Brice Matthews hits first 2 big-league homers, leads Astros past the D-backs 6-3
PHOENIX (AP) — Brice Matthews hit his first two big-league homers and had five RBIs, Christian Walker added an RBI double in his return to Chase Field and the Houston Astros beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-3 on Monday night.
Matthews went deep in the second inning with a three-run shot, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead. His two-run homer in the seventh pushed the Astros ahead 6-3.
The 23-year-old second baseman is one of the Astros' top prospects and a first-round pick in 2023.
The Diamondbacks had their four-game winning streak snapped. Eugenio Suarez hit his NL-leading 36th homer.
Arizona's Zac Gallen (7-11) gave up six runs over six innings. He's given up 23 homers this year, which is already the most in a season in his career.
Houston lefty Colton Gordon (4-2) gave up three runs — two earned — over 5 2/3 innings. Josh Hader worked the ninth for his 26th save in 27 chances.
The D-backs had the tying run at the plate with two outs, but Josh Naylor flied out to right to end the game.
Walker had two hits while playing against the D-backs for the first time since he left the team for Houston in free agency during the offseason. He hit 146 homers over eight seasons in Arizona, helping the franchise reach the World Series in 2023.
D-backs star Ketel Marte returned to the lineup for the first time since his house was burglarized over the All-Star break. The D-backs left 11 runners on base. Key moment
The D-backs loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but reliever Bennett Sousa retired Marte on a fly ball to left to end the threat. Key stat
Gallen reached 1,000 career strikeouts in the fourth inning. He's the second pitcher who debuted in 2019 to hit the mark, joining Dylan Cease. Up next
The Astros send LHP Framber Valdez (10-4, 2.75 ERA) to the mound against Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (3-6, 5.94) on Tuesday.
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USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
Ranking the Top 25 players to play for Alabama in the last 25 years
It's safe to say that a lot has happened for the Alabama Crimson Tide football program over the past 25 years. Since the year 2000, Alabama has won a total of six national championships in football, each of which came during an era where the greatest head coach of all-time led the Crimson Tide in a decade-plus long dynasty the levels the sport has rarely, if ever, seen before. Over that same span, Alabama has also won a total of nine SEC championships, as well as recorded 18 seasons of at-least 10 wins-or-more. As to why this level of success has happened for the Crimson Tide, a big reason is the level of talent that has come through Tuscaloosa since 2000, a list that includes multiple Heisman Trophy winners, countless All-America picks, and more. Here is a ranking of the 25 greatest players to suit up for the Crimson Tide over the past 25 years, as well as what each did during their time at Alabama. 25. Mark Barron, Safety (2008-11) We begin with safety Mark Barron, who started three of his four seasons at Alabama from 2008-11 where he had a combined 235 tackles, 14 TFL, five sacks, and 12 interceptions, among other stats. A two-time national champion, Barron had arguably his best season in 2009 where he had 76 tackles, four TFL, and seven interceptions, which led the SEC, but however also earned All-America honors in 2011. 24. Dont'a Hightower, Inside Linebacker (2008-11) Dont'a Hightower was a four-year inside linebacker who racked up 234 tackles, 22 TFL, five sacks, one interception, and two forced fumbles from 2008-11. A two-time national champion, Hightower's best season at Alabama was his 2011 campaign in which he recorded 85 tackles, 11 TFL, four sacks, and an interception to earn All-America honors. 23. DeMeco Ryans, Linebacker (2002-05) One of Alabama's greatest linebackers of the early 2000's was Ryans, who spent four seasons with the Crimson Tide from 2002-05, ending his time in Tuscaloosa with 307 career tackles. Ryans was also one of Alabama's first All-America selections of the 2000's, doing so during the 2005 season in which he also won the Lott Trophy and SEC Defensive Player of the Year. 22. Patrick Surtain II, Cornerback (2018-20) A three-year starter at Alabama, cornerback Patrick Surtain II compiled 117 tackles, seven TFL, four interceptions, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries from 2018-20. Surtain was a one-time national champion with the Crimson Tide who had his best season in 2020 where he compiled 38 tackles, four TFL, and an interception to earn All-America honors. 21. Landon Collins, Safety (2012-14) A multi-year impact player at safety for the Crimson Tide, Landon Collins amassed a combined 188 tackles, nine TFL, five interceptions, three forced fumbles, and four fumble recoveries from 2012-14. Collins, a one-time national champion, had likely his best season in 2014 where he had 103 tackles, five TFL, three interceptions, and two fumble recoveries to receive All-America honors. 