Smarter News Quiz: Fast Food Menus, Polling Disasters and Historic Bling

By Rachel McMahon


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VIDEO: In Good Pands: Cute Panda Twins Finally Get Their Fur

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By Lee Bullen

A video montage shows a panda mother giving birth to one of her two pink cubs. Weeks later, they transform into furry pandas.

The two cubs were born at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium in the Spanish capital on Sept. 6. The zoo said the cubs, now two months old, have successfully passed the most delicate period of their development.

“In these two months of progressive growth, vital to develop the immune system and thermoregulate by themselves, the little pandas no longer need an incubator and are completely covered in black-and-white fur characteristic of their species,” said the Madrid zoo.

The twins will now alternate between spending time in their crib, installed for them in the zoo, and spending time in the enclosure with their mother, Hua Zui Ba.

“The transformation in these 60 days of life has been astonishing. From their pink, sightless, delicate appearance to the 171.4 and 137.4 grams (less than a pound) which they weighed when born, they have become beautiful giant pandas that already weigh 3.1 and 2.8 kilograms (about 7 pounds and 6 pounds),” the zoo said. Females can grow to 200 pounds, while males can reach 300 pounds as adults.

The two-month-old panda twins will now alternate between spending time in their crib, installed for them in the zoo, and spending time in the enclosure with their mother, Hua Zui Ba. (Madrid Zoo Aquarium/Zenger)

The cubs now open their eyes, and show off their most characteristic parts, “such as the palms of their hands with their opposable thumb, which they use to grab bamboo canes.”

The zoo said in the last two weeks, the panda cubs began adapting to outside temperatures.

“…they have been out in the sun for a couple of hours in a protected space to continue strengthening. They will begin to sleep in the enclosure and will alternate between breastfeeding, essential for growth, with the first bottles of milk specific for pandas.”

The panda cubs weighed less than a pound at birth, but eventually weigh in at about 200 pounds for a female and 300 pounds for males. The Madrid Zoo participates in efforts to sustain the species.  (Madrid Zoo Aquarium/Zenger)

The Madrid zoo is also asking online fans to vote on the panda cubs’ names. Visitors can choose from six names: You You, Jiu Jiu, Xing Mu, Bing Tang, Hua He, and Yue Yuan. They have until Dec. 5 to register their vote.

The giant panda conservation program at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium is of critical importance for the survival of the species. Severe threats from humans have resulted in just 1,800 pandas left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Various efforts from breeding centers and zoos worldwide helped reduced its threat category from endangered to vulnerable, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: A-Woah-Ha: Hawaii Volcano Lets Rip

By Lee Bullen

Video shows the continuing eruption of the Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii.

In an update on Nov. 9, the volcano was erupting from a single vent in the western wall of Halemaʻumaʻu crater, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

“As of this morning, Nov. 9, 2021, lava is erupting at a higher rate compared to the diminished activity reported yesterday,” the geological survey website said. “Activity has returned to levels observed prior to yesterday’s brief decrease in activity. All lava activity is confined within Halemaʻumaʻu crater in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Seismic activity and volcanic gas emission rates remain elevated.”

The Halema‘uma‘u crater is at the summit of Kīlauea, the most active of the five volcanoes that form the Big Island of Hawai’i.

The video posted was filmed on Oct. 29. It shows “the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“Small circulation currents (eddies) were seen near the spillway at the base of the cone. The fast-moving lava plucked crust from the base of the spillway and deposited it further downstream, where the lava was then recirculated back towards the cone,” the agency said. “Similar circulation features are common in bodies of water with fast moving currents.”

The agency said that gas and seismic activity remain high at the summit. The website says that “earthquake hazards occur regularly in Hawaii” and that “frequent and long-lasting eruptions and recurrent strong earthquakes in Hawai’i create a unique combination of natural hazards for people across the Hawaiian Islands.”

The volcano is known to be a source of “large explosive eruptions,” the U.S. Geological Survey said.

“Many strong explosive eruptions have occurred at Kilauea Volcano during the past 2,500 years. According to current understanding of eruption history, the volcano has alternated between centuries-long periods of dominantly effusive (lava flow) and dominantly explosive eruptions.”

Volcanic activity resumed on the afternoon of Sept. 29 for the first time in almost a year. Its last major eruption took place between May and September 2018 and led to thousands of local residents being displaced and the destruction of 716 homes.

