The Ricky team for Bark In The Park is back. We’re raising money for Providence Animal Center to save homeless pets. Our goal, as it has been for the last few years, is $20,000. It will take a lot of work. First of all, here is where you can join our team. Make sure you join our team, as it’s the only way you can get the shirt.

Bark In The Park is Saturday, October 24th at Rose Tree Park in Media. You can run the 5K, you can do the 1 mile walk, hell, you can sign up, raise money, come get your shirt and not walk or run at all. The key is the animals and of course, the money.

Now, of course, what everyone wants is the exclusive Team Ricky shirt. It is, as you can see, pretty awesome. The artwork is actually a tattoo I have on my chest of Rebel with a space helmet. The artist is the great Hans Deslauriers who is based in Montreal. Hans was nice enough to let us use the design for the shirt. Give Hans a follow and if he’s ever near you, I’d give him my full endorsement. Also, thanks to Tanner Lowry for figuring out the text around the image.

Here are the rules to get the shirt, and there are no exceptions.

1. You have to join Team Ricky.

2. You have to raise at least $50.

3. You have to pick the shirt up at Bark In The Park (or from P.A.C. after the event.)

Again, join the team, we’ve got two months to raise $20,000.

Subscribe now

Jaylen Brown is working out with LeBron and Maxey, VJ is playing in the FIBA World Championships, and Michael Pina is at it again. Then we give an update on Scott O’Neil, talk about what the right move would be in a Philon trade, and debate who the best player on the Sixers is.

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Briggs Auction is the official auction of The Ricky at briggsauction.com

Get 20% off Verb Energy bars with code RTRS and the VERB starter pack at https://verbenergy.com/ricky

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

Bet with DK Sportsbook: Gambling Problem? Call one eight hundred GAMBLER, one eight hundred MY RESET. Connecticut: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, visit CCPG dot org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Bet tax pass-through may apply in Illinois. Twenty one plus. Void in Canada. Event contract trading with DraftKings Predictions involves risk of loss. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Bet to get Bonus bets that expire in seven days. Trade to get Predictions Dollars that expire in one year. Fifty dollars in rewards issued every seven days via click to claim for fourteen days. One non-withdrawable reward redeemable. Nationwide based on Sportsbook, Predictions, and Free-to-Play Sports Contest availability. Varies by State. Terms at d k n g dot c o slash offer. Limited time offer.

We go deep into the mailbag, with just a LOT of topics, Sixers and otherwise. And we also discuss how the Sixers will handle back to backs.

Get Eliza Hardy Jones’ dad’s book here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-mother-for-america-charles-hardy-iii/1150194296?terms=free-shipping

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Adam Ksebe is the official realtor of The Ricky at 302-864-8643 or https://www.buyindelaware.com/

Anthony Degli Obizzi is the official Financial Planner of The Ricky, text RICKY to 484-471-4873 to set up a conversation

LL Pavorsky Jewelers is where Rights To Ricky Sanchez listeners go and get engaged.

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

The Sixers have made some of the most dynamic and surprising moves of the offseason thanks to Mike “Big Yeah” Gansey, flipping the script on their title window in a single summer. But the Sixers aren’t the only Eastern Conference team to make moves this summer, with many fringe contenders pushing their chips in to make a run. We may not know how they all stack up until the trade deadline or even the playoffs, but some are more concerning than others to the Sixers’ newfound championship aspirations.

As I approached ranking these teams, I was not trying to predict the end-of-season standings, but more so who I would want to face least in the playoffs. The biggest conclusion I’ve reached from this exercise is that the East is going to be super-fun to watch this year, because it is really hard to separate some of these teams. The top four teams from last year’s standings all either stood relatively pat (Detroit, New York, Cleveland) or lost talent (Boston) while several teams below them are receiving superstar additions to their rosters since last season (Toronto, Philly, Miami, Indiana). It’s crazy to think that two of those eight teams will be in the Play-In this year.

How does one figure out which of those moves actually pushed the teams up the rankings? Lucky for you, I provide the exact correct, inarguable ranking below.

Best of the Best

1. New York Knicks: Until proven otherwise, the reigning champion New York Knicks (man do I hate writing that out) deserve the benefit of the doubt as the clear best team in the East. They have the fewest questions with a dominant starting five that has proven playoff production and depth that can contribute when the intensity ratchets up. The loss of Mitchell Robinson and replacing him with only Andre Drummond should have some impact, but otherwise they resigned all their major contributors. But all it comes down to is: They just did the thing, winning the championship while only losing two games on the way against Eastern Conference teams. They may not put forward the effort needed to be the 1-seed in the East at the end of the season, but until they are beaten in the playoffs or experience a legendary regular-season dropoff, they get to wear the crown.

Tangible Threats

2. Toronto Raptors: This ranking is made under the assumption that this Aspiration nonsense sorts out and Toronto adds Kawhi Leonard to a team that already includes Scottie Barnes, Mike favorite Colin Murray-Boyles, and Immanuel Quickley. Kawhi fits beautifully into that core with his defensive capabilities and scoring, and he was surprisingly healthy and incredibly impactful last season: 65 games of 27.9 PPG (on nearly a 50/40/90 line), 6.4 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.9 SPG. His arrival shifts Barnes — who was a revelation last season, and should have earned an All-NBA nod — down the pecking order into a proper No. 2 spot and gives the Raptors the alpha they desperately needed. Their frontcourt depth is arguably worse than the Sixers (a high bar), but this has all the makings of a dangerous team that is practically designed to trigger Sixers PTSD post-2019.

3. Indiana Pacers: The Pacers are the team people keep forgetting in the East after a Sixers-Process-level 19-63 season last year. But Tyrese Haliburton is the real deal, and he’s coming back to give this team a spark. Indiana returns most of a team that made the NBA Finals 14 months ago and took the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games, only replacing Myles Turner and Bennedict Mathurin with Ivica Zubac and our very own Kelly Oubre Jr. The Turner to Zubac transition will be the most drastic shift given Zubac’s lack of perimeter shooting, but his screen setting and short-roll playmaking will make him a seamless fit in the Pacers’ scheme once they find their groove, and I trust Rick Carlisle to find a way to make it work. The only thing that could hold this team back in the regular-season is a slow ramp-up for Haliburton after the Achilles injury, though I’m banking on him being back to himself within the first month or two of the season.