20. Terrence Cody, Defensive Tackle (2008-09) While only at Alabama for two seasons, Terrence "Mount" Cody made the most of his time while in Tuscaloosa, as the defensive tackle racked up a combined 52 tackles, 11 TFL, 0.5 sacks, and a forced fumble from 2008-09. Cody, a one-time national champion, was a two-time All-America selection at Alabama whose best season was likely his 2009 campaign in which he had 28 tackles and six TFL. 19. A.J. McCarron, Quarterback (2010-13) Alabama's all-time leading passer, A.J. McCarron was a three-year starter at quarterback during his four seasons at Alabama, completing 66.9% of his overall passes during that span for 9,019 yards and a 77:15 TD:INT ratio, rushing for three more scores as well. A two-time national champion, McCarron's best season at Alabama was also likely his 2013 campaign in which he completed 67.3% of passes for 3,063 yards and a 28:7 TD:INT ratio to win the Maxwell and Unitas Awards. 18. Quinnen Williams, Defensive Tackle (2016-18) At Alabama for three seasons, the first of which he redshirted, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams ended his time in Tuscaloosa with a career 91 tackles, 21 TFL, and 10 sacks from 2016-18. A one-time national champion, Williams' top season at Alabama came in 2018 when the defensive tackle had 71 tackles, 20 TFL, and eight sacks to win the Outland Trophy. 17. Reuben Foster, Inside Linebacker (2013-16) Reuben Foster is among the most talented inside linebackers in Alabama program history, finishing his four seasons in Tuscaloosa from 2013-16 with a combined 222 tackles, 24 TFL, eight sacks, and 11 PD. Foster, a one-time national champion, had likely his best season at Alabama in 2016 when he had 115 tackles, 13 TFL, and five sacks to win the Butkus Award. 16. Cam Robinson, Offensive Tackle (2014-16) Cam Robinson started for each of his three seasons in Tuscaloosa at left tackle, eventually departing Alabama as one of the top offensive linemen in the program's storied history. A one-time national champion, likely Robinson's greatest season at Alabama was his 2016 campaign in which he won the Outland Trophy. 15. Trent Richardson, Running Back (2009-11) A three-year running back at Alabama, Trent Richardson compiled a total of 3,130 yards and 35 touchdown on 540 attempts from 2009-11, while also hauling in 68 receptions for 730 yards and seven more scores, as well as 700+ yards as a kick returner. Richardson, a two-time national champion, had likely his best season at Alabama in 2011 where he led the SEC with 1,679 yards and 21 touchdowns to win the Doak Walker Award. 14. Najee Harris, Running Back (2017-20) A four-year impact player in Alabama's backfield, running back Najee Harris racked up a combined 3,843 yards and 46 touchdowns on 638 attempts from 2017-20, while also hauling in 80 receptions for 781 yards and 11 additional scores. Harris, a two-time national champion, had his best season in 2020 where he led the SEC with 1,466 yards and 26 touchdowns rushing, the latter of which also led the nation, to win the Doak Walker Award. 13. Barrett Jones, Offensive Lineman (2008-12) At Alabama from 2008-12, Barrett Jones is one of the most accomplished offensive linemen in Crimson Tide history, starting 50 games across four seasons at every position. A three-time national champion at Alabama, Jones was a three-time All-America selection with the Crimson Tide, as well as the winner of the 2011 Outland Trophy. 12. Jonathan Allen, Defensive Tackle (2013-16) A four-year player along Alabama's defensive front, Jonathan Allen racked up a combined 153 tackles, 46 TFL, 28.5 sacks, seven PD, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries from 2013-16. Allen, who won one national title at Alabama, had likely his best season in 2016 where he compiled 69 tackles, 16 TFL, 10.5 sacks, and three fumble recoveries to win numerous honors such as the Nagurski, Bednarik, Hendricks, and Lombardi Awards. 11. C.J. Mosley, Inside Linebacker (2010-13) A two-time national champion, C.J. Mosley is among the greatest inside linebackers in Alabama program history, collecting a total of 317 tackles, 24 TFL, 6.5 sacks, five interceptions, 17 PD, and two forced fumbles across four seasons from 2010-13. Mosley, a two-time All-America selection, likely had his best season at Alabama in 2013 where he racked up 106 tackles and nine TFL to win the Butkus Award. 10. Rolando McClain, Inside Linebacker (2007-09) Rolando McClain was a three-year starter at inside linebacker for Alabama, racking up a combined 274 tackles, 32 TFL, eight sacks, five interceptions, and a forced fumble from 2007-09. A one-time national champion at Alabama, McClain's best season was likely his 2009 campaign in which he had 105 tackles, 15 TFL, and four sacks to win the Butkus Award. 9. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Safety (2015-17) A three-year starter at safety for Alabama from 2015-17, Minkah Fitzpatrick compiled 171 tackles, 16 TFL, 4.5 sacks, nine interceptions, and two forced fumbles with the Crimson Tide. At Alabama, Fitzpatrick was a two-time national champion and All-America selection who led the SEC with six interceptions during the 2016 season, with his best year with the Crimson Tide likely coming in 2017 when he had 60 tackles to win the Bednarik and Thorpe Awards. 