During the eruption in 2018 lava flowed from 24 vents, with one major explosion sending debris flying 30,000 feet high.

Believed to be between 210,000 and 280,000 years old, the Kīlauea volcano emerged from the sea about 100,000 years ago. Kīlauea is located on Hawai’i, the official name of the largest island in the archipelago, also called the Big Island. (Not to be confused with Hawaii, the state.)

The Hawai’i island consists of five volcanoes, four of which are classified as active: Kīlauea, Mauna, Mauna Loa, Hualālai and Mauna Kea. In fact, Hawaii, the only U.S. state not in North America, is made up of 137 volcanic islands.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: Chilling Out: Polar Bears Delight At Huge Frozen Salmon Birthday Cake

By Peter Barker

A giant frozen salmon birthday cake, shaped as the number 2, proved a perfect gift for a young polar bear.

The footage shows Finja the polar bear celebrating her second birthday at the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the world’s oldest zoo, in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 9.

In the video, Finja and her mother Nora approach the fishy cake, which was displayed at the top of a rock in their enclosure.

The bears circle the cake and then rip chunks of salmon out of the frozen treat. The mother and daughter devour the cake and following the meal, head to the pool to play with a ball and relax.

Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck, the zoo director, said the zookeepers made the big frozen cake with salmon, since it is Finja’s favorite food. A trail of cod liver oil was dripped around the cake, which helped Finja and Nora locate it with their strong sense of smell.

Keepers at the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, set up a frozen salmon birthday cake for female polar bear Finja, who just turned two, and her mother, Nora. (Tiergarten Schönbrunn/Zenger)
Female polar bear Finja made quick work of her birthday cake, with the help of her mother, Nora. (Tiergarten Schönbrunn/Zenger)

The cake took a lot of time to prepare, but it was destroyed in a matter of minutes after Nora knocked it over with her giant paws. The cake split into pieces after hitting the ground, making it easier for the bears to grab the large chunks of salmon.

Hering-Hagenbeck said Finja has grown into a healthy “teenager” weighing 408 pounds, up from just 1 pound at birth.

Nora is considerably heavier than her daughter, despite appearing to be the same size in the video, weighing in at 551 pounds, a maximum weight for females. A fully grown male can weigh from about 770 to 1,540 pounds.

Female polar bear Finja celebrates her second birthday at the Schönbrunn Zoo with her favorite food: salmon. (Daniel Zupanc/Zenger)
At two years old, zookeepers say female polar bear Finja has grown into a healthy “teenager” weighing 408 pounds, up from just 1 pound at birth. (Tiergarten Schönbrunn/Zenger)

The polar bear is categorized as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. This ranking means the species is facing the threat of extinction in the near future — unless the circumstances threatening its survival improve.

The polar bear, the largest bear in the world, is native to the Arctic Circle. The region’s top predator, it primarily hunts fish and seals, spending half its time searching for food. Talented swimmers, polar bears can sustain a pace of 6 mph.

Polar bear numbers have historically been threatened by hunting, but today, the biggest threat facing the giant white bears is climate change, which has led to the extensive loss of their habitat.

The Schönbrunn is a participant in the European Endangered Species Program, which provides a future for some of the world’s most vulnerable species through education and various breeding programs.

Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler



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MigVax Gets Millions To Develop Variant-Proof Vaccine

By Jon Schiller

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is granting $4.3 million to Israel’s MigVax to advance development of COVID-19 vaccines suitable for use in low- and middle-income countries.

The coalition, headquartered in Norway, also is funding a similar project at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Both projects aim to establish preclinical proof of concept for “variant-proof” vaccines that protect against existing and new SARS-CoV-2 variants. The vaccine platforms may also be applicable for developing vaccines that are protective against a broad range of beta coronaviruses, as well as unknown pathogens with pandemic potential that have yet to emerge.

“In countries with sufficient access to them, vaccines are now breaking the link between Covid-19 infection and severe illness or death, and enabling life to return to something approaching normality,” said the coalition’s CEO, Dr. Richard Hatchett.

As long as the threat of new emerging variants “continues to hang over us all,” Hatchett said, developing globally accessible vaccines that are broadly protective is imperative for global health security.

Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Courtesy of CEPI)

Established in 2020, MigVax is an affiliate startup of MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, a research and development center of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Early in the pandemic, MigVax set out to modify for humans a well-established coronavirus vaccine for the immunization of poultry.

