingram probably you're trading for Brandon Ingram maybe you added Demar d r rozan uh none of these things are good you don't want any part of Zack LaVine his contract is honorous Paul George was the perfect fit for the team the perfect fit because all you have to do is absorb him in cap space it you know he's not going to be one of those like Jimmy Butler maybe there's a way that you could have acquired Jimmy Butler but when you get Jimmy Butler everything becomes about Jimmy Butler Paul George is just gonna like the worst thing Paul George will say is is uh I kind of miss LA and everybody will go great right go back out on the court so yes great rank the pgs in Philadelphia Paul George oh pack Allen pack Allen number one that is correct correct answer uh okay how much blame does Joel MB deserve for the Sixers falling short in the playoffs yes I mean yeah I mean the answer is yes uh you can assign how whatever percentage you want but I've been thinking about this for a long I love Joe almb he's amazing he never gets out of the second round but when you think about all the teams that they've taken into the second round that have had opportunities to get out what's changed they've changed all the players they've changed the coach multiple times they've changed the front office multiple times what's the one constant it's Joel embiid and he's the best player right so when you're going everybody has a hand in that but number one's got to be Joel and I think he'd probably agree with that I mean he has to get out of the second round eventually I don't pretend to know like the lineage of each team and where the playoffs go for all of them but it does seem like this franchise with L andb is particularly snake bitten when it gets to that point the Ben Simmons Markel folz it's like all these guys come here they forget how to play basketball and yeah he does deserve blame but it's obviously a little bit more you know well-rounded than than just that look but it comes back to him I think you're right kawh lard hits a four bouncer I was in the building it's absurd right Ben Simmons passes up a dunk it's absurd I mean like there's moments where you go okay that had nothing to do with Jo embiid but in totality he's the main guy [Music] I've always wanted to do this so do it here we are a bucket we call it a bucket oh no I wanted to do it with you I don't want to steal your bit yeah no this is Fant I'm so honored to come home and do this uh all right for Tyrese Maxi to take the next step he needs to do what what do we mean by The Next Step he's already an All-Star allar are we're talking about you know you know wasn't under consideration for the Olympic team I think for the next one he will be right uh all NBA is is a tall order top 15 player I guess I was thinking more along the lines of um like the star leap where the team can lean on him more if Jo embiid is is out can he be he's not a one right he's not but he's is there is it the is there the possibility of him becoming a one or is it just he's a smallish guard and you're going to top out on on whatever ever Talent you you have I think to to be a one I I'd want to see more defense from him okay uh his ceiling is probably limited on that but uh get a little bit thicker A Little Bit Stronger he's super quick obviously so I you know defense a lot of it comes down to effort and I don't think he doesn't try um so yeah I'd like to see him become more of a two-way player to become really a one he's a great 1A though yeah and on this team with Joel that's a big deal I think the other thing is closing right I mean they they've always needed a closer I think that PG will help on that the other pack the other PG not pack Allen but well although you were a big shooter I mean back in the day when you played with Kyle L absolutely maybe it's you I knew that would come up at some point in this conversation uh favorite memory covering the Eagles were there any um I I wasn't covering them in the for the Super Bowl okay right uh I was at the Super Bowl does that count as if I I didn't cover it but I was I was there you got to go back to when I I have to go back to when I was there so this is something that little a few people know yeah they have uh for a while there they had a cafeteria where they were allowing the media to eat in the NovaCare complex cafeteria like 10 bucks it was it was unbelievable and uh Elliot Shore parks and I of WIP Fame used to talk about this was pre my wife uh we would we would talk about like maybe do we need to bring dates here this is like one of the great unknown restaurants in the city uh so the cafeteria the cafeteria beats the players the coaches I love that is it your turn I think it's I think so yeah did you put did you put the stickers on that is that me that's me actually okay that's rude let me turn that off uh I did put the stickers on there some were given to me some were s choed yeah we got some good ones on there Princess Diana is my favorite saw that one got Harry the K the prince in the six jersey that's beautiful nicely than for pointing that out yeah those are great all right uh is Jason Kelce the greatest representation of Philadelphia in history I think he has to be he's up there right like I was thinking about this I mean you know forever everybody would say like Brian Dawkins or somebody like that um but J which is still true yeah oh he's he's right there I mean like if you were going to do a Philly a Philly guy athlete Mount Rushmore or whatever the Philadelphia equivalent would be what would be Boat House row yeah I mean you you'd have those guys on there but Kelsey I was talking to somebody