8. Julio Jones, Wide Receiver (2008-10) One of Alabama's most accomplished wide receivers ever, Julio Jones spent three seasons in Tuscaloosa where he had a combined 179 receptions for 2,653 yards and 15 touchdowns from 2008-10, while also rushing for two more scores. Jones' best season at Alabama was likely his 2010 campaign in which he hauled in 78 receptions for 1,133 yards and seven touchdowns, each of which were career-high's. 7. Mark Ingram, Running Back (2008-10) Alabama's first-ever Heisman Trophy winner, running back Mark Ingram spent three years at Alabama from 2008-10 where he racked up a combined 3,261 yards and 42 touchdowns on 572 attempts, while also hauling in 60 catches for 670 yards and four more scores. Ingram's best season at Alabama was his 2009 Heisman winning campaign in which he rushed for a SEC-leading 1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns. 6. Amari Cooper, Wide Receiver (2012-14) Starting for three seasons at Alabama from 2012-14, wide receiver Amari Cooper hauled in 228 receptions while in Tuscaloosa for 3,463 yards and 31 touchdowns. Cooper, a one-time national champion, also had a memorable year in 2014 where he led the SEC with 1,727 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns (also led college football with 124 total receptions) to win the Biletnikoff Award. 5. Tua Tagovailoa, Quarterback (2017-19) A two-year starter who delivered one of the biggest moments in Alabama program history, Tua Tagovailoa, over three seasons at Alabama from 2017-19, completed 69.3% of passes for 7,442 yards and an 87:11 TD:INT ratio, while also rushing for nine more scores. Tagovailoa, a one-time national champion, had likely his best season in 2018 where he led the SEC with a 69 CMP%, 3,966 passing yards, and 43 touchdowns, among other categories, while winning the Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards, as well as finishing runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. 4. Will Anderson Jr., Outside Linebacker (2020-22) When it comes to defensive players alone, an argument can certainly be made that Will Anderson Jr., an outside linebacker who had a combined 205 tackles, 63 TFL, 34.5 sacks, one interception, four PD, and a forced fumble across three seasons from 2020-22, is the best at Alabama since 2000. A one-time national champion, Anderson led the SEC in both TFL and sacks during the 2021 and 2022 seasons (led college football in 2021), and was a two-time Nagurski Award winner who also won the Bednarik, Lott, and Lombardi Awards in 2022 as well. 3. Derrick Henry, Running Back (2013-15) At Alabama for three seasons from 2013-15, running back Derrick Henry ended his time in Tuscaloosa with 3,591 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns on 602 career attempts, while also hauling in 17 receptions for 285 yards and three more scores. A one-time national champion, Henry also had one of the best seasons Alabama has ever seen from a running back in 2015 where he led college football with 2,219 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns, receiving multiple honors that included the Heisman Trophy, Doak Walker, Maxwell, and Walter Camp Awards. 2. Bryce Young, Quarterback (2020-22) One of the highest-rated recruits in Alabama football history, Bryce Young spent three seasons in Tuscaloosa, two of which he started at quarterback, where he overall completed 65.8% of his passes for 8,356 yards and an 80:12 TD:INT ratio from 2020-22, while also rushing for seven more scores. A one-time national champion, Young also won numerous honors following his 2021 season that included the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien, Manning, and Maxwell Awards, one in which he led the SEC with 4,872 passing yards and 47 touchdowns. 1. DeVonta Smith, Wide Receiver (2017-20) Alabama's all-time leading receiver, DeVonta Smith spent four seasons at Alabama where he hauled in a combined 235 receptions for his career with 3,965 yards and 46 touchdowns from 2017-20, while also adding two more scores through the rushing and return game. A two-time national champion, Smith also won the 2020 Heisman Trophy, as well as the Biletnikoff, Maxwell, and Walter Camp Awards following one of the best season's Alabama has ever seen from a wide receiver in which he led the nation with 117 receptions for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
Forbes
28 minutes ago
- Forbes
Book Review: Mark Shupe's 'The Moneyball Method'