MigVax CEO David Zigdon said the oral vaccine tablet could help the world return to a “new normal.” This is a “sub-unit” vaccine, containing pieces of coronavirus protein (not live or dead virus) delivered orally to the immune system via a bacterial protein to stimulate antibodies and immune cells against coronavirus in mucosa, blood and cells.

“Oral boosters such as our MigVax-101, which could protect against emerging COVID-19 variants, will help health organizations transition from panic mode to routine, reducing the cost and expanding the reach of their vaccination programs.

“We will take full advantage of this grant to bring it to market faster and explore the potential use of our vaccine platform against other coronaviruses,” said Zigdon.

MigVax released results on June 10 from preclinical tests on lab rats that demonstrated the potential effectiveness of MigVax-101 as an antibody booster for previously vaccinated people.

MigVax says its vaccine candidate is uniquely positioned to tackle new variants because the subunit can be adapted quickly to novel variants.

And its protein components are stable, meaning the vaccine may remain effective for longer periods before requiring a booster.

Furthermore, MigVax-101 could be more acceptable to a wider population, including people wary of receiving injections of genetic or viral material, as well as infants, children, pregnant women and others.

“The results of this trial increase our confidence that our MigVax-101 subunit oral vaccine will make a positive contribution to a world coming to grips with the new post-pandemic reality,” said professor Itamar Shalit, MigVax’s infectious disease expert.
Produced in association with Israel21C.



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VIDEO: Marie Antoinette’s Diamonds, Hidden During French Revolution, Sell For $8 Million

By Peter Barker

A pair of diamond bracelets that once belonged to France’s last queen, Marie Antoinette, sold for $8.2 million at a Christie’s auction on Nov. 9.

The bracelets, which are made up of three strands of diamonds and contain 112 stones of 140- to 150-carats, were hidden in a chest and smuggled out of France when the queen was imprisoned during the French Revolution.

The buyer was not identified.

For 200 years, the bracelets were hidden from the public in a royal collection after they were smuggled away in the course of the French Revolution, Christie’s said in a statement.

Marie Antoinette parted ways with the bracelets in 1791 while she was interned in Paris’ Tuileries Palace.

Sitting in her cell, she realized that the only way to keep the diamonds out of revolutionary hands was to smuggle them out of France. She is said to have wrapped them in cotton and hid them inside a wooden box where they waited to be taken over the border into Brussels.

Brussels at the time was under Austrian rule. The diamonds arrived in the city to be handed over to the previous ambassador of Austria to France, Count Mercy-Argenteau, Christie’s said.

This 1816 portrait of Marie Thérèse by Antoine-Jean Gros shows her wearing the bracelets (right) belonging to the late Queen Marie Antoinette of France, who was her mother. Marie Thérèse got the diamonds when she arrived in Austria in 1796. (Christie’s/Zenger)

The bracelets were then kept safe in a chest by Mercy-Argenteau, a friend to the queen’s family, who hoped that one day she would once again wear them.

However, Marie Antoinette was executed on Oct. 16, 1793, and four months later, Emperor Francis II, Marie’s nephew, instructed that the chest containing the bracelets be opened.

“Once documented, the contents of the chest were sent from Brussels to the imperial treasury in Vienna, where they were kept for Marie Antoinette’s sole surviving heir, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France, Madame Royale, later Duchess of Angoulême (1778–1851),” Christie’s said. “Madame Royale claimed the bracelets upon her arrival in Austria in 1796, as recorded in the letters she sent to her cousin, Emperor Francis II.”

Experts say it is unusual that the diamond bracelets that once belonged to Marie Antoinette have remained intact, rather than the stones being sold off separately, as has happened with many other royal jewels. (Christie’s/Zenger)

Jean-Marc Lunel, a senior international specialist in Christie’s jewelry department in Geneva, said the bracelets’ symmetry and elegant design are typical of the work of Charles Auguste Boehmer, Marie Antoinette’s personal jeweler.

“They are so light and so well made that they simply flow on your wrist like fabric,” he said. “And the imperfect antique cut of the diamonds provides a unique charm that cannot be found in modern cut diamonds.

“What is miraculous is that they have remained together and intact when they could have easily been broken up, as many other jewels of royal provenance have been,” said Lunel. “This makes them particularly attractive to collectors.”

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: Brrr-Assic Park: New Dinosaur Discovered Buried Under Ice 

By Martin M Barillas

Scientists have discovered what they believe is the first dinosaur known to have lived in icy Greenland 214 million years ago, during the Late Triassic Period.