about this the other day he has a chance now in his like post uh playing days to become a less bro more likable Pat McAfee like he's just an every man that everybody likes and he gets it and you know him and his brother running around a Tor Swift concerts and he's taking his shirt off and and like he's just he's so he doesn't he look like the greatest hang ever looks like he's just having a blast doing what he's doing I just is it are we getting to the point where it's like is it Kelsey overload can that is that possible no I'll have more of it thank you all right I'll take it I'll take it next question for John Gonzalez what is your favorite Olympic sport okay this is tough for me because uh I just came off of a two week super binge of the Olympics name a sport I watched it I got to a point where the synchronized swimming came on and I was like this is where I draw the line I have to have a line and it's going to be synchronized swimming two minutes into synchronized swimming I was like you know what's amazing synchronized swimming so I watched all I was so in uh I'm going to go probably track all the track events I love cuz I I'm a runner and I like I like just to watch people compete at those races uh but also beach volleyball I live in Los Angeles basically the beach volleyball center of the universe is South Bay Los Angeles it's 10 minutes from my place and I walk out there and I watch play Manhattan it's crazy right there it's amazing uh I'm an indoor volleyball fan down that Hill I don't know why it's not more popular beach volleyball should be even more popular than it is uh but indoor volleyball I think deserves a little bit more as well uh that was my sport but I basically the same as you playo I did play volleyball look at you very talented very athletic somewhat all right best bar or restaurant in Philadelphia do you want to go first on this one um well restaurant is like zahav I think Royal zakaya sushi in Queen Village I think is probably my favorite restaurant in the city we get copious amounts of take out from there can I tell you how annoyed I am by that answer because I lived in this city for 10 years before moving when I came home I was here for 10 years and I moved back out to LA I lived a block away from Royal Isiah when they were opening it for six years and and then I moved to Los Angeles and they finally open it I was a block away I was right there and I wanted I still have not been they've been closed I guess for the summer or whatever the back room is closed they're not back open yet I try and it's also hard to get a res I you know I should say I know Pat Gallen maybe I get a table they'll kick you out they'll kick you out right away uh want I want to say New Wave for a bar cuz I love New Wave and I was just at Vernick last night amazing vernick's [Music] great Daryl M okay is he overrated underrated or properly rated as an NBA executive uh he's not overrated properly rated is tough because there's so many crazy philadelphians who I don't know what they expect from him this year this offseason was a great ex I I'm a big fan of darl Mor uh big proponent like since he became a general manager in the NBA I believe he his first year was like ' 06 I think uh but anyway he's one of the top five general managers in the NBA and has been for a long time it's hard to win look what he did this off season he set a very high bar for himself put himself on the Highwire with no net and said I've got this cap space Here's a plan and as we said if you didn't get PG could have gone Splat he didn't though and on top of getting PG he got Eric Gordon and Andre Drummond and Caleb Martin on a good deal and your guy Kyle lry comes back and yeah it's a he's a did a great job the answer is uh you know depending on your the level of your crazy Philadelphian this uh properly rated to underrated he's really good all right fair enough good answer correct answer yeah everybody has to give Daryl a break okay oh man all right the can beat the Celtics this year if anytime you start with an OM man that's not a good sign they're so good I hate that they're so good the Celtics um things have to break right good thing is we saw what happened this this offseason with the Olympics and Jason Tatum didn't play and Jaylen Brown was upset about making not making the team and then his teammate Derek white goes and makes the team plays more minutes than Jason Tatum in the Olympics maybe there's some Discord there there needs to be like some internet scene Warfare in Boston yeah so that would help okay uh and then number one hate each other hate they have to hate each other Jason Tatum shot has to continue to be broken embiid has to have an MVP season and stay healthy PG has to be the third piece that they've been missing and we what we said uh Maxi's got to take another step forward a lot of things have to break lot of things have to break they're so good and I mean it's kind of unfair the Drew part's ridiculous it really is it's really unfair uh what's your karaoke song cuz you have a voice of an angel I have a Terri I have a terrible voice I don't sing I haven't you haven't done I don't know that I've done karaoke ever and I used to so when Colleen moved out to uh Los Angeles her first place when she was establishing a beach head for us was directly across the street from this place called Gaslight which is like a legendary La okay uh gas light or gas lamp one of those okay uh a legendary karaoke bar yeah I'll tell you that I love just as a personal as a personal song that if I could sing it I would uh Cindy laer Girls Just Want to Have Fun is a fantastic Diddy that's a great answer it's