PHOENIX, AZ - February 29: General Manager Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics stands in the ... More clubhouse during a spring training workout at Papago Park on February 29, 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/) Charlie Munger famously said, 'It's remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.' Were he still with us, Munger might admit that when it comes to money, it takes a lot of intelligence or at least a lot of emotional intelligence to be 'consistently not stupid.' Just the same, the insights from the late multi-billionaire demand more knowledge attainment from all of us so that we can know what to do when perhaps it isn't obvious. One aid in the human desire to be smart about money will surely be longtime wealth management and trust expert Mark Shupe's new book, The Moneyball Method: A Middle-Class Manifesto for Objective Investing. Shupe tells readers that 'the Moneyball Method is most suitable for middle class and affluent investors who own brokerage accounts, retirement plans, trust accounts, bank deposits or annuities.' Shupe met and led the needs of just these kinds of clients at First Merit Bank (later Huntington National Bank), along with Morgan Stanley. It was while at these institutions that Shupe happened on the myriad fallacies associated with 'best practices' on the matter of wealth management. Sensing customers were being misled by accepted wisdom, he turned his own 'principles into practice.' Why the Moneyball reference related to Michael Lewis's much-revered book? It's because as contrarian baseball mind Bill James explained it about baseball, 'A great portion of the sport's traditional knowledge is hokum.' Shupe feels the same way about money management. He sees an investment metaphor in Moneyball that can be applied to money, that 'the natural world is orderly and knowable and you can choose to live in harmony with reality, or not.' Shupe chooses reality, and aims to convey it to his readers. He tells them to 'replace the stress and errors of predicting the future and beating the market with the resilience of objective data.' From there, he notes that 'the objective investor chooses the destination and uses the historical data for the navigational chart.' Put another way, markets themselves inform us about markets, including how to best hedge against the inevitable downturns in markets. In Shupe's words, 'market prices fluctuate, market leadership changes – and that is guaranteed.' The only add here to Shupe's wise words is something he might agree with: markets gain strength from times of weakness as the bad to mediocre are replaced through price signals by the good and great. Contrast the above with the popular view inside the money management world itself that the Federal Reserve, by merely fiddling with interest rates, can trick markets into rallies wholly at odds with market realities. What nonsense. What an implied comment that money is stupid, and this is important given Shupe's routine assertion throughout the book that money is the opposite of stupid. As the Ayn Rand devotee in Shupe puts it, and in a fashion that would surely please Rand, 'Money is an effect that is caused by productive people using persuasion – not force, to achieve their goals.' Yes, money that actually circulates is the surest sign of production, which explains Rand's reverence for it. Opposite the simplistic inside and outside of Wall Street, along with the simplistic inside and outside of academia and punditry, money is never 'easy' precisely because production is never easy. And no amount of central bank meddling can alter the previous truth. Very disappointingly, right-of-center types who should know better lament at times 'easy money' that is allegedly having all sorts of market and economic impacts, all of which speaks to many important aspects of Shupe's book. He's not having it. He's congenitally predisposed to seeing money as it is, not what the simplistic want it to be. Which requires readers to forget what central banks and monetary authorities are doing or have done, what they've 'printed' and what they haven't, so that they can then concentrate on money in circulation as opposed to money created by central planners from the Commanding Heights. In thinking about this, readers will hopefully see that allowing for its myriad demerits care of powerfully flawed economic theory on the right (Milton Friedman, and countless others) and left (Paul Krugman, and countless others), the dollar facilitates exchange and investment around the world exactly because production itself is money. And the dollar, allowing once again for its demerits born of President Nixon's decision to sever its relationship with the constant that was and is gold, is seen the world over as money par excellence precisely because the producers who bring goods to market will generally only accept money broadly exchangeable for real market goods, services and labor in return for a commensurate amount of their own market goods. The above is something that Shupe somewhat uniquely grasps. In his words, 'money in circulation will always maintain its ideal level.' Again, forget what central banks, mints, and monetary authorities produce based on the phrenological belief of economists and their disciples that creation of so-called 'money supply' instigates production, and instead recognize what's true, that money in circulation is as natural as the production that money facilitates the exchange of. That's why there's a lot of money in Manhattan, but relatively little in the Bronx. Of course, the truth embraced by Shupe that 'money in circulation will always maintain its ideal level' rejects all the fabulism on Wall Street, academia, and within the economic commentariat that aggressive creation of what they imagine is 