4. Boston Celtics: It feels like the Celtics should have gotten worse after trading Jaylen Brown, but it’s easy to forget that they played without Jayson Tatum all last season and were the 2-seed — I trust Joe Mazzulla to have these guys humming in the regular season, especially with the addition of Mitchell Robinson (and unfortunately Paul George will fit well too given his shooting, secondary playmaking, and defense). The playoffs are a bit of a different story though, as the three-point-heavy offensive approach that has cost them in recent series could easily come back to bite them. That said, my fear of jinxing this team into a championship contender (I can think of no worse outcome to this season than losing to the Paul George Celtics in the playoffs *shudder*) prevents me from putting them any lower down the list.

5. Detroit Pistons: The Pistons didn’t make any major moves this offseason like the Sixers, Heat, or Raptors, but this is still the reigning 1-seed from last year’s regular season. The Jalen Duren restricted free-agency situation hangs over everything, after a disappointing playoff run where he averaged an alarming 10.2 PPG and 8.5 RPG on 51.2% shooting from the floor. They’ve also shaken up their roster a good bit, with notable contributors in Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart out the door in exchange for the shooting of John Collins and Isaiah Joe, plus the ball-handling of a personal-favorite draft prospect, Ebuka Okorie. All this to say, I really struggled with where to place Detroit in this list: Are they still the tough and talented roster that earned the top seed heading into the playoffs last year? Or will they lose their grit-and-grind identity in the quest to solve their shooting problems? This feels like the right middle ground.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers: No matter how much talent they have — and they have plenty between Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen — I just can’t buy this team for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s the continuous lack of playoff success year-over-year or pure biased vibes, but I simply don’t believe in the Cavs. This seems a little crazy to say about a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals last year (an honor we are of course still hunting ourselves), and I do think they’ll be a quality regular-season team at the end of the day. However, I’d still prefer to play Cleveland over each of the teams above them in this ranking if it came down to it.

7. Miami Heat: They finally did it. The Heat have added a big-ticket superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo after whining that no one would take their “Andrew Wiggins and one first-round pick for an All-NBA player” mock trades for what seems like a century (in reality just one year since their Jimmy Butler trade to the Golden State Warriors). That said, the depth around Giannis and Bam Adebayo is questionable at best — as proven by Michael Pina’s RTRS-ban-worthy mention of Simone Fontecchio as the 3rd best player on the team. In addition, the fit of the roster could be better, given the lack of perimeter spacing remaining in Miami after trading or losing four of their top seven three-point shooters from last season (Norman Powell, Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakučionis, and Kel’el Ware). They belong in this category thanks to Giannis’ proven impact, and Erik Spoelstra will have their defense humming, but this team still has a lot to prove.

2021 Atlanta Hawks Trauma

8. Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks don’t deserve to be up in the top group of truly concerning teams, but they’re not a walk-over either. After trading Trae Young for CJ McCollum last season, Atlanta went 28-15 to earn the 6-seed and take two games off the Knicks — which those observant among you will note is more than the rest of the teams the Knicks played in the playoffs won, combined. This feels like a team that makes the 9-seed and at bare minimum puts a scare into the loser of the 7-seed vs 8-seed game, if not knocking them out entirely. The Sixers shouldn’t lose to this team, but as the category states, I have trauma from the 2021 Hawks series.

9. Orlando Magic: The Magic don’t fit into this category quite as cleanly as the other two teams from a narrative perspective, but the vibes feel very similar for an Orlando team that has underachieved their talent level several years in a row. This group still has the talent to make a push if they can figure it out, and maybe new leadership — Sean Sweeney is their new head coach, having been hired away from the Spurs this offseason — can push them in the right direction to capitalize on that talent. As recently as last season after the Desmond Bane trade, people were considering the Magic a major threat in the East. Sometimes it just takes a year and a new set of eyes (though I’m not counting on it, which is why they’re down here).

10. Washington Wizards: Somehow the Wizards might be a cleaner fit into the “2021 Atlanta Hawks Trauma” category than the Atlanta Hawks themselves after their Trae Young acquisition. Contrary to popular belief, Young is still a good NBA player (even if he’s overpaid), and with Anthony Davis (if healthy), No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa (who will be awesome), Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, and a slew of other capable role players at his side, the Wizards are set to have their first chance at borderline-relevancy since the Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook tandem. I’m not counting on them to make the playoffs this year, but this won’t be the same Washington team we’ve been used to seeing over the last few years.

Relegation Danger Zone

11. Charlotte Hornets: They might end up on the right side of the LaMelo Ball trade at some point, but for the time being, the Hornets are not going to be a playoff team. Naz Reid will be fun to watch cook with more freedom than he had in Minnesota, alongside the shooting of Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, and Coby White, but that cooking can only do so much to help the team win.

12. Brooklyn Nets: The Nets traded for Julius Randle over the summer in a salary dump move by Minnesota, and they claim they want to be more competitive (as much as Randle can make you competitive). They also don’t control their own first-round pick in 2027, so they no longer have any driving motive to lose games. Will they be good? No, of course not. That said, it will be interesting to see how their playmaking-only drafting strategy works in practice — six of their seven first-round picks in the last two drafts all rank extremely well in positional playmaking rates — and I am a huge believer in Mikel Brown Jr.

13. Chicago Bulls: After being mediocre for ages, Chicago is going to finally be legitimately terrible, just in time for the updated lottery odds to make that less beneficial — wow, this is a poorly run organization. The roster construction is also depressing, with a ton of on-ball non-shooters on the roster that will make Chicago an early contender for the worst three-point shooting team in the league. At least Bulls fans will get to watch Caleb Wilson attempt to dunk on every player in the league.

14. Milwaukee Bucks: The Bucks’ roster is brutal, and they don’t control their own first-round pick for 2027, so they wo++n’t care if they end up in the relegation zone. Goodness gracious, this team is going to suck. Enough said.

Add it all up, and the East is a glorious, unsortable mess — which is the best problem this conference has had in a long time after years of playing second fiddle to the West. I don’t know exactly how it shakes out, but I know the Sixers belong in the conversation, and probably in the first couple sentences. Get me to October.

Subscribe now

Can we talk about the schedule? Can we do some schedule talk? Also Joel looks even skinnier, Ben Simmons’ jump shot still looks jacked, how many Sixers all stars will there be, looking back on Russell Westbrook’s career, and Mike has to watch a Gary Vee video.