The two-legged plant-eating dinosaur — dubbed Issi saaneq by researchers from Denmark, Germany and Portugal — was of medium size, had a long neck and needle-like teeth. It was an ancestor of the largest land animals ever known — the sauropods. Its name, meaning “cold bone,” is derived from the Greenland Inuit language.

Two skulls were originally uncovered in 1994 by Harvard University paleontologists at the Malmros Klint Formation in the Jameson Land Basin, a peninsula in eastern Greenland. It was first thought that one skull belonged to a long-necked Plateosaurus, a dinosaur species that lived in France, Germany and Switzerland during the Triassic Period.

“These specimens certainly pertain to a new species: Issi saaneq,” said Victor Beccari of NOVA University-Lisbon. Beccari is the lead author of a paper on the findings, which was published in the journal Diversity.

“It is exciting to discover a close relative of the well-known Plateosaurus, hundreds of which have already been found here in Germany,” said co-author Oliver Wings of Martin Luther University, Germany.

Researchers used an X-ray scan of the fossils to create three-dimensional models of the structures and bones within the sedimentary rock.

“The anatomy of the two skulls is unique in many respects, for example, in the shape and proportions of the bones,” said Beccari.

Issi saaneq skulls (holotype on the top, paratype on the bottom). Picture and 3D models after the CT-scan. (Victor Beccari)
An artistic representation of Issi saaneq, a dinosaur that scientists believe lived in what is now Greenland 214 million years ago. (Victor Beccari)

One of the two skulls described by the researchers came from a juvenile, while the other belonged to an animal that was almost an adult. Apart from their relative size, the differences between them in terms of bone structure are minor and only relate to proportions. The fossil dinosaur skulls will be transferred to the Natural History Museum of Denmark after studies are complete, as Denmark has sovereignty over Greenland.

The newly discovered dinosaur is different from all known sauropodomorphs but bears a resemblance to Brazilian dinosaurs, such as the Macrocollum and Unaysaurus, which predate it by almost 15 million years. The Brazilian dinosaurs and the Plateosaurus from Germany are among a group of graceful, bipedal plateosaurids that reached lengths of 10 to 30 feet.

Issi saaneq is the first-known distinct Greenlandic dinosaur species. The discovery of the species from the Late Triassic Period (235-201 million years ago) grants a better understanding of the evolution of sauropod dinosaurs, which lived for nearly 150 million years.

The Brontosaurus and Diplodocus, two of the best-known sauropods (meaning “lizard-footed”), were among the largest land animals ever to exist. Titanosaurus, the largest sauropod, lived 100 million to 66 million years ago and had a worldwide range.

The breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent and motion of their continents to their present-day positions. (United States Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia; Kious, Jacquelyne; Tilling, Robert I.; Kiger, Martha, Russel, Jane)

When Issi saaneq roamed Greenland, millions of years ago, the continent-sized island was closer to the equator and the climate was warmer. As the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart through seismic activity that produced continental drift, a cleft in the supercontinent formed what became the Atlantic Ocean.

“At the time, the Earth was experiencing climate changes that enabled the first plant-eating dinosaurs to reach Europe and beyond,” said co-author Lars Clemmensen of the University of Copenhagen. Issi saaneq lived at latitudes over 40 degrees north.

“This is the third new vertebrate fossil species that our team [has] named for Greenland, which shows the scientific importance of that territory,” said co-author Octávio Mateus of NOVA University-Lisbon.

Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: Tanks For The Top-Up: Russian Bomber Refuels In High-Precision Midair Maneuver

By Peter Barker

While refueling a car is ho-hum affair, the same can’t be said for filling the fuel tanks of a fighter jet.

That fact was illustrated by video just released by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation of fighter-bombers practicing in-flight refuels at altitudes ranging between 2,000 and 6,000 feet (610 and 1,829 meters). The high-altitude refuel requires the two aircraft involved get as close as 66 feet apart to run a fuel line between them.

Though the ministry did not specify the speeds the jets ran at during the procedure, it clearly requires patience and skill. (The ministry did say the supersonic fighters involved can reach a maximum speed of 1,900 kilometers per hour (1,181 mph) and a cruising speed of 1,300 kilometers per hour (808 mph).)

The refueling exercises involved several Su-34 multifunctional fighter-bombers and a Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft performing training flights both during the day and at night over Russia’s Chelyabinsk region.