'money' instigates stock-market rallies. What an insult. Call it 'you didn't build that,' Wall Street edition. More realistically, producers decide what monetary forms circulate based on the not-so-insightful truth that they seek roughly equal amounts of product for the product they bring to market. Applied to equities, the very notion that owners of shares in the production of the world's most innovative people would blithely exchange what's precious for just any paper is truly silly. It's not just that government meddling runs wholly counter to what lifts equity markets, it's not just that markets yet again gain their vitality from periods of weakness as money relentlessly puts out to pasture what is no longer meeting and leading the needs of the people, it's not that the mindless contradiction that is 'easy money' has never lifted stocks in Europe and Japan in the way that the confused claim it's lifted them stateside (again, 'you didn't build that'), it's that all of what's been used to explain market conditions completely misunderstands what money is. Money rewards production, nothing else. It's where production is, nowhere else. Shupe puts it so well, that 'when we understand that money is the stored legacy of productive minds, we earn a healthy respect for it.' Markets respect money, so does Shupe, but not most conventional thinkers who comment on money and markets. Hence Shupe's book. From this understanding of money as evidence of production expands understanding for readers more broadly. Consider the myth about so-called 'pricing power.' Reporters, pundits, and economists talk about it, believe it's real, but since money in circulation reflects production while attaching a money price to market goods, the rational can see that it's not. As Shupe notes, 'prices are information and new sellers will continuously enter the marketplace to capture some of that business.' What's true about market prices is true about equity prices. The price of well-regarded, some would say 'dominant' corporations is the lure for new investment meant to compete away the dominance. Quoting Shupe directly from the previous paragraph, 'prices are information and new sellers will continuously enter the marketplace to capture some of that business.' All of which explains why so-called 'monopolies' should be revered and cheered. They're the price signal that summons competition. Conversely, a lack of so-called 'monopoly' profits should similarly be cheered as information for telling investors where more capital is not needed. As Shupe explains it, 'breaking even is not productive.' No, it's not, which is why prices are so elemental to progress. From the above we can further see the truth about money. The very notion that central banks could 'gun' so-called 'money supply,' or equally ridiculous, that central banks could contract so-called 'money supply,' insults common sense. Production is money, it's an expression of a desire to get, so to pretend as the right and left do, that economic progress or contraction is an effect of how 'easy' or 'tight' a central bank is, really and truly vandalizes reason. It also explains why the dollar circulates all over the world, and in countries that already have their own currencies. It's quite simply not money unless producers say so. Real money doesn't instigate, it's an effect. Rand wore the dollar sign because the dollar then and now facilitates the exchange of goods, services and labor for goods, services and labor. Equities are a market good like any other. Their prices once again instruct us on what's needed, what's not, and what could be. Which is why per Shupe yet again that 'money in circulation will always maintain its ideal level.' It quite simply wouldn't be money if it didn't. In an investing-specific sense, Shupe's client-focused approach is to find out 'how much downside market risk can be absorbed without changing the spending goals, saving habits, or the timing events for the investor.' Which seems to ask how much money is the individual willing to lose in the near-term, and in recognition of what near-term losses could mean for the long term. The question itself would elicit as many answers as there are people, along with wildly different answers from those same people depending on the direction of the stock market. Which seemingly helps this reviewer to provide a simplified approach to Shupe's more detailed investment technique. Put in Moneyball terms, how to avoid getting outs? On per Munger, how to be "consistently not stupid." The seemingly obvious answer is that there's no way to avoid it altogether. Which is no insight. Just as you can't coach speed, you also can't coach a lack of emotional swings. Better to let the markets worry for you, rather than worry about what can't be controlled. Which means there's no certain, individual stock-picking style that's necessarily going to work. That's particularly true if you have a destination that you're trying to reach. To see why, contemplate the blue-chips at the beginning of the 21st century. Seemingly buying the best of the best corporations to buy and hold would seemingly be the path to a gilded retirement? Perhaps think