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Become a MortgageCS Ricky VIP at mortgagecs.com/ricky

Get 20% off any Body Bio order with the code in the podcast

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

Bet with DK Sportsbook: Gambling Problem? Call one eight hundred GAMBLER, one eight hundred MY RESET. Connecticut: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, visit CCPG dot org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Bet tax pass-through may apply in Illinois. Twenty one plus. Void in Canada. Event contract trading with DraftKings Predictions involves risk of loss. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Bet to get Bonus bets that expire in seven days. Trade to get Predictions Dollars that expire in one year. Fifty dollars in rewards issued every seven days via click to claim for fourteen days. One non-withdrawable reward redeemable. Nationwide based on Sportsbook, Predictions, and Free-to-Play Sports Contest availability. Varies by State. Terms at d k n g dot c o slash offer. Limited time offer.

Jaylen Brown did his first press conference as a member of the Sixers, Joel posted some on-court photos, as did Ben Simmons, and you sent in some prospective names for the Philly WNBA team.

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Get 20% off Verb Energy bars with code RTRS and the VERB starter pack at https://verbenergy.com/ricky

Kornblau Law is the official law firm of the process

Briggs Auction is the official auction of The Ricky at briggsauction.com

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

Wow has it been the busiest Sixers August I can ever remember. Well, not busiest, exactly — we’ve still got at least a couple months until anything of true consequence is allowed to actually happen with the Sixers again — but undoubtedly, we’ve got real stuff to talk about still, which is something of a first for this time of year. Just last week, I was wondering when or if we were finally going to get a LeBron James introductory press conference; it never even occurred to me we still had a Jaylen Brown introductory press conference to get through first. Meanwhile, we’ve got V.J. Edgecombe Muscle Watch photos to analyze, we’ve got Rich Paul podcasts (shudder) to listen to, we’ve got Jaylen Twitch streams to figure out how to watch (or at least to wait for the true sickos on our timelines to helpfully excerpt). We’ve got stuff! Semi-real stuff. It’s crazy to still have this much sheer content in August.

Not from Joel Embiid, though. Throughout this most involved of Sixers summers, Joel has tuned out and dropped off. Calls go to voicemail, texts get an emoji response at best, emails are just dust in the wind. There’s more to talk about this August than ever before, but Joel is unavailable for comment. He is getting some sun on a yacht, he is in spiritual hibernation at a monastery, he is backpacking to Machu Picchu, he is studying squid fishing in Borneo. He may show up unexpectedly in a gym photo looking unprecedentedly slim, but try to ask him about it and he will suddenly have Transported Manned himself out the door. It is the seventh day of The Process’ creation myth, and you better fucking believe that Joel Embiid is resting.

I imagine he’s never been happier.

For the last 10 Sixers summers, the story has been Joel Embiid. Yes, the story has also been Tyrese Maxey, or Ben Simmons, or James Harden, or Daryl Morey, or Doc Rivers, or Al Horford, or Barbara Bottini, or Drew Hanlen, or the surgery attendings at PCOM. But really, the story has been Joel Embiid. How’s Joel doing? What’s Joel doing? Is Joel doing? Will he be ready for training camp? Will he be ready for the pre-season? Will he be ready for opening night? Will he be ready for Christmas? Will he ever really be ready? Can Joel lead this team? Should Joel lead this team? Should we trade Joel? Can we trade Joel? Joel Joel Joel, Joel Joel Joel Joel Joel. For a full decade of Augusts and second Augusts and sometimes third and fourth Augusts. It’s been a lot to carry for a guy whose lower body has already long been a little wobbly.

But now, it is alleviated. Adding a pair of Finals MVPs after we had signed Dean Wade and Ariel Hukporti and seemingly called it an offseason will do that, I guess. For once, Joel is not in the primary headline of the Sixers’ offseason; hell, if he’s even on the front page, it’s so far below the fold you gotta follow with your fingers to even find it. It’s not like there isn’t stuff to talk about with Joel; we theoretically could still be talking plenty about his body and his contract and emotionally negotiating exactly how many good games we could expect out of him next year between the regular season and postseason. (50? 40? Can we start the bidding at 25, at least?) But why talk about any of that when we could talk about swapping Paul George for Jaylen Brown? Why talk about that when we could talk about picking up a guy who’s made each of the last 22 All-Star Games like he was a late-season buyout? Why talk about that when we could be debating material and design for the Mike Gansey statue to go atop the Museum of Art steps?

At long last, Joel Embiid is an afterthought. He does not have to spend this summer figuring out how to be a leader. He does not have to spend this summer making us feel better about ourselves. He definitely does not have to spend this summer sitting for polarizing, soul-searching ESPN interviews. He can get suddenly skinny if he wants to, and if before social media even settles on whether to call him Ozembiid or JoelP-1, he can balloon right back to where he was, that’ll be fine too. For once, he gets to be just one of the guys, to blend into the background of the party scenes. It’s not his responsibility to lead the narrative to where it’s going next anymore.

In a certain sense, that’s a bit of a bummer. Certainly earlier in his career, I had hoped that Joel Embiid would get to experience his Great Summer Unburderning as a result of having led Philadelphia to its first NBA championship since 1983, of having nothing left to prove as an NBA superstar or as a Sixer. I wanted him to finally get to the top of the mountain on his own and then have a nice, leisurely stroll back down. Instead, he’s picked up a couple experienced Sherpa guides to help him the rest of the way. Better than being stuck midway up the climb forever, of course, but still not quite the ending to the best-selling Barnes & Noble paperback we were hoping for.

But I think what still makes it ultimately OK — for me, at least, and possibly for him as well — is the Celtics series last year. He got to be the hero in that series, to come back crazy early from his appendix surgery and play the best, calmest postseason hoops of his career and lead the Sixers back from a 3-1 series deficit to a still-inconceivable Game Seven victory in Boston. Those were Joel Embiid’s Sixers who did that, who shocked the world, who killed off an entire era of basketball in Boston, who put the team in a place where one of the two greatest players of all time could look at their name in a list of all 30 NBA teams and go Hmmm How About That One. He has that forever, and so do we. It’s much easier to turn the page on this chapter of Sixers history knowing that this was its climax.

And whatever comes next, Joel will certainly still be an important part — arguably the most important. Having a healthy-ish, functioning-ish Joel is probably still the difference between the Sixers being a true championship contender and a fun second-or-third-round out. There will be much to talk about with Joel, much to think about, and he won’t get to Out-of-Office most of it once the season actually starts. But this part, he finally does get to take off. He doesn’t have to bear the weight of existential Sixers discourse anymore, of the garments rended over what was, of the future-tripping out over what will be. He doesn’t even have to spend Sixers August thinking about the Sixers. He can actually enjoy his summer vacation for once. We all can, maybe.