a great answer she carries a tune better than me what about you what's yours uh that's a good question you give me the question you don't have an answer for you just do karaoke we did karaoke down the shore with my family we did a lot of 90s songs okay like really bad like alt rock songs hoodie who did Hoody and the Blowfish that'll be it it'll be uh Let Her Cry hold my hand all right fantastic I would love to hear this those will be the answers you will not hear that today you want to just do a bar or two no I'm good okay I'm good Acappella maybe at the end don't rule it out all right rank the offseason moves most to least important we've got Caleb Martin Andre Drummond Eric Gordon Kelly UB and Kyle Lowry okay these are great um this is tough all right uh I'm gonna go Kelly UB first that's wow okay that's number one uh just on this list I'm gonna go Kelly UB number one because he was such an integral part it's hard to find Wings he plays at both ends of the floor and also $8 million a year for for Kelly UB is a like that's the sweet spot he was way underpaid last year he overperformed that contract I thought he was going to get north of this deal agreed excellent job by Daryl Mory and I like that Kelly UB wants to be here this next one is is a tossup it's either Caleb Martin or Andre Drummond probably going to go Caleb Martin because you're going to get significant minutes out of him he's a he's an awesome Defender and what we were talk he's kind of like a little bit Dylan Brooks light in his attitude like he's he's aggressive he's uh there's there's a a lot of nice guys on this team Caleb Martin could go the other way sometimes I like that they need that they also got him on a sweetheart deal he that was another $8 million a year contract he thought that he was going to get way more than that and he was sadly mistaken well he could have and then there's some weird stuff that happened with his agent and Miami and whatever uh the reason why it was tough on this second one was because Andre Drummond coming back is incredible I would even put that like 2B along with Caleb Martin because as we all know they've always needed somebody to be a backup for Joel embiid and they had him before and it worked out and they they offered thank God for the Chicago Bulls who have the worst run front office in the entire NBA they offered multiple second round picks at the draft or the trade deadline last year and the Bulls said no cuz they're made a trade in like five years completely mismanaged and instead they got nothing for him in the offseason and then I'd go uh Gordon and l l yeah it's a good [Music] list why don't we just go uh quickly through Team USA correct in keeping Caitlyn Clark and Angel ree off the Olympic Squad yeah in retrospect you'd probably want on there but Diana terasi earned it she got her six gold medal she's been there forever it was a swans song good for her six six gold medals uh thoughts on Joel embiid's performance in the Olympics and bonus is this the best Olympics you've ever seen he was good he didn't start out good everybody was giving him heat uh I thought he acquitted himself really well over the final few games hopefully it's a springboard for this season and was this the best Olympics I've ever seen every Olympics is the best Olympics I've ever seen I can't get enough of this did I tell you about the synchronized swimming you did you love syn you're going to be in the pool real quick you would may maybe we'll get a team together uh what's one question you have for me that's the question what question do I have for you how's the how are the kids you got like 12 kids now I have two kids four and one they're multiplying uh you heard me when I sat down in this chair and I made that noise and went you groaned that's from them you graned it's from the children question uh will the Phillies win the World Series this that's just burn that question set it on fire do you have a lighter many years years ago I moved back in 2008 took the inquir job they went through a stretch like this where they tanked in August and I wrote a column and I killed them and Shane Victorino yelled at me in the locker room and it turned it around so Shane if you're out there come yell at me write something write something I don't work anymore uh give me your offseason NBA Power Rankings top five who are the top five teams right now uh Celtics um I'm trying to think of uh KC y Celtics OKC wolves yep Nicks yeah okay and I'm going to go nuggets just cuz they still have Joker okay but it's really tough do not make that I don't think so not the top five all right that's what I was getting at there Jared McCain over Dalton neck connect connect right or wrong I'm gonna go right um I understand why a lot of people want to connect he's uh NBA ready right now I always read that name I'm like is it that's connect isn't it but after I didn't see Jared McCain at all in college and then I watched that first game where he was like all over the place uh he wasn't efficient scoring but he was passing the ball really well and I'm like is he the new Tyrese Maxi after won Summer League game maybe that would be unbelievable uh believe it or not this is the last question of the show uh if you were a bird which one would you want to be I mean I have to be an eagle that's an easy one right that's the correct answer that's what I was going for we got to be an eagle John it doesn't sound easy though thank you so much for coming in see you that was the quickest 21 minutes of your life the maybe the best the best maybe the best 21 minutes like this was excellent thanks John love to the F yeah [Music] [Music]