Shortly before the Philadelphia 76ers dropped their ninth consecutive game on Wednesday night in a matchup against the New York Knicks, forward Paul George had revealed that he was going to be pausing his Podcast P venture to focus more on his body, mental state and helping the group. The team currently sits outside of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, and with time dwindling to salvage the season, George has made the decision to pause the show. George is in the first season of a four-year, $212 million contract with the 76ers, and SportsRadio 94WIP morning host Joe DeCamara prefaced a soundbite of the forward talking on the podcast by articulating that it was not a joke.
Once the audio played, laughter ensued within the studio, and a show contributor wondered if this could have taken place because of a statement by someone else suggesting that George should stop the podcast. George had stated a few days earlier that the team did not display any signs of being a team that would compete, nor did the group have habits of a playoff team or championship contender. Although DeCamara acknowledged that players have the right to have creative outlets and express their opinions, he expounded on the fact that the situation with George involves more than just the forum.
“The problem with Paul George the player isn’t that he does a podcast,” DeCamara said on Thursday’s edition of the 94WIP Morning Show. “The [problem] with Paul George the player may be that he may value the podcast more than being the player – that’s one – but the main problem [is] he just didn’t try hard enough. He didn’t try hard enough, and he’s old and he’s banged up, and he’s not that good anymore. You can be a successful podcaster, as many are as active players. Listen, Darius Slay is around the same age – Darius Slay was rocking a podcast. You know what he did? He balled out this year. Played really good football.”
Morning show co-host Jon Ritchie pointed out that there were numerous occurrences where the ball was inbounded to an open player that was supposed to be guarded by George. In fact, he acknowledged that this was the situation most of the time when these mishaps took place. George is currently averaging 16.4 points per game, which would mark his lowest total since his second season in the league while playing for the Indiana Pacers. Furthermore, he has missed nearly two-thirds of 76ers games this season with a variety of injuries.
“Watch five minutes – I know it’s demanding to pull that out of yourself because there’s so much animosity toward that whole group – but anyway, he’s always one step behind,” Ritchie said. “Defensively, it feels as though he doesn’t know who he’s got, where he’s supposed to be. It’s this haplessness defensively, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else really cares that much either, but he’s like the leader in the clubhouse in terms of defensive haplessness.”
“That, to me, is the hallmark of, ‘You’re not trying hard enough,’” DeCamara replied, “because he’s been around long enough to know what to do, to know what to do, but he doesn’t bust his ass.”
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