Subscribe now

Andrew Unterberger writes for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the ‘If Not, Pick Will Convey as Two Second-Rounders’ section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard.

Jaylen Brown’s first press conference as a member of the Sixers was a good one. I just wanted to make note of that.

Most press conferences, unfortunately, only get remembered in a bad way — if they get remembered at all. We’ve got too many examples in Philadelphia of this. Bynum’s extravaganza at the Constitution Center, Nick Sirianni’s debut bumblefest, Allen Iverson’s practice rant. They didn’t all end poorly, but you know what I mean.

Brown’s first time talking in an official setting since the Sixers traded for him was just about everything you’d want from him. I don’t think it means everything, but I do think he deserves credit for it.

Speaking publicly in a public setting as a pro athlete, in Philadelphia, is a complicated scenario. You want to be honest, and seem genuine, but you also don’t want to say “the wrong thing.” It’s a minefield.

I thought Brown did a good job of combining those in a way that made me feel good about his upcoming first season. He seemed genuine, even when he was saying “the right things.”

I do like that he said that it “doesn’t have to be anybody’s team,” even if it definitely does and he almost certainly wants it to be his. I do like that he said that at this point the Sixers are only good on paper, and there is much work ahead to be actually good. Even if he must look at them on paper and say “we’re probably going to be pretty fucking good.”

Even when he was asked what the Sixers are going to need from him, he said he wasn’t sure, and he didn’t want to get ahead of the process of becoming a team.

These are all good, by-the-book-type answers that people get wrong every time, either because they don’t know they’re the right answers or they simply don’t care enough to try.

He was honest in expressing his disappointment in being traded from the Celtics, and in revealing that he hasn’t talked to Tatum since the trade. He didn’t say it, and we probably already knew it, but man, he’s going to want to fucking KILL Boston every time the Sixers play them.

This season is going to be fun, but it’s also going to be stressful in the amount of national press and big personalities involved. I think Brown is going to deal with it just fine.

Team Ricky

• The Stat Man (Beckett), took a look at how much LeBron potentially has in the tank for 26-27.

• I get a lot of heat for not being a LeBron guy, but I’m not the only one like that on Team Ricky.

• Me and Mutlu did a podcast about what many people consider to be Faith No More’s best album.

Team Non-Ricky

• I was on Ethan Strauss’ podcast again.

• Here’s where you can subscribe to Rich Paul’s pod.

• Here’s where you can subscribe to Jaylen Brown’s Twtich stream.

Subscribe now

We discuss the album ‘King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime’ by Faith No More and the new song “The Real You” by The Hu.

*This episode was recorded on Sunday, May 31, 2026

For all of Mutlu’s tour dates and tickets visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.mutlusounds.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hit the link below to suggest an album:

The intro music is “I Should Let You Know” by Marian Hill.

This is Carl Landry Record Club episode #196

These new shirts are available for pre-order through today only. You can get them right now for pre-order at Shibe Vintgage Sports.

First, from Abbie, two shirts that show our obvious and long term support for the push-off move on offense. It’s always been a legal move. We’ve always been into it here. Here’s “Push Off Power.”

And then, Mike got a suggestion to celebrate the Sixers big signing with a nod to Process history. Here’s “He’s Never Coming Over.”

LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er. Just had to remind myself; it still feels surreal to type. Our team has added either the best or second-best player of all time, depending on your opinion, to the roster for just the veteran’s minimum, a statement that feels wrong to put into writing.

But best player of all time doesn’t necessarily mean best player right now, and in fact, hasn’t for some years now. How much of the LeBron we’re actually getting matches the myth?

Let’s start with the negative. First, LeBron last season was not the nearly the scorer he once was in his prime. His pure scoring volume at 31.0 points per 100 possessions was below every season of his career besides his rookie year (though it’s mind-boggling that that’s a low number for him). And his scoring efficiency, while far from poor at +1.6 rTS% (true shooting percentage relative to league average), wasn’t near the unstoppable level he has shown capable of. This becomes even more pronounced when you consider his declining three-point proficiency (31.7% from deep, his lowest in a decade) and the fact that his shots are being created for him more frequently than ever — 53.9% of his made field goals were assisted, the highest rate of his career by five percentage points.

His efficiency numbers (-1.6 rTS%) also took a clear step back in this past year’s playoffs, when he was without his co-stars and became the focus of the opposing defense. This isn’t a player who’s going to drop 50 points on the regular anymore — he might not even crack 30 that often, as he only did so six times last year — and we don’t necessarily want that to be his role regardless.

His overall impact metrics show the same story. They aren’t poor necessarily; he still has a net positive on/off rating at +2.3 points per 100 possessions. But he’s also not carrying the team on his back alone anymore like he was as recently as 2023-24 (+9.9 points per 100 possessions) — needless to say, LeBron is no longer capable of willing a team to the NBA Finals on his lonesome like he did in his Cleveland years.

However, what he still brings to the table matters more than the bits and pieces that have been lost over the years.

LeBron’s passing in particular stands out, in both volume and impact. He has ranked above the 89th percentile in the NBA for his position in potential assists every year of his career since the stat was created in 2013-14, a trend that continued last season even as he took a step back in usage alongside Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Many of those opportunities are creating high-value looks for teammates as well, with around half of his assists coming at the rim — generating easy shots for teammates is one of the most valuable skills in basketball.

That playmaking is desperately needed for the Sixers, who ranked 28th in the league last season in assist rate. LeBron’s 34.1% assist percentage — the percentage of teammates’ made shots a player assisted on when they were on the floor — was good for 14th-best in the NBA, even with Doncic (6th at 38.7%) on his team. For reference, this would have easily been the highest of any player on the Sixers by far last season — the best playmaking Sixer by assist percentage was Tyrese Maxey at 28.9%, and the closest after him was a glorious 22 games of Cam Payne at 21.8%. This is a level of playmaker the Sixers haven’t seen since James Harden left.

