Sixers summer saga | Sports Daily Newsletter

Will it be the 76ers’ summer of discontent or the summer the Sixers turned pretty great?

Will James Harden stay or go?

Where will Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard go and how will that impact the Sixers?

What changes will new coach Nick Nurse make to the team?

Who might make a trade for Tobias Harris?

David Murphy ponders these questions and more.

— Andrea Canales, Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

The Phillies’ back-of-the rotation woes and lack of depth at triple A aren’t a secret. Between ineffectiveness and injury, there’s something of a hole at No. 5 in the rotation. So why not have Griff McGarry fill it?

He’s the team’s fourth-best prospect, according to Baseball America. He missed a month with an injury, but he has a 3.57 ERA in five double-A starts and threw 79 pitches in five hitless innings last week.

“Over the past two years, I’ve improved a lot,” McGarry said. “I’m still not where I want to be, and I think that’s a good thing for me. I’m happy with how I’ve done so far, but definitely not satisfied.”

For more on McGarry and why he’s the best in-house option to fill the No. 5 spot in the rotation, Scott Lauber has the full dispatch from down on the farm.

It wasn’t always pretty, but Aaron Nola and the Phillies picked up a win to move above .500 for the first time this month.

Next: The Phillies’ West Coast swing continues with a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics. Taijuan Walker (6-3, 4.67 ERA) and JP Sears (1-3, 4.15) will start the series opener (9:40 p.m.; NBCSP).

The Eagles have found some success with undrafted rookies through the years. Reed Blankenship, for example, made the team and had an impact in 2022.

This year, the Eagles have Ty Zentner to compete with Arryn Siposs at punter. Beat writer EJ Smith goes through some other candidates to have a real chance to make the team.

Remember John LeClair? He played 10 of his 16 NHL seasons with the Flyers, and now he’s back with the team as a special adviser to hockey operations.

He is the fourth former Flyer to be hired recently for a prominent role, joining president of hockey operations Keith Jones and general manager Danny Brière as well as fellow adviser Patrick Sharp.

LeClair’s 333 goals during his time in orange and black rank fifth in franchise history, and he scored 50 goals for the Flyers in three straight seasons from 1995-98. Giana Han has more on the newest player-turned-executive in the new-look front office.

Next: The Flyers have the No. 7 pick in the NHL draft, which begins June 28 in Nashville (7 p.m., ESPN).

Sure, it was Christian Pulisic and Ricardo Pepi scoring the goals against Mexico, the fiercest regional rival of the USMNT, but it was on the sidelines where the real action concerning the future of the team took place.

The U.S. men’s national team dominated Mexico, winning 3-0, with former Villanova and Union assistant B.J. Callaghan in charge as interim.

However, if reports are accurate, it could be Callaghan’s only game in charge. It appears that the return of former coach Gregg Berhalter is imminent.

Summer slams: We took some of the summer travel planning off your plate with our top 10 baseball day trips.

Taking flight: Meet the first commitments for Temple football’s class of 2024.

Fab No. 5?: Breaking down the odds of former Villanova standout Cam Whitmore being picked fifth overall in the NBA draft.

We asked: Do you think Aaron Nola will turn it around for good this season? Why or why not? Among your responses:

I feel bad for the guy. He pitches so well for a while in games, then seems to lose it for a couple batters which always seems to result in 3 or 4 runs. Talk about a guy who needs a sports psychologist ... he’s home grown, like nobody else except Hoskins, via LSU, and needs fan support not criticism — Bill M.

I think Aaron Nola loses his concentration too often. He is known as laid back. If that was the case, he wouldn’t get so upset with the pitch clock. It is what it is Aaron, get use to it. Maybe he’s only a 5-6 inning pitcher going forward. Will he get more consistent? I hope so, but don’t have a lot of faith that he will. — Tom G.

No ... too many innings ... Nola is a peculiar character and likely not particularly “coachable.” Not sure how smart a pitcher he has ever been ... durable but finished. Good thing we didn’t sign him or we’d be stuck with another bloated contract for yet another piece ... most of which don’t fit together. Nola is no longer reliable and they should trade him while the illusion of value is in the heads of other GMs. — Peter S.

Yes I think it is time for Aaron to step up and be counted once again as a contributing member of this team. He has great talent, but whatever is keeping him from being the Phillies pitcher he once was must be mental. He will strike out 7 or 8 guys and then appears to have an attention lapse and allows a home run. The Phillies appear to be turning it around and Nola needs to turn it around just as J.T. recently has. Although he denies it, I think the fact that the Phillies have not offered him a contract extension is very much on his mind, but how can you blame the team for not when he is performing as he has. I like Marcus Hayes’ comment, “It is time to stop making excuses and start performing.” Like most Phillies fans I really like Aaron Nola and want him to wake up and start pitching like we know he can. — Everett S.

The easy answer is “yes, he will turn it around.” In this case, it will be harder for him to get back to pitching effectively. The reason for this is that he needs to make two changes. First, he needs to change his attitude. It is obvious he dislikes the time clock. Now, he is probably pouting over being called out on his attempts to get around the new rule, by asking for more balls. Until he switches his thinking to accepting that the rules are the same for all pitchers, his attitude will not change. Second, something in his mechanics ultimately determines his effectiveness. Something in this has changed owing to his feeling of being rushed. That too will need to be corrected, but won’t start until he changes his attitude first. We are nearly halfway through the season, and his 2-step correction path will take longer. Thus, any positive change may not be seen very soon. — John W.

And one more on Embiid ...

Reading this morning’s comments depressed me completely. Over the years, Sixers fans seem to thrive on criticizing their best players. I wasn’t here in ‘83, but I hope that was the exception.

First, as to Bill Russell, here are some of the players with whom the Celtics surrounded him: Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Tommy Heinsohn, Frank Ramsey, John Havlicek. In their prime, not late-career like Harden or babies like Maxey, because four years of college was the rule in those days.

Second, Jokić plays like a guy who’s played basketball all his life, because he has. He has instincts that were drilled into him by his older brothers. Embiid came to basketball late. That his skills, inside and out, are as good as they are is remarkable. He played a little before coming to the U.S., not a full year of college because of injuries, and then missed several years after the Sixers drafted him. He passes well, but not instinctively, as Jokić does.

Third, compare the Sixers lineup to Denver’s. The Nuggets go eight deep, built for defense. Murray may not be the Harden of ten years ago, but he’s far better than this year’s vintage. Do we have anyone as solid as Gordon? KCP? Bench depth that can field Brown and Braun? Against the Celts — whom we should have beaten in six but were robbed, per the NCAA — we didn’t have two defenders strong enough to stop both Tatum and Brown, much less White and Smart.

Fourth, the complaint that Embiid doesn’t want to win reminds me of the great scene in Airplane where the kid says to Kareem, “My dad says you’re lazy.” To paraphrase Kareem’s outraged response — these critics should try banging against NBA-sized players night after night. — Joel G.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from David Murphy, EJ Smith, Scott Lauber, Alex Coffey, Giana Han, Devin Jackson, Matt Breen, Jonathan Tannenwald and Gustav Elvin.