again. When the 21st century dawned GE was the world's most valuable company, AOL and Yahoo were the darlings of the internet, Barron's told us Tyco was the next GE, Enron had the smartest executives (which may have been true despite the outcome), Lucent was the future of communications, etc. Readers get where this is going. So does Shupe. As first discussed early in this review, Shupe once again tells readers to 'replace the stress and errors of predicting the future and beating the market with the resilience of objective data.' Markets once again predict markets. Rather than trying to pick the best of the future best on the way to market-beating returns, just be invested in broad market indices, including those known to perform best when stocks are known to perform the worst. Shupe observes that 'index funds are the best fit,' while intermediate term (7-10 years) Treasuries 'are the best historical hedge against stock market risk.' The Treasury hedge in dollar terms would seemingly grow or shrink depending on one's willingness to take risks. It had me wondering while reading The Moneyball Method how much of Shupe's own wealth is hedged. This is asked not as a sleuth trying to find holes in Shupe's investment process, but is instead a question rooted in speculation, all based on Shupe's reverence for productive minds. While Treasuries are in a very real sense a riskless income stream since they're backed by productive minds via taxation, equities represent an ownership stake in the brilliant work of productive minds. Treasuries are yet again an income stream in dollars, while equities represent ownership of the boundless upside that can be captured when productive minds are matched with capital. It's a long way of speculating that Shupe is hedged quite a bit less than most for whom he's managed wealth. And that's not a criticism. As alluded to earllier, there are as many investing styles as there are people. Still, as someone who recognizes what money is, and who has a healthy respect for money based on this understanding, it's hard to imagine that Shupe would ever heap even a little disrespect on precious money by exchanging it with the U.S. Treasury in return for the latter's excessive taxable access to our production. Mark Shupe has written a very interesting and enlightening book about investing. Of great importance to readers, he doesn't just provide them with a roadmap for putting wealth to work, he also provides them with a rare understanding of the money that represents the wealth, and that clarifies money as the brilliant effect of the productive minds who relentlessly improve the world through tireless efforts to improve themselves.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Youth should be served for Sixers in 2025-26 despite title expectations
Contrary to what a lot of the fan base believes, Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey isn't clueless. The man knows a ton about the game of basketball. He admitted he made a mistake with the 2024-25 season with a lack of youth surrounding his star trio of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George. That's why 2025-26 is focused on correcting those mistakes. The Sixers landed VJ Edgecombe (19) with the No. 3 pick of the draft and should focus on his development along with Jared McCain (21), Adem Bona (22), Johni Broome (23), and Dominick Barlow (22). While Philadelphia will be looking to win a title led by Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George, it has to think about its future as well. Morey did give his own expectations for Embiid and George while speaking in Las Vegas at summer league, but it's hard to count on both players right now. Embiid, who is recovering from his second left knee surgery in 14 months, spoke with ESPN and did not give a timeline for his return to the floor: "We don't have a timeline," Embiid tells me. "Hopefully, sooner rather than later." I ask if the organization supports his new, patient approach. "I don't know how they feel. The only thing I'd say is -- this is a business," Embiid tells me. "It's all about the results. … If I come back early enough and I'm still not myself, guess what? You're not winning any games." George recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee after experiencing some discomfort in an offseason workout. As terrific as everybody knows George is, it's hard to believe he will get back to an All-Star level at this stage of his career when considering he is now 35 years old. Of course, anything can happen, but it's hard to really count on either player at this point right now. Which is why the Sixers should begin building toward the future. Even Maxey (24) is a big part of that. A youth brigade led by Maxey, Edgecombe, McCain, and--likely--Quentin Grimes (25) should be at the forefront. Philadelphia should explore what those four can do while giving Bona, Broome, Barlow, and Jabari Walker (22) extensive minutes. If Embiid and George are healthy? Then great! Go chase a title. However, it's hard to believe they can get be healthy enough for that to become a reality. It would behoove the Sixers to explore what the younger pieces can do in 2025-26.