Another area of continued success that I find to be a bit underrated is his durability. While a lot has been made about LeBron’s health — and to be fair, he has taken a slight step back from his previous years playing 80+ games — he’s actually been incredibly durable for his age. He played 70+ regular-season games in both 2023-24 and 2024-25 and played 60 regular-season games last season. The total games played between those three years is more than our own durable star in Maxey since 2023, and only two games fewer over the same time period than Jaylen Brown, a player who we have been rightfully excited about for his durability specifically. We may not need LeBron to continue that volume of games this season, but I don’t think the narrative surrounding him as injury-prone is particularly fair given his recent play.

He’s also still a terrific defensive rebounder, a fact that will surely make Mike extremely happy. His per-game and per-possession numbers have barely shifted on the defensive glass even as he’s gotten older, which should help him continue to generate the frequent transition possessions he is so known for. The rest of his defense has taken a step back in the regular season in both the eye test and some advanced catch-all metrics, but in the playoffs he is still an overall net positive due to his basketball IQ and understanding of positioning and team defense.

That intelligence isn’t just a defensive weapon, as I’m excited to see the impact his leadership and IQ could have on the rest of the players on the roster. LeBron’s 1,924 total games played in his career are more than the rest of the Sixers’ projected starting lineup of Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown, and Joel Embiid combined. He has played nearly four full NBA seasons’ worth of playoff games in his career. This is a level of experience that is indispensable, particularly for younger players like Maxey and Edgecombe who are still learning how to win in the playoffs when the intensity ramps up. He has played for and against every offense and defense under the sun and can be another coach on the floor (not the Kyle Lowry version) for the team.

LeBron is clearly not going to offer anything close to his MVP-peak at age 42. However, given the impressive lack of drop-off in many areas at that age and the incredibly small contract the Sixers had to pay to get him, this is a steal of astronomic proportions. This kind of signing is precisely what the Sixers needed to offset the should-be-crippling money they have tied up in Joel Embiid, Brown, and Maxey. (Who knew, the way around the new restrictive CBA apron is just to sign a four-time Finals MVP on a minimum?)

For once, the myth and the reality point in the same direction. No, we’re not getting 2013 LeBron, but we’re getting exactly the version a 28th-ranked passing team badly lacking in cohesion and leadership was praying for. And we’re basically getting him for free. Did I mention how this still doesn’t feel real yet?

Subscribe now

Jaylen Brown did a stream talking about LeBron and being disrespected, Mike recalled one of Doc Rivers’ biggest asshole moments as Sixers coach, figuring out which Process Era role player you’d want to add to this team, Weekly Becky’s return and Mike’s about-face on Jaylen Brown.

Get the new Ricky shirts here:

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

LL Pavorsky Jewelers is where Rights To Ricky Sanchez listeners go and get engaged.

Adam Ksebe is the official realtor of The Ricky at 302-864-8643 or https://www.buyindelaware.com/

Anthony Degli Obizzi is the official Financial Planner of The Ricky, text RICKY to 484-471-4873 to set up a conversation

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

We go through every player on the Sixers roster and how they can adjust their game to work better with LeBron James. Then we go through some Rich Paul’s most recent podcast.

Get the new Ricky shirts here:

Read Sixers Adam’s Dom Barlow profile here: https://www.phillyvoice.com/sixers-news-analysis-dominick-barlow-stats-highlights-lebron-james-reaction-golf-jaylen-brown-trade-mike-gansey-nba/

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Become a MortgageCS Ricky VIP at mortgagecs.com/ricky

Get 20% off any Body Bio order with the code in the podcast.

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

Bet with DK Sportsbook: Gambling Problem? Call one eight hundred GAMBLER, one eight hundred MY RESET. Connecticut: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, visit CCPG dot org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Bet tax pass-through may apply in Illinois. Twenty one plus. Void in Canada. Event contract trading with DraftKings Predictions involves risk of loss. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Bet to get Bonus bets that expire in seven days. Trade to get Predictions Dollars that expire in one year. Fifty dollars in rewards issued every seven days via click to claim for fourteen days. One non-withdrawable reward redeemable. Nationwide based on Sportsbook, Predictions, and Free-to-Play Sports Contest availability. Varies by State. Terms at d k n g dot c o slash offer. Limited time offer.

Still trying to figure out if the LeBron James thing is real. We talk about LeBron the point guard, what order the starting lineup will be announced, what chance they have to win the title, and Mike has some backup center trade targets.

Get the new Ricky shirts here!

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Anthony Degli Obizzi is the official Financial Planner of The Ricky, text RICKY to 484-471-4873 to set up a conversation

LL Pavorsky Jewelers is where Rights To Ricky Sanchez listeners go and get engaged.

Become a MortgageCS Ricky VIP at mortgagecs.com/ricky

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

The Sixers traded for Jaylen Brown and signed LeBron. People seem excited, so it felt like a good shirt time. Two from Abbie (same theme), one from Tanner. You can get them right now for pre-order at Shibe Vintgage Sports.

First, from Abbie, two shirts that show our obvious and long term support for the push-off move on offense. It’s always been a legal move. We’ve always been into it here. Here’s “Push Off Power.”

And then, Mike got a suggestion to celebrate the Sixers big signing with a nod to Process history. Here’s “He’s Never Coming Over.”

Let me be the 500,000th person now to say: I never thought this day would actually come. I wrote some bullshit last Tuesday about LeBron James taking till January to sign with a team because I thought it would be funny and why not. I didn’t think that was a terribly likely outcome, but I thought it was much more likely than the news dropping 72 hours later that LeBron would be signing to the Philadelphia 76ers — our Philadelphia 76ers, the same franchise that did all that crazy nonsense Mike talked about on Friday’s podcast, in roughly the same era — for two years and $8 million. “I wonder what these words will sound like coming out of my mouth,” I thought to myself as I walked into the other room of my apartment to tell my appropriately incredulous girlfriend Lisa about the news on Friday morning. They didn’t sound right, I’ll tell you that much.

For many years, Sixers fans have debated whether or not we are still in the Process Era, whether The Process ended with Sam Hinkie’s ousting or whether The Process is still ongoing as long as Joel Embiid is on the team. What the signing of LeBron makes clear to me — LeBron James, that is, signed by the Philadelphia 76ers — is that we are done with the Process (Noun) era and have now moved into the Process (Verb) era. The Process is no longer something that is happening to us, but something that we are going to have to be doing ourselves, continuously, all the time, possibly forever. It might take that long to accept, believe and truly understand that LeBron James is on this team, chose to be on this team, chose being on this team over being on literally any of the other teams. There aren’t enough Augusts in the world for us to wrap our heads around that. Not for me anyway.