More than 10 aircraft and some 200 flight and engineering personnel from the Air Force and Air Defense Association of the Central Military District were involved in the training exercise.

The footage released by the ministry shows one of the Su-34 fighters flying at high speed at close proximity to an Il-78 tanker refueling aircraft. The refueling hose is released by the tanker and attaches to a nozzle on the fighter, which holds its course while its tanks are filled.

One of the Su-34 bombers involved in the midair refueling exercises recently run by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation/Zenger)

After successfully refueling, the Su-34 returns to its military base, where it is seen landing in snowy conditions.

While midair refueling is one of the most difficult and dangerous elements of flight training, the ministry said it’s necessary to increase the range of its combat units by reducing the number of times fighters need to return to base.

The Ilyushin Il-78 seen in the clip is a Soviet-era four-engine aerial refueling tanker that carries a fuel load of 85,720 kilograms (188,980 pounds) and transfers the fuel to other aircraft through what’s known as the probe-and-drogue refueling method.

The Sukhoi Su-34 — NATO codename “Fullback” — is a Soviet-era twin-engine, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber. It’s armed with a 30 mm auto-cannon, along with a variety of laser-guided and satellite-guided bombs.

The Su-34 has played a central role in Russia’s ongoing military intervention that began in 2015 in the Syrian civil war. Su-34s carried out several bombing runs against rebel and Islamic State forces throughout Syria and against the leaders of the Al-Nusra Front, which is also known as al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: Astroworld Tragedy Is Nothing New, Mass Concerts Have Massive Problems 

By Julio Guzmán

MEXICO CITY — The death of eight people at Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert in Houston is a tragic reminder of the dangers mass concerts pose, especially when they have organization problems.

Mexico City commemorates a similar tragedy on Nov. 30.

The 2019 Knotfest, an international heavy metal festival, could have been an unforgettable event, but instead angry fans unleashed chaos and destruction. The result was a burned drum kit, severe damage to equipment, performance cancellations and assaults.

Challenges began before the performance of the American band Evanescence, at 9:10 p.m., on the Oceanía Sports Club’s main stage. Slipknot was to be the band closing the festival.

But thousands of attendees battered down one of the fences between the main and VIP sections and overcrowded the stage area. Security officers were unable to control the crowd.

Live Talent was the event organizer. Concerned about the lack of security, its employees requested attendees to step back from the fence. The company announced through social media that the remaining bands would play if the audience followed the safety protocols. However, most attendees could not understand the reasons for the delay because there was no cell signal.

The problems mass concerts present are not new. The 2019 Knotfest, in Mexico City, echoes what happened in Travis Scott’s deadly Astroworld concert. (Julio Guzmán/Zenger)

Four and a half hours later, the impatient attendees began hurling insults. Some jumped over the fence surrounding the stage, dismantled Evanescense’s drum kit and threw some pieces to the public, along with production equipment.

Later, they burned chairs, the drum kit and several pieces of sound equipment. The members of the security team hired for the event ended up hiding, rather than confronting the agitators. Some attendees shouted profanity, others were assaulted, and still more took selfies with the flames in the background.

“It was a bittersweet experience. They [the bands] brought some of the best audio equipment in the world, and they were good bands. It’s not surprising because the organizers have had problems at all their events. Bands often cancel their presentations,” Francisco Acevedo, who was at the event, told Zenger.

Knotfest was not the first time that Live Talent has been involved in controversy.

The company canceled the performances of Rob Zombie, Testament and other star bands announced for the 2018 Force Fest festival.

Mass concerts have presented similar challenges for a long time. The Nov. 6 concert in Astroworld only proves the problem and the risks remain.

Translated by Gabriela Alejandra Olmos, Edited by Gabriela Alejandra Olmos and Fern Siegel



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Early Results Suggest 76ers May Be Better Off Without Ben Simmons

By Moke Hamilton

The Philadelphia 76ers might be losing one battle after another, but is it possible that the losses could end up helping the team win the war?

Ben Simmons and his saga persists, Tobias Harris is missing in action and Joel Embiid has COVID-19.

Despite it all, Doc Rivers’ team has gone out and competed admirably. Even with Tuesday night’s 118-109 loss to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, if there’s one thing the Sixers have proven in the early going of the 2021-22 season, it’s that they will fight.

That says something.

