Liberty Links: Busy Weekend Behind Us As Sixers Face Celtics Again Tonight

The Sixers take on the Celtics in another preseason game tonight, starting at 7:30. Robert Covington and J.J. Redick are out for “this game is meaningless,” Embiid continues to sit out due to “same,” Richaun Holmes is out due to his wrist injury suffered in the previous meaningless game, but Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot continues to sit with a knee injury suffered over the summer will play tonight for the first time this preseason (thanks to Brian Stanton and others for the correction).

Along with TLC, Markelle Fultz will play, along with Dario Saric for the first time this preseason. The Ben Simmons-Dario Saric lineups may have a chance to see extended minutes, which is enough reason to tune in. We’ll be here with a game thread at 6:30.

Speaking of which, this starting lineup is something

Live Ricky

The Rights to Ricky Sanchez Live Podcast with T.J. McConnell at Underground Arts happened on Saturday, and appeared to be a rousing success. I sadly missed it due to other obligations. As a sample of what to listen for, here’s his line on the trade rumors with the Cavaliers:

He did complement the King, but the sentiment is understandable for a Pittsburgh guy. You can download the full podcast from the linked tweet below. It’s also available on almost all of your favorite pod apps.

At some point this has to be intentional

Please don’t mind the shameless self promotion, but after the Baynes shower talk from Tommy Heinsohn and the below quip from Marc Zumoff during Friday night’s game I feel like there’s a conspiracy to make dirty jokes about the Celtics, and not just about the on-court dirtiness of injuring an opponent during preseason.

Dante Exum might miss another season - Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN

Exum might end up having missed as many games as Joel Embiid under his rookie contract, if he’s out for the full year. Exum has been plagued by injuries to his knee and now his shoulder since he arrived in the NBA despite little evidence of injury susceptibility during his pre-draft process. Here’s hoping he comes back healthy and can salvage his career. There’s a lesson about injury expectation to be learned from this.

The Elton Brand on twitter is not the real Elton Brand

Just a PSA on the above. The man himself has confirmed that.

The Annual Tiers of the NBA - Zach Lowe, ESPN

I probably don’t need to say to most of you to read Lowe’s tiers column. About 29 of the 30 rankings are chalk this year based on preseason consensus, but no one is more in-tune with the possibilities of what each team can do with the always-plugged-in Lowe. Here’s part of what he had to say about the Sixers in the section titled “The Back of the East Race”:

If Philly makes the playoffs, it will mean that Joel Embiid played a healthy number of games -- at least 50, and probably more. When Embiid plays, the Sixers are good. They outscored opponents with Embiid on the floor last season, when nobodies were playing minutes that will now go to Simmons, J.J. Redick, Markelle Fultz and Jerryd Bayless. (Scoff at Bayless, but he's going to close a lot of games.)

Still: This team isn't ready to hit .500 without a lot of Embiid. If he doesn't play enough, they fall short. It will take time for Fultz, Simmons and Embiid to learn how to split creative duties.