It’s been 48 hours and two grafs now, so at this point I guess I should probably say for the record: I didn’t want this. It’s how I started my last article, so not like I’ve been particularly coy about it, but I don’t expect anyone to remember that or really anything else that happened before Friday morning. But yeah, despite the LeBron-to-Philly mania of the last couple days, despite Jason and Mike both thinking a couple messages from them had a chance to snap me out of an existential quandary nearly 20 years in the making, this is still something I’m having a pretty tough time with. Considering the reception Spike is currently getting for his own skepticism, I expect this will not be received warmly by the Ricky faithful. There’ll probably be at least one r/RightsToRickySanchez thread trying to get me fired. It’s fair. I considered skipping writing about the topic altogether, not wanting to harsh anyone’s good time or make myself any kind of online main character. But ducking this forever would be cowardly, even for me. So I waited two days, and now here I am. I didn’t want LeBron James to sign with the Sixers.

Why not? It barely even feels worth writing about, to be honest. Many years ago, when I was really getting back into basketball in the mid-late ‘00s after not watching for a long time, I found some stuff he did on and off the court annoying or unrelatable, and I started rooting against him. At the time, it was fun for me. It gave me a reason to care more about various games and playoff series that the Sixers weren’t involved in (and some that they were). It made me a more passionate, more invested NBA fan. I wrote about it a lot. It had nothing to do with him as a player or as a person; he was easily the best player I’d ever watched (not really remembering Jordan’s heyday) and he seemed like a generally OK human being. But he wasn’t my guy. I would have rather had the other guy win. That’s dumb, maybe, but it’s also sports. Sports are dumb. We take interests that are largely arbitrary over events that are basically without objective consequence and build emotions and personal stakes around them that make their outcomes feel something like life or death. That’s the whole thing.

Over the years I’ve become a little less irritated with LeBron, mostly because the entire league doesn’t quite revolve around him like it used to, and because it’s hard not to get at least a tiny bit sentimental about star players when they get closer to the end of things than to the beginning. I have to appreciate that he’s (still!) even older than I am, not many players I can say that about these days. I may have even rooted for him in a couple games of that Lakers-Rockets series last year, just because he felt like a semi-legitimate underdog in a way I finally found somewhat charming. I’m also just not as life-or-death about the larger NBA in general these days; I feel things a lot less explosively than I did when I was going through my version of NBA fandom puberty 15-20 years ago. There are plenty of teams LeBron could have signed with this offseason where I probably would’ve ended up wishing him well-ish.

And even now, I can objectively acknowledge that him coming to the Sixers is a cool and certainly a hilarious thing. It’s a massive get for the city of Philadelphia to now be the center of the NBA universe, and a huge get for Sixers fans to have one offseason where the buzz around the team may actually, finally be nearly as loud as it is for the Birds. Local indie rock paragons reporting Sixers-related announcements being made over the loudspeaker at ACME? I love that shit. It’s fantastic. And we’re gonna get a whole offseason of this, of Philadelphia at its absolute Philadelphia-est, tilting the entire axis of the NBA world in the meantime. Brian Windhorst is probably gonna be unleashing his cheesesteak power rankings within a couple months. It’s gonna be garish and stupid and hysterical and absolutely beautiful. As dozens of folks on my timeline the last couple days have pointed out, it’s the kind of shit you wish Dan McQuade was around for, which is just about the biggest compliment you can give a Philly sports happening.

For me? It’s definitely not the end of the world, or of my Sixers fandom, but it’s a little bit of a bummer, yeah. I don’t really sports-hate LeBron the same way anymore, but I just never wanted his thing to be our thing. I never felt like our thing needed him. Our thing was already epic enough, with enough massive personalities and totemic league figures and dramatic swings and occasionally traumatizing results. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have changed anything about it over the last decade, but I at least always felt good that win or lose or total collapse, it was entirely ours. As many other players and coaches and execs passed through over the years, from James Harden to J.J. Redick to Doc Rivers to Ben Simmons to the Colangelos, at the end of the day, The Process was first and foremost the story of Sam Hinkie, and of Joel Embiid, and of us, all of us who’d been there since the Andrew Bynum trade, if not far earlier. But the story with LeBron is always LeBron — it has been for the last 23 years, anyway, so I assume it probably will be here too. He’s the first guy we’ve had who’s bigger than The Process. It hurts me a little to have to give that up.

Don’t worry, I can hear you all at home — those of you who haven’t already closed this out to start typing angrily, anyway — Yeah, but what about winning? You remember WINNING? Isn’t that supposed to be what it’s actually about? Don’t you want that to be included in the Sixers’ story somewhere? Sure. I like winning. Winning feels good; better than losing, I’d tend to agree. And our chances at winning are undoubtedly better with LeBron on the court than with those minutes going to Justin Edwards or Johni Broome. I don’t know if it makes us title or even conference favorites, exactly; that’s not a debate for this week regardless. But being good at basketball and helping his team be good at basketball is a field in which LeBron has done quite extensive work over the past 23 years. I do not for a second doubt his ability to do so here.

That said, there’s still context to all of this, right? There’s a reason why the Sixers’ first-round series win against Boston last season and their first-round series win against the Nets three years earlier didn’t feel the same, even though they ultimately brought us equally close to actually winning a championship? There’s a reason why we look back fondly at some Sixers regular-season campaigns where they won under 20 games and shudder at the memory of some where they won 50-plus? There’s a reason why even if some of us know in our heads it might be the best thing long-term for the team to get off Joel Embiid’s contract, we still believe in our hearts that we should do whatever it takes to ride it out with him until the very very end? Not all wins, even the biggest wins, are created equal. If our long-overdue winning comes primarily as the closing chapter of the LeBron James story... it’s just not gonna be the same thing.

But look: I’m not going to insist I know how I’m going to feel if and when we do start winning with LeBron. Maybe winning with him feels good enough that the rest of it just sorta disintegrates into the ether for me. I expect that after writing this, if I express positive feelings about the LeBron-led Sixers in the months to come, I’ll get a flood of comments from folks about how I was wrong and they were right and told you so. But I’m not saying anything about what this will be. It could be great, both on the court and for me personally. I hope it will be.