In the NBA, there’s no such thing as a participation trophy, and coaches don’t typically find any solace in moral victories. But whether it be Tyrese Maxey, Shake Milton, Georges Niang or Furkan Korkmaz, Rivers has seen firsthand that he has a formidable rotation. Along with Seth Curry, the lesser-known Sixers have carried their weight, and then some.

If the team is able to get back to 100% — and that’s still an “if” at this point — one can’t help but wonder whether it’ll be able to provide ample resistance against the Bucks or the Brooklyn Nets come postseason time.

That’s especially true if — as many expect — the team ends up trading Simmons.

At this point, the franchise appears to be in a staring match with the young point guard. Daryl Morey may not be able to extract a king’s ransom from a wannabe-contender in exchange for Simmons; at a certain point, it might be worth it for Morey to simply take what he can get.

In Brooklyn, Kyrie Irving remains a figment of everyone’s imagination. In Boston, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum aren’t exactly inspiring confidence with their play. And out West? Anyone who’s capable of firing up the ESPN Trade Machine could concoct a trade or two with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, Oklahoma City Thunder or Portland Trail Blazers that could yield Philadelphia a decent return.

And that’s exactly the point.

While Morey isn’t wrong in wanting to extract all the value he can out of a potential Simmons trade, there will eventually come an impasse, and he owes it to his guys to simply allow them to carry the pieces that want to be there and move forward.

All things considered, the Sixers have been good. How much better could they be if they managed to land another dynamic piece in exchange for a player who isn’t playing for them?

Odds are, Rivers would find a way to make it all work.

The Sixers entered play on Nov. 9 with a 115.3 offensive rating, which — believe it or not — ranked first in the NBA.

Interestingly enough, and perhaps because the team primarily plays through Embiid, Philadelphia also entered play on Nov. 9 with the slowest pace in the entire league; it yielded just 102.6 points per game, good for eighth-best in the Association.

In other words, Rivers has seemed to realize that his Sixers are a bit of a throwback in that they can excel as a half-court team playing inside-out, and if they force other teams into a slower pace of play, they’ll come out on top more often than not. At least before Embiid went missing from the lineup, through the team’s first 10 games, they’ve used that recipe to win some games.

Success in the half-court requires a few things, most importantly a player who can command double-teams in the post. Embiid obviously checks that box. Off-ball movement and floor-spreading shooters are imperative, and it’s there that Simmons presented an obstacle. It might not be fair to say that removing him from the lineup has been addition by subtraction, but it has at least shown us that the Sixers can function — and win — with Embiid as the sole focal point.

If Morey wants to help his team get to the next level, his focus should be on getting auxiliary pieces that can help Embiid challenge the Bucks and Nets for supremacy atop the Eastern Conference — not on winning the game of chicken the organization currently finds itself engaged in with Simmons and his representatives. Landing Jaylen Brown or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in exchange for Simmons would be great, but it might also be pie in the sky.

At a certain point, you’ve simply got to cut bait.

What’s true of every generation of basketball fans is this: we have all been reminded that championship windows can close rather abruptly.

When the Boston Celtics landed Kyrie Irving in 2017, the team had an embarrassment of riches that was surely thought to have a Larry O’Brien trophy in its future. The same was said of Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder. When Steve Nash arrived in Los Angeles to join forces with Kobe Bryant, many believed the Lakers would flirt with 70 wins.

Obviously, none of that ended up being true.

Way back when, once upon a time, Shaquille O’Neal was thought to be a second-rate center. Sure, he could break a backboard, but could Shaq lead a team to a championship? It was a debate for a while, mainly because he took a fair amount of lumps from the likes of David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, the latter of whom handed Shaq a humiliating sweep in the 1995 NBA Finals.

To this point, Embiid’s journey in the NBA has been somewhat reminiscent… Except he hasn’t even sniffed a Finals appearance.

By this point in his career, Shaq already won a conference finals and left Orlando to pursue the destiny he dreamed of. Embiid, obviously, is still on his first chapter, and truth be told, he’s doing a pretty good job of writing a compelling story in Philadelphia.

With a capable supporting cast around him, a championship-caliber head coach and the ability to serve as the franchise’s cornerstone, Embiid has an opportunity to accomplish something great for the Sixers.

Tomorrow isn’t promised, though. And if there’s a lesson to be learned both from the Sixers’ strong start to the season — and from dashed championship aspirations of the past — it’s that promise shouldn’t be taken for granted.

It’s about time that Daryl Morey comes to terms with that fact.

Produced in association with BasketballNews.com.

Edited by Kristen Butler



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