And there are parts of it that are already making me gooey inside to think about. LeBron grabbing a rebound in traffic and then outletting to a streaking VJ for a massive thunderdunk. Joel drawing a double in the post and then throwing some showy, Jokic-ish high-low pass over his shoulder to LeBron at the basket for an easy two. LeBron feeding Maxey in the two-man game for an open movement three and then tousling his hair as Maxey’s smile stretches from Broad Street to Sacramento and the roof blows off the not-Wells Fargo Center and Kate and Alaa strangle each other out of excitement. There’ll probably be some not-so-giddy moments too, hurt egos and uncomfortable compromises and losses that really feel like they should have been wins. But there will be moments of absolute basketball nirvana to be had, no doubt, for us and for the guys on the court who’ve suffered the most for us. I promise I am not so hard-hearted as to not get joy out of the prospect.

What’s more, the part of me that is having the easiest time coming to terms with this is the part of me that has already accepted that the way I did want this story to end — with Joel Embiid unequivocally leading the Sixers to a championship — was not going to happen. We won one playoff series last year and it seemed to take absolutely every last drop of energy, character and determination that Joel and the rest of the team had to do it; the idea of them being able to do that and then do it again three more times during the same postseason felt far-fetched at a minimum. Jaylen Brown would’ve helped, but who knows how much; I certainly hadn’t penciled the Sixers in even as Eastern Conference Finalists at any point. So it stings a little less to close the book on that possibility knowing it was already about 96% shut anyway.

Maybe this actually sounds like me coming around to the signing, like Mike and Jason and everyone else are winning me over already. If so, that’s fine. There’s a reason this article is titled “Working My Way Through the LeBron Signing” and not “Condemning the LeBron Signing From Beyond the Grave.” I’m still figuring out my own feelings here, and it’s going to take a real long time for me to get through the whole thing; maybe longer than LeBron even has left in his NBA career. It’s obviously a no-brainer move for the Sixers and a humongous win for all of Philadelphia sports, nobody could credibly argue otherwise. It’s just not something I can drop all my emotional baggage over and be fucking pumped about right away.

My Nets fan co-worker told me on Friday, “If you can’t get excited about the greatest player in the sport’s history playing for your team in any stage of his career, I don’t know what to tell you.” I told him I wasn’t asking for him or anyone else to tell me anything. I’m not looking for sympathy or commiseration. I’m not looking to be convinced or to convince anyone about anything LeBron-related. I’m just trying to wrap my arms around the craziest, wackiest, most emotionally confusing thing that has ever happened to my team or to me as a sports fan and figure out what the hell it means for them and for me — mostly for me — moving forward. For nearly 20 years I rooted against LeBron James; now his (sports) success and my (sports) happiness are inextricably entwined. I’ll figure it out, but it’s going to take an adjustment a whole lot bigger than I can make in 48 hours or 48 days or maybe 48 months. If you can’t allow me that, I guess I don’t know what to tell you either.

Subscribe now

Andrew Unterberger writes for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the ‘If Not, Pick Will Convey as Two Second-Rounders’ section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard.

We discuss the album ‘Around The World In A Day’ by Prince and the new song “My Body Isn’t Ready” by Sombr.

*This episode was recorded on Sunday, July 12 2026

For all of Mutlu’s tour dates and tickets visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.mutlusounds.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

To suggest an album, leave a comment or visit us at ⁠⁠⁠https//www.carllandryrecordclub.com⁠⁠⁠

The intro music is “I Should Let You Know” by Marian Hill.

This is Carl Landry Record Club episode #195

Never thought we’d write that title.

The Rights To Ricky Sanchez is presented by Draft Kings

Get 20% off Verb Energy bars with code RTRS and the VERB starter pack at https://verbenergy.com/ricky

Get 20% off any Body Bio order with the code in the podcast.

Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka is the official canned cocktail of The Ricky

Bet with DK Sportsbook: Gambling Problem? Call one eight hundred GAMBLER, one eight hundred MY RESET. Connecticut: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, visit CCPG dot org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Bet tax pass-through may apply in Illinois. Twenty one plus. Void in Canada. Event contract trading with DraftKings Predictions involves risk of loss. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Bet to get Bonus bets that expire in seven days. Trade to get Predictions Dollars that expire in one year. Fifty dollars in rewards issued every seven days via click to claim for fourteen days. One non-withdrawable reward redeemable. Nationwide based on Sportsbook, Predictions, and Free-to-Play Sports Contest availability. Varies by State. Terms at d k n g dot c o slash offer. Limited time offer.

HOLY S**T, THE SIXERS ACTUALLY SIGNED LEBRON JAMES.

I’m still in a state of shock and trying to wrap my head around the fact that the greatest player of the modern era is choosing to join the Sixers of his own free will. The Sixers. The Philadelphia 76ers. A team that has turned into more of a meme than anything and whose greatest accomplishment since Allen Iverson is a first-round playoff series win over the Celtics before being promptly swept in the second round. This is the team LeBron James is looking to ring-chase with?

For a player who is so actively aware of his legacy and public image to join this team and risk his final NBA snapshot becoming the equivalent of Michael Jordan in a Wizards jersey is mind-boggling to me. Like Jaylen Brown, I don’t think this all will fully register until I see him walk out in a Sixers jersey for the first time.

But now that he’s here… it’s impossible (well almost impossible, c’mon Spike and AU) not to be incredibly excited. A starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron, and Joel Embiid is immediately the most talented in the entire NBA on paper (even if some others may still surpass them with cohesion, à la the reigning champion New York Knicks). It also moves Dean Wade from somehow being a critical starter on this team to a player who can focus on contributing off the bench, leaving us with solid depth between Wade, Anfernee Simons, Labaron Philon, and Dominick Barlow. Nick Nurse will have his work cut out for him fitting together this many high-usage stars, but LeBron adds so much that the Sixers have been missing out on.

He brings elite skill to two of the main concerns the Sixers had remaining: rebounding (86th percentile DRB% last year) and playmaking (higher AST% than anyone on the Sixers last year). He brings another dominant transition threat to run alongside Maxey, Brown, and Edgecombe and help create an identity when Joel is off the floor — Maxey, Brown, and LeBron were three of the top four players last season in transition possessions per game. He brings even more free-throw generation — god I cannot wait for how mad everyone is going to be at the number of FT attempts Maxey, Brown, LeBron, and Joel will generate together. And most importantly, he knows how to win in the playoffs and can help to push the Sixers over the second-round line they’ve been toeing for the past two decades. (For those keeping track, LeBron has been to 12 conference finals and won 10 in comparison to the Sixers going to zero conference finals and winning zero over the same time period.)

There are going to be annoying aspects of this for sure. Every press conference for Brown and LeBron will be an opportunity for incriminating quotes. The fit is not perfect and will take some work for everyone to mesh. The starting lineup falls apart without the big guy, so we realistically need a better backup big (I still do not trust Adem Bona or Ariel Hukporti to start when Joel is out, which is going to inevitably happen). And the league-wide media will have the entirety of its focus on the Sixers — a prospect that terrifies me given the inevitable weird, Sixer-style obstacles that I’m sure will pop up.

But at this point, I don’t care. We just signed LeBron fucking James for a minimum contract. In the course of one offseason, Mike Gansey has flipped the Sixers from a team with no optionality into a team that has jumped into the top five in championship odds and has the entirety of the NBA world abuzz. If you told me at the start of the offseason that we would be able to effectively trade Paul George, two first-round picks, and two-second round picks for Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, I would have called you crazy. Now that we’re here — and before the Sixers more than likely figure out how to blow this all up in our faces — there’s only one thing left to say: See you on Broad St.

Subscribe now

It’s July 24th. August is here. Many say that August is their favorite time of the year for The Ricky.

If you’re new, August is the time of the year that The Ricky lets its hair down. Some guests that might not be Sixers or basketball centric. More Relationship Advice (if you need it), Jigsaws (if I think of them), re-litigating old debates, so on and so forth. We’re also going to re-watch the Boston series from the playoffs (Mike keeps saying we should all do this but I don’t know how to provide everyone with the games so they can watch them).

I did not think we could start August before LeBron signed, even though I don’t think there’s any chance he’s signing with the Sixers. Mike changed my mind on that one. I’m kind of adopting his way of looking at this; when he signs, he signs. If it’s here, we’ll deal with it.

So, with August, comes you. August is always better with Ricky Community ideas. If you have email questions (Sixers or non-Sixers), send them to rightstorickysanchez@gmail.com. If want to reach us by voicemail, it’s 833-LICKFACE (you, yes you can get your own eyeroll from Mike when I start playing a voicemail! It’s absolutely free!). I’d say to hit us on social media but we’re checking those less and less. So just email us or voicemail us.

To get myself into August mode, I’m going to simply tell you about the non-sports content that I’ve been consuming, and whether I like it or not.

The Pitt (TV Show). It’s ok. I tend to not be watching shows, or as many shows, as most people do. I’ve got to watch all of the Phillies/Sixers games, and I just like movies better. So Val and I are always watching one show, which we’ll watch once or twice a week, and she picked The Pitt.

Also worth noting, if I think a show starts to suck I never “stick with it.” I’ll give a show two bad episodes and then I’ll bail, no matter how many seasons I’ve watched. Recent bails include From and Your Friends and Neighbors (season two).

The Pitt is an emergency room drama that takes place at a Pittsburgh hospital, and each season takes place over one day.

It is a fine watch. It’s reasonably compelling.

I’d give two warnings if you plan on watching it. First, it’s pretty gross and graphic. I have to cover my eyes almost every episode (I don’t deal well with realistic gore). Second, the show goes out of its way to teach you a lesson like four times an episode. It’s too much. I do not need some hospital show asking me if I’m tolerant enough every episode. There’s a fun game you can play where you can predict what lesson one of the storylines will teach you when it first is introduced.

Gracie Abrams, Daughter From Hell (Music). I think it’s great.

Pretty bold for a pop album to be sixteen songs and 56 minutes but she pulls it off with flying colors. You could probably cut a song or two but tough to find an album nowadays that you wouldn’t say that for.

I don’t know if it’s just the way things go from a timeline perspective, but there has certainly been a bit of an influx of ‘90s alternative feel to current pop music over I’d say even the last half decade. You can absolutely hear it several times in this album. I think the most obvious one is the title track, “Daughter From Hell,” which could absolutely be a Smashing Pumpkins song.

Listening to the album is almost like laying with a comfortable blanket on a Spring Saturday when it’s about 65 degrees and you’re drifting off to take a nap. There are some really great songs here, but none of them knock you out of the vibe.

Aside from the singles, “Hit The Wall” and “Look At My Life,” I’d say the standouts to check out if you’re interested are “The Knife,” “Good Reason,” “Sober” and “Daughter From Hell.”

And, some movies I’ve watched…

I do keep an active Letterboxd but my reviews are pretty short. Really just a couple of thoughts and a rating so I can remember what I thought of them.

Evil Dead Burn. Really just so so. I love horror movies, I love this franchise, and I really liked Evil Dead Rise. But this one didn’t really work for me.

Evil Dead movies are best when there is a little bit of humor, but it’s difficult to balance because it should be terrifying too. I do think the first of the reboots had no humor, which made it tough to think of as an Evil Dead movie, but was still a very solid horror movie.

I thought it was just a little too dumb and silly.

Deep Water. Plane crash and shark attack movie that has a terrifying plane crash but gets pretty boring once it becomes a shark attack movie. It’s OK.

Ready Or Not 2. I thought it was boring. Liked the first one much better.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. I kind of loved this movie. I acknowledge it’s pretty terrible and you have to take so many leaps of faith to just stick with it past the first hour that it almost seems like it was on purpose. But the second half of the movie was amazing and definitely seems like it is part of the Evil Dead universe.

I want to reinforce that the movie is very stupid, but if you like horror movies you’ll probably say “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I enjoyed that” at the end.

Over Your Dead Body. My wife really liked it. I tolerated it.

Crime 101. Paint by numbers crime movie really but a perfect movie to stream at home.

Disclosure Day. I am not a Spielberg guy at all. I do not want my movies to have ridiculous happy endings and I don’t want a positive view on life. I want my filmmakers to be fucking miserable.

I am an alien guy though, and while I didn’t think this movie was great or anything, I didn’t hate it, and Emily Blunt was awesome. I had a pretty good time with it even though I had pretty good idea where it was going and it was generally unbelievable.

Backrooms. Enough has been written about it. I am glad it exists, I loved how weird it was, I only thought it was OK. Just not enough story for me. Kind of reminded me how I felt after Skinamarink or In a Violent Nature. Glad it was made, unlikely I’ll ever watch it again.

Team Ricky

• AU with one of his funniest and most true columns of all time.

• The Statman did a Statman look at Jaylen Brown.

Subscribe now